YALE
UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

THE MORRIS MANOR
ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE FIFTH ANNUAL
MEETING OF THE NEW YORK BRANCH
OF
THE ORDER OF COLONIAL LORDS OF
MANORS IN AMERICA
DECEMBER 9, 1916

By
LUCY D. AKERLY
A MORRIS DESCENDANT, MEMBER OF
THE N. Y. GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY,
AND HONORARY MEMBER OF THE SUFFOLK
CO., N. Y., HISTORICAL SOCIETY

THE MANOR OF MORRISANIA AND THE
EARLY MORRISES
It is almost impossible to say anything new about the Morrises
of Morrisania, as there is already so much in print concerning
this interesting family. The Morrises are mentioned in
Bolton's History of Westchester County, New York, in Mr.
Fordham Morris's account of the family and of Morrisania,
in Scharf's History of Westchester County, in Week's Prominent
Families of New York, Hamm's Famous Families of New York,
Jenkin's Story of the Bronx, Sparks' Life of Governeur Morris,
in most of the New York and New Jersey Colonial histories,
and in many other places. " Naught," therefore, "but the thread
that binds this is mine own."
We have besides Mrs. Elizabeth Morris, Lefferts unusual,
exhaustive work, The Descendants of Lewis Morris of Morrisania,
tracing in chart form all the descendants of Capt. Richard
Morris to the present day, whatever their surnames.
The illustrations for this article are furnished through her
courtesy, that of Mrs. John Murray Carnochan, Mr. Livingston,
and Capt. Lewis Morris, U. S. N.
A certain Col. Lewis Morris said to have commanded a
Troop of Horse under Cromwell, visited the West Indies as
early as 1633, according to the English State Papers, served
under Admiral Penn in 1654-55, and took part in the attack on
the Island of Jamaica, having been sent thither to gain the
mastery of the adjacent waters.
Colonel Morris acquired a magnificent estate in Barbadoes
where he had a nephew living, and also owned part of the
beautiful Island of Santa Lucia.'
His youngest brother, Capt. Richard Morris, who had served
with distinction in the Parliamentary Army, not deeming it
wise to continue in England after the Restoration, went to
Barbadoes disguised as a Quaker, and shortly after came to
New Amsterdam while it was still in the possession of the
1 Diar'y of Admiral Penn; Letter of Wm. Penn to SamL Carpenter, in
Bolton's Hist, of Westchester Co. II, 458. 5

Dutch.' He is first mentioned in New York in connection
with the Ship Cedar, 13 April, 1668. A controversy had arij.^^
between her o"wners and privateers who had taken a sp
prize which they brought to New York. The ^^"""^^1^^
Court after several hearings pronounced the curious sen
that an Indian man, "taken as part of their prize, shouia
"sold to defray the expenses of both sides. "^ ,
Capt. Richard Morris purchased for himself and his Cromer
Col. Lewis Morris, land granted by the Dutch in 1639 to Jonas
Broncks, the first White settler of Westchester County, iNew
York, and whose widow married Arent Van Curlear. i e
"William or Wilhelm Kieft, the Dutch Governor, by patent
"Oct. 20, 1644, granted to Arent Van Curlear the land formerly
"in the tenure of Jonas Bronx, called by the Indians Ranachque,
"and by the English Bronckx Land, lying on the mam to the
"East, over against Harlem Town near Hell Gate, and a greater
"creek or river which divides it from Manhattan Island, con-
"taining about 500 acres, or 250 morgens of land." . . _•
Many deeds follow, one in Dutch, which was in the possession
of the late Mr. Gouverneur Morris, with a confirmation of
title to Col. Lewis Morris, 7 February, 1684, signed by six
Indians in the presence of six witnesses."* Samuel Edsall and
his wife conveyed the same to Richard Morris, 4 June, 1668,
for £140. This was the nucleus of the splendid domain after
wards called Morrisania.^
Richard Morris had married in Barbadoes, 17 August, 1669,
Sarah Pole, of distinguished birth, gentle breeding and ample
fortune. Their only child Lewis was born 15 October, 1671.'
He had the misfortune to lose his mother when about six
months old, and his father not long after. Governor Nicolls
in writing to Colonel Morris calls Mrs. Morris "a virtuous
"young woman in the prime of life," and Captain Morris
"a man full of strength and vigor, inured to hardships," and
bewails their untimely death.' On 10 August, 1670, Richard
^ Papers of Governor Lewis Morris.
2 Brodhead's Hist, of the State of Xeis York II, 140 N. Y. Hist. Soc.
Col. N. Y. Wills, I. p. 80.
* Comfort's Hist, of Bronx Borough.
' Van Renssalaer's Hist, of the City of New York. Orig. Deeds in the
Morris Family, etc.
1^ October 12, 1739, Lewis Morris writes— "I am within a few days of
entermg my 69th year." Papers of Governor Lewis Morris, p. 66.
'Will of Gov. Lewis Morris at Trenton, Riker's Hist, of Harlem, 1881,
6

