The Robert and Sarah Morriss Story

[ECS]

...
“The year 1842 was not one of great importance in the history of the town, and few were the events of interest…………, the Universalists laid the corner-stone for a church ... The church was to be a brick building forty by sixty feet. After it was completed it was not long used by the Universalists, but was rented for a theatre, and later was bought by the Odd Fellows, who improved it and used it for their hall.”

The theatre reference brings to mind that Giles Ward headed the Lynchburg Thespian Group which performed Shakespeare ("the game is worth the candle") and John William Sherman was also a member and wrote original plays for the group.

 

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[cw0909]

i read Garry post #200,looking for info on Morriss' hotel,and found this
wonder where the info about the Beale papers in a safe @ the the Western
Hotel came from
Garry there are maps in the pdf, with b4 and after street names and layouts
pg 26 map
interesting in 1829 lynch bridge connected to water now 9th prior it was
ferry road and connected @ 3rd alley now 7th,2 blocks west.
bridge built in 1812 (pg 21)
JMO,all in all some interesting reading for a theses


pg 25-27

There were a number of hotels located along Fifth Street that were built in 1815.
The Western hotel, located on the corner of Fifth and Madison Streets opened in
1815 as the Joseph Nichols tavern. In 1833, the tavern changed to the Western
Hotel.46 The tavern did enjoy some notoriety during its day. According to the
legend of the infamous Beale treasure, there were three letters kept in the tavern
safe that described the size and location of the treasure. Another hotel located
just three blocks from the Western was the Kentucky hotel. Built in 1800, the former
Terrell – Langhorne house began operation as a hotel in 1826.47
There were other hotels that were open prior to the start of the war. The most prominent
was perhaps the Franklin hotel which opened its doors on November 1, 1817 on the corner of
Main and Eleventh Streets. The owner, Samuel J. Harrison was a personal friend of Thomas
Jefferson who often visited Lynchburg while traveling from Monticello in Charlottesville to his
retreat, Poplar Forest, in nearby Bedford County. Harrison was so comfortable with Jefferson
that the former President was asked to personally select the wines that would be served at the
Franklin hotel. The hotel would reopen in 1852 as the Norvell house. 48

http://digitalcommons.apus.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1095&context=theses


Recommended Citation
White, Bethany L.,
"The Impact of Lynchburg, Virginia Upon The Confederacy During The Civil War" (2015).
Master's Capstone Theses. Paper 93.


imgs of the Joseph Nichols tavern
5th & madison gmap
https://goo.gl/maps/i1ZiR7hWDe62


Joseph Nichols Tavern ? Lynchburg History
b4 garden
Joseph Nichols Tavern - Pre Garden ? Lynchburg History
after
Joseph Nichols Tavern Garden ? Lynchburg History
source
Lynchburg History

 

[franklin]

I liked page 76

 

[Rebel - KGC]

Been in Joseph Nichols Tavern/Western Hotel when it was being utilized by the Church of the Covenant here in L'burg. Front entry opened to "bar" & dining area (used as a conference room by COC); then there was a Kitchen area with a side entry from outside. Back to front entry; small "nook" with a fire place... GREAT "reading area". Going up-stair... TWO large rooms for "over-niters" being utilized by several artists to show/sell their paintings. WHOLE place had a "sense" of history & GREAT feeling of peace & contentment. Kentucky Hotel is still standing & up 5th Street from JNT/WH; someone wants to renovate it to the "historical glory days"... being used for "storage", currently.

 

[ECS]

...

By the way on some of these other threads you talk about James Pursley and Thomas J. Beall not being half brothers. All right James Pursley's real name was James Purcell. He had three brothers. Two of those brothers married Sullivan Sisters as did James Purcell. All three married Sullivan sisters. The other brother was married in Bedford County, Virginia a little south of Buford's. They were ex-communicated from the church for their wedding. Their daughter Mary Purcell married Zephaniah Beall brother to Thomas J. Beall. Thomas J. Beall's brother Zephaniah Beall and Mary Purcell had a daughter and she married Stephen Braxton. Her name was Keziah as was Mary Purcell's grandmother and Zephaniah's mother. Now does all of this tie anything together with them being from Montvale, Va. or Buford's in Virginia. Ask Rebel KGC to verify this information it was on my CD Book. The Lost Diary of Thomas J. Beall. As a matter of fact this Thomas J. Beall graduated from a military school and was sent on secret missions for the Patriot Army of President James Madison and President James Monroe.

