JOHN M. MORROW is a native of the county, born March 21, 1850, in the portion of Canton township that is now included in West Washington. His paternal great-grandparents, Adam and Elizabeth (Crozier) Morrow, came to this country from Ireland about the year 1804, making their first home in their adopted country in Virginia, where they carried on farming, and thence, in 1820, they moved with their family to Washington county, Penn., where they passed the remainder of their lives, the great-grandfather dying July 24, 1816, and the great-grandmother, February 14, 1846. They had seven children as follows: William (died in Iowa), Adam (killed in Virginia by the limb of a tree falling on him), James (died of small-pox), John (of whom special mention is made further on), Andrew (died in New Orleans), Jane (married a Mr. Carney, and died in Cincinnati leaving a family), and Susan (died when young in Washington, Penn.). John Morrow, grandfather of subject, was born January 2, 1800, in Ireland, and was consequently four years old when brought by his parents to this country. In 1823 he was married to Sophia Hallam (a sketch of whose family follows this), and they then settled on land in Washington County, where the aged widow yet lives, her husband having passed away June 22, 1859. He was a blacksmith and wagon maker by trade, and many of the wagons made by him were used in the construction of the National pike, while fifty-six were bought by the Government for use in the Mexican war. He was regarded as a man of much ability, and was not excelled as a mechanic. His old workshop on East Wheeling street, Washington, is now owned by J. D. Jackson. His widow, at this writing, nearly ninety years of age, possesses remarkably good health and memory. She is a member of the M. E. Church at Washington. Seven children were born to this honored couple: Adam Crozier (special mention of whom follows), Thomas Hallam (died in New York), John Andrew (died in Omaha), Robert Latimer (died in Washington, where his widow and one daughter are yet living), Sarah Margaret (died unmarried), Elizabeth Jane (deceased wife of John McEnas, of Boston, Mass.), and William Henry (now living in Boston, Mass.). Adam Crozier Morrow (father of John M.), was born August 16, 1825, in Washington county, Penn., at the common schools of which place he received his rudimentary education, after which he attended college four and a half years, but did not graduate. He learned the trade of blacksmith with his father, and followed same until 1850, when he embarked in the dry-goods business, later taking up the grocery trade, which he carried on in Washington some twenty-five or thirty years. During part of this time from 1868 to 1880 he kept the "Auld House," then known as the "Morrow House," and previously called the "Railroad House." Having sold out all his business interests in Washington in 1880, Mr. Morrow, in 1886, moved to Pittsburgh, where he has since made his home. On June 15, 1848, he married Ann Elizabeth, daughter of Col. John and Nancy Morgan, of Chartiers township, whose children were: Martha, married to Godfrey Cook also of Chartiers (both now deceased); Major Jacob Morgan (deceased), whose widow, Alice (McCloskey), now resides on Prospect avenue, Washington borough; Emily, married to William Cundall (both deceased); Robert, married to Mary Mackie (both deceased); Nancy, wife of James Harvey, living in Mt. Pleasant township; William; Rebecca, wife of J. R. McCloskey, in Kansas; Hugh, also in Kansas, and Ann E. To the marriage of Adam and Ann E. Morrow were born ten children, as follows: John (our subject), Lucius S. (born August 8, 1852, died at the age of about four years), Annie S. (born May 16, 1855, married to W. D. Roberts, of Washington), Charles C. (born November 30, 1858, now a resident of Pittsburgh), Sallie M. (born June 14, 1860, also living in Pittsburgh), Jennie M. (born September 10, 1863), Hugh W. (born November 23, 1867), Mollie and Alice (twins, born in 1870, died in infancy), and Thomas (who died in childhood). The mother died January 13, 1890, in Pittsburgh, at the age of sixty-three years. The father is a stanch Democrat, and has filled various offices of trust, such as member of council for a time; he became a member of the I. O. O. F. at an early age. John M. Morrow received his education at the common schools of the district, and on completing the usual curriculum, entered Duff's Mercantile College at Pittsburgh, from which he graduated in 1871. He then received the appointment of cashier and bookkeeper for Major Morgan, an extensive wool dealer in Washington borough. At the expiry of a year he accepted a similar position with S. Ewart & Co., wholesale grocers, but in 1872 he returned to Washington to assist his father in the grocery business, in which he continued till 1880, when the latter sold out, as already related. Our subject then entered, July 1, same year, the employ of George Davis. On January 25, 1875, Mr. Morrow was married to Miss Elizabeth W., daughter of M. G. Kuntz, and three children have come to bless their home, viz.: Eliza Ann, born August 23, 1877; Sophie Elizabeth, born January 31, 1879; and Wray Grayson, born September 23, 1881. The family reside in the comfortable and handsome residence, No. 87 East Maiden street, built by Mr. Morrow in 1889. They are all members of the Second Presbyterian Church of Washington. Socially our subject is a member of the Royal Arcanum and the Improved Order of Heptasophs, Washington; politically, he is a Democrat. Mrs. Sophia (Hallam) Morrow was born January 31, 1804, in South Strabane township, Washington Co., Penn., a daughter of Thomas Hallam, who was a son of John, Sr., and Isabella (Fell) Hallam, who both died in Washington county early in the century, having immigrated in 1763 to this country with five sons, two of whom went to the Far West, Thomas and John coming to Washington, this county, where the latter died of smallpox in 1800. Thomas was twice married, first time to a Miss Beshear, by whom he had eight children, all now deceased. His second wife was Sarah Voorhees daughter of Isaiah Voorhees, who died in Columbus, Ohio, and whose wife was called from earth in Washington, Penn. After marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Hallam settled on the farm in Franklin township, where John Reddick now lives. For a time they kept a hotel which stood on ground now called "Pancake." Later, having rented their farm here, they moved to Wellsburg, W. Va., where Mr. Hallam had bought a ferry, which he ran for about a year. They then returned to Washington county. Mr. Hallam traded the "John G. Clark" farm in Franklin township for 1500 acres in Ohio, whither he and his wife moved in 1828, and here he died August l, 1829, at the age of eighty-four years. He was very successful in all his undertakings, but died comparatively poor, having lost most of his property by going bail for others. He participated in the Whisky Insurrection. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Hallam had eight children, viz.: Thomas (died in Ohio), Absalom (died in Illinois), Sophia (widow of John Morrow), Samuel D. (living in Monmouth, Ill.), David (died in Iowa), Margaret (deceased wife of John Stone, of Illinois), Sarah (died in Ohio) and Isabella (deceased wife of Thomas Goodman, of Texas).

Text taken from page 1473 of: Beers, J. H. and Co., Commemorative Biographical Record of Washington County, Pennsylvania (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co., 1893). Transcribed February 1997 by Neil and Marilyn Morton of Oswego, IL as part of the Beers Project. Published February 1997 on the Washington County, PA USGenWeb pages at http://www.chartiers.com/.

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