Morris was styled "a merchant of the City of New York,"
and his brother Lewis, "a merchant of Barbadoes." In a
written agreement between the brothers, if either died without
issue, the other was to inherit the estate. Lewis Morris agreed
to come to New York to reside but did not reach here till after
his brother's death in 1672, which Dunlap in his History of the
New Netherlands errs as placing in 1673. Captain Morris
having died intestate Letters of Administration on his estate
were issued September, 1672.* The infant Lewis Morris
became the ward of the Dutch Government, who appears to
have dispossessed his uncle, though the latter eventually became
sole 0"wner of the property, returned to Barbadoes, wound up
his affairs, and settled in Bronxland, "where he lived in a
handsome house, and dispensed liberal hospitality."
He received a patent from Governor Andros 25 March, 1676,
with additions to the original estate, the whole amounting to
1920 acres.'
¦ On 25 October, the same year, he had granted to him and
his associates in the iron works at Navesinck, N. J., 3840 acres,
(resurveyed as 3540), between S^svimming River and Falls
River, with 60 acres south of the larger tract, the whole to
be called Tinturn Manor. He purchased a section of land
from the Indians for a barrel of cider.'"
Colonel Morris was a member of the Council in Barbadoes,
and of Governor Dongan's Council, 1683-86, and died 14
February, 1691." He was executor to the will of Nathaniel
Sylvester, in 1680, who left him part of Shelter Island. {N. Y.
Hist. Soc. Col., N. Y. Wills I, p. 104-5.)
Colonel Morris' second wife Mary survived him only about
a week. She was not a daughter of Christopher Almy of Rhode
Island, who gave a power of attorney 14 April, 1679, to his
son-in-law, Lewis Morris of Shrewsbury, N. J.,'^ nephew of
Colonel Morris above, probably son of Thomas Morris, and
* N. Y. Hist. Soc. Col, N. Y. Wills I, p. 25. See also Brodhead's Hist.
of State of New York, II, 227, Dunlap, above, O'Callaghan's A''. Y. Council
Min., V, 43, 78, 86, 93, 158, VII, 109, etc.
» Book of Patents, 4 p. 99, N. Y. Col. Doc. II, 619, 595, 637.
1" Perth Ambcy Rec, I, 155, Records of East Jersey Patents, N. J. Arch.,
21 p. 24.
" iV. Y. Council Minutes, Slater's Old Times in Old Monmouth, N. J.
Pelletreau's Early Westchester Co. Wills.
" Liber C. p. 40, Monmouth Co. Deeds. See Wills of Governor Lewis
Morris, Liber E., Prerogative Ct., Trenton, N. J., and of Col. Lewis Morris,
I, p. 173, N. Y. Wills. 7

who must not be confounded with Lewis, son of Richard Morris
of Morrisania.
After many legal difficulties the whole Morris estate, both in
New York and in New Jersey was granted to Lewis, son of
Richard Morris, afterwards Governor, whose titles were con
firmed 14 June, 1701, and 10 December, 1702.13
Colonel Lewis Morris, although a man of ample fortune, had
never taken any steps to have his estate made into a manor.
When it passed to his nephew the Calendar of Council Minutes,
1668-1783, (Bulletin 58, p. 102, in the New York State Library),
declares that "the plantation of Lewis Morris at Harlem, was
"erected into a manor, 9 December, 1694, to be called Mor-
"risania." Lewis Morris received a patent for it 8 May, 1697, from
Governor Fletcher, with ancient privileges, such as "the
"authority to hold a court in leet and court baron, to exercise
"jurisdiction over all waifs, estrays, wrecks deodands goods or
"felons happening and being within the manor limits, and to
" enjoy the advows on and patronage over all the churches of the
" Manor."" The full text of the patent is given in De Lancey's
Manors of New York and Westchester County.
The six Westchester Manors were respectively erected:
Fordham, November 1671; Pelham, October, 1687; Philipse-
burgh, June, 1693; Morrisania, May, 1697; Van Cortlandt,
June, 1697; and Scarsdale, March, 1701.
Mr. De Lancey shows exactly what these manors were, and
what they were not, the patents being granted to existing
owners of land.
"The Manors were not, as often popularly supposed, English
"Feudal Manors, for those all antedated 1290, A. D., a statute
"of King Edward I of that year forbidding the creation of any
"new Feudal Manors.
"Those of New York, 400 years later were all freehold
"manors. As we use the term, manor corresponds to the
"French "Manoir," or a mansion in which the owner of the
"'property dwells permanently.
"The New York Manors were all erected after the statute
"'of King Charles II in 1660, which abolished military tenures,
"and made them into free and common socage, and never
"possessed, nor were they ever invested with the powers,
"rights, privileges, duties and burdens of the old feudal manors.
" Rec. of Gov. and Council of East Jersey, Perth Amboy Rec.
'¦' Bolton's Hist. Prot. Epis. Church in Co. of Westchester.

fc '.

