William Henry Morrish
There is no small number of high-grade, prosperous farms in Grant County, places which for several generations having been paying generous revenue to their owners. But this is not saying that all such farms are keyed up to the highest degree of productiveness and profit. Even a poorly managed farm will often pay a profit, but only the best will show such annual returns as a live store or factory will yield. To see farming at its best -scientific and practical management, maximum, per acre yield, and profit not without comfort - one needs only to visit the Morrish place in Fairmount Township on Section Twenty-two. Mr. Morrish is one of the most practical and scientific farmers in the State, and has demonstrated that an eighty acre farm, properly managed, is sufficient for one family to accumulate a substantial fortune. His example also proves that profitable farming must be conducted as any other business.
Devon County, England, long noted for its agricultural products and thrifty people, is the birthplace of William Henry Morrish, the date of his birth being April 17, 1853. The family has long been established in England, and his parents, John and Catherine (Cole) Morrish, were born, reared and married, and spent all their lives in Devon County. A large number of the family were sea-faring men, especially in the coast-wise traffic. Grandfather Morrish was lost at sea while pursuing his regular vocation. After that calamity, his son John quit the sea, and became a farmer, spending the rest of his life in Devon County. He died at the age of eighty-three years. His wife was born two years after his birth, and died just two years after his death. They were good, upright people and members of the established church. They had seven daughters and three sons, and of those five grew up and all but one were married, several being yet residents in England.
William Henry Morrish, the only one of the family to make his permanent home in the United States, was ten years old when he started out to make his own way. After working at different occupations, at the age of twenty, in the spring of 1873, he came across the ocean on the good ship Peruvian, from Liverpool, and reached his majority while on the voyage. the trip consumed only ten days, which was very quick time for that day. The ship landed him at Quebec, Canada, and after passing the summer there, came to Indiana, and spent three years working in this State. He then returned by way of Quebec to England, where he lived for six years. For two years he remained at his old home in Devon County, and for four years was near London. He acquired a thorough knowledge of his business by working at gardening and horticulture.
While at London, Mr. Morrish married Elizabeth Tucker, a native of Buckinghamshire, and of old English ancestry. Her parents died in England before she was married. In 1883 Mr. and Mrs. Morrish again set out for America, landing at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the first day of April that year. From there they came to Fairmount, in Grant county, and started out as renters, taking the Harmon Buller place. It was as renters that they got their start and firmly established themselves on the firm basis of prosperity. Later Mr. Morrish bought eighty acres of first-class farm land in Section Tw4enty-two of Fairmount Township. He has not only paid for his land out of the products of his management and labor, but has improved the farm until it could hardly be recognized as the same place which first came under his control. He has erected a splendid barn, painted yellow, a large eighty-five ton silo stands beside it, and is dwelling house neatly painted white, provides not only shelter but many of the modern conveniences and comforts of living. The home is in the midst of a veritable bower of trees, not only shade trees, but almost every kind of fruit grown in this part of the country. There are trees of apple, pear, peach, and other fruits, besides many small fruits, including blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, and an abundance of grapes, besides a large truck garden. His caltalpa grove is one of the finest in the entire country. Mr. Morrish grows large crops of oats, wheat, corn, and keeps the stock necessary to consume all the farm products. there is no waste either in material or energy about the Morrish farm. The feed for the stock is weighed out carefully, and the stock are weighed regularly every month, so that he knows all the time just where he stands in the matter of value of stock on hand. There is no merchant in Grant County who keeps closer in touch with his stock than Mr. Moorish does of his farm investment, and his inventory sheets are models of thrifty, up-to-date farming. A feature of his farm which is of special interest, is the generous use of concrete, in the construction of the barns, the silo, and feed pens. Mr. Morrish understands the fact that live stock do not thrive where they are in physical discomfort, and also that mud is a prime source of waste and extravagance in farm management. His stock therefore feed and rest on beds of clean, smooth concrete, and as a result not a pound of food goes to waste, and every ounce of manure is saved for the upbuilding of the soil. Out in the fields the same evidences of thrifty management are found, and his corn yield large crops, and he gets about forty bushels of wheat from every acre sown.
The children of Mr. and Mrs. Morrish are as follows:
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John Edward, is a successful farmer in Fairmount Township, married Vida Mittank, and has one son Ernest.
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Archer is now a dairy farmer at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and is unmarried.
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Charles William married Nola Benson, of Pleasant Township, and they reside on the home place.
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Ralph, like the others is a well educated young man, having attended the Fairmount Academy, and remains at home assisting his father.
Mr. Morrish and sons are Republican voters.
Source: Centennial History of Grant County Indiana 1812-1912. The Lewis Publishing Co., 1914, page 765.