ROBERT MORRIS, THE OXFORD MERCHANT

1711-1750

It is difficult at this day to discover the causes of the concentration of trade at the pretty town of Oxford, which in the first half of the XVIII century gave to this port an importance second only to that of the provincial capital at Annapolis. The most rational of these are the excellence of its harbor, its proximity to and ready approach from the great bay, its accessibility by water by means of boats from all the regions bordering upon the Chesapeake, at a time when roads were either wanting or were mere bridle paths, and lastly the remarkable salubrity of its atmosphere, then as now unpoisoned by malaria. And the causes of decline after the middle of the century are almost as obscure; for if those of its prosperity, which have been assigned, were the true causes, in as much as they were permanent in their influence, they should have secured permanence of commercial prominence. But there was really another cause for the decadence of Oxford as a centre of trade, and this was the absence of a back country dependent upon this place for an outlet of its products and an inlet for its supplies. The growth of the vast west demanded a port of entry and departure upon the opposite shore, and this port was furnished by the town of Baltimore which grew proportionately with the growth of the country north and west, and finally absorbed the foreign and the greater part of the domestic trade of the Province. But in considering the prominence of Oxford at one period and its declension at another just succeeding, regard must not be paid to natural or physical causes wholly: something must be attributed to human agencies - to the energy and capacity, or to the inertness or weakness of men. Examples are familiar of natural advantages being lost by ignorance or apathy, and natural impediments being overcome by Intelligence and enterprise. While St. Louis, relying upon her splendid site, sat secure of her supremacy in the Mississippi valley, Chicago was building in a swamp the Western metropolis, one of the largest and most beautiful cities of the world. While the favorable environments of Oxford drew to her harbor and strand men of strength, resolution and foresight, with their ships, their capital and their wares, they, in return, gave impetus, steadiness and scope to her business interests and all that accompanies commercial prosperity, material and moral. Among these active aid able merchants of Oxford, was the subject of this brief sketch, Mr. Robert Morris, whose name is familiar to the ears of the citizens of this county because of his lamentable fate, and to the country at large because it was borne by a distinguished son whose end was hardly less tragic than the father's, while it was far more reproachful to those who if they did not accomplish it, stood by consenting.

Of the English commercial firms trading with Maryland, one of the most substantial and prosperous was that of Messrs. Foster, Cunliffe & Sons, of Liverpool, which had its ships plying between the Chesapeake and the Mersey, with detours to Madeira, the coast of Africa and the West Indies; and had its factories as their warehouses and stores were called, seated along the shores of our great bay and its tributaries. One, and a principal one of these factories, was at Oxford, and in charge of this somewhere about the year 1738, they placed the most capable of their employees, from their Liverpool house, who had acquired their confidence by services that had tested his probity and his capacities in business. This was Mr. Robert Morris of whom it is now proposed to speak. Of his parentage, birth and education but little is certainly known. In his will he calls himself the "son of Andrew Morris, mariner, and Maudlin his wife, both deceased, late of the town of Liverpoole in Great Britaine," and upon his tombstone it is inscribed that he was born in that city. But whatever was his genesis this may be said of him that he overcame all impediments of birth and breeding by his own inherent forces, and vindicated his title to be called a gentleman through a display of those traits which distinguish that character from the vulgar, whether they be high or low born. The precise date of his birth cannot be discovered, but as his epitaph states that at time of his death in 1750 he was in the fortieth year of his age, his natal day must have been in 1710 or 1711. The humble station of his family renders it highly probable that his early scholastic training was very imperfect and limited: but either there was emplanted in his mind in his youthful years a love of good letters or he had a natural avidity for good learning at least in its popular and elementary form and a natural capacity for its reception. It is known that he was neither ignorant nor weak; that he was fond of books and the converse of cultivated men. Of his training for practical life we know as little as of his education. In the Journal of Col. Jeremiah Banning, who as a youth had a personal acquaintance with Mr. Morris, it is stated that :

This gentleman was one of those instances of many to evince that it is not always necessary to be high born and educated to become a conspicuous character. This was quite the reverse with Mr. Morris, being brought up in the mean business of a nail maker with a school education similar thereto. His great natural abilities overleaped every other deficiency.

