Ella Martha Brice

1856 - 1949  (92 years)

• Name	Ella Martha Brice  [1, 2]
  Born	31 Oct 1856	SC   [1, 2]
  Gender	Female
  Buried	1949	Mausoleum, Crest Lawn Memorial Park, Atlanta, GA
  Died	2 Jun 1949	Atlanta, Fulton Co., GA
  Notes	From Marion Morris Wood's "My Life Story" 1982: My mother's father, Christopher Simonton Brice, also fought under Robert E. Lee in Virginia and during those war years my mother (age 4) and her mother, Margaret Gooch, went to live with her maternal grandfather, Henry Gooch, near Chester, SC. My mother was eight years told when Sherman arrived and camped on her grandfather's plantation and although she lived to be ninety-three years old, she always remembered the Sherman experiences. She saw her grandfather hanged from his own stairwell because he refused to tell the Yankees where his silver was hidden. He was cut down before he died, blue in the face. She saw every living creature that the soldiers didn't eat shot down in the yard. She saw her grandfather's blue damask curtains snatched from the windows and used as saddlebags by Sherman and his men. She saw the soldiers carry out every china dish in the house, stand them up against the trees and use them for targets. I myself have the only remaining dish, a beautiful platter, rescued I don't know how, and I treasure it immensely. Sherman knew the war was already won, the South on her knees, broken and bleeding, before he started his raid. But he was willing to make war on the helpless women and children. He himself said "I've cut a swath through the South 200 miles long and 60 miles wide, and if a crow wants to fly over it, he will have to carry his lunch with him." He excused his savage action by saying "War is Hell." Even Winston Churchill says in his autobiography that the North was more to blame than the South. Is it any wonder my mother always called it the Uncivil war, and that my father always told her she would die an unreconstructed rebel? *** From Leslie Gilbert Christy: "We always spelled the lovey names "Ma-ma" and Da". Hers derived from the SC lowcountry name for mother---maybe started out as the French "Maman". I'm not really sure but several generations of our family used it. My mother called her grandmother "Ma-ma" and she in turn was called that by her grandchildren. I should have kept the tradition, but some of mine call me "Grandma" and the younger ones say "Mi-mi". My brother Stephen who was the first grandchild designated "Da". Probably the first word he verbalized and as it happened in Da's presence, he doubtless thought he was talking to him." Note: Ma-ma was pronounced meh-meh. Da was her husband.
  Person ID	I0004	Hull
  Last Modified	27 Jun 2020

  
  

  Father	Christopher Simonton Brice,   b. 25 Apr 1828, Fairfield Co., SC ,   d. 4 Mar 1900, Lancaster Co, SC  (Age 71 years)
  Mother	Margaret Missouri Gooch,   b. 1836,   d. 19 Sep 1893  (Age 57 years)
  Married	4 Dec 1855  [2]
  Family ID	F023	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Samuel Leslie Morris, D.D., L.L.D.,   b. 25 Dec 1854, Abbeville, McCormick Co., SC ,   d. 10 May 1937, Atlanta, Fulton Co., GA  (Age 82 years)
  Married	23 Oct 1877	Woodward, SC?
  Children	1. Margaret Annie Morris,   b. 5 Feb 1883, SC ,   d. 10 May 1978, Atlanta, GA  (Age 95 years)   2. Hattie Woodrow Morris,   b. 3 Dec 1886, Trenton, SC ,   d. 19 Dec 1979, Bossier City, LA  (Age 93 years)   3. Marion Christine Morris,   b. 16 Aug 1889, Trenton, SC ,   d. 3 Aug 1982, Walnut Creek, CA  (Age 92 years)   4. Samuel Leslie Morris, Jr., M.D.,   b. 8 May 1891, Macon, Bibb Co., GA ,   d. 1 Dec 1970, Augusta, Richmond Co., GA  (Age 79 years)
  Photos		Four Generations of Morrises Top to bottom: Samuel Leslie Morris Jr., Margie Morris Akers, Marion Morris Wood, Hattie Morris Hughes Gilbert, Clyde Matheson Wood Jr., Steven Tillman Hughes III, Ella Brice Morris (Ma-Ma), Anna McCaslan Morris, Samuel Leslie Morris Sr. (Da)
  Documents		Census: 1930, Fulton County GA 50 Westminster Drive, Atlanta Leslie Morris Head Martha E. Wife Samuel Son Marion Daughter-in-law
  Family ID	F003	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Photos		Ma-Ma Ella Brice was eight years old when Sherman's troops marched up to her grandfather's plantation. They hanged the old man from the banisters because he wouldn't tell where the silver was buried, but he was cut down and survived.
  		Mausoleum, Crest Lawn Memorial Park Site of Morris family burials

  
  

  Headstones

  Grave Marker: Ella Brice Morris Martha Ella Morris Oct. 30, 1856 - June 2, 1949 Let me heed thy . . . Plot: Mausoleum

  
  

• Sources

  [S02930] Morrisbricedesc.GED.FTW. Date of Import: Nov 20, 1999 [S03436] chance.FTW. Date of Import: Dec 19, 1999