Lewis G. Morris

Lewis Gouverneur Morris (August 19, 1808 – September 19, 1900) was an American maritime advocate and sheep and cattle breeder who was a member of the prominent Morris family of Morissania.[1]

Lewis G. Morris
Born
Lewis Gouverneur Morris

(1808-08-19)August 19, 1808
Claverack, New York
DiedSeptember 19, 1900(1900-09-19) (aged 92)
Fordham, New York
OccupationMaritime advocate, sheep and cattle breeder
Spouse(s)
Emily Lorillard
​
​
(m. 1839; died 1850)​
Children4
Parent(s)Robert Richard Morris
Frances Ludlam
RelativesRichard Morris (grandfather)
Lewis G. Morris Jr. (grandson)
James A. Hamilton (brother-in-law)

Early life

Morris was born on August 19, 1808, in Claverack, New York.[2] He was the youngest son of Robert Richard Morris (1762–1851) and Frances Ludlam (1766–1852).[3][4] His elder sister, Mary Morris (1790–1869), was married to James Alexander Hamilton (1788–1878), third son of Alexander Hamilton and Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton.[5]

His paternal grandparents were Richard Morris (1730–1810), Chief Justice of the New York Supreme Court,[6] and Sarah (née Ludlow) Morris (1730–1791), the sister of William Henry Ludlow.[7] His great uncle was Gouverneur Morris Jr. and his great-great uncle was Gouverneur Morris, a Founding Father of the United States, signatory to the Articles of Confederation and U.S. Constitution who wrote the Preamble to the United States Constitution and has been called the "Penman of the Constitution.".[8][1]

Career

Morris, who inherited "Mt. Fordham", his family's estate,[2] was a resident of Morris Heights, New York, maintained a small farm at Fordham, until it was encroached upon. He then purchased another farm in Scarsdale and on these farms bred sheep and cattle.[1][9][10]

In 1838, he took up his lifelong fight to restore and improve the Harlem River. After careful legal consultation and planning, on September 14, 1838, he led a raid on the Macombs Dam, and restored the channel. After a long legal battle with the dam's owner, he persevered in Renwick v. Morris. The removal of the dam was justified as being a public nuisance in violation of the original provisions of the dam's public authorization.[2]

Morris also championed the design of the Croton Aqueduct to soar over the Harlem River at High Bridge, rather than block the channel. He also pushed to see the Harlem River Ship Canal become a reality.[2]

He was president of the New York State Agricultural Society and a member of the Royal Agricultural Society of England.[2]

Military service

In 1840, Morris was appointed inspector of the New York State Militia, 4th Division, with the rank of colonel. During the U.S. Civil War, he was prominent and active in support of the Union, serving as a member of the War Committee.[2] In August 1862, he again was appointed Colonel and was noted for recruiting the 135th Regiment of Infantry, later known as the 6th New York Heavy Artillery Regiment, under the command of Brigadier Gen. William H. Morris, son of George Pope Morris, the poet, although neither were members of his Morris family.[2]

Personal life

In July 1839, he married Emily Lorillard (1839–1850),[2][11] the daughter of Jacob Lorillard (1774–1836) and granddaughter of Pierre Abraham Lorillard, founder of the Lorillard Tobacco Company.[12] Her sister Eliza Meier Lorillard married Nathaniel Platt Bailey.[11] Together, they were the parents of four sons, two of whom died young. Their two surviving sons were:[2]

  • Fordham Morris (1842–1909),[13] who married Annie Louisa Westcott, daughter of Joseph H. Westcott, in 1872.[2]
  • Francis Morris (1844–1883), who married Harriet Hall Bedlow, daughter of Henry Bedlow.[2] After his death, she married John Rex Guelph-Norman (1861–1932), who claimed to be the son of King Edward VII and rightful heir to the throne,[14] in 1898.[15] They divorced after she discovered he had a wife in India.[16][17]

Morris died at his home, Mt. Fordham,[18] on September 19, 1900, at the age of 92.[1][19]

Descendants

Through his son Fordham, he was the grandfather of Emily Lorillard Morris (b. 1873),[20] who married Rolaz Horace Gallatin (d. 1948),[21] son of Frederic Gallatin and Almy Goelet (née Gerry) (d. 1917),[22] and cousin of Albert Eugene Gallatin and nephew of Commodore Elbridge Thomas Gerry, in April 1896.[23]

Through his son Francis, he was the grandfather of Lewis Gouverneur Morris Jr. (1882–1967), the original proprietor of the Lewis G. Morris House, was married to Princess Anita of Braganza (1886–1977), the daughter of William Rhinelander Stewart and widow of Prince Miguel, Duke of Viseu.[24]

