Elizabeth Morrison and a History of Hazelwild

 

Anna Elizabeth Morrison (Rich Morrison)

     For 130 years, Hazelwild was owned by three generations of the Eastburn and Morrison families. Today this historic farm is probably best remembered because of its last private owner, Anna Elizabeth Morrison (1901-1997). Known as "Aunt Sissy" by generations of her relatives and former students, her love of teaching, her boundless energy and her devotion to her community place her in the top tier of Spotsylvania County's premier citizens.

Oliver and Anna Eastburn (Rich Morrison)

     Oliver Wilson Eastburn was born into a prosperous Quaker family in Mill Creek Hundred, New Castle County, Delaware on June 23, 1824. He never knew his father, David Eastburn, Sr., who died just six days after his birth. In addition to farming, David Eastburn had operated a lime kiln with with brother-in-law, Abel Jeanes (lime burning is the process of converting limestone to quicklime, a soil amendment important in agriculture). 

     Oliver married Anna Eliza Shakespeare (1832-1882) in 1850. Over a twenty-six-year period they had thirteen children together, one of whom died in infancy. The second youngest of their children was Lillian Virginia.

Lillian Virginia Eastburn (Rich Morrison)

         In the years leading up to the Civil War, a number of families from New Castle County moved to Spotsylvania. Most noteworthy among this group were the Morrisons, Armstrongs and Alriches. Compared to land values in Delaware, farm prices in Spotsylvania were quite inexpensive. This fact improved the prospects for these families to prosper as farmers. In the summer of 1866, Oliver Eastburn decided to follow their example. In July of that year, he contracted to buy a 626-1/2 acre farm along Hazel Run from the widow of Augustus Henry Malsberger. The terms appeared in the July 17, 1866 edition of the Fredericksburg Ledger. Irish immigrant Patrick McCracken acted as real estate agent:

The original house at Hazelwild, 1915 (Rich Morrison)

                       

     In the 1863 map detail below, shown is the section of that includes Hazelwood, which is indicated as "Malsburger" at upper right:

     The purchase of what was then called Hazelwood was finalized when a deed was signed on October 12, 1866. Oliver then placed an advertisement in the November 8, 1866 edition of the Delaware Republican, offering his previous residence for sale.

       The terms of the sale of Hazelwood indicated that Oliver was providing $5,500 cash and borrowing the balance. Since he had not yet sold his home in Delaware, he was obliged to borrow that amount from his brother David Eastburn, Jr.. David was a prosperous Delaware farmer who had continued in the family's lime-burning business and was for a time the president of the Newport National Bank. The money Oliver borrowed from his brother was secured by a deed of trust to John L. Marye, Jr.

David Eastburn, Jr. (Ancestry.com)

     Like other families from New Castle County who settled in Spotsylvania, it did not take Oliver Eastburn long to become a prosperous farmer and valued member of his community. During the 37 years he lived at Hazelwood, he held a number of positions of public trust, including assessor of real estate, justice of the peace, magistrate for the Courtland district, road commissioner and school board trustee. He was popularly known as "Squire" Eastburn. He also served on the board of the Rappahannock Valley Agricultural and Mechanical Society, which was responsible for organizing the annual fair in Fredericksburg. He was elected president of the Society in 1894.

Oliver Eastburn at Fredericksburg fair (Rich Morrison)

     Oliver was a devoted member of Tabernacle Methodist Church. He was the first superintendent of the Sunday school there. Not surprisingly, he was also active in the affairs of the Virginia Methodist Conference. Shown below is Tabernacle as Oliver would have known it, and three images from a Methodist hymnal that likely belonged to him that were shared with me by Rich Morrison.

 

       Anna Eastburn, Oliver's wife of 33 years, died at Hazelwood on April 10, 1883. She is buried in the Confederate Cemetery in Fredericksburg.

Anna Shakespeare Eastburn (Rich Morrison)

     In July 1895, Oliver was knocked down and trampled by one of his bulls. Only the quick reaction of his employees who happened to be nearby saved him from serious injury, or worse.

