Biography/History:

Marbury Morris was born around 1770, lived in Georgia, and about 1803 moved to Woodville, located in Wilkinson County in the Mississippi Territory. Between the years 1803 and 1840, Morris planted cotton with approximately sixty slaves and raised four children: George, Green B., Robert S., and Harriett Morris. Marbury Morris died on November 18, 1840, and he was interred at Old Bethel Cemetery in Woodville.

George Morris, the son of Marbury Morris, was born in Georgia about 1791. He married Martha Ivey of Wilkinson County in 1823 and settled near Woodville, where he acquired a five-thousand-dollar cotton plantation. When his father died in 1840, George Morris and his two brothers, Green B. and Robert S. Morris, were named co-executors of the estate. George Morris continued to manage both his father’s estate and his own cotton interests until his death in June of 1854.

This collection is comprised of photocopies of reports and statements for cotton sales that were issued to Marbury and George Morris by the New Orleans cotton factor, Reynolds, Byrne, and Company. Included in the reports and statements are projections and comments on various trends in the New Orleans cotton market. Of particular interest are two photocopies of the New Orleans Price Current and Commercial Intelligencer (October 10 and December 5, 1840), listing current wholesale prices for goods and various items imported or exported at the port of New Orleans and other southern ports.

1. Cotton-Factor Reports and Statements. 1840-1841. 1 folder.