Lewis Morris was an American Founding Father, landowner, and developer from Morrisania, New York, presently part of Bronx County.
16 Facts About Lewis Morris
2.
Lewis Morris signed the US Declaration of Independence as a delegate to the Continental Congress from New York.
3.
Lewis Morris was the third Lewis Morris in the Morris family.
4.
Lewis Morris was the son of Lewis Morris and Katrintje "Catherine" Staats.
5.
Lewis Morris graduated from Yale College in 1746, and upon his father's death in 1762, he inherited the bulk of the estate.
6.
Lewis Morris's uncle was Robert Hunter Morris, the governor of Pennsylvania.
7.
Lewis Morris purchased the first tract of land in the Bronx that became the basis for the Morrisania manor.
8.
When he came of age, Lewis Morris expanded and patented the estate.
9.
Lewis Morris married Isabella and went on to serve as the 8th colonial governor of New Jersey.
10.
Lewis Morris was a popular governor who championed land owning rights for the colonists.
11.
In 1777, Lewis Morris returned to New York, became a county judge of Westchester County, and was appointed a member of the New York State Senate representing the Southern District, which consisted of Kings, New York, Queens, Richmond, Suffolk and Westchester counties.
12.
Lewis Morris was a Federalist presidential elector in the 1796 election and cast his votes for John Adams and Thomas Pinckney.
13.
In 1784, Lewis Morris was elected an honorary member of the New York Society of the Cincinnati.
14.
Lewis Morris died on the estate and is buried in the family vault beneath St Ann's Church in the Bronx.
15.
Lewis Morris is portrayed by Ronald Kross in the 1969 Broadway musical 1776 and by Howard Caine in the 1972 film.
16.
However, when George Washington noted in a dispatch that Lewis Morris's estates were destroyed by the British, but his family was taken to safety in Connecticut, Lewis Morris abandons his lack of instructions and moves to sign the Declaration.