Hayward, Wisconsin
Morrison was one of 12 children in a poor household. His father worked as a trapper and used his fluent knowledge of the Ojibwe language to interpret court proceedings. Morrison briefly attended a Native American boarding school in Hayward, Wisconsin. Due to poor health, Morrison returned to Minnesota and was for a time a Native American sanatorium in Onigum, Minnesota and the Gillette State Hospital for Crippled Children in St. Paul.