References
  1. "LEWIS G. MORRIS DEAD: Member of Distinguished American Family – Advanced Harlem Ship Canal Project" (PDF). The New York Times. 20 September 1900.
  2. The American Historical Magazine. Publishing Society of New York. 1906. p. 437. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  3. Hamilton, James Alexander (1869). Reminiscences of James A. Hamilton: or, Men and events, at home and abroad, during three quarters of a century. New York: C. Scribner & Co.
  4. Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York (1905). The Saint Nicholas Society of the City of New York: History, Customs, Record of Events, Constitution, Certain Genealogies, and Other Matters of Interest. V. 1-. p. 110. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  5. Reynolds, Cuyler (1914). Genealogical and Family History of Southern New York and the Hudson River Valley: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Building of a Nation. Lewis Historical Publishing Company. p. 1380. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  6. "Richard Morris (1730–1810)". www.nyhistory.org. New-York Historical Society. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  7. Reynolds, Cuyler; Cutter, William Richard (1914). Genealogical and Family History of Southern New York and the Hudson River Valley: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Building of a Nation | Vol. III. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
  8. Documents from the Constitutional Convention and the Continental Congress. Library of Congress.
  9. Henry Collins Brown (1922). Valentine's manual of old New York. 2. New York (N.Y.): Common Council. p. 250.
  10. An Abstract of the Proceeding of the County Agricultural Societies: Address, Lewis G. Morris, President of the Society. XIII - 1853. Albany, New York: Transactions of the New York State Agricultural Society. 1 March 1854. pp. 210–218, 87, 745, 757. Having drawn a very favorable position for agriculture, as an occupation[...]It is mainly owing to the establishment of societies such as this, all over our Union, and by aid of the agricultural press,[...] which means it affords our American aptitude a change to apply the experience of the old world, for centuries, and our inventive genius as a nation has led to many improvements which are better adapted to our soil and climate.[...Won by Morris...] Award of Premiums, 1853: Class I. - Cattle: No. 1. Short Horns. [8 Awards totaling $110(equivalent to $3,381 in 2019) ] No. 2 Devons [6 Awards totaling $63(equivalent to $1,936 in 2019)]
  11. Newport Art Museum (R.I.) (2000). Newportraits. UPNE. p. 186. ISBN 9781584650188. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  12. Ackerman, Ruthie (17 December 2007). "Loews Lets Lorillard Go". Forbes. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  13. "FORDHAM MORRIS DEAD.; Bright's Disease Kills Member of Old New York Family at Lenox". The New York Times. 7 July 1909. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  14. Guelph, John R. Wettin (1910). The Memoirs of Prince John De Guelph, rex et imperator de jure of Great Britain and Ireland;. New York, B. W. Dodge & company. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  15. The United States Army and Navy Journal and Gazette of the Regular and Volunteer Forces. Army and Navy Journal Incorporated. 1897. p. 591. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  16. "Prince de Guelph". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. March 27, 1909. p. 10. Retrieved 27 September 2017. [Guelph-Norman] then came to New York as "Prof. John R. Guelph Norman," attracted by the offer of Charles Broadway Rouss of $1,000,000 (equivalent to $30,732,000 in 2019) to any man who could restore his sight. He said he had lived in India and had attended the King of Siam for blindness. Sued Month After Marriage,. Then Norman met Mrs. Harriet Hall Bedlow Morris, widow of Commander Morris, U. S. N., and daughter of the late Henry Bedlow, once Mayor of Newport, R. I. Norman treated the daughter. He courted her and won the mother. Here entered the stories of his having a wife in India. Mrs. Norman filed suit for divorce within one month of the marriage. Norman returned to New York, where Mrs. Hilda Schleatter, charging that he had hypnotized her out of $1000, had him arrested. He was sent to Ludlow Street Jail
  17. "'PRINCE DE GUELPH' MISSING.; Little Difficulty Over His Bill Sends Him from the St. Regis". The New York Times. 27 March 1909. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  18. "DIED. Morris". The New York Times. 20 September 1900. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  19. "Funeral of Lewis G. Morris" (PDF). The New York Times. 23 September 1900.
  20. John Conrad Weiser Family Association (1960). The Weiser family: a genealogy of the family of John Conrad Weiser, the elder (d. 1746); prepared on the two hundred fiftieth anniversary of his arrival in America, 1710–1760. John Conrad Weiser Family Assoc. p. 210. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  21. "R. HORACE GALLATIN". The New York Times. 2 November 1948. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  22. "ESTATE OF MRS. GALLATIN; It Exceeds $1,000,000 and Husband Gets $30,000 a Year for Life". The New York Times. 4 April 1917. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  23. "A DAY'S WEDDINGS. | Gallatin--Morris". The New York Times. 29 April 1896. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
  24. "Anita Stewart Morris, 91, Dies; Heiress Wed a European Prince". New York Times. September 16, 1977.
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