Oliver Eastburn (Rich Morrison)

     The year 1896 proved to be a momentous one for Oliver Eastburn, for reasons both good and bad. On the plus side of the ledger, his daughter Lillian Virginia married George Huston Morrison. It was also the year of the great wind storm that wrecked his barn. This unfortunate event set into motion a series of incidents that were doubtless unpleasant for Oliver, and then for his heirs.

David Eastburn, Jr. (Rich Morrison)

     At the time that Oliver lost his barn, now 30 years since he had bought Hazelwood, he still owed his brother David the $5,500 he had borrowed to make that purchase. And the deed of trust he had given to John L. Marye, Jr., to secure that loan was still in force. This placed Oliver in a predicament, because he could not borrow money to build a new barn until the promissory notes held by David were marked paid and returned to him, thereby allowing him to get the deed of trust released. He could then borrow money to raise a new barn. 

     Oliver wrote a letter to David and asked him to please mark the notes paid and return them to him. Once he satisfied the deed of trust and got his loan, Oliver told David that he would draw up new notes for the same amount and send them to him. Oliver got his new barn, but he did not execute the new notes. 

Barn at Hazelwild (Rich Morrison)

     David Eastburn died on New Year's Day, 1899. In his will drawn up shortly before his death, he wrote that he forgave Oliver for the unpaid interest on his loan, but that he still considered the principal amount of $5,500 was due to his heirs. 

Richard G. Buckingham (Rich Morrison)

     The executor of David Eastburn's estate was his (and Oliver's) nephew, Richard G. Buckingham. He took seriously his fiduciary responsibility to David's heirs, and began to vigorously pursue the recovery of the $5,500.

Daily Star 5 August 1903

Headstone of Oliver Eastburn (Findagrave)

     Oliver Wilson Eastburn died at Hazelwood on August 4, 1903. He is buried near Anna at the Confederate Cemetery in Fredericksburg.

     At the time of Oliver's death, the matter of his outstanding debt to his brother's estate was still unresolved. It now fell to his son, Samuel E. Eastburn, as executor of his estate, to continue the legal wrangling with the tireless Mr. Buckingham.

Samuel E. Eastburn (Rich Morrison)

     After years of letter writing, legal depositions, injunctions and so on the matter of the unpaid debt was finally resolved to the satisfaction of the parties involved. On April 25, 1904, Samuel E. Eastburn executed a deed to his brother-in-law, George Huston Morrison, who bought Hazelwood from the estate of Oliver Eastburn.

     Robert Reed Morrison was born in Mill Creek Hundred, New Castle County, Delaware in 1823. He was the son of immigrants--his father was Irish, his mother was from Scotland. He married Mary Ann Springer on February 6, 1855. Over the next fourteen years, Robert and Mary had six children together.

Mary Springer Morrison (Rich Morrison)

     Not long after the birth of their first child, Amanda, Robert moved his family to Spotsylvania County. Their first home was on Gordon Road near two other New Castle County natives, his brother-in-law William L. Armstrong and his son, Benjamin Armstrong. In fact, most of Robert's brothers had moved to Spotsylvania during the 1850s. In time, these hardworking families made significant contributions to the civic and economic life of their adopted community. In the near-term, however, they had to endure the hatred and suspicion of their secessionist neighbors, who were unable to abide any show of loyalty to the United States. The intensity of the persecution reached the point that most of the Morrisons and Armstrongs were driven into exile. Some returned to Spotsylvania after the war, others decided to stay in friendlier surroundings. Robert and his family apparently spent some of the war years in Alexandria, where the fourth child, Anna Eliza ("Lidie") was born in February 1865. Once the war was over, Robert and Mary and their children returned to Spotsylvania.

     In 1866, Robert bought Apple Lawn, a fine house on what was then known as the Fall Hill Road (today it is known as Bragg Road). Apple Lawn was built in 1859 by Robert's brother, William C. Morrison, a well-regarded building contractor who had been awarded the contract to build the bridges needed on the still unfinished Potomac, Fredericksburg and Piedmont Railroad. 