Iffl

GOVERNOR LEWIS MORRIS, IST LORD OF THE MANOR,
CHIEP JUSTICE OE NEW YORK, FIRST GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY.
BORN 1671, DIED 1746.
Reproduced by the courtesy of the New Jersey Historical Society.
[A replica oj this is owned by Mrs. John Murray Carnochan, of New York.)

"The title Lord of the Manor was synonymous with o-wner,
"but Lord, as a prefix to the possessor's name, was never used
"either in England or in New York."
And here let us ask who were the Morris brothers who made
the original Morris purchase? Two authorities answer.
Their coat of arms which they brought with them to America,
and the eighteenth century mss. compiled by their kinsman,
Valentine Morris. '^^
This Mss. frequently quoted by Bolton and others, states
that Lewis and Richard Morris the earUest proprietors of
Morrisania, or Bronxland, were two of the sons of William
Morris, Esq., of Tintern, Monmouthshire or Gwent, England.
His other sons were Wilham and Thomas. All four are said
to have been officers in the Parliamentary Army. Thomas had
a son Lewis Morris of Shrewsbury, or Passage Point, N. J.,
called by the Indians Norramsont, and in our day. Black Point,
near Seabright. It was once owned by Christopher Akny."
William Morris, of Tintern, the Mss. goes on to say, was a
lineal descendant of Rhys Fitz Gerald, or Fitz Rhys, brother to
Rhys, Prince of Gventland, or Monmouthshire, who "with
Richard, Earl of Striguil and Pembroke, called Strongbow, took
part in the conquest of Ireland, 1172, A. D. The name of
Fitz Rhys was changed to Mawr Rhys, or the Great Rhys,
(which in time bacame Morris), on account of his heroism in
Ireland. One of the family of the Earl of Pembroke founded Tintern
Abbey." The name Fitz Rhys suggests Norman blood, but Maurice
Fitz Gerald, of Pembroke, the companion of Strongbow in
Ireland, who is perhaps the Morris ancestor of whom Mr.
Valentine Morris wrote, was, according to Burke, son of Gerald
Fitz Walter the Castellan of Windsor Castle, and the beautiful
Nesta, the Helen of Troy of Wales, daughter of Rhys ap Tewdr,
or Rhys ap Gruffyd, Prince of South Wales, the last King of
the Deheubarth.i*
An indispensable part of the education of every Welshman
of quality, consisted in being able to recite the list of his
ancestors to the seventh and eighth generations,'' but the
'^ See Spooner's Historic FamiUes of America.
« Liber E., p. 147, Monmouth Co. N. J. Deeds, Slater's Old Times in
Old Monmouth, Mrs. Leffert's Mss.
" Beauties of England and Wales.
" Owen M. Edward's Wales, The Story of the Nations.
" The Welsh People, by John Rhys and David B. Jones.
10

LEWIS MORRIS, 2d LORD OF THE MANGE, JUDGE OF THE HIGH COURT OF
ADMIRALTY.
BORN 1698, DIED 1762.
(Original portrait in the possession of Captain Lewis Morris, U . S. N.)

testimony of the ancient seal of the Morris family is more
valuable than an eighteenth century Mss. These arms from
the seal of Governor Lewis Morris are, as engraved by Bolton:
"Quarterly first and fourth gules, a Lion Rampant, reguardant,
"or, for Morice, second and third argent, three torteaux gules.
"The crest, a castle in flames, ppr., is a crest of assumption
"only, with the motto, 'Tandem Vincetur,' "'" to commemorate
'tis asserted, the burning of Chepstow Castle, (in Welsh,
Camguimt Castle), besieged by the Parliamentary Army in
1648, where Col. Lewis Morris was second in command.^i
Bolton gives an account of the property said to have belonged
to the Morrises at Tintern, to have been confiscated by Charles
I, and for which Cromwell indemnified Col. Lewis Morris.
The writer has been unable to verify the references, or to
find any trace of Colonel Morris's service at Chepstow, yet it
is beyond question that Tin ton Falls, (a corruption of Tintern),
and Monmouth County, N. J., were named for their foremost
inhabitant. Col. Lewis Morris, as were Morristown, and
Morris County, N. J., for his nephew. Gov. Lewis Morris.
Doubltess also, Colonel Morris named Shrewsbury, Monmouth
County, for the ancient capital of Powys, Wales."
Various spellings of the name Morris are given by different
authorities, Morys, Moris, Morres, Morrice, Maur-rice, Mawr,
Rhys, etc., and say it was often compounded with Fitz, Clan,
de. Mount, etc. One eminent genealogist derives it from Mars,
Mavors, Mawr, the god of war, and r-wyce, warlike, powerful
in war, and says it was given to ancient chieftains preeminent
for valor. ^^
Of the English Families of the name there were two classes,
native and foreign. One section of a foreign class had a
Moorish origin, crossing from Africa into Spain whence they
introduced into England and other countries Morrice dancers.
From the same source is derived Montmorency, i. e. from the
Moorish mountains.