Again this Patriot Army ties in with Dr. James Robinson who was a General in the Patriot Army recruiting all over the country. He was with Lt. Pike when he went west on his expedition and he was at the Battle of New Orleans with over 2,500 of his Patriot Army. Find the Journal of Dr. James Robinson and read them.

Now this ties in with James Pursley or James Purcell as he and Dr. James Robinson were both from Beardstown, Kentucky and both were in Sante Fe before 1806. And James Purcell found the gold 300 miles North of Sante Fe in the United States Terrritory as was witnessed by the 1810 Journals of Lt. Zabulon Montgomery Pike. Then seven years later his half brother and a party went to Sante Fe to find him...

http://ancestry.com/genealogy/records/zephaniah-beall_28986462

Zephaniah Beall was married to Keziah Offutt, and their son Zephaniah Beall II was married twice, first to Margaret Crawford and they had 14 children including Thomas Beall (no middle initial "J"), and later to Mary Purcell, having an additional 9 children, including John Purcell Beall and Morris Purcell Beall.
There is NO half brother James Purcell with the same mother to a Thomas J Beall in this family tree.
Is it possible that you have mixed up several Beall and Purcell family trees to arrive at this conclusion?

Notice Zephaniah and Mary's son, Morris Purcell Beall, with that combination of names I'm surprised that someone hasn't written a "Beale" book connecting DOI signer Robert Morris to James Purcell and the nugget of gold shown to Pike, which was the impetus of Beale's perilous adventures which led to the stay with the Lynchburg Robert Morris, because mixing family tree genealogies can possibly prove that they were all related.

 

[franklin]

You are confused. You need to find Zephaniah Beall Sr. not Zephaniah Beall Jr. Zephaniah Beall Jr. Was Thomas J. Beall's brother. Why do you confuse the facts to make like someone has their genealogy wrong. Makes you look good I guess. Well it don't because as usual you are wrong again.

Also while you are at it check the DAR Records they are more accurate.

 

[ECS]

http://ancestry.com/genealogy/records.zephaniah-beall_28986462
Zephaniah Beall Sr was Keziah Offutt's second husband, the first being Thomas Odell- No children from that marriage.
The Beall marriage produced 3 children, Zephaniah II (or Jr as you referred), Joseph, and Thomas ( No middle initial "J").
Thomas Beall married Maria Stubbs of Pennsylvania.

Is it possible, Franklin, the person who maintains this Beall's family genealogy is confused and got it all wrong?
You are quick to call someone or the links posted wrong, but never provide any hard evidence or links to prove otherwise.
You have presented many variations of events outside of Ward's 1885 copyrighted Beale Papers story narrative, be it your statements about the Beale Party smelting the gold ore into 14K sand box cast bars, wagons having false bottoms, the gold, silver, and jewelry being placed in Boone's 30 gal salt brine pots, to all these endless family genealogies, and expect, like the "unknown author" of the Beale Papers, to accept your word as absolute fact.

In consideration of your claims of conflicts in information, be it genealogy sites or historical claims, when stating the information presented is wrong, actual documented evidence would be appreciated.

 

[franklin]

http://ancestry.com/genealogy/records.zephaniah-beall_28986462
Zephaniah Beall Sr was Keziah Offutt's second husband, the first being Thomas Odell- No children from that marriage.
The Beall marriage produced 3 children, Zephaniah II (or Jr as you referred), Joseph, and Thomas ( No middle initial "J").
Thomas Beall married Maria Stubbs of Pennsylvania.

Is it possible, Franklin, the person who maintains this Beall's family genealogy is confused and got it all wrong?
You are quick to call someone or the links posted wrong, but never provide any hard evidence or links to prove otherwise.
You have presented many variations of events outside of Ward's 1885 copyrighted Beale Papers story narrative, be it your statements about the Beale Party smelting the gold ore into 14K sand box cast bars, wagons having false bottoms, the gold, silver, and jewelry being placed in Boone's 30 gal salt brine pots, to all these endless family genealogies, and expect, like the "unknown author" of the Beale Papers, to accept your word as absolute fact.