     The Morrisons were faithful members of the Fredericksburg Presbyterian Church, and Robert enjoyed the reputation of being a prosperous and progressive farmer. Like Oliver Eastburn, he served as an officer on the board of the Rappahannock Valley Agricultural and Mechanical Society.

Gathering at Apple Lawn, May 1892 (Rich Morrison)

     In May 1892, veterans of the 15th New Jersey Volunteers visited some Civil War sites in the Fredericksburg area with which they were very familiar, such as their old camping ground near White Oak Church in Stafford County, and where they had fought near Salem Church in May 1863. While in Spotsylvania, they visited Apple Lawn, where they posed for a photograph at the front entrance of the house. Shown in the picture above are, standing left to right: Larkin W. Landram (George H. Morrison's business partner);  Robert Reed Morrison and his wife Mary; their son George H. Morrison; three daughters of Robert and Mary--Lidie, Ella and Lavenia; and Dr. Joseph Reed Hoffman. Seated are Henry Bynam Hoffman, Judge John Beam Vreeland and Justin Lindsley. A monument dedicated to the 15th New Jersey was erected in 1908 at what is now the intersection of Route 3 and Heatherstone Drive.

     Robert Reed Morrison died suddenly at Apple Lawn on July 9, 1894. He lies buried in the Confederate Cemetery in Fredericksburg.

Obituary of Robert Reed Morrison

Monument to Robert and Mary Morrison (Findagrave)

     In his will, Robert had bequeathed Apple Lawn to his wife Mary. Mary's daughter, Lidie, married Benjamin Thomas Hall at Apple Lawn  on November 23, 1898.

Benjamin and Lidie Hall (Rich Morrison)

Daily Star, 24 November 1898.

     Ben and Lidie made Apple Lawn their home and lived there with Mary Morrison until she died of tuberculosis on April 12, 1900. Ben and Lidie then became the owners of Apple Lawn.

Ben and Lidie at Apple Lawn, 1915 (Rich Morrison)

     Ben and Lidie lived at Apple Lawn for the rest of their lives. Lidie died of heart disease at the Stafford home of her niece, Mrs. Norman C. Blake, on January 5, 1950. Ben outlived Lidie by ten years and died at Apple Lawn in circumstances that shocked the community (see footnote at the end of this article *).

     George Huston Morrison, the second youngest child of Robert and Mary Morrison, was born at Apple Lawn on April 1, 1867. Even at a young age, George showed some of the traits that would define him in the years to come--a keen intellect, an entrepreneurial spirit and the energy and foresight to realize his aspirations. 

     By 1889, George Morrison was working as an apprentice to an uncle who was an architect in Chevy Chase, Maryland. That same year he was given the responsibility to assist in the decorating of the newly built Church of the Covenant in Washington, D.C. He took a correspondence course in architecture and acquired a number of books on the subject. 

     Soon enough, however, he understood that the life an architect was not his true calling. He already was laying plans for a new venture when he returned home to Apple Lawn. He first had to overcome a bout with typhoid fever, as was reported in the Free Lance in August 1890. Three weeks later, the same newspaper announced his plans to build a spoke factory on what is now Lafayette Boulevard on property he bought from J.T. Lowery near the depot of the Potomac, Fredericksburg and Piedmont Railtoad.

    

Larkin W. Landram (Rich Morrison)

     George's partner in this new business, called the Fredericksburg Spokes Works, was one of Fredericksburg's premier wagon makers, Larkin W. Landram. Together, these men created a company that sold their products internationally.

Richmond Times Dispatch, 17 June 1906

     George Morrison and Lillian Eastburn exchanged wedding vows at Salem Baptist Church on September 16, 1896. Presiding was Confederate veteran Reverend Walker J. Decker, who was assisted by Reverend B.W. Mebane of the Fredericksburg Presbyterian Church. Their wedding announcement noted that they would be traveling to Saratoga Springs, New York "and other places of interest." The freshly minted bride and groom had their pictures taken at two of those places.