Doubt is thrown upon this statement of Col. Banning by a descendant of Mr. Morris, as it must have been given upon mere heresay, he having been very young at the date of Mr. Morris's death. But assuming that it is true, as nail making was the work of women and children before the introduction of machinery, he may have followed his calling in his least mature years, and abandoned it as he grew older and more capable of higher employment. Keeping in mind the liability to fall into errors when, in the absence of testimony, conjecture, even the most plausible, is taken as a guide, it may be surmised that at an early period of his life he was received into the employment of Messrs. Cunliffe, in some capacity or other. He may have been taken into the warehouses of this great commercial firm, to perform the humblest services, and been advanced to positions of confidence and responsibility. Or what is more probable still, in view of the facts that as sons used to follow from generation to generation the avocations of their fathers and that as Mr. Morris was certainly the son of a sailor, and possibly the grandson of another, that Captain Robert Morris, of 1669, herein before mentioned, and finally in view of the fact that in his day, it was common for the sea-faring man to develop into the merchant, he served in some capacity on board one of the ships of the Messrs. Cunliffe whose trade was largely with Virginia and Maryland. But whatever may have been his early position, there can be no doubt his abilities as a man of affairs displayed themselves in such a way as to obtain the recognition of the Messrs. Cunliffe who were thus persuaded that in him they had found a suitable person to whom to intrust the management and control of one of their chief trading posts in America. He was accordingly sent out by them to Maryland and placed in charge of their business at Oxford, then one of the most important stations in the Province and the leading one upon the Eastern Shore. It will be seen in the sequel that their judgment of his capacity was not at fault and their confidence in his integrity not misplaced. At what date Mr. Morris arrived at Oxford it has been found impossible to determine. A communication to the Maryland Gazette, herein after quoted, says that at the time of his death in July, 1750, he had been in charge of the factory of the Messrs. Cunliffe at Oxford twelve years. This would indicate that he was in Talbot as early as 1738. His name first appears in the records of this county in or about the year 1741, then, however, in such connection as to lead to the inference that he had been here some years, the recognized agent of the firm of Foster, Cunliffe & Sons of Liverpool.

Here, and in this capacity, Mr. Morris spent the remaining portion of his life, and there is no evidence that during this time he was permitted to visit the old country. He seems to have enjoyed the confidence of his employers, and to have justified their confidence by the management of their affairs in such a way as to render the station at Oxford unequalled by any in Maryland. Besides this factory there were others in his care and under his supervision, conducted by under-factors who accounted to him, and drew their supplies from his store. One at Cambridge was conducted by a Mr. Hanmer who seems to have had greater latitude allowed to him than to others, if he was not independent of Mr. Morris.

The success which was won for the Messrs. Cunliffe was not without much active competition. There were several establishments of London and Liverpool merchants at Oxford and its vicinity and else where in the county quite as extensive as those of Mr. Morris's principals, that contested for trade upon a footing which was rendered unequal only by his superior address. Among these competitors were Mr. Anthony Bacon who had a large store at Dover on Choptank, and Mr. Gildart, who had a store at Oxford, and Mr. John and Mr. William Anderson, who had stores on Wye and Chester rivers, and Mr. John Hanbury who had a store at Cambridge and probably one at Dover. There were others of equal extent. Mr. Morris pretended to compete not only with these but with merchants of long standing upon the Western Shore, and from the single fact that after the breaking out of the war in 1744 between England and France, commonly called King George's war, he was able to secure the contract for clothing the Maryland troops, with Manx cloth from his store at Oxford, it is evident he was capable of successfully contesting the commercial field with the largest merchants of the Province. In a letter of Henry Callister, his under-factor, to the Messrs. Cunliffe, dated Oct. 2, 1750, written after Mr. Morris's death it was said of the factory at Oxford," for its present state and circumstances it cannot be equalled by any in Maryland, owing to the good management of your late factor there." Col. Jeremiah Banning, in his journal says of Mr. Morris, of whom he had personal knowledge:

Oxford was at the time of his death and during his agency, for he was its principal supporter, one of the most commercial ports of Maryland. The storekeepers and other retailers both on the Western and Eastern sides of the Chesapeake repaired there to lay in their supplies. . . . Oxford's streets and Strand were once covered by busy crowds ushering in commerce from almost every quarter of the globe. . . . After the death of Mr. Morris commerce, splendor and all that animating and agreeable hurry of business at Oxford declined to the commencement of the civil war, which broke out in April 1775, when it became totally deserted as to trade.¹

