From Proud Heritage, Volume I by DCPA, currently out of print.
James Henry Morriss was the youngest child of Carlton R. and Mary Jane Ready Morriss. He was born in Barren County, Kentucky on November 14, 1848. His older brother, John T., was born in 1844. His sister, Amanda, was born in 1846 and died in 1853 of typhoid fever along with their mother, Mary Jane.
After Mary Jane’s death, Carlton disappeared and was never heard from. Mary Jane’s father, John Henry Ready, who had migrated to Texas, made the trip back to Kentucky, by wagon, to bring the two orphaned boys back to Texas where they were raised by an uncle (probably uncle by marriage). Stories told by my grandfather indicate that the boys were mistreated and life was not easy for them. Both boys ran away from his home at an early age. James Henry worked at odd jobs in the booming new city of Dallas and drove a wagon back and forth from Dallas to Sheveport to bring in “goods” for Colonel Cockrell’s store, located somewhere near where the old Sears Store on Lamar Street now stands. James Henry worked for Col. Cockrell for several years. John T., records show, became wanted by the law and was associated for a time with the Belle Starr gang.
James Henry Morriss (1848-1944) married Susan Adeline Keene (4th child of John and Nancy Turner Keene). Susan Adeline was born in 1855 and died in 1898. Both are buried in the Old Hall Cemetery west of Lewisville. Jim and Addie Morriss, upon their marriage, settled in the Bethel Community, 5 miles west of Lewisville, and lived there all their lives. To them were born the following children: 1) Carlton Winfred (1876-1889); 2) Andrew Eugene (1877-1969), married Etta Crawford; 3) Lavenia (1880-1946), married William Edgar Simmons; 4) Effie May (1883-1932), married John William Gaston; 5) John Thomas (1885-1946), married Lela Kiningham; (6) Leonadus L. (1887-1944), married Onnie Graham; 7) Georgia Ellen (1890-?), married Ellery Douglas; 8) Laura Alma (1893-1960) married L. Olin Kerr.
William Edgar Simmons (1873-1938) married Lavenia Morriss on 24 October 1897, and they lived their entire life in the Bartonville community, 9 miles west of Lewisville. To them were born the following children: 1) William Raymond (1898-1967), married Alta Erma Baggett; 2) Lona Mae (1899-1963), married William Earl Lester; 3) James Preston (1901-1969), married Alberta Jesse Wood; 4) Oliver Eugene (1903-1957), married Willie Frances Wilks; 5) John Marshall (1909-1939); 6) Naddie Jo born 1912, married Robert Harold Jelks; 7) Henry Allen (1915-1975), married Lucy Faye Argo; 8) Ruby Laurine born 1919, married Charles Clarence Ledbetter.
Ruby Simmons was born in Bartonville Community in Denton County and lived there until she moved to Dallas in 1938. Here she met and married Charles Clarence Ledbetter, a native of Kiowa County, Oklahoma. They have lived in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas all of their lives except for the World War II years. They have the following children and grandchildren:
Sandra Laurine born 1941, married James Leonard McCreery. To them were born: Christopher James in 1971 and Tony Alan in 1974.
Charles Lewis born 1947, married Gayle Appleby. To them were born: Mark Daniel in 1969 and Amy Jennifer in 1970.
By Ruby Simmons Ledbetter, Dallas