George and Lillian, on right, at Watkins Glen, N.Y. (Rich Morrison)

George and Lillian in Toronto, Canada (Rich Morrison)

     George and Lillian's first three children--Robert Reed, Anna Elizabeth and William Shakespeare--were born at the "Syndicate House" on Lee Avenue in Fredericksburg. For the first eight years of their marriage, this would be the Morrison home. 

     As one would expect, George was active in the civic life of Fredericksburg. He served on the city council, was a member of the Young Men's Business Association and continued to be a devoted member of the Fredericksburg Presbyterian Church, where he would later be elected as ruling elder.

George H. Morrison, ruling elder (Rich Morrison)

     After the death of Oliver Eastburn in 1903, the decision had been made that Hazelwood would become the home of George and Lillian. Before he could get clear title to the farm, however, there was still the ongoing litigation regarding Oliver's unpaid notes. While that was still pending, George hired a crew to harvest some timber at Hazelwood. Word of this activity got back to Mr. Buckingham, David Eastburn's executor. He obtained an injunction preventing George from doing any more of this until he was the actual owner. Soon thereafter, these difficulties were cleared up and in 1904 George paid $9,500 to the estate of Oliver Eastburn and became the owner of the property where Lillian been born and raised.

     For the next several years, the business of the Fredericksburg Spokes Works seemed to be in turmoil as George's attention shifted away from manufacturing to farming. A number of newspaper article regarding that changes would be made at the spokes works, and then apparently unmade:

Free Lance, 13 January 1906

Free Lance, 6 February 1906

Free Lance, 25 February 1911

Richmond Times-Dispatch, 2 March 1911

Daily Star, 20 June 1911

     What became of the spokes works after it was taken over by George and his cousin, Fredericksburg merchant Thomas Fell Morrison, is not known. 

     After the Morrisons moved to Hazelwood in the autumn of 1904, George set about to remedy a problem that had been going on for some time. There was another Hazelwood farm nearby in Caroline County, and as one might expect the mail to both locations was frequently misdirected. George did a little research and discovered that his farm was originally called Hazelwild, and so he changed the name to to what it is to this day.

Farming at Hazelwild (Rich Morrison)

    

Dairy barn at Hazelwild

     George Morrison grew corn, oats, wheat and hay and raised beef cattle. Later, a modern dairy operation was started and milk was sold to a creamery in Washington, D.C. George and his son William also ran a grain and feed store at 515 William Street:

(Rich Morrison)

      Family portrait taken in 1915. The couple standing at left are Archibald Armstrong and his wife Ellen. Next to them are Lidie and Ben Morrison. Sitting with the children are Lillian and George Morrison.

(Rich Morrison)

     Perhaps because of the violent weather experienced at Hazelwild (such as the destruction of Oliver Eastburn's barn in 1896), George Morrison was for a number of years the official weather observer for the Fredericksburg area. He kept a a variety of weather instruments on the farm.

     In 1917, a tornado struck the house, tearing off most of the roof and twisting the bottom floor. The original house was very well built with hand-hewn beams, wrought iron nails and wooden pegs. But it was too badly damaged to be saved and was rebuilt to the appearance familiar to visitors today. The Morrisons lived in servants' quarters while the house was rebuilt.

Rebuilding the house at Hazelwild, 1917 (Rich Morrison)

     Mother Nature took one more swing at Hazelwild in 1931 when lightning struck one of the barns:

Free Lance-Star, 24 July 1931

Lightning damage at Hazelwild, 1931 (Rich Morrison)

Lightning damage at Hazelwild, 1931 (Rich Morrison)

    

     George and Lillian Morrison's second child, Anna Elizabeth, was born at the "Syndicate House" on Lee Avenue in Fredericksburg on October 16, 1901. In an interview she gave to Janey Brown in 1992, Elizabeth Morrison said she could still remember playing in that house. The house had a dumbwaiter, and her brother Robert would put her in it and ride her up and down.