^° At length he is conquered.
^1 This seal as given in the Papers of Governor Lewis Morris is misleading,
the quarters are reversed and the lions are not reguardant, but as Mrs.
Carnochan ably pointed out, seals are always reversed, in order that their
impressions may be correct. The writer has vainly tried to identify the
2d and 3d quarters of this seal.
'2 See Ellis' Hist, of Monmouth Co., N. J.
23 Burke's Commoners, Burke's Landed Gentry, 888; and .Arthur's Ety
mology of British Surnames. 12

The various native Welsh Morris families are of great
antiquity, and can be traced in lineal descent from Elystan
Glodrydd, Prince of Ferlex, or Ferlis, who sprang from the
ancient Princes of Powys, and was a powerful British chieftain,
founder of the fourth royal tribe of Wales, b. 933 A. D., and
named for his god-father King Athelstan (Elystan) of England,
and whose appellation of Glodrydd, or the illustrious, was
acquired by his force of character, personal prowess, rank, and
extensive possessions, which comprised nearly all the land be
tween the Rivers Wye, and Severn.
From his mother Rheingar, daughter and heir of Gronwy
ap Tudor Trevor, Elystan Glodrydd was eighth in descent from
Caradoc Vriechfras, Lord of Hereford, the sometime capital of
Mercia, and one of the knights of King Arthur's famous Round
Table.2* The Morris Lion is the lion of the ancient Princes of Po"wys,
sometimes blazoned "or" sometimes "Sable," and called
" the Black Lion of Powys." It was the Lion of Tudor Trevor,
Lord of Hereford, Whittingham and both Maclors, founder of
the tribes of the Marches. The Welsh heralds blazon his arms
as "Ensigns parted per bend sinister ermine and ermines,
" over all a Lion Rampant Sa." which, as chief arms or quartered
"have been borne by all his descendants."^^
There is no known connection between , the Morrises of
Morrisania and several other well known Morris families in
America, as that of Robert Morris, the financier of the American
Revolution, of Anthony Morris, of Philadelphia, of Col. Roger
Morris of the British Army, and the so-called Jumel Mansion.
Colonel Morris was of the Morrises of Netherby, Yorkshire,
and also bore for his paternal coat the Lion Rampant of Elystan
Gloyrydd.-" Tudor Trevor married Angared, daughter, of Howel Dha,
(the Good), King of Dyfed, and afterwards of Gwynedd, the
celebrated codifier of Wales, who d. 950, A. D.
Thus the four ancient divisions of all Wales, Gwoynedd,
Powys, Dyfed, and Gwent, corresponding roughly to the
modern Dioceses of Bangor, St. Asaph's, St. David's and
Landaff were all represented in the Morris ancestry.
« Burke's Commoners, 3, p. 232, I, 204, IV, 488.
2' Burke's Extinct and Dormant Peerage. Burke's Genl. Armory.
26 The seal on the original will of Col. John Yonge's of Southold, L. I.,
at the New York Surrogate's is "Ermine, a Lion Rampant, pronounced by
English Heralds to be the Tudor Trevor Lion. See Long Island Traveler.
13

GENERAL LEWIS MORRIS, 3d LORD OF THE MANOR, SIGNER OF THE
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.
BORN 1726, DIED 1798.
(Original portrait in the possession of Captain Lewis Morris, V. S. N.)

MAKY WALTON, WIFE OF GENERAL LEWIS MORRIS, "THE SIGNER."
BORN 1727, DIED 1794.
(Original portrait in tlie possession of Captain Lewis Morris, XJ . S. N.)

