Navy Widows' Certificates

On Jul 19, 1863, Carpenter’s Mate Daniel Morris died of disease while a prisoner of war on board the USS Harriet Jane at Houston, TX. Among the papers his widow, Catharine, submitted at the time she applied for his pension, were affidavits by Margaret Emery and Rachel Fisher that Catharine was who she claimed to be, a copy of Daniel and Catharine’s wedding certificate, a letter of enquiry from John Morris (a brother of the deceased) and the reply dated Jul 20, 1912 and, perhaps of greatest value to genealogists, copies of the pages from the Morris’ family Bible documenting not only their marriage but that of an Elizabeth Morris to Henry W. Fisher, the births of Daniel and Catharine’s five children and the deaths of four of them, and the birth dates of Daniel and Catharine, including her maiden name. The reply to the letter written by his brother also includes the year of Catharine’s death and her address at the time.

With regard to the family Bible, readers will note that their particular edition was published in 1836, while the entries are dated as far back as 1802. However, since the records are of immediate family members, we can presume they are accurate (unless proven otherwise by other documents).