In consideration of your claims of conflicts in information, be it genealogy sites or historical claims, when stating the information presented is wrong, actual documented evidence would be appreciated.

Research is the "KEY" I am not going to share any hard evidence with you. Forget that. Just because you search and create these questions for answers does not mean we have to give them to you.

 

[ECS]

I guess it will be left to the wary reader to discern what is valid information and what is pure speculation presented as fact, when RESEARCH contradicts what some post as truth.

 

[franklin]

I think for once maybe you guessed right.

 

[ECS]

If you say so, but doubts will arise, as you stated on another thread that you have proven to yourself that "the Beale story was made up".
So the point in your claiming the Robert Morris and Zephaniah Beall genealogy sites I posted are wrong?
There is no iron in the words of just claiming someone is wrong without providing the 'right" information with documentation to back it up.
So far ,you and everyone who has taken on the Beale Papers story, have not been able to prove that any of the content in the job print pamphlet's narrative ever happened outside of the "unknown author's" imagination.
All these genealogies that you quote, and some you say are WRONG, in all reality have no bearing on whether or not the Beale story is true.
It would be welcomed if actual documented evidence was presented that proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the Beale story actually happened, but as we all know, and you have concurred on several posts, this evidence DOES NOT EXIST.

 

[franklin]

There are always doubt.

 

[ECS]

You are confused. You need to find Zephaniah Beall Sr. not Zephaniah Beall Jr. Zephaniah Beall Jr. Was Thomas J. Beall's brother. Why do you confuse the facts to make like someone has their genealogy wrong. Makes you look good I guess. Well it don't because as usual you are wrong again...

If you say, but I haven't seen you prove otherwise.

 

[franklin]

I have nothing to prove.

 

[ECS]

So all these different alternative versions of the Beale story that you have presented on these threads can be attributed to good old Southern bubba power intuition?
That could explain all the contradictions.

 

[Rebel - KGC]

HA! Can we use it ("Old Southern Bubba Power Intuition aka OSBPI) to find the grave-sites of Robert & Sarah MORRISS or Robert MORRIS, Mayor of Lynchburg, Va. - 1813...? Inquiring Minds wanna KNOW!

 

[cw0909]

another day of flash flood type rain, its every other
day. you would think i live in the rain forest, not
midwest usa LOL
i think this would be some interesting reading,if
it wasnt so hard to read LOL
if the links dont work go to link, choose campbell co.
defendant morriss.search
Virginia Memory: Chancery Records Index

both of these cases are in lynchburg, im having a hard time
reading the pdfs, i think this RM owes $ on land and buildings

court robert morriss sued by John Dinwiddie 1820
Plaintiff John Dinwiddie Defendant robert morriss
a list of 12 surnames
Virginia Memory: Chancery Records Index - 031-1821-012

court robert morriss sued by Manoah C Darnell 1821
Plaintiff Manoah C Darnell Defendant robert morriss
a list of 3 surnames
Virginia Memory: Chancery Records Index - 031-1821-023

and a James B Ward ETC, dates in pdf 1849- 1871, i cant tell if JBW is
being sued and acting as lawyer or acting as lawyer for ect.this is in
lynchburg too, so hard to read

Plaintiff William J Price SURVPARTNER,Defendant(s) James B Ward ETC
and a list of 17 surnames
Virginia Memory: Chancery Records Index - 031-1872-036

 

[cw0909]

so are these 3 dif hotels, Franklin/Norvell, Washington/Arlington
Norvell/Arlington pg 36 & 37 at link) or same hotel just renamed


Sketch book of Lynchburg, Va. Its people and its trade ...
By: Pollock, Edward,
Published: (1887)
Norvell/Arlington pg 36 & 37 @ church & 8th, 1887
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t0pr82c7r;view=1up;seq=42;size=50

 

[cw0909]

yep still raining storming LOL

not sure this is the BP RM, maybe these women are the girls
he was taking care of

GROOM BRIDE DATE BONDSMAN



Lynchburg City, Virginia marriage bonds, 1805-1854
https://dcms.lds.org/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE3660865


if the above link doesnt work
Notes
To view a digital version of this item click here.
https://familysearch.org/search/catalog/2181227?availability=Las Vegas Nevada FamilySearch Library

 

[franklin]

cW0909, Thank you very much. You have kept me busy for two days reading these links. Great Job. Loved it. Please post more.