Emory Morris was born on May 22, 1837, in Otto, New York, to Charles and Sally Morris. His father was a farmer who owned $6,353 of real estate and $7,157 of personal property by 1860. He grew up and attended school in Otto. By 1860, he was training as a carpenter. He cast his first vote for Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln in the election of 1860.
When Lincoln called for volunteers in April 1861, Morris reportedly “desired very much to enlist.” His father, however, urged him to remain home and help “put in the spring’s crops.” That fall, however, his “patriotism prevailed over everything” and he insisting on joining the army. He enlisted in the Union army on September 16, 1861, and he mustered in as a corporal in Company C of the 64th New York Infantry on September 24.
According to his service records, he “served with his [Regiment] at the front untill April 2, 1862, [when he] was taken sick.” He remained in the hospital suffering from typhoid fever until November 7, 1862, when he was discharged for disability. Morris returned to Otto after leaving the army. He was drafted in April 1865, but he paid $1,000 to provide a substitute.
Morris settled in Elk Point in the Dakota Territory in 1867, and he earned a living as a carpenter. He married Lucy Fairchild on September 30, 1869, and their daughter Bundie was born around 1871. By 1870, he was working as a real estate agent, and by he owned $1,800 of real estate and $100 of personal property. He served in the territorial legislature from 1870 until 1881, and he also served as chairman of the Elk Point Republican County Convention in 1886. He applied for a federal pension in June 1879 and eventually secured one. He fell ill in June 1904, and he died of cancer in Elk Point on December 1, 1904.