The MURISON family name.

[MorrisonMan]

Hi all.  I am new to this site. I am very interested in the posts made by Morrison_searcher.  You have mentioned George Morrison's son Adam that immigrated to South Africa and that he had a son Leonard Taylor Morrison.  Adam is in fact my grand father and Leonard Taylor is my uncle - I am named after him.  So it seems that we are related
I visited Scotland in June for the first time - WOW is all I can say.  I visited with another family member while I was there as well.  Her grandfather is Adam's older brother George.
I am still living in South Africa.

Len Morrison

[Morrison_searcher]

Hi Len

Calvin Morrison here (aka "Morrison_searcher"). I am son of Mervyn Morrison - son of Leonard Morrison your uncle. Where in SA are you living now? I would like to visit Scotland next year. Did you visit family while you were there?

[MorrisonMan]

Hi Calvin.

The world is so small

Living in Sasolburg - have been here for 16 years now. 

My wife and I travelled all over Scotland this year June.  We went to Edinburgh for about a week, then travelled to Isle of Skye (Portree) and then to Inverness.  We had a car so we travelled a lot and saw a lot.  We visited with a "cousin" that lives near Keith near to where Adam was born.  We actually went to Grange (right next to Keith) where Adam was born and raised.  The "cousin" I speak of has the same great grandfather as your father and I do.

So nice to contact you like this - lol 

[Morrison_searcher]

This is crazy Len 

I had no idea that we had relatives we have never met living in South Africa.

Leonard had two daughters: Dawn and Jenny and a son: Mervyn. They spent some time living in Zambia where my dad was born. Len worked on a copper mine in Mufilera (excuse spelling). They moved to SA and lived in Amanzimtoti where they spent a number of years together. Leonard unfortunately passed away when my dad was still young.

What might be of interest to you is that one of Leonard's brothers, Percy, married Ethel - the sister of Charlotte who married Leonard. In essence, two brothers and two sisters got married. Charlotte (my granny) is still alive (she is 89) as is Percy and Ethel. Percy and Ethel live in Pretoria - Percy's daughter, Lydia (your cousin) also lives in Pretoria with her husband and children.

So you are my dad's direct cousin which makes our relation "second cousin".

If you're working at Sasol then you have a second cousin (who's mom is daughter of Leonard) working for Sasol, Secunda. Are you an engineer by any chance? This cousin and my wife and I are all engineers :-)

[Morrison_searcher]

Len 

Just spoke to Dawn and she mentioned that you are all in fact cousins. She doesn't have your number so she will send me Lydia's number (your sister ) and we will make contact.

Correction: Percy and Ethel are now living on the farm with Lydia - which you already know

[Forfarian]

Would I be correct in assuming that Gamrie is probably where Walter was born?

No!

Unfortunately you cannot assume this, because the records are more and more incomplete the further back you get. Your Walter Mor(r)ison could be unrecorded.

[MorrisonMan]

Yes - Ethel and Percy are my parents.  Mervyn, Dawn and Jenny are my cousins - close cousins as their dad (Leonard) is my father's brother and their mom (Charlotte) is my mom's sister.  I am an engineer but don't work for Sasol.  I know Gary well.

Regards
Len

[Chris Duff]

Hi Guys,

I've been away from this forum for a while.  Came back today to find the MORRISON family name has taken over!  All very interesting, with many names familiar to me from my researches elsewhere, but where have the MURISON families gone?

If readers would like to scroll back a few pages, they will find a few posts from me, one in particular giving dates and relationships of my Gamrie and Alvah MURISON forebears.  Indulge me while I up-date these Banffshire MURISONS:

John Murison (Moorison, Muirison also in 18th century documents of the family)was a crofter at Crossford/Cross-slacks.  He married twice, but there appears to be no record of the ladies' names.  John (c1690-c1760) and his wives had at least seven sons and maybe a daughter or two.  There was William (c1716-  ), George (  -1772), Alexander, John, Francis (1723-1801), James (1727-1803) and Andrew (1730-1809).

Francis married Elspet Wood (1725-1801) and had one son and four daughters.  They were James (1757-1841, Anne (1760-  ), Elspet (1755-c1772), Margaret (1755-1820) and Mary (1764-1806).  Anne married John Reid; Margaret married George Rankin (1755-1812) in 1793 and Mary married James Rankin (1746-1824).  This completes this line as I know it.  I am not sure the relationship between the two Rankins - brothers?

James married Sophia Bruce late in life (around 1775) and had three daughters and one son.  They were Sophia (1780-  ), Margaret (1781-  ), Jean (1785-  ) and James (1776-1833).  James married Ann Waddell (  -1858) and had four daughters and five sons.  They were James (1812-  ), Andrew, Jean, John (1803-1822), Margaret, Cathrine, Mary, Alexander and Francis (1810-1880).  Francis married Isabella Cameron (1811-1877) and one of his sons, Francis (1837-1907), married Margaret Garrow (1834-1897).  The Garrow family became seriously entwined with the Murison tribe, even emigrating to Canada together in the early 1870s.  More of this in another posting.

Andrew (see para. 3 above), married Mary Herdman (1740-1824) in 1763 and they made a decision to change the patronym of their children to MORISON!  Mary was a descendant of the Forbes family of Kincardine and could trace her ancestry back to the Blackhalls of that Ilk and Barra.  A possible reason for the change could be that an early owner of Barra Castle had been a George Morison.  Who knows?  Anyway, their children married into the Farquhar, McCrae and Cushnie families and a whole slew of lawyers, doctors, artists and poets resulted, many emigrating to Australia.  One was knighted for his services to royalty, among other things.  More of this in another posting.

Chris