!SOURCE: Daniel Hudson -- e-mail: Daniel-Hudson@@msn.com
!SOURCE: "The Morrisons of Skinidin", THE CLAN MACLEOD MAGAZINE, II,
No. 17 (1952), pp. 63-66.
Alexander Morrison, who was born in 1717, followed his father''s
profession, and was also tacksman of Skinidin. He was for a period
factor to MacLeod of MacLeod. MacLeod of Hammer in [TREATISE ON
SECOND SIGHT] says that he was "an elder in the parish of Duirinish." He
was a man of considerable intellectual attainments, and assisted Mr.
James MacPherson, "not only in collecting the traditions, but in
digesting, translating, and writing Ossian." [Writing on 7th January 1801
to the Highland Society of Scotland, Alexander Morrison said that he
"was intimately acquinted with Mr. James MacPherson''s abilities and
knowledge of the Gaelic language . . . and he (MacPherson) was not a great
poet, nor thoroughly conversant in Gaelic literature . . . and that he could
as well compose the Prophecies of Isaiah, or create the Island of Skye,
as compose a poem like one of Ossian''s." (REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF
THE HIGHLAND SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND, p. 177.)] In 1772, he emigrated to
North Carolina "with three hundred of his neighbors," and, according to
the LOYALIST PAPERS, "soon established himself and his family in
circumstances very happy and independent."
He carried with him across the Atlantic, not only his beautiful
mahogany furniture but also his books, a list of which is given in the
LOYALIST PAPERS. The list is interesting, and shows that the culture of
the eighteenth century Skye tacksman was widely different from that
depicted by modern writers. It contains medical books, as one would
expect, and books in English, French, Gaelic, and the classical languages.
here is the list (books on medicine omitted) as made out by Alexander
Morrison himself: "Josephus, ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS; Prideaux, THE
CONNECTION BETWEEN THE OLD AND THE NEW TESTAMENTS; Herodotus (2
vols.); Plutarch (2 vols.); Rollin, ANCIENT HISTORY (broken set); Tacitus,
LIFE OF AGRICOLA; Stackhouse, HISTORY OF THE BIBLE; 1 quarto and 2
pocket Bibles (English); Pope, Works (4 vols.); Swift, Works (broken set);
Gaelic Bible, Book of Common Prayer, & several other books in Gaelic;
Tillotson, Sermons; Scougal, Works; Sherlock, ON DEATH; THE WHOLE
DUTY OF MAN; PARADISE LOST; Webster, NATURAL HISTORY; GENTLEMAN''S
MAGAZINE (12 vols., bound); Macpherson, ANTIQUITIES OF SCOTLAND;
Macpherson, Geography; Littleton, Dictionary; Dyke, Dictionary; Cicero,
Orations; Horace; Vergil; Ovid; Buchanan, HISTORY, DETERMINATION OF
MAN, and his PARAPHRASE OF THE PSALMS; Thomson, THE SEASONS; Byer,
DICTIONARY OF GRAMMAR; AVENTURES DE TELEMAQUE; Molière, Plays." In
this inventory of his library we surely have an indication of Dr.
Morrison''s intellectual vigour. His friend and neighbour in Glendale,
Alexander MacLeod (Flora MacDonald''s son-in-law), who emigrated to
North Corolina in 1774, also took his library with him across the ocean.
In North Carolina, Alexander Morrison became involved in the American
War of Independence. In his MEMORIAL to the Honourable Board of
Commissioners in London, he tells that it was "at his home the principal
Highland leaders met and made their plans for their ill-fated Rising, and
that it was also there the Highland Army was embodied early in February
1776." Morrison received the rank of Captain, and commanded a company
recruited by himself. He was appointed Deputy Quartermaster General,
and "exerted the utmost in his power to supply the troops with
provisions, for which he disbursed 135 pounds of his own money." He
was captured by the Americans at the battle of Moore''s Creek on 17th
February 1776, and, for more than a year, was "dragged from Gaol to
Gaol, & marched more than 1,000 miles before he was admitted to parole
in 1777." In August 1778 he was exchanged, but in April of the following
year, when on his way to North Carolina to stir up the Highlanders to rise
a second time against the Americans, he was captured at sea, "loaded
with irons & carried a prisoner to Portsmouth, New Hampshire." In
August he was again exchanged, but, "worn out with age and fatigue, he
was allowed to return to Britain," where he arrived in March 1780. On
account of his "active diligence in the Royal cause," his family were
cruelly treated by the Americans, who "for five years swept away all the
produce of his plantation, leaving only a bare subsistence for them." Dr.
Morrison returned to North Carolina for his wife and family in 1786, and
sometime thereafter they (except the sons) came back to Scotland and
settled in Greenock, where he passed away on 28th January 1805.
Dr. Morrison was married to Elizabeth MacLeod, said to have been a
daughter of the Rev. Alexander MacLeod, minister of St. Kilda. By her he
had issue: (1) Norman, of whom afterwards; (2) John, who attained the
rank of General in the American Army; (3) son, whose name is unknown;
(4) another son, whose name is unknown; (5) Margaret; (6) Jean; (7) Mary,
who married Donald Shaw from Duirinish, Skye. Mary and Donald Shaw
returned to Scotland with the Morrisons. Their family consisted of two
sons and nine daughters. The sons died young. One of the daughters,
Margaret, married John Thomson, shipbuilder, Greenock, with issue,
among others: (1) Catherine, who married John Wallace Robertson, with
issue, the Rev. Archibald E. Robertson, M.A., B.D., living now in Edinburgh;
(2) Mary, who married the Rev. Andrew Thomson (son of the Rev. Andrew
Thomson, D.D., St. George''s, Edinburgh), minister of Maybole, Ayrshire; (3)
Eliza Duncan, who married the Rev. John MacFarlan (son of the Rev.
Patrick MacFarlan, D.D., minister of the West Parish, Greenoch), minister
of the Free Middle Church, Greenock, with issue.