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LON MORRIS
Vol. 3, p.1051

The legal profession is ably represented at Walter, Oklahoma, by Lon
MORRIS, who is now serving in the office of county attorney of Cotton
County. While he has been a resident of this city only since 1921, he
is already recognized as a through, profound and conscientious
lawyer, with a mastery of the principals and precedents of the law,
and as a public official whose appreciation of the responsibilities
of office make his service an especially valuable one.

Mr. Morris was born in Ellis County, Texas, June 27, 1872, and a son
of B. W. and Julia (CRAIG) Morris. The family originated in Scotland
and its progenitor in America came to this country prior to the
Revolutionary war and settled in the Colony of Virginia. B. W. Morris
was born in Texas in 1845, and became a pioneer of Ellis County, from
whence, in 1872, he moved to Granbury, Hood County, Texas, where he
was likewise one of the early settlers. He still resides in the
community, being a retired farmer and stockman and owns considerable
property. A democrat in his political views, Mr. Morris has been one
of the prominent and influential men of his locality and at various
times has been called upon to fill offices of importance. For twelve
years he served as county assessor, for fourteen years was sheriff of
Hood County, and on one occasion was sent to represent his district
in the Texas State Legislature. During the period of the Civil war he
served three years in the Army of the Confederacy as a member of an
Arkansas regiment of infantry. Mr. Morris is a member of the
Missionary Baptist Church. He married Miss Julia CRAIG, a native of
Arkansas, and they have been the parents of the following children:
Lon of this notice; Samuel, who is a merchant of Abilene, Texas;
Walter, who is engaged in the practice of law at Albany, Texas;
Charles, the proprietor of a mercantile establishment at Stamford,
Texas; Lucy, who is the wife of Fred REICHSTEETTER, a traveling
salesman of New Mexico; Misses Emma and Lottie, who are unmarried and
reside with their parents; and Jacob, who is a showman, at present
traveling in Europe.

Lon Morris was an infant when taken by his parents to Granbury,
Texas, and there he received his early education in the public
schools. Subsequently he was sent to Granbury Methodist College, from
which he is graduated in 1891, and his literary training was
completed in 1893, when he left Add-Ran University, Thorp's Spring,
Texas. This was supplemented by a course at the Agricultural and
Mechanical College, at Bryan, Texas, where he was graduated in 1896,
following which he entered a law office at Granbury, being admitted
to the bar two years later. With this excellent equipment, Mr. Morris
started the practice of his chosen profession at Granbury, where he
remained until 1905, then coming to Oklahoma and settling at Temple,
where he engaged in the practice of law and in banking, and in the
"Big Pasture," until 1910. At that time Mr. Morris' services were
secured by a combination of business men to go to tropical Mexico and
give his opinion as to the value of a land project. The unsettled
conditions in that country, however, owing to the revolutionists,
caused him to leave Mexico and in 1912 he came to Walters, which
place has since continued as his home. He is now engaged in a general
practice of his profession, having his office in the First National
Bank Building. He has already been identified with a number of cases
which have brought his name prominently and favorably before the
public , and he is justly accounted one of Cotton County's reliable
and thoroughly learned practitioners. A democrat in politics, while a
resident of Granbury Mr. Morris was elected on that party's ticket to
the county attorneyship [sic] of Hood County, and while there also
served as assistant sergeant -at-arms of the Twenty-fourth Texas
Legislature. In November , 1914, he was elected county attorney of
Cotton County, taking office the first Monday in January, 1915, for a
term of two years. He is a member of the official board of the
Christian Church. Fraternally Mr. Morris is widely and favorably
known, being affiliated with Granbury Lodge, No. 392, Ancient Free
and Accepted Masons; Archer City Lodge, Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, of Archer City, Texas, in which he is past grand as well as
past deputy grand of the Grand Lodge; the Knights of Pythias, of
Granbury, in which he is past chancellor; and the Granbury lodges of
the Modern Woodmen of America, the Woodmen of the World, the Ancient
Order of United Workmen and the Improved Order of Red Men. Mr. Morris
was married at Granbury, Texas, in 1895, to Miss Ida HENDERSON, a
native of Granbury, and daughter of J. F. Henderson, a pioneer into
Texas from Missouri who now resides near Temple, Oklahoma, on his
farm. Three children have been born to this union; Guy, who is a
blacksmith at Walter; Toby, who is a sophomore at the Walters High
School; and Madden, a pupil in the sixth grade of the public school.

Typed for OKGenWeb by: Vickie Neill Taylor. October 22, 1998.