When Wales was divided into shires in 1536, Gwent became
English for the. administration of justice, but by geographical
position, dialect, and the character of its inhabitants, it is still
essentially Welsh.
"The Iberian race, the first that came to Wales, or, at least,
*'the oldest that has survived, were short, dark haired, and
"long skulled."" Gov. Lewis Morris was noted for his long
skull, which still survives in some descendants, as does the
shortness of stature, in others.
The Morrises, however, were generally men of superb phys
ique, Governeur Morris resembling General Washington so
closely in stature that he sat to Houdin the sculptor for the
figure of Washington.'*
So although we cannot definitely seat the family, apparently
their roots were in every part of fascinating Wales, especially
on the banks of the Wye, which seems almost too idyllically
beautiful to be real, and which no one who has seen can ever
forget. Wales is essentially the land of mountains, and its inhabitants
necessarily partook of the mountain gloom and the mountain
glory, as they "lifted up their eyes unto the hills."
Ancient legend and romance brood over it, its nightingales
flood the summer air with song, and its flowery meadows with
sweetness, "while Taliesin, the marvelous child bard, still
"sings beyond the mountain peaks.""
Morrisania ceased to be a Manor during the Revolutionary
War. It had but three Lords of the Manor, Gov. Lewis Morris,
Judge Lewis Morris, and Lewis Morris, the Signer of the Declara
tion of Independence. Were it still a Manor, its Lords, (whose
pictures are included in this pamphlet), in unbroken succession
from father to son, would have been:
Col. Lewis Morris, of Charleston, S. C, born November,
1752, died 22 November, 1824, married Ann Elliott. He was
Aide to General Sullivan in the Indian Campaign, and to Major-
General Nathaniel Greene in the American Revolution.
Col. Lewis Morris, married first Elizabeth, daughter of
Henry Manigault, of Charleston, was born 10 March, 1785,
and died 30 September, 1863.
Capt. Charles Manigault Morris, of the U. S. Na"vy, born 7
May, 1820, died 22 March, 1895, married second Clementina
M cAllister.
" Owen M. Edwards, Wales, The Story of the Nations.
2' Mrs. Lamb's Hist, of the City of New York.
^' Wilmot and Bruxton's Peeps at Many Lands, Wales. The Mabinogion.
16

Capt. Lewis Morris, son of Capt. Charles M. Morris, Medical
Director, U. S. N., third Vice President of the Order of Colonial
Manors in America, Member of the Order of the Cincinnati,
married first Mary Gibbs Murphy, who died, second Ella
Bingham. {Amer. Hist. May., Vol. I, 1906.)
The Morrises were by birth, breeding, position and wealth,
aristocrats of the aristocrats, by predilection intensely demo
cratic up to a certain point, but always upholders of the law,
in which they were unusually well versed.
All were men of great natural gifts heightened by education,
positive characters, men of affairs, able administrators, born
leaders, dignified, grave, cultivated men of letters, whom it
would iiave been a delight to know.
They were amusing, having an inexhaustible fund of humor,
bon raconteurs, acute debaters, uncompromisingly truthful,
•with a shrewd insight and a keen knowledge of men, and of
such marked originality of thought and action, that they were
ever creators, never followers of precedent.
Note that their careers were all political, to serve the state
was to them as the breath of life. When they believed a certain
course right they followed it, flinging caution and expediency
to the winds.
They all had a certain Welsh whimsicality of nature, and were
sometimes brusque, hot headed and passionate, for from the
days of Tudor Trevor down the Lion Rampant has ever been
the hall mark of the race.
As a lad Gov. Lewis Morris was inclined to be wild and
ungovernable, though his Quaker uncle. Colonel Morris,
harsh, dour. Puritanical, unloving, was ill calculated to bring
up a merry, high spirited lad.
The boy disliked his pious Quaker tutor, and one day climbed
a tree under which the former was wont to wrestle in prayer,
and called out: "Hugh Copperthwaite, Hugh Copperthwaite,"
"Here I am Lord, what wiliest Thou?" was the answer. "Go
"preach my gospel to the Mohawks, thou true and faithful
"servant," was the solemn command.
The tutor prepared to obey, when the trick was discovered,
and young Lewis so severely chastised that he ran away from
his uncle's roof. They were later reconciled.
Much of the life of the younger Lewis was passed in New
Jersey where he began, and ended, his career being one of the
judges of the Court of Common Right in East Jersey in 1692,
under Gov. Andrew Hamilton, with a seat in his Council.
17

