Frank E. Morrison was a native of Nokomis, Illinois, he was born February 23, 1879 the third of five children born to William Morrison and Ella Gale.
He received his education in the schools at Oconee, Illinois, and was married at Oconee on September 2, 1903 to Miss Classena Wilmer.
In 1903, soon after his marriage he came to Marion where he became a telegraph operator for the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad at the depot just off West Main Street. In 1905, he became the local agent for the railroad.
In the 1910 census, Frank 31 and Classena 30, were living in a home that they owned at 701 N. Van Buren Street. Frank listed himself as a railroad agent. Classena noted that she had birthed two children and both survived. Children present in the home were their son, Eugene Morrison, age 5, and their daughter, Classena, aged 3.
The 1920 census located the couple at the same home which they then owned free of mortgage. The couple had now reached their 40’s and then had three children in the home. The children were Eugene W. Morrison 15, Classena Morrison 13 and Mildred Morrison aged 9.
By the time the 1922 city directory was printed, the couple had sold their home on N. Van Buren and moved into a spacious, elegant old home at 515 S. Market St., just on the south side of merchant Charles W. Hay which would remain their family home.
In 1923 he and his brother, the late Louis Gale Morrison, formed the Morrison Brothers Home Oil Company which they expanded throughout Southern Illinois and Western Kentucky. Two years later, in 1925, Frank retired his agent position with the C & EI Railroad to devote full time to the Home Oil Company.
Home Oil established their first service station in Marion in 1923 at 701 W. Main Street on the corner of Main and Court and the station remained in this location until at least the 1940’s. The small frame building partially burned on August 11, 1924 and then did eventually burn down on May 6, 1940, but was replaced with a small brick building.
By the 1930 census, the Morrison’s had reached their 50’s. The only child left remaining in the home was their youngest daughter Mildred Morrison who was then aged 19. The Morrison’s owned their home on S. Market free of mortgage and valued the home at $7,500.
The Home Oil Company moved to the old Joab Goodall mule barn at 108 N. Van Buren St. in 1932 and served as their corporate office for decades. The company at first dealt only in the distribution of Sinclair gasoline, kerosene, distillates and fuel oil, but in 1927 installed a section for auto accessories.
In the 1940 census, after the depression, the Morrison’s devalued their home to $4,000. The couple had then reached their 60’s and no children were living with them any longer. Frank claimed that in 1939, he had worked 52 weeks in the year, earned $2,400 and had alternate sources of income.
In 1946, their eldest daughter, Classena, who had married Arthur Boatright in 1924, died on November 11th of food poisoning after her family returned from a pleasure trip to Chicago.
A massive fire occurring on June 25, 1951, caused an estimated loss of the Morrison Home Oil building and contents at $300,000. At the time, Frank was serving as President, Gale Morrison, vice-president and Frank’s son Gene Morrison was secretary-treasurer. The fire was so great it took out main telephone lines adjacent to the buildings which were going to the GTE telephone company office across the intersection, causing phone outages for 24 hours or more in town. The building was ironically located across W. Union from the Marion Fire Department. The office was rebuilt on the same location on N. Van Buren in late 1951 or early 1952.
Frank E. Morrison, 815 S. Market St., died in Marion Memorial Hospital at 8 p.m. Tuesday, June 4, 1957, at the age of 78. He had been a patient in the hospital since May 14 when he suffered a stroke at his home.
Frank’s son, Eugene, was the last of the Morrison’s and sold the company in 1972 to the Knapp brothers of Zenia, Illinois, who owned Union 76 stations and changed the Morrison’s Sinclair stations to Union 76. The Morrison Home Oil Co. had owned many stations in Southern Illinois and Western Kentucky. After the Ohio River flood in 1937 when most of the bulk plants floated down the Ohio they gave up the stations in Kentucky.
Frank was a past president of the Illinois Petroleum Marketers Association and at the time of his death was an honorary member of the board of directors of that organization. He was also a member of the First Methodist Church and was a 50 year member of Fellowship Lodge 89, A.F. & A.M.
His parents, a sister, three brothers and one daughter preceded him in death.
Surviving him at death were his wife, Classena Morrison, and one son Eugene Morrison of Marion, and a daughter, Mrs. Wilbur (Mildred) Anderson of Chicago.
There were four grandchildren, Mrs. Gordon Pennington of Glendale, Missouri; Charles Boatright and Sally Morrison of Marion; Tom Anderson of Chicago and two great grandchildren, Tim and Carla Pennington of Glendale, Missouri.
Funeral services were held Saturday at 2 p.m. at the First Methodist Church by the pastor Rev. C.V. Tolley. Burial was in New Rose Hill Cemetery. Arrangements were by Mitchell Funeral Home.
Sam’s Notes:
Eugene W. Morrison was born in 1905 and died in March of 1985. He married his wife Mary in 1928 and they had two girls Jacqueline and Sally Morrison. Gene was raised in the family home on South Market and briefly lived at 103 E. Mitchell after marriage. The family home for decades was located at 603 Pleasant Court. Gene worked his entire life at Home Oil starting out as a book keeper for his dad, Frank, and uncle, L.G. Morrison. Gene was active in the Lion’s Club and served as their Secretary and Treasurer in 1935-36.
Classena Morrison Boatright was born December 30, 1906. She married Arthur Boatright in 1924. Arthur was born in Saline County on September 12, 1897 and died September 12, 1961 in Marion. Arthur owned Boatright’s Tavern located at 802 Public Square, next to Bainbridge Jewelry, which he opened in 1923. The couple had one son, Charles M. Boatright, born in 1936. In November 1946, Classena, Arthur and Charles made a pleasure trip to Chicago and stayed at the Steven’s Hotel. Classena ate a chicken salad sandwich at the Chicago Club before departure home on the C & EI railroad’s new Meadowlark train. She became violently ill on the return trip. After reaching Marion and consulting with a physician, she was admitted to Holden Hospital in Carbondale where she died the following day, November 11, 1946, due to botulism. At her death, they were living at 102 E. Marion Street. Charles married Frankie Hart and they had three children, Beth Ann, Charles Bradley and Britin Boatright. Charles Boatright owned and operated Boatright’s Electronics in the same location as his father’s tavern on the square from the early 1960’s into the 1980’s.
Mildred Morrison Anderson was born in 1911. She appears to have married Wilbur Anderson around 1939. In 1935 she was still living with her parents in Marion. They had a child named Thomas Anderson born about December of 1939 or January of 1940. In the 1940 census, they were living at his home in Chicago. Wilbur was listed as a high school teacher. Unfortunately, I have found no further records on Mildred.
(Data extracted from Marion Fire Reports; Marion Daily Republican obits, June 1957; Federal Census Records; Marion City Directories; Marion City Cemetery Records; compiled by Sam Lattuca on 10/27/2013)