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James Morrison was born on 3 May 1893 in Drumfin, a townland in the parish of Kilmorgan on the “tar road to Sligo” (now the N4) not far from the town of Riverstown, County Sligo. He was the second eldest of eleven children of Pat and Margaret (née Dolan) Morrison. His uncle Charlie Dolan was a dancing master whose home, a resort for local musicians and dancers, was where a young Jim Morrison took step dancing lessons and acquainted himself with the local music tradition. It was also where he first met his great contemporary, Michael Coleman, another dance student of Charlie Dolan.
For more information on the James Morrison see below.
![James Morrison and The Emerald Isle Ballroom Orchestra [Back row: James Morrison, fiddle ; George Gates ; Tommy Moran, fiddle. Front row: Denis Casey, melodeon ; Richard Curran, banjo ; George Larner, melodeon] / Metropolitan Studio, Brooklyn, New York. New York, ca 1930. Image courtesy Marion Casey, Archives of Irish America, New York University.](https://s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/images.itma.ie/newyork/jamesmorrisonband.jpg "James Morrison and The Emerald Isle Ballroom Orchestra [Back row: James Morrison, fiddle ; George Gates ; Tommy Moran, fiddle. Front row: Denis Casey, melodeon ; Richard Curran, banjo ; George Larner, melodeon] / Metropolitan Studio, Brooklyn, New York. New York, ca 1930. Image courtesy Marion Casey, Archives of Irish America, New York University.")