     When Elizabeth and her brothers Robert and William were old enough to begin their education, they attended a private school in Fredericksburg. The three children rode to town from Hazelwild in a buggy, with Robert in charge of the reins. They were students at the school on Caroline Street taught by Charles Henry Wissner.  Elizabeth remembered Mr. Wissner as "very learned, but not a very thorough teacher". 

     Being the daughter of the prosperous George Morrison had certain advantages. As a young girl, her parents brought her to a dental specialist in Philadelphia to be fitted with braces. In an age when car ownership was still a comparative rarity, Elizabeth learned to drive a car while in her teens.

     Living on a farm also gave Elizabeth opportunities to develop skills that she one day would stand her in good stead when she began study for a career in medicine. For example, while still a teenager she operated on a pig suffering with a hernia and saved its life.

     Elizabeth attended high school at the Fredericksburg Public School, which was a training school  affiliated with the Fredericksburg Normal and Industrial School, the forerunner of the University of Mary Washington. From there she enrolled in the Normal School. She graduated in 1921 with a degree in household arts.

Senior picture of Elizabeth Morrison, 1921 (Ancestry.com)

    

     A few years later, she returned to her alma mater, now called the State Teachers College of Fredericksburg, and received her bachelors degree in physical education.

Elizabeth Morrison, 1926 (Ancestry.com)

    

     In the period between earning her two degrees, Elizabeth taught elementary school in Bowling Green and Fairfax. After her graduation in 1926, she taught a year in Bristol, Virginia and a year in Silver Spring Maryland. Elizabeth then spent a year in the master's program at the University of Wisconsin, studying physiology.

     Before she finished her degree at Wisconsin, Elizabeth was contacted by Pearl Hicks, who had been her mentor at the State Teachers College. Miss Hicks had recently founded the Washington School of Physical Education in the District of Columbia, and she invited Elizabeth to join the faculty. She taught there for several years, during which time she too pre-med courses in preparation for attending the medical school at George Washington University. 

     Unfortunately, that never came to pass. Elizabeth's mother suffered a stroke, and she returned to Hazelwild to care for her. In time, her mother began to improve, and Elizabeth began teaching a couple of days a week at the recently opened Spotsylvania High School. Soon, she was teaching full time there and was the first teacher with a degree in physical education at the high school. She taught all the girls' physical education courses, coached all of the girls' teams and, of course, attended all their games. This was at a time when the same responsibility for the boys was shared by 2-3 men. 

     There are a number of photographs of Elizabeth during her years at Spotsylvania High School. The one shown below is that of the 1946 basketball team. My mother is directly in front of Miss Morrison:

 

     The 1948 basketball team:

(Courtesy of Vickie Neely)

(Courtesy of Vickie Neely)

     The girls' baseball team, about 1945. My mother is sitting at far left and holding a bat:

(Courtesy of Vickie Neely)

     The following pictures are from the 1955 and 1958 yearbooks of Spotsylvania High School:

    

George and Lillian Morrison (Rich Morrison)

     Both of Elizabeth's parents died at Hazelwild of broncho-pneumonia while she was still teaching at Spotsylvania High School. George passed away on January 28, 1953; Lillian on March 6 1956. They are buried at Oak Hill Cemetery. After their deaths, Elizabeth became the owner of Hazelwild, as she was the only one of their children willing to take on the challenge of operating the farm.

     In 1950, Elizabeth decided to start a summer day camp at Hazelwild for children. In 1960, she retired from teaching at Spotsylvania to start a day school at Hazelwild. During her first year in "retirement," she taught a course in health education at Mary Washington College. Then she devoted herself full time to running the farm, the school and the summer camp. Hazelwild today also includes a first-rate equestrian facility utilized by the University of Mary Washington

     One day about 1960 while walking her property, she came across a crew cutting down her trees. She told them that they were on her property, and they said that they were making preparations for the new highway (I-95) that would soon be built. At that point, Elizabeth had not been contacted by anyone regarding the presence of this crew, and she saw them off the property. Condemnation proceedings were begun, and she was offered $13,000 for a 25-acre slice of her land. Not satisfied with that amount, she hired a lawyer and was ultimately given twice that amount.

