Lewis R. Morris

Lewis Richard Morris (November 2, 1760 - December 29, 1825) was a United States Representative from Vermont and a nephew of Gouverneur Morris and Lewis Morris. Born in Scarsdale, New York, he attended the common schools. He moved to Springfield, Vermont, and from 1781 to 1783 was secretary of foreign affairs. He was a member of the Springfield meeting-house committee in 1785, was tax collector in 1786 and 1787, Windsor County court clerk from 1789 to 1796 and was judge of the same court until 1801. He was clerk of the Vermont House of Representatives in 1790 and 1791, and was a member of the convention to ratify the United States Constitution. He was secretary of the constitutional convention in Windsor in 1793. He attended the Vermont ratifying convention in Bennington, where he voted in support of the Constitution. Morris married (1st) to Hulda Theodosia Olcott, who died soon after. He married (2nd) Ellen Hunt, daughter of Jonathan Hunt (Vermont lieutenant Governor).[1]

Morris was a brigadier general in the State militia in 1793 and major general of the First Division from 1795 to 1817. He was a member of the Vermont House of Representatives from 1795 to 1797 and 1803 to 1808, and served as speaker. He was elected as a Federalist to the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Congresses, holding office from March 4, 1797 to March 3, 1803. He died in Springfield; interment was in Forest Hill Cemetery, Charlestown, New Hampshire.

References