Now Martin was a man of many talents. He painted, he built things including furniture, and he took some marvelous pictures. Not just ordinary pictures, mind you, but the stereographic kind. To learn more about stereographic photography, click the Stereographs button above. You can also see examples of the pictures Martin took with the camera shown in the picture to the left.

Martin was a traveler and businessman. He would take pictures of places, people, and events in the Story county, Iowa area and sell them to friends, relatives, and others in Norway. He also took many pictures in Norway to sell to those here in the US. I currently have many of his Story County, Iowa stereographs posted and will soon put many of his Norway photos on line as well.

You may wonder how I developed an interest in this. Actually, it all started over a year ago, when my dad received a call from Paul Juhl who lives in Iowa City. Paul wrote a book called, "Iowa Stereographs : Three-Dimensional Visions of the Past" with Mary Bennett. He was very interested in finding out more about Martin Morrison and through some investigative work, and a phone call to local Ames Historian Farwell Brown, found out my dad was a close link to Martin. As a result of the call, a "meeting of minds" took place at the Farwell Brown room. Below is a pic of this meeting which took place on July 19th, 2000:

Farwell Brown can be seen at the back with Floyd Christofferson in the foreground on the right. Paul Juhl is just behind Floyd and my dad is bearly in view on the left behind the post.

The results of this meeting eventually produced the information found on this website. As more information is discovered, it will be added. FYI: this effort is a collaborative one and thus, I wish to thank the following for their continued and valued assistance with pictures and information found on this website:

Robert Morrison (my dad!), Floyd Jr. (Chris) Christofferson, David Myers, Farwell Brown, Paul Juhl, Steve Christofferson, Don Myers, James Olander, Kathleen Standard, and others.

While checking out the new Ellis Island website, I discovered the name of the ship Martin and family rode from Liverpool (port of departure) on September 7, 1900. Here is a picture of the S.S. Cymric which was built for White Star Lines in 1898:

According to the S.S. Cymric's manifest, dated September 7th, 1900, Martin Morrison along with his wife Bertha and son Morris had listed their last residence as Stavanger and listed their final destination as Birmingham, Al. It is interesting that Martin's "calling or occupation was listed as "Farmer" on the manifest. Martin and his family did eventually move from Ames to Fruithurst, Alabama. I do have a picture of Martin's home in Fruithurst on the Family link above.

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artin M. Morrison was born in Norway in the city of Stavanger on March 28th, 1844. He was my great grandfather on my dad's side of the family. My genealogy would be as follows: Martin Morrison and his wife Bertha begat Zebulon. Zebulon later married Anna Knudson who begat my dad Robert. My dad later married Betty Paul and in 1954, I arrived on the scene!

Martin Morrison married Bertha (Betsy) Charlson on March 27th, 1869 in the Nevada, Iowa courthouse. Martin's father was Mauritz Mauritsen and Martin's mother was Ane Malena. Martin's wife Bertha was born September 25th, 1848 in Aardal, Norway. After their wedding, they settled in Ames, Iowa. His house is still standing and is located on South 3rd and Washington St.

A picture of his house can be seen on the Family page and also on the Stereographs page in the Story County section. Click here to go inside his house.

Martin and Bertha had 6 kids total: 3 sons and 3 daughters. The sons names were: Zebulon Milton Isaacer, Gerhard (Bert), and Morris. The daughters names were: Dena, Deborah (Dora), and Amelia (Millie).