Abigail Chipman Morris Thompson came to Bonham with her parents from Illinois in the early 1850s.  Her father became a justice of the peace in Bonham around 1852. She married first Lite W. Morris; second Geoorge Washington Thompson.  She later moved to Whitewright to help raise five motherless grandchildren, where she died. 

She was a Mayflower descendant of Governor William Bradford > John Howland > Elizabeth Tilley Howland > John and Joan Tilley > Richard Warren.

The Whitewright Sun
Thursday, March 18, 1926

The funeral of Mrs. Abigail Morris, brief mention of whose death was made in the last issue of The Sun, was held at 10:00 o'clock Friday morning of last week at the home of R. A. Gillett, grandson of the deceased.  Burial followed at Oak Hill Cemetery, Jack Webster of the undertaking department of the Kerr Furniture Co. directing the obsequies.

At the Gillett home impressive rites marked the last tribute to the beloved octogenarian, whose enfeebled and declining years were attended with every comfort that Mr. and Mrs. Gillett could provide.  Many of the friends of the deceased woman, and of the pioneer household into which she came some twenty-seven years ago to devote her services to the five motherless children of the home, were present to pay their respects, while beautiful and generous floral offerings bore mute testimony of love and sympathy.

A quartet composed of Mrs. H. C. Willis, Mrs. Guy Hamilton, B. S. Montgomery and L. C. Hampton, sang, while the ministry was represented by Rev. J. L. Truett, Rev. J. F. Fender and Rev. W. A. Stuckey.  The pallbearers were W. H. King, T. H. Sears, L. P. Sears, J. B. Hamilton, R. H. May and F. M. Echols.

Mrs. Morris was born at Carolton, Illinois, Dec. 7, 1840, the daughter of Seth and Sarah Chipman.  She had been a member of the Methodist Church for approximately seventy-two years, having affiliated with the church at the age of fourteen.  She came to Texas with her parents in the early 50s.  The family settled near Bonham.  She was married to Lite W. Morris, a Fannin County farmer, in 1859, who died soon after the close of the Civil War, through which he served with the Confederacy.  Four children were born to this union.  They were Jas. Morris, Austin Morris, Mrs. Belle Gillett and Mrs. Lou Swope, all deceased except Mrs. Swope, who now resides at Bonham and who was present at the funeral of her mother Friday.  Some years after the death of Lite W. Morris, the widow married G. W. Thompson in Fannin County.  Mrs. Maud Ely of Ector and Will Thompson of Comanche, Okla., are the surviving and only children of her second marriage.  Mrs. Ely was present at the obsequies, but communication could not be had with the son at Comanche in time for the last service.

Upon the death of her daughter, Mrs. Belle Gillett, wife of the late Dan Gillett of this city, in 1889 (1899), Mrs. Morris came into the bereft home to minister to the needs of the five small children.  Her grandchildren whom she thus mothered to maturity and to substantial citizenship are Roscoe Gillett, Grover Gillett, Mrs. Byron Sears of Whitewright, Mrs. Warren Ownby of Oklahoma and Mrs. Silas Wilson of Slato.

* Abigail Morris divorced G. W. Thompson in 1895 in Bonham and had her named restored to Morris.