Display Patriot - P-252545 - Robert MORRIS

Robert MORRIS

SAR Patriot #: P-252545

The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
 

State of Service: PA      Qualifying Service: Civil Service / Patriotic Service / Signer of the Declaration of Independence
DAR #: A101304

Birth: 20 Jan 1734 LIverpool / Lancashire / England
Death: 08 May 1806 Philadelphia / Philadelphia / PA

Qualifying Service Description:
  1. Member of the Pennsylvania General Assembly
  2. Delegate to Continental Congress
  3. Superintendent of Finance
  4. Signer, Declaration of Independence
  5. Signer of the U.S. Constitution

Additional References:
  1. Goodrich, Charles Augustus, Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, New York City: William Reed & Co, 1829, pg 235, 239
  2. Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949, pg 1591

Spouse: Mary White
Children: Henry; Maria; Hester; Robert; Thomas; Charles; William; Mary/Polly;
Members Who Share This Ancestor
Date Approved Society ACN SAR Member Info Lineage via Child View Application Detail
1983-11-30 VA Unassigned Fielder Slingluff Dudley (123033) Mary   
1999-09-20 NJ 4620 Todd Kenneth Hoven (152540) Robert   
2017-12-01 PA 78482 Jesse Paul Steward (205576) Maria   
2023-05-12 NE 107197 William Marshall Heard (226502) Hester   
2023-05-12 NE 107198 Dalton Scott Heard (226503) Hester   
2023-05-12 NE 107199 Jackson Marshall Heard (226504) Hester   
Burial:
Christ Episcopal Church and Churchyard (aka Christ Episcopal Churchyard) (C-0373879)
Location:
Philadelphia / Philadelphia / PA / USA
Find A Grave Cemetery #:
641287
Grave Plot #:
Grave GPS Coordinates:
39.950990 / -75.144000
Find A Grave Memorial #:
739
Marker Type:

SAR Grave Dedication Date:

Comments:
  • Photo used with permission of Compatriot Mitchell Anderson, 229001, KYSSAR
  • Raised box tomb with plaque


Directions to Cemetery / Gravesite:


Author: William Marshall Heard

Robert Morris was born on 20 January 1734 in Toxteth, Liverpool, England, the son of Robert Sr. and Elizabeth (Murphet) Morris. 

He married Mary White of Philadelphia on 2 March 1769. She was born in 1749 and died in 1827. Robert and Mary had seven known children.

  • Robert III was born on 19 December 1769 and married Emma Shoemaker.
  • Thomas was born on 26 February 1771 and married Sally Kane.
  • William was born on 9 August 1772 and died young.
  • Hester was born on 30 July 1774 and married James Marshall.
  • Charles was born on 11 July 1777 and died unmarried.
  • Maria was born on 29 October 1779 and married Henry Nixon.
  • Henry was born on 24 July 1784 and married Eliza Smith.

Robert lived a patriotic life in his country, migrating to America with a mercantile shipping and banking company in Philadelphia at the age of 14 years old with the influence of his father, Robert Morris, Sr., a tobacco trader.

He was very successful in many trading and shipping ventures. As known in history, he was called the "Financier of the American Revolution."  Through Morris' company, as tensions arose with England, the company brought weapons and gunpowder to the militia. He held positions in the new American government and oversaw supplies for the Continental Army. As he was in the shipping and banking business, Robert became active in the Continental Navy. Privateering was a common practice in shipping routes throughout the world. Enemy ships would be pillaged and commandeered for the supplies they carried.

Robert was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, and the U.S. Constitution, as well as a Representative in Pennsylvania. His contributions, along with countless other Patriots in the colonies, helped defeat British rule. Along with George Washington and Benjamin Franklin, Robert is depicted in "The Apotheosis of Washington," a commissioned 1865 post-Civil War painting on the rotunda of the Capital, depicting Robert being handed a bag of money by Mercury.

The Patriot died on 8 May 1806 in Forked River, Lacey Township, New Jersey, and is buried in a box tomb in Christ Episcopal Churchyard in
Philadelphia.


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