HISTORY: Manor of Morrisania and the Early Morrises; Westchester co., NY

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THE MANOR OF MORRISANIA AND THE EARLY MORRISES
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. Original 26 pgs. 

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.(1)

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 Dutch." (2) He is
first mentioned in New York in connection with the Ship Cedar, 13 April, 1668.
A controversy had arisen between her owners and privateers who had taken a
Spanish prize which they brought to New York. The Admiralty Court after
several hearings pronounced the curious sentence that an Indian man, "taken as
part of their prize, should be "sold to defray the expenses of both sides."
(3)

Capt. Richard Morris purchased for himself and his brother Col. Lewis Morris,
land granted by the Dutch in 1639 to Jonas Broncks, the first White settler of
Westchester County, New York, and whose widow married Arent Van Curlear. The
title reads:

"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
main to the East, over against Harlem Town near Hell Gate, and a greater creek
or river which divides it from Manhattan Island, containing about 500 acres,
or 250 morgens of land." ...

Marty 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,
February, 1684, signed by six Indians in the presence of six witnesses.(4)
Samuel Edsall and his wife conveyed the same to Richard Morris, 4 June, 1668,
for (BP) 140. This was the nucleus of the splendid domain afterwards called
Morrisania. (5)

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. (6) 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. (7) On 10 August, 1670,
Richard 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.(8) The
infant Lewis Morris became the ward of the Dutch Government, who appears to
have dispossessed his uncle, though the latter eventually became sole owner 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.(9)

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
Swimming River and Falls River, with 6o 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. (10)

Colonel Morris was a member of the Council in Barbadoes, and of Governor
Dongan's Council, 1683-86, and died 14 February, 1691. (11) 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.,(12) nephew
of Colonel Morris above, probably son of Thomas Morris, and 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 Morrisania."

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."(14) 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; Philipseburgh, 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.

"The title Lord of the Manor was synonymous with owner, 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.(15)

This Mss. frequently quoted by Bolton and others, states that Lewis and
Richard Morris the earliest proprietors of Morrisania, or Bronxland, were two
of the sons of William Morris, Esq., of Tintern, Monmouthshire or Gwent,
England. His other sons were William 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
Almy.(16)

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 Gwentland, 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 became
Morris), on account of his heroism in Ireland.

One of the family of the Earl of Pembroke founded Tintern Abbey.(17)

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.(18)

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," (19) but the 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,' "(20) 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.(21)

Bolton gives an account of the property said to have belonged to the Morrises
at Tintem, 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 Tinton
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.(22)

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, Mayors, Mawr, the god of war, and rwyce, warlike,
powerful in war, and says it was given to ancient chieftains preeminent for
valor.(23)

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.
2
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 between 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.(24)

The Morris Lion is the lion of the ancient Princes of Powys, 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."(25)

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 Elys tan Gloyrydd.(26)

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.

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 skull ed. "(27) 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 physique, Governeur Morris
resembling General Washington so closely in stature that he sat to Houdin the
sculptor for the figure of Washington.(28)

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."(29)

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 Declaration 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. Navy, born 7 May, 1820, died 22
March, 1895, married second Clementina McAllister.

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 democratic 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 have 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.

He was a member of the Council (and after its President), in 1698, 1721-29,
Chief Justice of New York 1702-28, and the first Governor of Nova Cesarra., or
New Jersey, as separate from New York, from .1738 till his death, 21 May,
1746, at his residence, Kingsbury, N. J., near Trenton.(30)

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 .unchallengable 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.(31! The
marriage license of Lewis Morris and Isabella, daughter of Hon. James Graham,
Attorney General of New York, was dated 3 November, 1691. (32) 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. (33)

The Morrises inherited from the Grahams an added grace of manner and person,
which were some of the distinguishing traits of the great Marquis (34)

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."(35)

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.(36)

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, Member of the
Council, and Governor of Pennsylvania, 1754-56.(37)

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 Termine. 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."(38)

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 1eaves 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.(39) The remains of most of the Morris.
family were afterwards removed to St. Ann's Church, Morrisania.

Morrisania eventually included part of the manors of Fordham 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 New York, some of it still owned
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 American 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."(40)

Lewis Morris was Brigadier General of Westchester County Militia in 1776.

He, and his three elder sons, Col. Lewis Morris, before mentioned, 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.(41)

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.

Staats Long Morris, second son of Judge Lewis Morris, was a Loyalist, 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 Morris 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.(42)

On the death of his Loyalist step-mother, Mrs. Sarah Gouverneur Morris, he
became possessed of part of Morrisania, which he sold to his hall-brother,
Gouverneur Morris. (43)

Richard Morris, third son of Judge Lewis Morris, Judge of the High Court of
British Admiralty till 1776, 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 hilt of his sword wired onto the frame, as he had snapped his blade
of office in renouncing allegiance to the enemies of his country.(44)

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 Annie 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, 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 (45)

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,"(46) thus making a
purer more unselfish government than the world has yet seen, for ye are
American and not Welsh."

