In 1900 John and his parents lived in Tintah, Traverse County, for a period of time. In 1910 John and his own family is in Hamerly, Renville County, North Dakota. In 1920 John is working in the iron mines in Irondale, Crow Wing County, Minnesota.
All seven of the children were in the St. James Orphanage in Duluth on January 10, 1920. In March of 1920, they're back with the family in Deerwood (same 1920 census, but two months apart). (The orphanage records, for example, get this exactly right: Genevieve M. Morris, age 12, born in Wisconsin, father in Minnesota, mother in Pennsylvania. And all her siblings are listed there.) Something catastrophic happened in the family.
Debora Jean Sargeant Morris says, August 14, 2016:
Now the problem of John Lawrence Morris and Margaret Tresea O'Connell family. Thank you for your 1920 census link as it worked. How interesting as I also found another orphanage listing in 1925 for four of the children. Both 1920 census records for the children brings up a question to me about Cecelia Rose and her true age. I have a notarized birth statement given by Michael James Morris that he was present at the birth of his sister, Cecelia Rose Morris, child of John L Morris and Margaret O'Connell born in Sherwood North Dakota on the 21st day of April 1921. There are many different years in the records listed for her and at different periods she went by Cecelia Rose and Rose Cecelia as I knew her. She was married to Edward Moore and died in Oregon. John Lawrence also died in Oregon. My thoughts got away from the census research and why the children were not always with the parents which was a puzzle. I found four of the children in a Catholic Orphanage in Fargo, North Dakota on April 1, 1925. I have not found the 1930 census record for the family yet. As I said before I have not spent much time on this research yet. I do know that Michael James sister Genevieve was known to the family as Jennie. I don't remember anything said about Madison. Edna Filistis was know to the family as Filistis. She was born with a club foot and I remember her living in Idaho in the 1970's. I never met her and have not done research on that line. John Irvin went by the name Irvin. He lived in Montana. There also was a May. Her name might have been Marie or Mary but was known to the family as May. She lived in the state of Washington. There was Lawrence Vincent. He might have taught school somewhere in Texas as I remember. Michael James named his first son, my husband, after his two brothers, Lawrence and Irvin. There is a lot of research time that needs to be done for the families of John Lawrence Morris and Margaret Tresea O'Connell. I can't even begin to think about John's parents families.