Biographical Memoirs of Wells County, Indiana, 1903. pp. 567-570.

THOMAS B. MORRIS, M. D.

Back to that cradle of much of our national history, the Old Dominion state, must we turn in tracing the genealogy of Dr. Morris, and at a later period the family name and that of the collateral line became prominently identified with the history of Kentucky, whose annals have been dignified by the lives and labors of those with whom our subject is linked by consanguinity. Personally he is numbered among the representative members of the medical profession of Wells County, being established in practice in the attractive village of Mount Zion. Devoted to the noble and humane work which his profession implies, faithful and indefatigable in his efforts, he has not only earned a due reward in a temporal way, but has also proved himself eminently worthy to exercise the important functions of his calling, by reason of his ability, his abiding sympathy and his earnest zeal in behalf of his fellow men. His understanding of the science of medicine is broad and comprehensive and the profession and the public have accorded him the high esteem and confidence justly due under such conditions and with such attributes as are his.

Dr. Morris is a native of Bracken county, Kentucky, having been born on a farm near the town of Augusta, on the 6th of August, 1848, and being a son of John P. and Mary Ann (McClennahan) Morris, both members of old Kentucky families and both natives of that state. Capt. Philip Buckner, the maternal grandfather of John P. Morris, was born in England, on the 13th of May, 1747, and as a young man he emigrated to America, being here married, in 1772, to a Miss Daniels, of Port Royal, Virginia. At the outbreak of the war of the Revolution he espoused the cause of the colonists and served in the Continental lines while for commissary supplies which he furnished from his home in Virginia he received at the close of the war land warrants, on which he made selection of lands in Kentucky and Ohio. He brought his family and his negroes down the Ohio river on flatboats, disembarking at Louisville, which was then a small village, and later returned to Virginia and organized a company of families who came to Kentucky and under his supervision organized a colony at Augusta, Bracken county, of which town he was thus the virtual founder. He acquired an extensive landed estate, having erected his first dwelling in the year 1797, and it is interesting to note in the connection that the foundations of this ancient building are still standing. Captain Buckner donated large tracts of land to the town of Augusta, and it was through his progressive spirit that the colony and town flourished to so notable a degree. He was the first representative from that county in the legislature of Kentucky and was one of the framers of the constitution of the commonwealth, having been a member of the first constitutional convention, while his sons-in-law were the first officers elected in Bracken county after its erection. He was a man of fine mentality, genial and hospitable and a true type of the old-school gentleman. He assisted many persons in securing farms and establishing homes and no man in the locality had a firmer hold upon public confidence and esteem. When well advanced in years he retired to a distance of fourteen miles in the wilderness in order that he might have access to more game, having been an enthusiastic nimrod and an expert shot. He died at his home in Bracken county on the 24th of October, 1820, in the fulness of years and well earned honors. His son-in-law, Dickinson Morris, grandfather of Dr. Morris, was the first sheriff of Bracken county, and one of the influential citizens of the locality. He became an able surveyor and as such had charge of the surveying of the greater portion of Bracken county, where he was engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death. His eldest son, B. S. Morris, became a distinguished member of the bar, was the second mayor of the city of Chicago, Illinois, and for a number of years was judge of the circuit court in that state. The third son, Philip B., was an extensive farmer in Kentucky, where he passed his entire life.

John Pickett Morris, father of the Doctor, was reared and educated in Bracken county, where he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, in which he was engaged from his youth until his death, in October, 1895, at the venerable age of eighty-three years, having resided continuously on one farm for the long period of sixty years, while the old homestead is still in the possession of the family. His devoted wife, who was born in Farquhar county, Virginia, accompanied her parents on their removal to Kentucky when a child, and there was reared and educated, and she died on the old homestead on the 5th of August, 1868, at the age of fifty-two years. They became the parents of eight sons and one daughter and all are living with the exception of two of the sons, while Dr. Morris and his brother Samuel B., of Liberty Center, Wells County, are the only representatives of the family in Indiana.

Dr. Morris, of this sketch, was born on the old homestead farm, twelve miles west of Augusta, Bracken county, Kentucky, and his early educational discipline was received in the public schools of his native state. In 1869, when about twenty-one years of age, he came to Wells County, Indiana, to visit relatives, and here he engaged in teaching in the district schools about two years, and while thus engaged he became so impressed with the attractions and advantages of this section of the state that he determined to take up his permanent residence here. He had previously taken up the study of medicine under the preceptorship of an old and able physician of Kentucky and after coming to Indiana he continued his technical reading under the direction of his brother, Dr. George P. Morris, who was at that time established in the practice of his profession in Grant county. In 1879 he was matriculated in the Fort Wayne Medical College, at Fort Wayne, this state, where he was graduated as a member of the class of 1881, receiving the degree of Doctor of Medicine and being thoroughly fortified for the practice of his chosen profession, since he had been a close and appreciative student of both medicine and surgery and had spared no pains to secure the best experience in practical clinical work while pursuing his collegiate course. After his graduation Dr. Morris established himself in practice at Roll, Blackford county, Indiana, where he remained until 1883, when he came to Mount Zion, Wells County, which has since continued to be his place of residence and his professional headquarters. He has built up a large and representative practice, which extends throughout a wide radius of country, and his success has been the diametrical result of his assiduous application, his unwavering devotion to his work and his constant and careful study of the sciences of medicine and surgery, in which he keeps in touch with the advances made from year to year, having recourse to the best standard and periodical literature pertaining to the same. The Doctor is an honored member of the Wells County Medical Society, and has been a delegate from the same to the Indiana State Medical Society, in which also he retains membership, while he has also been a delegate to the conventions of the American Medical Association. He is held in high esteem by his professional confreres, being ever mindful of the ethics of the unwritten code, and is frequently called in consultation by other members of the profession. His practice has far exceeded in extent the limitations which he had considered possible, and both as a physician and a man he holds the unequivocal confidence and esteem of the community in which his services have been of so marked value and in which he has attained high prestige in his profession. The Doctor is the owner of two valuable farms in Wells County, on one of which are eight producing oil wells, through which he secures a good income, both farm properties being rented. In politics he gives his allegiance to the Democratic party so far as state and national affairs are involved, but in local matters, where no issue is to be considered, he is independent rather than holding to strict partisan lines. The Doctor served three years as postmaster of Mount Zion, under the administration of President Cleveland. He is a charter member of Mount Zion Lodge No. 684, I. O. O. F., in which he is past noble grand, while he has represented the same in the grand lodge of the state on three different occasions. He and his wife are valued and active members of the Methodist Protestant church.

On the 11th of May, 1875, Dr. Morris was united in marriage to Miss Sarah A. Lee, who was born in Wells County, being a daughter of Jonathan R. and Susannah (Banter) Lee, well known residents of the county. She was eighteen years of age at the time of her marriage, having been reared and educated in her native county and being a lady of gracious presence and distinctive refinement. Dr. and Mrs. Morris are the parents of two sons, namely: Oscar E., who married Miss Maud Huffman and who is one of the successful young farmers of Wells county; and George B., who is a student in the Indiana Medical College, at Indianapolis, being a member of the class of 1903; he married Miss Rosa Wallace and they have one child, Lillian Maxwell.