Wood County, West Virginia Biography of CHARLES P. MORRISON This file was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume II, pg. 525-526 CHARLES P. MORRISON. Among the representative citizens and worth-while men of Parkersburg, West Virginia, few com- mand more universal respect or enjoy higher esteem over wider territory than Charles P. Morrison, vice president of the Commercial Bank & Trust Company, who has been iden- tified with business activities of large importance in this sec- tion for thirty-four years. On retiring from longer active participation in the same he can look back on an honorable career of sterling achievement in the mercantile world. Mr. Morrison was born in Wood County, West Virginia, August 31, 1847. His parents were Hamilton and Jane G. (Simpson) (Dunham) Morrison. The founder of the Morrison family in Wood County was Hamilton Morrison, the grandfather of Charles P. He came to the United States from Ireland and in making his way to West Virginia at that early day followed the old Braddock trial through Pennsylvania and finally located below what is now Williamstown, but then was Williamsport, then in Vir- ginia, the year being about 1790. He was a farmer and weaver, and evidently a responsible citizen, as his name ap- pears as serving on the first grand jury summoned in Wood County. He married Margaret Hoagland, and they had three sons: Cornelius, William and Hamilton. After Cor- nelius married he moved to Indiana and died there, and after William married he moved to Ohio and spent the rest of his life in that state. The third son, Hamilton Morrison, was born June 6, 1803, on the pioneer farm in Wood County, Virginia, now West Virginia, and there grew to rugged manhood. In early man- hood he followed the stonemason trade but in later years was a farmer. He was very active politically, first as a whig and later as a free soiler, and when the republican party was organized he found he could conscientiously subscribe to its principles and continued in that political faith during the rest of his life. He was a member and liberal supporter of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a man of kind manner, chari- table and hospitable. He was twice married, first to Nancy Lee, and they had five children. His second wife, Mrs. Jane G. (Simpson) Dunham, was a widow with two children, and six children were born to the second marriage. As a boy Charles P. Morrison helped his father on the farm and attended school when practicable. For several years after attaining manhood he followed carpentering, but mer- chandising was his natural bent and in 1880 he opened a store at what was then called Bull Creek, but now Waverly. In 1875, however, he had established his home at Parkersburg, and continued to reside in this city even while conducting his business at Waverly, and on January 1, 1886, he entered the mercantile business here. For thirty-four years lacking two months he continued in that line before retiring, and during that period built up an extensive business and acquired a name which was a synonym of honesty and courtesy. For a number of years he has been a director and is now vice presi- dent of the Commercial Bank & Trust Company. Mr. Morrison married March 25, 1875, Mrs. Sarah J. (Henry) Dunbar. Mrs. Morrison had three children born to her first marriage: Charles G., Nellie and William Henry Dunbar. Mr. Morrison is a member of the Presbyterian Church. In his political views he is a republican and at times has served in public office. He was a member in early days of the civic body called the Board of Affairs, which has been succeeded by other civic organizations, and on several occasions he served terms on the City Council. He is a thirty-second degree Mason and Knight Templar, York Rite, and belongs to the Mystic Shrine. He was a member and president of the committee that had in hand the build- ing of the present splendid Masonic Temple at Parkersburg, and subscribed liberally to the building fund. While he has been honorably connected with many forward going move- ments here in the last quarter of a century or more, Mr. Morrison probably takes the greatest amount of pleasure in the fact that during his long and successful career as a mer- chant he bore an unblemished business name.