Fifty years of research has not yet offered up the exact birth place of James, but we know he was born in County Londonderry in Northern Ireland. On July 10th, 1824, James, along with his parents, James and Martha Morrison, and his brothers and sisters, arrived in New York City aboard the vessel "William & John," the Port of embarkation being Londonderry. The passenger list shows that James was 17 years old, but the age may be off a few years. The parents, James and Martha, remained in New York and are buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn-

Some of the Morrison children settled in New York. The others remained in NYC until 1832 and then made their way to Michigan, where they settled in Commerce Township. James met and married Dorcas Thompson in NYC about 1830 and they were among the Morrisons that migrated to Michigan. But their first child, Thompson was born in NYC in 1832, and then the couple came to Michigan and built a log house on the land which James located at his first visit to Michigan. Before long he sold that land and took over government land in Commerce near Milford, and received a deed signed by President Andrew Jackson. The deed is now in a museum in the capitol building in Lansing. A year later he bought adjacent land and the deed was signed by President Martin Van Buren.
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The other children of James and Dorcas were all born in Commerce Township, Oakland County, Michigan: Mary Jane (Matthew Gibson), Martha (Joseph Gibson), David (Estelle Hunnewell), Nancy (John McClelland) , Margaret (James Greacen), James (Susan Gamble), Isabelle(James Nicholson) Susan (William Peters), and Dorcas Morrison (Unmd).
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The Morrisons were members of the United Presbyterian Church. James also took a lively interest in the local schools. He helped to organize the township of Commerce and was a Whig and later a Republican.
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