"Make 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."(47)
Tinton Falls, N. J. 1916.

(1) Diary of Admiral Penn; Letter of Wm. Penn to Sarni. Carpenter, in Bolton's
Hat. of Westchester Co. II, 458.
(2) Papers of Governor Lewis Morris.
(3) Brodhead's Hist. of the State of New York II, 140 N. Y. Hist. Soc. Col. N.
Y. Wills, I. p. 80.
(4) Comfort's Hist. of Bronx Borough.
(5) Van Renssalaer's Hist. of the City of New York. Orig. Deeds in the Morris
Family, etc.
(6) October 12, 1739, Lewis Morris writes - "I am within a few days of
entering my 69th year." Papers of Governor Lewis Morris, p. 66.
(7) Will of Gov. Lewis Morris at Trenton, Riker's Hist: of Harlem, 1881, p.
317.
(8) 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 N. Y. Council Min.,
V, 43, 78, 86, 93, 158, VII, 109, etc.
(9) Book of Patents, 4 p. 99, N. Y. Col. Doc. II, 619, 595, 637.
19 Perth Amboy Rec., I, 155, Records of East Jersey Patents, N. J. Arch., 21
p. 24.
(11) N. Y. Council Minutes, Slater's Old Times in Old Monmouth, N. J.
Pelletreau's Early Westchester Co. Wills.
(12) 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.
(13) Rec. of Gov. and Council of East Jersey, Perth Ainbby Rec. 
(14) Bolton's Hist. Prot. Epis. Church in Co. of Westchester.
(15) See Spooner's Historic Families of America.
(16) Liber E., p. 147, Monmouth Co. N. J. Deeds, Slater's Old Times in
Old Monmouth, Mrs. Leffert's Mss.
(17) Beauties of England and Wales.
(18) Owen M. Edward's Wales, The Story of the Nations.
(19) The Welsh People, by John Rhys and David B. Jones.
(20) At length he is conquered.
(21) 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.
(22) See Ellis' Hist. of Monmouth Co., N. J.
(23) Burke's Commoners, Burke's Landed Gentry, 888; and Arthur's Etymology of
British Surnames.
(24) Burke's Commoners, 3, p. 232, I, 204, IV, 488.
(25) 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.
(27) Owen M. Edwards, Wales, The Story of the Nations." 
(28) Mrs. Lamb's Hist. of the City of New York.
(29) Wilmot and Bruxton's Peeps at Many Lands, Wales. The Mabinogion.
(30) Schuyler's Col. Hist. of New York II, 436, N. Y. Colonial Documents, N.
Y. Council Minutes, Colonial Wars Year Book. . .
(31) 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.
(32) N... Y. Mar. Lic. 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.    .
(33) 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 Governor 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 of the Cincinnati, Colonels Lewis and Morris Graham,
Isabella Landon, 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.
(34) Napier's Life of the Marquis of Montrose.
(35) Valentine's Hist. of City of New York, 236, Papers of Gov. Lewis Morris.
(36) Will of Lewis Morris at Trenton, N. J. Monmouth Co: N. J. Deeds.
(37) Smith's Hist. of New Jersey, Allen's Amer. Biog. Dict., Pa. Archives, N.
Y. Col. Doc. New Jersey Arch.
(38) Shonard and Spooner's Hist. of West. Co., N.Y., National Cyclopaedia of
Amer. Biog.
(39) Will of Judge Lewis Morris, Lib. XXIII, p. 226, N. Y. Wills.
(40) 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 Signers
of the Declaration of Independence, Lossing's Biographical Sketches of the
Signers, etc.
(41) Muster Rolls, II, 504, 507, Calendar of N. Y. Hist. Mss., Rev. Papers, I,
Allen's Annex Biog. Dict. III, 592, Amer. Hist. Magazine. Letters of General
Morris, published by the New Jersey Historical Society.
(42) See Archives of Quebec in London, England.
(43) Will of Staats Long Morris, Liber 43, p. 265, N. Y. Wills, N. Y. Col.
Doc. VIII, 187.
(44) Alexander's Political Hist. State of New York. National Cyclopaedia of
Amer. Biog.
(45) Sparks Biog. of Gouverneur Morris, Cable's Gouverneur Morris, Michand
Biographie Universelle, XXIX, 364, Nouvelle Biographie Generale, XXXVI, 654.
Chamber's Biog. Dict., Cassell's National Biog. Dict., Morris's Handy Biog.
Dict.
(46) Dr. Chas. L. Slattery, Rector of Grace Church, New York City.
(47) "I serve." The Story of the Nations, Wales.