He was a member of the Council (and after its President),
in 1698, i72i-'9. Chief Justice of New York i702-'28, and the
first Governor of Nova Cesaria, or New Jersey, as separate
from New York, from 1738 till his death, 2l May, 1746, at
his residence, Kingsbury, N. J., near Trenton.'"
He was a commanding figure in our Colonial history, few,
if any, exerted a stronger influence in the Councils of the
Province or among the people, with whom he was extremely
popular, being their champion to uphold their just rights and
privileges, against the selfish, arbitrary course of most of the
Royal Governors of New York.
He refused to recognize the unconstitutional appointment of
Governor Basse in 1698, for which he was proud to have been
expelled from the Council.
The best summary of his character is in Spooner's Historic
Families of America, see also Smith's History of New York, and
Smith's History of New Jersey.
" Governor Morris was excessively fond of the society of
"cultivated men, and no one equaled him in knowledge of the
' ' law. "All his contemporaries" (save his antagonists who scored
him unmercifully, and were more than repaid in kind), "speak
"of him in praise and admiration. He never sought nor
"accepted discreditable preferment, the Morris hands were
"never soiled by a bribe, nor did they ever use their political
"positions for their private, nor for selfish ends."
Not only did he receive no salary as Chief Justice, but as
Governor of New Jersey, which was not a rich province, he
personally defrayed all extra expenses, to prevent increased
taxation. "His Chief Justiceship belongs to a regime pronounced the
"most honest and worthy in New York history, and his un-
" challengable integrity was ever supported by great ability."
He was active in the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel,
a vestryman and benefactor of Trinity Church,^ New York,
to which he gave "for the service of God," the very best timber
obtainable. For this he was voted by the vestry, the signal
honor of a square pew.
He recognized Christianity as the only hope of curing existing
evils.'' The marriage license of Lewis Morris and Isabella,
'" Schuyler's Col. Hist, of New York II, 436, N. Y. Colonial Documents,
N. Y. Council Minutes, Colonial Wars Year Book.
" Hamm's Famous Families of New York, Letter to the Lord Bishop
of London, Whitehead's Papers of Gov. Lewis Morris, Wilson's Memorial
Hist, of City of New York, Drake's Amer. Biog.
18

COLONEL LEWIS MORRIS, AIDE TO GENERALS SULLIVAN AND GREENE.
BORN 1752, DIED 1824.
(Original in tlie possession of Captain Lewis Morris, U. S. A'.)

daughter of Hon. James Graham, Attorney General of New
York, was dated 3 November, 1691.^^ She was born 6 June
1673, and died 6 April, 1752.
Spooner says the Attorney General was of the Grahams of
the Isles. Tradition calls him a son of the Great Marquis of
Montrose. Some say he was a near relative of the above
Marquis. Proof of his ancestry is lacking.^'
The Morrises inherited from the Grahams an added grace of
manner and person, which were some of the distinguishing
traits of the great Marquis.^"
The Attorney-General leased the Manor of Morrisania, and
dispensed hospitality there on a liberal scale while his son-in-law
was governor of New Jersey. The latter writes "Life at
"Kingsbury is much more private than at Morrisania."'^
The married life of Governor Morris was extremely happy,
and it is a pathetic touch that the man who had never known a
mother's care charged his own children in his last will and
testament "to cherish their mother the more as they saw the
"infirmities of age creep over her."
Governor Morris, the third proprietor of Morrisania, left
his New York lands to his son and heir, Judge Lewis Morris,
and his New Jersey property to his son Robert Hunter Morris.''
The latter, born in 1700, died at Shrewsbury, N. J., 27 January
1764. "He was comely, graceful, imposing, with the judicial
"Morris mind," (doubtless inherited from his ancestor, Howel
Dha, the Welsh lawgiver), which with his superior knowledge
of law, enabled him to reduce the peadings of the Court to
precision and method. He was Chief Justice of New Jersey,
'- N. Y. Mar. Lie. Deeds of Lewis Morris, of Shrewsbury and Dame
Isabella, his wife, at Perth Amboy, Trenton and Monmouth Co., N. J.,
Will of Isabella Morris, Lib. 18, p. 94, N. Y. Wills.
" An indenture, dated 7 November, 1778, which the writer saw some
years ago, then owned by Mr. George Coventry, of Utica, conveyed part
of the Little Nine Partners Tract, N. Y., to John Graham, Aide to Gov
ernor Clinton. This was signed by several other descendants of Governor
Morris and the Attorney General Graham above, Lieut. Augustine Graham,
Capt. Charles Graham, one of the original members ot the Cincinnati,
Colonels Lewis and Morris Graham, Isabella Landpn, etc. , and sealed with
an ancient Graham seal, apparently on a chevron, 3 roses, between the
3 escallops shell of Graham. See Hunting's Hist, of Pine Plains, N. Y.,
Year Book of the Cincinnati.
^ Napier's Life of the Marquis of Montrose.
'^ Valentine's Hist, of City of New York, 236, Papers of Gov. Lewis Morris.
'* Will of Lewis Morris at Trenton, N. J. Monmouth Co. N. J. Deeds.
20

COLONEL LEWIS MORRIS.
BORN 1785, DIED 1863.
(Original in the possession of Captain Lewis Morris, XJ. S. N.)

