History of Morrisania, (Bronx County) New York United States of America

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Biographies:

Lewis Morris, signer, was born in Morrisania, N.Y., April 8, 1726; son of Judge Lewis (1698-1762) and Catharine (Staats) Morris; grandson of Lewis (1671-1746) and Isabella (Graham) Morris, and great-grandson of Capt. Richard and Sarah (Cole) Morris. His father, chief justice of the vice admiralty court, married first Catharine Staats, and secondly, in 1747, Sarah Gouverneur. The son entered Yale in the class of 1746, and received the degrees of A.B. and A. M. in 1790. He was married to Mary Walton and had six sons and four daughters. His sons, Col. Lewis Morris, U.S.A., and Capt. Richard Valentine Morris, U.S.N., served in the Revolutionary war. He devoted himself to the management of his large estate and became a successful farmer. He was opposed to the aggressive measures of the British parliament and protested against the quartering of British troops on the American colonists. Immediately after the battle of Lexington in 1775 he was chosen a delegate to the Continental congress, taking his seat May 15, 1775. He served on the committee to provide ammunition and supplies for the American army of which Washington wes chairman. He was at Fort Pitt the latter part of 1775, where he negotiated with the Indians to induce them to make common cause with the colonists against the British. Early in 1776 he returned to Philadelphia and was appointed on several important committees and signed the Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776. He returned to New York in 1777, having resigned his seat in congress in favor of his half-brother Governeur in order that he might bring his personal influence to bear upon the citizens of New York to sustain the cause of independence, showing them that he was himself a willing sufferer, his property having been destroyed and his own family exiled from the state. From 1777 till the evacuation of New York in 1783, he and his family were often in actual want. Upon resigning his seat in congress, that body passed a resolution complimenting him on his "long and faithful services." He was subsequently a member of the state assembly and major-general of state militia. Upon the evacuation of New york he returned to his desolated farm at Morrisania and engaged in re-establishing his possessions. He died at Morrisania, N.Y., Jan. 22, 1798.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Gouverneur Morris, senator, was born in Morrisania, N.Y., Jan. 31, 1752; son of Lewis and Sarah (Gouverneur) Morris, and half brother to Lewis Morris the signer. He was graduated from King's college, N.Y., A.B., 1768; A.M., 1771; studied law with Chief-Justice William Smith, and was admitted to the bar in 1771. In 1770 he published a series of anonymous articles against a motion for raising money by the issue of bills of credit then before the state legislature. He was a delegate to the first provincial congress in 1775, and with John Jay and Robert R. Livingston drafted the constitution of the state of New York. He was a delegate to the Continental congress to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of his father, Lewis Morris, 1777-80. He was a member of the committee appointed to examine with General Washington, the condition of the American army quartered at Valley Forge; and was chairman of the committee to examine and consider the despatches from the American commissioners in Europe, in 1779. He was thrown from his carriage in May, 1780, and his leg severely crushed, necessitating amputation. He was appointed by Robert Morris assistant minister of finance and served in that capacity, 1781-85. He purchased the Morrisania estate from his half-brother, Staats Long Morris, in 1786, and subsequently resided there. He was a delegate to the constitutional convention of 1787, and advocated conservative measures. The final draft of the constitution was given to him for revision. He resided in France, 1788-91; was appointed a confidential agent of the United States to negotiate with the British government concerning some unfulfilled articles of the treaty of peace in 1791; was U.S. minister to France, 1792-94, and upon the arrival of James Monroe to assume the ministry he traveled extensively in Europe, returning to the United States in 1798. He was U.S. senator, 1800-03, completing the term of Philip Schuyler, who had resigned Jan. 3, 1798, and had been followed successively by John Sloss Hobart, William North and James Wilson resigning in 1800. Senator Morris was chairman of the Erie Canal commission, 1810-13. He is the author of a series of essays signed "An American" in the Pennsylvania Packet (1780); and toward the close of his life he contributed political satires to the New York newspapers. His published works include:Observations on the American Revolution (1779); An Address to the Assembly of Pennsylvania on the Abolition of the Bank of North America (1785); An Address in Celebration of the Delivery of Europe from the Yoke of Military Despotism (1814); and funeral orations on Washington, Hamilton and Governor George Clinton. He died in Morrisania, N.Y., Nov. 6, 1816.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Isaac Craig Buckhout, civil engineer, was born at Morrisania, N. Y., in 1831. At an early age he was employed by the Harlem railroad as a surveyor's assistant, and he afterward occupied the position of city engineer, and superintendent of waterworks in Paterson, N. J. Later he was appointed city surveyor of New York, and in 1853, returning to the employ of the Harlem railroad company, he superintended the construction of extensive works on the Harlem River, and of important improvements in various parts of the road. He became chief engineer of the road in 1857, and its superintendent in 1863. He designed the Grand Central station, and was one of a committee of four engineers appointed by the legislature to carry out the provisions of the charter granting the privilege of constructing the Fourth avenue improvements. Mr. Buckhout's plans for the construction of the underground railroad, for which Mr. Vanderbilt obtained a charter, were pronounced the most practicable of those submitted, as were also his plans for a similar road in Brooklyn, N. Y. He died at White Plains, N. Y., Sept. 27, 1874.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Robert Hunter Morris, proprietary governor of Pennsylvania, was born in Morrisania, N.Y., about 1700; son of Gov. Lewis and Isabella (Graham) Morris. He studied law, was admitted to the bar and was chief justice of New York and New Jersey, 1738-64, and a member of the New Jersey council, 1738-58. In 1754 he succeeded Governor Hamilton as deputy governor of Pennsylvania, serving until August, 1756, when he was relieved by William Denny. During his term occurred Braddock's defeat near Fort Du Quesne, July 9, 1755, which left the frontier unprotected and the defenceless settlers in a panic. The assembly voted an appropriation of fifty thousand pounds to he used to afford protection to the settlers, but Governor Morris returned it without his approval, because it provided for taxing the property of the proprietors as well as other estates, and on account of this act he was severely criticized and the assembly was obliged to vote fifteen thousand pounds, to he drawn on the trustees of the loan office. The abandonment of the campaign by the British left the frontier open to the attack of the Indians, and the most bloodthirsty outrages were committed. It was estimated that during the year 1755 nearly three thousand settlers were massacred. In 1756 Governor Morris formally declared war against the hostile Indians, notwithstanding the vigorous protest made by the Quakers in the assembly. Upon his retirement in 1756 he returned to New Jersey. He died in Shrewsbury, N.J., Feb. 20, 1764.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor