Historic Houses of Montgomery County, PA
The Anthony and Elizabeth Morris House
Anthony Morris: Judge and Quaker Minister
Built ca. 1717
Above: The ca. 1717 Morris House is the earliest house in Worcester Township. Image source: Lee J. Stoltzfus
Anthony Morris (1654 - 1721) was a wealthy Quaker brewer, merchant, and civic leader. He was a mayor of Philadelphia, and a judge of the Supreme Court. He also was a member of the Provincial Council and the Assembly. Morris travelled as a Quaker minister during the last part of his life. Beginning in 1701 he devoted nearly all his time to the ministry.
After his death in 1721, his son Anthony Morris continued his father's brewing business and was involved in iron industries at Colebrookdale and Dale Forge, Berks County.
A Modern Addition to the Gable:
Above: A pent eave across the front elevation, and a modern addition. Image source: Lee J. Stoltzfus
Floorplan of the Morris House:
The fireplace has a chestnut lintel. The chamfered chestnut joists attach to a summer beam. Image source: National Register of Historic Places: Mary E. Butler and Paul H. Barner
1980 Photo: Before the Addition:
Above: Both gables originally had pent eaves, but they have not been restored. Image source: National Register of Historic Places, Robert Martin.
Three Homes of Three Great-Great-Grandsons
of Anthony and Elizabeth Morris
Anglo and Germanic Quakers Marry:
Above: Three houses built by great-great-grandsons of Anthony and Elizabeth Morris. Their mother, Rebecca Wistar, was the daughter of prominent Quaker glassmaker Caspar Wistar, a German immigrant. The houses represent the cross-cultural merging of an English Quaker family (the Morrises) and a German Quaker family (the Wistars).
#1. Luke Wistar Morris (1768–1830) was a prosperous Quaker businessman in Philadelphia. He was an active member of the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting. His home was the 1787 Reynolds-Morris House.
#2. Isaac Wistar Morris (1770 - 1831). This house, Cedar Grove, passed primarily through the female line of the Paschall-Morris family. After Sarah Paschall (1772–1842) married Isaac Wistar Morris in 1795, they enlarged the house and added a gambrel roof and a central lunette window.
#3. Anthony Morris (1766–1860) was a lawyer and politician, who served as the Speaker of the Pennsylvania Senate and as an ambassador to Spain. He was a birthright Quaker and married a fellow Quaker, Mary Smith Pemberton, in 1790.
But Senator Morris was disowned by the Friends when he signed a bill providing troops to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion. This pro-military bill conflicted with the Quaker Peace Testimony. Senator Morris built this fancifully ornate house, Highlands, after he was disowned by the Quakers.
Another Quaker Morris of Montgomery County
(Unrelated to this Morris Family)
Hope Lodge, built in the 1740s:
Ten miles from the Anthony Morris House is Hope Lodge, the former home of another prominent Quaker Morris family. This family at Hope Lodge had Welsh ancestry, while Anthony Morris’ family had origins in London.
Samuel Morris (1707 - 1770), of Hope Lodge, was a prominent Quaker businessman and civic leader. His father, Morris Morris, emigrated from Caernarvonshire, Wales, and became a Quaker elder. His mother was Susanna (Heath) Morris, a well-known traveling Quaker minister born in Staffordshire, England.
Meanwhile, finacier and Founding Father Robert Morris Jr. (1734 – 1806) was another Morris who was not related to these Quaker Morrises. He was a British-born Episcopalian.
Links: