National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior FINDING AID Morris Family Papers, 1741-1989 (bulk dates: 1830-1950) Prepared by Northeast Museum Services Center For Independence National Historical Park National Park Service Fall 2010 Catalog Number: INDE 101264 Cover image: Deshler-Morris House, ca. 1950. Courtesy, Independence National Historical Park Archives Morris Family Papers Above: Morris family outside back porch of Deshler-Morris House, ca. 1885. Left to right: (standing) Elliston I, Elizabeth, Martha, Charles Rhoads (in top hat), Marriott I; (seated) Hannah P. Morris, Lydia Morris, Samuel Buckley Morris II, Beulah Morris Rhoads, and unidentified female. Morris Family Papers, Photo BX 24, Fldr 7. Courtesy, Independence National Historical Park Archives. Above: Martha Canby Morris and Elliston Perot Morris I in library at Deshler-Morris House, April 1904. Image by Marriott Morris I. Morris Family Papers, Photo BX 1, Fldr 38. Courtesy, Independence National Historical Park Archives. Morris Family Papers Morris Family Papers TABLE OF CONTENTS Copyright and Restrictions ……………………………………………………………..i History ………………………………………………………………………………….1 Scope and Content ……………………………………………………………………...6 Hierarchy ………………………………………………………………………………..9 Series Descriptions …………………………………………………………………….. 12 Container List ………………………………………………………………………….. 19 Separated Materials………………………………………………………75 Photographic Materials…………………………………………………..78 Appendix A. Families Histories Morris Family Papers Morris Family Papers i COPYRIGHT AND RESTRICTIONS The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted materials. The various state privacy acts govern the use of materials that document private individuals, groups, and corporations. 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The National Park Service is not legally liable for copyright, privacy, or publicity infringement when materials are wrongfully used after being provided to researchers for "fair use." This institution reserves the right to refuse to accept a copying order if fulfillment of the order is judged in violation of copyright or federal or state privacy or publicity law. Morris Family Papers ii Morris Family Papers 1 HISTORY The Morris family members who are represented in these papers are part of a large and prominent Philadelphia Quaker family descended from Anthony Morris (1654-1721) who emigrated to America by 1683. His great-grandson, Samuel Morris (1734-1812), who continued the family brewing business and ran a mercantile firm, is best known for his role in the American Revolution when he fought at the Battles of Trenton and Princeton as a captain in the First Troop Philadelphia City Calvary ("read out of meeting" for his military activity, he continued to dress and speak as a Quaker). Samuel married into another notable Philadelphia family, the Wistars, and his sixth son, Luke Wistar (1768-1830), married Eliza Morris Buckley. The only child from their marriage, Samuel Buckley Morris I (1791-1859), was a successful merchant until the sudden death of his wife, the former Hannah Perot, in 1831 prompted him to retire from his business and devote his life to his three motherless children, Samuel Buckley (II), Beulah Sansom, and Elliston Perot. In 1835 he moved his family from downtown Philadelphia to his father-in-law's summer house in Germantown originally built for David Deshler and used by President Washington and his family in 1793 when escaping the yellow fever epidemic of the city and 1794. Thus the Morris family began their relationship with the residence later known as the Deshler-Morris House. Samuel Buckley educated his children at his house with other children and then sent the boys to the Westtown School, a Quaker boarding school, and Haverford College, two institutions which he supported. He founded the Savings Fund of Germantown with his own money and contributed to other good works. After Samuel Buckley I died in 1859, Beulah stayed in the House until her marriage to Charles Rhodes in 1870. Samuel Buckley II had earlier moved away to Olney to pursue farming: around 1864, he became a minister. Elliston Perot and his wife Martha Canby moved to the House around 1868 after they spent their first years of married life in a new house on Church Lane near Chew Avenue. Elliston and Martha raised four children in the House -- Marriott Canby I, Elizabeth Canby, Samuel Buckley III, and Elliston Perot II -- with Elliston Perot II dying of typhoid fever in 1881 and Samuel Buckley III perishing of an unknown disease in 1886. Elizabeth recorded in a diary entry that she would be glad to leave after Samuel's death as it was full of painful memories but her father "loved the old place so." Elliston and Martha indeed cherished the house and cultivated its historical associations. They sought out items that had been in the house during Washington's occupancy and decorated the main rooms and hallway with colonial-era furnishings. The appearance of the house's front facade was preserved, and the addition designed by Mantle Fielding and built in 1908-1909 was recessed so as not to detract from the main structure. Journalists were allowed to write about the historical interiors of the "Washington Residence," and the Morrises gave mounted photographs of the house as favors during the 1886 Perot family reunion. Morris Family Papers 2 Elliston I left the House to his daughter with his wife retaining life interest, and Elizabeth Canby continued to live there after her father's and mother's deaths in 1914 and 1919 respectively. When she died in 1947, Marriott, her only surviving sibling, inherited the house. The 1948 codicil in his will leaving the House to be preserved by the U.S. government was invalid because he died less than thirty days after it was written. His family, however, honored his wish and the house was transferred to the National Park Service in 1949. The following short biographies continue the discussion of the major figures in the Morris Papers: Elliston Perot Morris I (22 May 1831- 1 November 1914) Morris was raised at the House and attended Westtown Boarding School, and Haverford College. He took care of his family's financial trusts and real estate holdings in a downtown Philadelphia office. As his father before him, he was prominent in Germantown civic organizations, serving on the board of the Savings Fund for sixty years, and was active in local Quaker institutions such as the Friends' Free Library and the Friends' Free School. He was a long-time member and president of the Friends' Freeman Association of Philadelphia and in this capacity corresponded with Booker T. Washington about Christianburg Institute, a school for African-Americans in Virginia. His personal interests included drawing in which he became a skilled amateur. He, like other successful businessmen, sought relief through summer vacations and travel. He bought property and built two houses, "Avocado" (named after a Perot family estate in Bermuda) and "Cedar Mer" at Sea Girt on New Jersey coast. He and his family traveled to Europe in 1892, to the Canadian Rockies in 1898, and to Bermuda in 1910. After his health weakened in 1914, he ceased visiting his office in Philadelphia but attended to his business affairs at home and went to Meetings. He died on 3 December of that year at the House. Martha Canby Morris (12 May 1836 – 1 November 1919) Martha Canby of Wilmington, Delaware, married Elliston in 1861; it is unclear how they met. Upon the death of Merrit Canby, her father, in 1866, she inherited money for which she kept an account. Martha ran the households at Church Lane, the House, and at Sea Girt and closely documented expenditures when given time between tending children and supervising servants. She, in midst of her duties, was able to develop hobbies. She pursued a strong interest in the genealogy of not only the Canby family but also the Morris family and collected documents from other family members. (Her claim to a Thomas