Member of the Council, and Governor of Pennsylvania, 17 54"
'56." Lewis Morris, fourth proprietor, second Lord of the Manor
of Morrisania, generally known as Lewis Morris, Jr., was born
23 September, 1698, and died 3 July, 1762. "Much of his
career was contemporary with that of his father, whose political
principles he shared. He was one of the foremost men before
the Revolution. His principal offices were Judge of the High
Court of the Admiralty of New York, with jurisdiction over
New Jersey and Connecticut, and Judge of the Court of Ayer
and Terminer. He is said to have strongly resembled his
grandfather, James Graham, whom Mrs. Lamb in her History
of the City of New York calls "a fair sample of the ancient
"nobility."'* Judge Lewis Morris married first Tryntje Staats, second
Sarah Gouverneur. His will among other heirs named four
sons, all of whom were distinguished in public life, Lewis, the
''Signer," Staats Long, Richard and Gouverneur.
The land west of Mill Brook was left to his heir, Lewis, the
last Lord of the Manor of Morrisania, born, 8 April, 1726,
died 22 January, 1798. The land east of Mill Brook was to
go to the widow of Judge Morris, etc., who directs that his
body is to be interred in the family vault at Morrisania, next to
his father and mother, with as little pomp as possible. He
1 eaves the portraits of his parents to his brother Robert Hunter
Morris, and that of himself and of his wife, to his daughter
Isabella, and mentions a silver tankard given the testator by
the Colony of Rhode Island." The remains of most of the
Morris family were afterwards removed to St. Ann's Church,
M orrisania.Morrisania eventually included part of the manors of Ford
ham and Scarsdale, having been greatly added to. It descended
in the family with various sub-divisions but few alienations of
land till the middle of the nineteenth century. {Westchester
County Deeds.)
The whole of the original Manor with the adjacent portions
of Westchester County, were in 1774 annexed to the City of
" Smith's Hist, of New Jersey, Allen's Amer. Biog. Diet., Pa. Archives,
N. Y. Col. Doc. New Jersey Arch.
" Shonard and Spooner's Hist, of West. Co., N. Y., National Cyclopaedia
of Amer. Biog.
" \\\\\ of Judge Lewis Morris, Lib. XXIII, p. 226, N. Y. Wills.
22

CAPTAIN CHARLES M.VNIGAULT MOEEIS.
BORN 1820, DIED 1895.
(Original in the possession of Captain Lewis Morris, XJ . S. A'.)

New York, some of it still o"wned by descendants, and who have
proved themselves worthy of their illustrious ancestry.
Early in his career, Lewis Morris, fifth proprietor and third
Lord of the Manor, resisted as unconstitutional an act to enforce
additional supplies for the Kings Troops. He was a delegate
to the Continental Congress in 1776, was on the Committee
of Ways and Means to obtain ammunition, and was sent West
to detach the Indians from the British. With his entire worldly
possessions at stake he did not hesitate to champion the Ameri
can cause. On receiving a letter from his brother Staats,
bidding him to "consider the consequences," as he was about to
sign the Declaration of Independence, he said, "  the
"consequences. Give me the pen," and appended his name
to the document knowing that the British fleet was within a
few miles of his great estate, and his Manor within cannon
shot of their ships. True to his forebears, like Admiral Nelson
"He did not know fear.""
Lewis Morris was Brigadier General of Westchester County
Militia in 1776.
He, and his three elder sons. Col. Lewis Morris, before
mentioned (see page 16), Gen. Jacob Morris, and Lieut.
William Walton Morris, on the Staff of General Wayne, were
all in the Continental Army at the same time and received the
thanks of Congress for gallantry in the field."
All paid the price for their splendid patriotism, being forced
to flee from Morrisania, and take refuge on their New Jersey
lands. The Manor house and more than 1000 acres of wood
land on navigable waters were burnt, and for more than six
years the family were exiled from their home, while the entire
property was laid waste and ruined.
Morrisania was sparsely settled during the Revolution, its
forests abounded in wolves and formed a secure hiding place
for Loyalist refugees.
About 1790 Lewis Morris memorialized Congress that
Morrisania would make an ideal spot for the seat of the Federal
government, but they preferred the banks of the Potomac.
*" Congressional Dictionary, N. Y. Hist. Soc. Col. Revolution, Archives of
the State of New York, Rev. I, 117, 107, 303. Sanderson's Biog. of the Sign
ers of the Declaration of Independence, Lossing's Biographical Sketches of the
Signers, etc.
« Muster Rolls, II, 504, 507, Calendar of N. Y. Hist. Mss., Rev. Papers,
I, Allen's Annex Biog. Diet. Ill, 592, Amer. Hist. Magazine. Letters of
General Morris, published by the New Jersey Historical Society.
24

CAPTAIN* LEWIS MORRIS, MEDICAL CORPS, U. S. N.
BORN 1867.
(Original in llie possession of Captain Lewis Morris, U. S. N.)

