Roderick Morrison, a well known oil producer and manufacturer at Independence, became identified with the oil industry in the eastern states when a young man, and while other enterprises have engaged him his interests have been continuousty identified with some phase of the petroleum industry through all his active years. Out of his experience he had elaborated one of the important devices used in oil and gas fields, and is now manufacturing it at Independence under the name of the Eclipse Pulling Machine.
Mr. Morrison is a Canadian by birth and of Scotch ancestry. His grandfather was Angus Morrison, who spent his life on a farm in Scotland. His father was George Morrison, who was born in Southerlandshire, Scotland, in 1809, and emigrated to Canada in 1841, settling on a farm in Oxford County, Ontario. He gave the best years of his life to agriculture, but was a man of considerable prominence in local affairs, serving on the school board and in other occupations. He was a conservative in politics, and an active member of the Presbyterian Church, in which he held the position of elder. George Morrison married Henrietta MeIntosh, who was born in Southerland, Scotland, in 1821, and died in Oxford County, Ontario, in 1885. George Morrison died on the old farm in Ontario in 1893. Their children were: Elizabeth, deceased wife of John McCall, who is a farmer in Oxford County, Ontario; Catherine, who still resided in Oxford County, the widow of John McKay, who was a farmer; Hector, an oil producer who died at Bradford, Pennsylvania; Donald, a Presbyterian minister now living in Holmes County, Ohio; Roderick; Hugh, an attorney practicing law at Toronto; and Mary, wife of Charles Stewart, a merchant tailor at Toronto.
Roderick Morrison was born in Oxford County, Ontario, June 22, 1855. His early experiences were those of a Canadian farmer boy, and he gained his education in the schools of Oxford County. At the age of twenty-six he left his father’s farm and went to the oil fields of Pennsylvania, spending a short time in Butler County and about six years in the oil fields of McLean County. From Pennsylvania he went west to Hancock County, Iowa, and then for thirteen years was a resident of Gibsonburg, Sandusky County, Ohio. In the meantime he had retained some interests in the oil fields and while in Ohio was also in the lumber business.
In the spring of 1906 Mr. Morrison moved to Independence, Kansas, and from this city as his headquarters had acquired interests in productive oil fields in Kansas, Oklahoma and Ohio. He is a director in the Independence State Bank and stockholder in the Commercial National Bank of Independence. Some years ago he invented the Eclipse pulling machine, designed for the pulling of casings and tubings from oil wells. He now manufactures this in a plant at Independence located on Railroad Street near the Santa Fe tracks. The output of this factory enjoys a large sale in the oil districts of the country. Mr. Morrison is also interested in irrigated farming in Colorado, owning a place of 240 acres in that state. His home is at 209 South Fourth Street.
During his residence at Gibsonburg, Ohio, Mr. Morrison was very active in local affairs, holding some office or other throughout his stay there. He was on the council, a member of the water board, and also the school board. Politically he is independent. He still had his membership in Gibsonburg Lodge of the Masonic Order and is a member of the Presbyterian Church.
In 1882, at Bradford, Pennsylvania, Mr. Morrison married Miss Catherine Carey. Her parents were Joseph and Hannah Carey, farming people of Pennsylvania, and both now deceased.