Hazelwild (Camp Hazelwild Memories)

Hazelwild song book (Camp Hazelwild Memories)

     In 1988, Elizabeth Morrison was featured in an outstanding article in the Free Lance-Star written by Kim Lancaster:

     In 1983, I believe, Elizabeth established the Hazelwild Farm Education Foundation to ensure that her life's work would continue after her. 

     Like her Morrison ancestors, Elizabeth remained a devoted Presbyterian. She was a founding member of the Spotsylvania Presbyterian Church (now called Hope Presbyterian), which had its first meetings at Hazelwild until it could afford to build a church.

     In her 70s and 80s, traveled extensively both in the United States and around the world. 

     Elizabeth Morrison received an honorary doctor of humane letters degree from the University of Mary Washington in 1993 for her work with children and young adults at Hazelwild. To name just a few of her activities here, she was a member and past president of the Spotsylvania Women's club, a member of the American Horse Show Association, of the Spotsylvania Farm Bureau and of the National Retired Teachers Association.

     Elizabeth made her will in January 1995. She left generous bequests to her sisters, her nieces and nephews and to her long-time employees. Money was also given to Mary Washington College, Mary Washington Hospital and to the trustees of the Spotsylvania Presbyterian Church. The bulk of her estate, of course, she willed to the Hazelwild Farm Education Foundation.

     Anna Elizabeth Morrison died at home on June 2, 1997 at the age of 95. She lies buried at Oak Hill Cemetery near her parents.

     

Elizabeth Morrison, seated at right. Her brother Robert is standing at left; brother William at right. Courtesy of Rich Morrison.

 

______________

*As he did every Sunday morning, on October 16, 1960 Frank Porter drove to Apple Lawn on Bragg Road, the house of his neighbor, 85-year-old Ben T. Hall. He would pick Ben up and they would make the short trip to nearby Salem Baptist Church to attend the morning service. But on this particular day, things would be quite different. When Ben did not appear at the front door as he usually did, Porter took a step inside the door and found Ben's battered body lying on the floor.

 Two weeks later, authorities arrested five people in connection with Ben's murder, based on a tip from the nephew of the killers. Two small-time hoodlums from Warren County, Ralph and Lewis Martin, and Lewis's wife Flossie were charged with first degree murder. (Flossie's charge was later reduced). Two other people, Robert Thomas Hillyard and his teenage wife Barbara Ann, were charged as accessories before the fact. 

 Hillyard had told the Martins that Ben kept large sums of money in a safe he kept in the house. Where he got this notion is not clear. Ben kept his money in a bank in Fredericksburg, and the safe contained a small amount of cash and some personal papers. In the wee hours of October 16, the Martins went to Apple Lawn and knocked on the door. When Ben answered, Lewis knocked him down and looked for the safe while his brother repeated struck Ben with a pipe wrench. They carried the safe back to Warren County and forced it open. The safe contained $198.

 At their trial in February 1961, Lewis Martin was sentenced to life imprisonment. Ralph was given the death penalty. His attorney gave notice that he would appeal Ralph's sentence. Ultimately he was scheduled to be electrocuted on January 12, 1963, but for some reason this did not happen. He died in Warren County in 1996.

Sources:

-My thanks to Elizabeth Morrison's nephew, Rich Morrison, for giving me permission to use photographs from the Hazelwild albums, and for the helpful information he provided.

-Thanks also to Tara Lane, who met Elizabeth Morrison as a young pupil at Hazelwild, which was the start of a lifelong friendship. Tara spent many occasions talking with Elizabeth and served as her caretaker in 1992.

-The will of Elizabeth Morrison, shared with me by Rich Morrison. 

-The transcribed interview with Elizabeth Morrison by Janey Brown at Hazelwild on August 30, 1992. Shared with me by Rich Morrison.

-Mary Washington College Today,1992 

-Camp Hazelwild Memories 

-Hazelwild Farm (ELCR)

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