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Dictionary of Miramichi Biography

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MORRISON, ALEXANDER (1795-1884)

MORRISON, ALEXANDER, traditional musician; b. Aberdeenshire, Scotland, c1795; d. Neguac, 2 Mar 1884.

Alexander Morrison grew up at Golspie in Scotland, where his father was an employee of the Duchess of Sutherland. There he heard some of the greatest Scottish fiddle and bagpipe players of the time and had an opportunity to develop his own musical talent.

In 1811, Morrison came to the Miramichi with his father, and in 1816 the other members of the family arrived. Both of his parents would appear to have died before the census of 1851 was taken. For at least thirty-three years prior to his own death, he was a lodger in the home of his younger brother William Morrison, at Neguac, and earned a livelihood as a fisherman.

Morrison was a splendid fiddler. "In Strathspeys, particularly, he had no superior and his renderings of 'Tullochgorum', 'Monymusk', 'The Ewie wi' the Crooked Horn', 'London 's Bonnie Woods and Braes', and 'The Lea Rig' were especially beautiful." Into "such airs as that of 'John Anderson My Jo' he threw a tenderness and plaintiveness which touched all who listened." He was also skilled on the bagpipes and other instruments, and "in all matters pertaining to Scotland, he was a perfect enthusiast."

Sources

[d] Advocate 26 Mar 1884 / Advocate 30 Apr 1884

Notes

The Union Advocate stated that Morrison was born at Ellon in Aberdeenshire, and he may have been the Alexander Morison (sic) who was baptized in the nearby parish of Foveran on 23 Dec 1794, as a son of William Morison and Jean Thomson. This Alexander Morison had a brother John who was baptized in 1800, and Alexander of the present sketch had a brother John born around that date.


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