Lewis Morris 1726-1798

Early Founder/Historic Leader

Lewis Morris, also known as Lewis Morris III, was one of the two Dutch Americans who signed the Declaration of Independence. At that time he was a delegate to the Continental Congress for the State of New York. The other Dutch American to sign the Declaration of Independence was Philip Livingston [1716-1778]. It is not widely known that Lewis Morris is a Dutch American. Unlike his half brother, Gouverneur Morris, whose name clearly hints at a Dutch connection, the name Lewis Morris does not reveal any connection with his Dutch background. But if your mother’s name is Katrintje Staats, there is little doubt about the Dutch connection. His mother’s name was Katrintje, also known as Catherine, Staats. The mother of his half brother, Gouverneur Morris, was Sarah Gouverneur, whose mother in turn, was also a Staats, Sarah Staats to be specific. So the Dutch backgrounds of both Gouverneur Morris and Lewis Morris III are not in doubt.

Lewis Morris was fortunate to come from a well-to-do background. He was educated by private tutors and entered Yale University in 1762, and graduated in 1766. Upon graduation, he returned to help his father in running the large agricultural estate, named Morrisania, located in what is now New York City. In 1762, his father passed away and Lewis inherited the bulk of the estate. Prior to that time, in 1760, Lewis was appointed by the Crown to a judgeship of the Admiralty Court. In 1769, Morris was elected to the Colonial Assembly. As the Revolution War drew near, in 1774, he resigned from the judgeship in the Admiralty Court, and became active in the New York Convention, which was essentially the revolutionary government of New York State. He served in that body from 1775 to 1777. The New York Convention sent Morris to the Continental Congress, and he served in that body during the 1775 to 1777 period.

Morris returned to New York in 1777, and served in the new State Government Senate from 1778 to 1781, and again from 1783 to 1790. When the New York Convention met to ratify the U. S. Constitution in 1788, Morris was one of the delegates. Morris also served on the first Board of Regents of the University of New York, and served on it from 1784 until his death in 1798.

Lewis Morris was born on April 8, 1726 in Morrisania, New York. He married a Miss Walton with whom he had ten children, six sons and four daughters. His siblings and half-siblings included Staats, Mary Lawrence, Gouverneur, Isabella, Catherine and Richard. Lewis Morris passed away on January 22, 1798 in Morrisiana, New York. He is interred in a vault beneath St. Anne’s of Morrisiana Church, Bronx, New York.

 

 

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