Lewis Morris (abt. 1655 - 1695)

Born about 1655 in Barbados [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Elizabeth (Almy) Leonard — married before 16 Apr 1679 (to 1696) in Monmouth County, Province of East Jersey [uncertain]

Descendants

Died 1695 at about age 40 in Passage Point, Monmouth, Province of New Jersey

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Biography

Lewis Morris was born in 1655 to parents Thomas Morris "of Barbados" ^[1] and Sarah (Grace) Settle. He married Elizabeth Almy in Apr 1679 in Monmouth, New Jersey. Their children:

• Elizabeth Catherine (Morris) Thomson (1682-1726)
• Rebecca (Morris) Chamberlain (1687-abt.1749)
• Richard Morris (abt.1690-1763)
• John Morris (1695-1769)

He died in 1695 in Passage Point, Monmouth, New Jersey.

He was the ward "from infancy" of Col. Lewis Morris (1613-1691) of Barbados, who gave him a plantation in Monmouth county, New Jersey and arranged for him to be High Sherriff of Monmouth County. This Lewis Morris was at least ten (10) years older than the nephew, of Col. Lewis Morris. Ward Lewis, son of Thomas never became a Quaker. Despite this ward Lewis is given 300 acres in 1681 and in 1688 the Colonel sold him 330 acres "at the end of Rumson Neck, New Jersey" later forgiving him all debt including that from the land sale. ^[1]. At the time many sons of plantation owners in Barbados were migrating to New Jersey, along with their slaves; the size of the average farm was 300-400 acres.^[2]

According to oral tradition recorded in 1868, c. 1670 a Lewis Morris purchased from the Indians a section of land south of the future Shrewsbury Township, New Jersey for a barrel of cider.^[3]

He was the first High Sheriff of Monmouth County. He served as a justice of the Court of Quarter Sessions of Monmouth County. In 1694, a grand jury indicted Lewis for "feloniously" removing the hay of William Shattuck. He had the indictment removed to the Court of Common Right at Perth Amboy. ^[4]

In Land Records

Monmouth County book of deeds contains record of a letter from Christopher Allmy appointing his son-in-law, Lewis Morris, as his attorney, dated August 14, 1679. Recorded: April 16, 1679. Joseph Parker, justice, was the signatory; John Slocum and Robert West were witnesses.^[5]

(Witness is possibly Robert West (aft.1624-1697), whose brother Bartholomew was married to Katherine Almy (bef.1629-abt.1703)).

Death and Legacy

In 1695 Lewis Morris was killed by seven of his slaves, in retaliation for his murder of an enslaved woman in 1689.^[6][7] The leader of the revolt, named Jeremy or Jeremie, was convicted of murder in 1696 and sentenced by the Court of Quarter Sessions for Monmouth County to have his hand cut off and burned in front of him, and then to be "hanged up by the neck, till Thou art Dead Dead Dead."^[4]

A letter of administration was granted on April 1, 1696, on the estate to his wife Elizabeth Almy Morris.^[8]

Slaves

According to [Weeks]:

• Jeremie Unknown (abt.1666-1696)^[4] (Uncertain)
• Agebee - executed for Lewis' murder
• Oliver - punished but not executed

Inventory of his estate included^[9]

• "a negro man £30"
• "a negro boy £20"

Stories/Legends

"Ghosts Along the Navesink and Shrewsbury Rivers" (Patricia Hayer, Haunted America, a Division of the History Press, Charleston, SC 2020 Chapter 4) includes a fictionalized version of Lewis Morris' death unfortunately conflating him with Lewis Morris (1671-1746). According to this account his ghost wanders Passage Point looking for its heart.

Research Notes

Per [Smith,109], Lewis wrote of Col. Lewis Morris "Therefore I am bound to remain thankfully engaged unto him forever not only for the formentioned but also for many other kindness conferred on my by him from my Infancy.." This appears to be the author's basis for terming Lewis his "ward". I have so far not found any record of legal guardianship.

Likewise this Lewis' parentage requires sourcing. If Thomas Morris (abt.1635-1694) is this Lewis' father, then his parents were alive simultaneous of his being ward of Lewis Morris (1613-1691).

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} p. xii, 65, 68, 87, 109. Smith, Samuel Stelle "Colonel Lewis Morris: Anglo-American Statesman ca. 1613-1691" New jersey, USA: Humanities Press, Inc., 1983. Copyright. Accessed 6 Dec 2022. E-book available for borrowing at https://archive.org/details/lewismorrisanglo0000smit/page/n7/mode/1up?q=Quakers&view=theater
2. ↑ Fishman, George. The African American Struggle for Freedom and Equality: The Development of a People’s Identity, 1624-1850. Garland Publishing 1997
3. ↑ p.363 Barber, John Warner and Howe, Henry, "Historical collections of New Jersey : past and present, containing a general collection of the most interesting facts, traditions, biographical sketches, anecdotes, etc., relating to the history and antiquities...", New Haven, Conn. : J.W. Barber, 1868
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} Chapter 5, Not for Filthy Lucre's Sake: Richard Saltar and the Antiproprietary Movement in East New Jersey, 1665-1707' by Daniel Weeks, pub. 2001 (https://www.google.com/books/edition/Not_for_Filthy_Lucre_s_Sake/FM_BrMaXR2kC?hl=en&gbpv=0)
5. ↑ New Jersey State Archives. Early Land Records, 1650-1900s (database). https://wwwnet-dos.state.nj.us/DOS_ArchivesDBPortal/EarlyLandRecords.aspx Citing Monmouth Co Deeds Volume C : Folio 40 (CMNCL001). Available at NJ Archives on microfilm for in-person research only. For original records Contact Monmouth County Clerk
6. ↑ Montclair State University Anthropology [Montclair] citing [Fishman] in this online article "Part 2 – Slavery in Early English East Jersey" (https://www.montclair.edu/anthropology/research/slavery-in-nj/part-2), accessed September 7, 2023.
7. ↑ Fishman, George. The African American Struggle for Freedom and Equality: The Development of a People’s Identity, 1624-1850. Garland Publishing 1997. p.40, 68, citing John Robert Strassburger, “The Origin and Establishment of the Morris Family in the Society and Politics of New York and New Jersey, 1630-1746,” (Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University, 1976) DDJ76-22, 637 p. iii, 44
8. ↑ Nelson, William (ed.), Calendar of Wills, Administrations, Etc. Volume I, 1670-1730. Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey. Trenton, NJ: Archives of the State of New Jersey, 1901, volume 23, page 329
9. ↑ p. 329 Nelson, William; Honeyman, A. Van Doren; Hutchinson, Elmer Tindall, Nelson, William, 1847-1914; Honeyman, A. Van Doren (Abraham Van Doren), 1849-1936; Hutchinson, Elmer Tindall, 1882-1954; "Calendar of New Jersey wills, administrations, etc; New Jersey Historical Society 1901 (https://archive.org/details/calendarofnewjer00newj/page/329/mode/2up)

• New Jersey Abstract of Wills, Vol XXIII p 329