The following article was found in the Wilkes-Barre (PA) Record, 9 Dec
1895, Page 7. If anyone is interested in receiving a copy of this
obituary, please send me your mailing address. (Long article. Only
most relevant points stated below.)
(Instead of submitting this to any specific Mailing List, I am
submitting it to the General list in the hopes that it will be seen by a
more diverse group.)
"Rev. J.J. Morris, one of the oldest and best known ministers of the
gospel in this section of the State, died on Saturday at 3:20 p.m. He
was in good health up to within a few days of his death.
"Rev. Mr. Morris was born in Llanelly, South Wales in 1823, and in 1854
he emigrated to America and made his home for a time at Ashland, where
he worked in the mines as a miner. ... He was considered the oldest
miner in Pennsylvania, having worked in the mines sixty-five years, and
always in gangways, and what speaks well of him as a careful miner is
the fact that he never was hurt. ... In 1878, he was ordained a minister
of the Baptist Church at Jermyn, Pa., where many were made happy through
his preaching. ... He visited Wales twice during the last twenty years.
"A wife, seven sons and two daughters survive him - Thomas, a merchant
in California; Matthew A., superintendent of coal mines in Virginia;
Jesse A., Coal and Iron detective in Olyphant; Paul, a city pumpman in
Johnstown; Silas, a car inspector at Fairview for the Lehigh Valley;
Benjamin, bookkeeper for Lehigh Valley R.R. Co. at Sugar Notch; John R.,
a fire boss for Lehigh & Wilkes-Barre Coal Co. at Sugar Notch; Mrs. John
B. Magee of Plymouth; Mrs. John H. Thomas, of Phillipsburg, Pa., wife of
late mine inspector D.H. Thomas. ..."
(The rest of the article involves the funeral at Hanover Green Cemetery
and praises Rev. Morris' reputation.)
Nancy Cook
Pasadena, MD, USA