Aaron Morris petitioned the court to tell the story of how his grandson Edmund White (son of Edmund White that married Aaron's daughter Mary Morris) ear was bit off by a vicious horse in 1809.
I was researching at the Archives in Raleigh when I accidently ran across a document that was labeled "Mutilation of Edmund White" and I was curious to see what it meant. So I asked to see the documents that was on file. What an interesting document. It seems that Edmund White who was born in 19 Jan 1796 in Pasquotank Co, NC was attacked by a vicious horse when he was only 13 years old. Edmund's grandfather Aaron Morris must of felt that his grandson would go through life with ridicule so he petitioned the court to have on record the reason for the mangled ear. The report also includes the doctor, Andrew Knox's report.
Below is the transcription of the above documents.
State of North
Carolina March
Term 1810
Pasquotank Co
To the worshipped the Justices
Of the Court of Pleas and Quarter sessions for the
County aforesaid
The Petition of Aaron Morris
Humbly sheweth
That sometime in the month of November in the year one thousand eight hundred and nine, Edmund White, the son of Edmund White & grandson of your petitioner, a boy of about 15 or 16 years of age received a severe bite from a vicious horse, which occasioned the loss of a part of his left ear as will appear by the annexed certificate & affidavit of the Physician who attended him, that your Petitioner is fearful, unless some public & indispensable memorial of this unfortunate accident exist, that at some future day or in some distant place the reputation of your Petitioner’s grandson may sustain injury & the dissensation of Providence be mistaken by the ignorant or misrepresented by the malicious to be the effect of an iprominious & infamous legal punishment – In order therefore to form a perpetual shield for the character of the said Edmund White against all calumny which might otherwise a frail it, to remove forever suspicious which might otherwise engender. May it please your worship to order and direct that this petition & the annexed affidavit be filed among your papers & that the facts above stated be recorded on your minutes & your petitioner be
Aaron Morris
State of North Carolina
Pasquotank County
I Andrew Knox, Practitioner of Physic & surgery I the county aforesaid, do certify that on or about the twenty seventh day of November in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred & nine I was called upon to attend Edmund White, a boy of about 15 or 16 years of age (son of Edmund White & Grandson of Aaron Morris who had just received an unfortunate & severe wound; that upon examination I found that his left ear had been very much mangled and the whole rim torn off; that I was informed by the family from the appearance of the wound have no hesitation in believing that this was occasioned by the bite of a vicious horse, that I dressed the wound & continued to attend the patient until he recovered; that a considerable part of this ear was inevitably lost.
Andrew Knox
State of North Carolina, Court of Please & quarter sessions Pasquotank County March Term 1810
Andrew Knox made oath in open court that the contents of the above certificate were true.
Will T Muse
Pasquotank Co
To the worshipped the Justices
Of the Court of Pleas and Quarter sessions for the
County aforesaid
The Petition of Aaron Morris
Humbly sheweth
That sometime in the month of November in the year one thousand eight hundred and nine, Edmund White, the son of Edmund White & grandson of your petitioner, a boy of about 15 or 16 years of age received a severe bite from a vicious horse, which occasioned the loss of a part of his left ear as will appear by the annexed certificate & affidavit of the Physician who attended him, that your Petitioner is fearful, unless some public & indispensable memorial of this unfortunate accident exist, that at some future day or in some distant place the reputation of your Petitioner’s grandson may sustain injury & the dissensation of Providence be mistaken by the ignorant or misrepresented by the malicious to be the effect of an iprominious & infamous legal punishment – In order therefore to form a perpetual shield for the character of the said Edmund White against all calumny which might otherwise a frail it, to remove forever suspicious which might otherwise engender. May it please your worship to order and direct that this petition & the annexed affidavit be filed among your papers & that the facts above stated be recorded on your minutes & your petitioner be
Aaron Morris
State of North Carolina
Pasquotank County
I Andrew Knox, Practitioner of Physic & surgery I the county aforesaid, do certify that on or about the twenty seventh day of November in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred & nine I was called upon to attend Edmund White, a boy of about 15 or 16 years of age (son of Edmund White & Grandson of Aaron Morris who had just received an unfortunate & severe wound; that upon examination I found that his left ear had been very much mangled and the whole rim torn off; that I was informed by the family from the appearance of the wound have no hesitation in believing that this was occasioned by the bite of a vicious horse, that I dressed the wound & continued to attend the patient until he recovered; that a considerable part of this ear was inevitably lost.
Andrew Knox
State of North Carolina, Court of Please & quarter sessions Pasquotank County March Term 1810
Andrew Knox made oath in open court that the contents of the above certificate were true.
Will T Muse
