This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Obituary Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/GV.2ADI/260 Message Board Post: 1880 Census Place: Muscatine, Muscatine County, Iowa Page 207A Relation Sex Marr Race Age Birthplace Joseph MORRISON Self M M W 48 PA Occ: Banker Fa: IRE Mo: IRE Sarah MORRISON Wife F M W 31 PA Occ: Keeping House Fa: PA Mo: PA Ella B. MORRISON Dau F S W 8 IA Occ: At Home Fa: PA Mo: PA Henry H. MORRISONSon M S W 7 IA Occ: At School Fa: PA Mo: PA Joseph W. MORRISONSon M S W 5 IA Fa: PA Mo: PA Bessie H. MORRISONDau F S W 3 IA Fa: PA Mo: PA Carrie RUFF Other F S W 16 IA Occ: Domestic Service Fa: GER Mo: GER He was in the 1900 Muscatine County Iowa Census page 128 as follows; Joseph 69 born PA married 30 years, Sarah 51 born PA she had 4 children and 2 living, Joseph W. 25 son born IA, Robert C. 14 born IA, John Epperly lodger 64 born OH. Source Wilma Hutchings and Leonard Morrison. The following is from the 1903 Muscatine, Iowa Journal. Joseph Morrison this morning handed in his resignation as assistant county auditor and will in a short time remove his family to Arkansas, where he will make his future home. Mr. Morrison has been a resident of Muscatine for over half a century and during that time has made many friends who regret to hear of his determination to leave the city. During his long residence here he has done many things for the improvement of the city and the bettering of the conditions surrounding his fellow men. He has always been a public spirited man and has held many offices of trust within the giving of the people and never has he violated any confidence placed in him. He has merited and received the highest respect that could be paid to him by friends and neighbors. As a public official he has been very faithful in the performance of his duties and of strict adherence to what he thought was right. He is a man who has always made and held friends readily and it is no wonder that his d! eparture from the scenes of his early life should be a source of keen regret to all who know him. Came here in 1855 Mr. Morrison came to Muscatine in September., 1855 and since that time has resided here continuously. It was over 20 years ago that he first entered the court house as an employee and since that time he has served almost continuously, making over 22 years of faithful service for the people of Muscatine county. In 1868 he was chosen as deputy treasurer and served in that capacity for a term of 5 years; he then was elected treasurer and served for a term of 6 years. In 1892 he took up the work of assistant county auditor and has worked faithfully in that department for the past 11 years, completing the 22 year in the service of the people. He helped organize the first fire department for the city of Muscatine and in 1876 commenced his four years of service as chief of that department. At a later period he served on the school board for a term of 3 years and during that time suggested many improvements to better the condition of the pupils. During the administratio! n of John Mahin as postmaster, Mr. Morrison served for 2 years as assistant and gave most satisfactory service to Uncle Sam's patrons. He has purchased an 80 acre farm in Arkansas and he expects to make his future home in the sunny south. The farm contains 35 acres of fine hardwood timber, while the remainder is under cultivation. Arrangements for his departure are nearly completed and as soon as he can pack his household goods and close up the work at his desk in the court house he will leave the city where he has lived for over a half a century. Mr. Morrison has been at the court house so long that he has practically become a fixture there and the attaches are loath to think of the time when his desk will be empty and the chair unoccupied. Joseph Morrison after living several years on the farm, with his wife Sarah and two sons Joseph and Robert moved to the nearby small town of Ratcliff Arkansas where he died in 1910. Taken from the Muscatine Iowa Journal 6 July 1883 page 2. Our community owe much to Mr. Joseph Morrison who has met with such a terrible domestic loss for the rigid quarantine measures enforced by him to prevent the diphtheria desolating his hearth from invading the homes of others. It is now believed that Muscatine has seen the worst of this visit of diphtheria, but this should not lessen the vigilance of citizens in keeping their premises and surroundings free from the foul spots that invite the steps of the pestilence. The Marshal's example is a good one to follow scatter the lime around plentifully. Next to Mr. and Mrs. Morrison for whom so profound a sympathy is felt by the city, no one can be more entitled to our tenderest compassion than Mrs. Joseph Beard of Wapello Iowa, so recently a member of the home circle and who has been compelled to hear of her little sisters and brothers sickening and dying without her being granted the scant but sweet consolation of seeing them before their burial forever from her sight. The old residents of the neighborhood who could but observe the peculiarly loving relations existing between this eldest sister and these children will appreciate in some measure the anguish of the days to her now passing. (Four children of Joseph and Sarah Morrison died of diphtheria within a 7 day period in 1883) the above article was from the Muscatine Iowa Journal also. If you copy my material please give me (June Welsch) credit for it my e-mail address is jiwelsch@machlink.com