"Captain Morris is a physician by profession and is kno"vvn in civil lift- as "Doctor"

Staats Long Morris, second son of Judge Lewis Morris, was
a Loyahst, residing in England, who rather than take up arms
against his native land tendered his army commission to the
King, who returned it, saying General M9rris would not be
required to fight against America, and sent him to India instead.
According to the British Army List he went through every
grade of the English Army, save that of Field Marshal. He
was born in 1728, and died Governor of Quebec, in 1800, and
is buried in St. Giles Church Edinburgh, in the vault of the
Gordon family, beside his first wife, the Dowager Duchess of
Gordon.^ On the death of his Loyalist step-mother, Mrs. Sarah
Gouverneur Morris, he became possessed of part of Morrisania,
which he sold to his half-brother, Gouverneur Morris.*'
Richard Morris, third son of Judge Lewis Morris, Judge of
the High Court of British Admiralty till 1876, was Chief
Justice of New York.
His residence. Mount Fordham, was burnt by the British
during the Revolution. To the writer the most fascinating of
all the wonderful family portraits that used to hang in modern
Mount Fordham, was that of this same Richard Morris, with
the hUt of his sword wired onto the frame, as he had snapped
his blade of office in renouncing allegiance to the enemies of
his country.''*
Judge Richard Morris was born 15 August, 1730, and died
at Scarsdale, 11 April, 1810.
Gouverneur Morris, his youngest brother, was versatile,
many sided, brilliant and gifted.
We owe to him the wording of the Federal Constitution as
well as a sound system of Revolutionary finance. He was like
wise a projector of the Erie Canal. His Letters, edited by his
granddaughter, Miss Anne Cary Morris, present a vivid,
invaluable picture of life at the Parisian capital.
He was Minister Plenipotentiary to France in 1792, being
the only foreigner who remained at his post through the Reign
of Terror, scorning the hourly danger to which he was exposed.
He lost a leg in an accident, and many amusing stories are told
of it. Once when pursued by a blood-thirsty French mob,
¦¦^ See Archives of Quebec in London, England.
« Will of Staats Long Morris, Liber 43, p. 265, N. Y. Wills, N. Y. Col.
Doc. VIII, 187.
" Alexander's Political Hist. State of New York. National Cyclopaedia
of Amer. Biog. 26

RICHARD MORRIS, JUDGE OF THE HIGH COURT OF ADMIRALTY.
BORN 1730, DIED 1810.
{Original portrait owned by Lewis G. Morris, grandson of the late Lewis G. Morris, of Mount
Fordham.)

JSfSpwp^S^SffP^

GOUVERNEUR MORRIS, "MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY FROM THE UNITED STATES
TO THE COURT OF FRANCE" IN 1792.
BORN 1752, DIED 1816.
(Original in the possession of Captain Lewis Morris, Xj . S. A'.)

who, on account of his strong likeness to Louis XVI, believed
him to be the King trying to escape, he suddenly thrust his
wooden leg out of the carriage window and shouted: "An
"aristocrat, yes, one who lost his leg in the service of his native
_ America." His fearlessness and wit quickly changed the
jeers to applause. He was born 30 January, 1752, and died 6
November, 1816.
No one interested in the family should fail to read Colonel
Roosevelt's charmingly written, terse biography of Gouverneur
Morris. ""5
Time forbids our lingering longer at Morrisania, rather let
us ask what would the early Morrises say to us today?, those
men of incorruptible civic life — Soldiers — Councillors — Judges —
Governors — patriots all, who gave their very best for their
country. Would it not be something like this?
"Remember the days of old" — your Welsh ancestry, and the
things for which Wales stood : religion, patriotism, imagination,
"music." "Quit you like men, be strong." "Let your sons
"and your daughters prophesy, your old men dream dreams,
"and your young men see visions." Visions of New York a
"city of stainless honor everywhere — of America leading in
"the van of nations, "Every citizen serving his native land in
"some capacity, no matter how humble,"" thus making a
"purer more unselfish government than the world has yet
"seen, for ye are American and not Welsh.
"]\Iake wise laws and enforce them, and above all let each
''of you be a Lion Rampant for the truth, counting your
"possessions a life itself, "as dust in the balance" compared
"with a righteous cause. Serve your God and your dear
"country with the whole powers of your being. Touch the
"aliens that flock to our shores with the rod of Merlin the
"enchanter, succor the oppressed, sing to the disheartened
"and weary by Life's roadside, thus making forever your own,
"as Professor Edwards has said, the ancient motto of the
"Prince of Wales: "Ich Dien.""
Tiittoii Falls, N. J.
Lgi6.
•"> Sparks Biof,. of Gouverneur Morris, Cable's Gouverneur Morris, Midland
Biographic V iiiverscllc, XXIX, 364, Xourelle Biographic Gcnerale, XXX\'I,
6.S4. Cliamber's Biog. Did,, Cassell's National Biog. Did., ilorris's Handy
Biog. Did.
*'• Dr. Chas. L. Slattery, Rector of Grace Church, New York City.
¦" "I scv\e." The Story of the .Xations, Wales.
29

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