No better evidence could be given of the estimate that was placed upon his business capacity by the Messrs. Cunliffe, than the opportunities they gave him for bettering his fortunes by commercial adventures upon his own account while he was acting as agent for them. It was customary where young men were sent out from England, as under-factors, or clerks, and of course the same or greater favors were granted to their chiefs, to grant them in addition to a stipulated salary for a certain time certain privileges of trade, by which they were better qualified for independent action, their diligence stimulated and their small income increased. To Mr. Morris these privileges were unusually favorable because of his extraordinary abilities as a merchant. He was not taken into partnership by the Messrs. Cunliffe, but according to Mr. Callister, they winked at or gave their assent to a business arrangement by which a firm was formed of a Mr. William Anderson of London, Mr. Morris and Mr. Hanmer, to conduct a store in the upper part of the county. Mr. Callister said also that Mr. Morris, whether with or without the consent of his principals, was a member of the firm of Messrs. Anthony Bacon & Company whose factory was at Dover, or to use his words kept "a great store at Dover on Choptank." Continuing, Mr. Callister said of him:

Mr. Morris died possessed of a good estate which I think became him well. I thought I could see by what means he acquired it, - viz., by your particular indulgence in allowing him to ship tobacco and trade as much as he thought fit (which he did to some purpose); and you lately gave him a very remarkable proof of that indulgence by admitting him a partner in the Oxford shop for the Guinea trade, So far, without doubt, was agreeable to you, but as I questioned whether you were privy to the other partnerships, I thought it my duty to make you acquainted.

As tobacco was the staple commodity of the country at the time it was the principal object of trade; and as it was the medium by which values were estimated, and debts paid it was the common currency. Of course scarcely any thing could have been worse for this latter purpose, for it varied in quantity and quality year by year. As an object of commerce it was greatly unsatisfactory for the same reasons, with this one in addition, that there were no standards of excellence by which it could be measured but the arbitrary or partial judgments of buyers and sellers; and its business was so great that the difficulty in ascertaining its condition when in its packages was almost insuperable with those who had not the opportunities and appliances of inspection. Inspection laws, had not then been passed, nor were there public warehouses for the reception and critical examination of the staple established throughout the county as there were subsequently. The evils enumerated had been long felt in the community, but the legislation necessary for their amelioration had not been secured. The difficulty of securing the reform of any mischievous system which has grown up in any society, and penetrated the whole body by its roots, is one of familiar facts of practical politics. When innovations, acknowledgedly demanded, are attempted to be initiated in a community where customs or laws are established, the interests of so many persons are, injured or imperiled; the interests of so many more are undeservedly and improperly promoted at the expense of the innocent and helpless, there are so many established rights invaded, and so many private wrongs inflicted; the natural conservatism or inertia of men to whom ancient order, with all its inconveniences and detriments, is acceptable, is so violently assailed; and the new order of things, with all its advantages, is so repellent by reason of its difficult applicability to cases originating under old conditions, that there is always a pervading objection to reforms however clearly their beneficent results are perceived and however severely the evils they promise to remedy are experienced. While laboring to secure legislation for the removal of the evils to commerce and society of an unsettled standard of valuation of the staple product upon which all business transactions were based, the active mind of Mr. Morris devised a remedy which though of voluntary application was so just and wise that it was accepted by all the dealers in tobacco and most of the producers. This consisted essentially in the appointment by the merchants of private receivers, who were expert and honest, and went from plantation to plantation examining the crops, and giving certificates of quality to the owners, which were generally accepted by the buyers as proof of the grade. When the tobacco was brought in to the warehouses, as fraud was sometimes attempted by the planters, a second inspection was sometimes requested by the merchant. When a planter shipped his own product, a fear of rejection abroad rendered him wary of including anything of an inferior quality.² The benefits resulting from the system of private inspection were so marked that in 1747 an Act for the legal inspection of Tobacco was passed, but it was imperfect and after several amendments in years following, it seems to have lapsed. No good law was secured until that of 1763, which was most comprehensive and efficient. The inconveniences resulting from the employment of tobacco as a currency or medium of exchange, Mr. Morris attempted to remove by the adoption in his private business of a system of accounts kept in denominations of sterling money. He is said to have been the first to make this attempt in Maryland. In this he succeeded but imperfectly, his premature death probably interrupting his endeavors to give generally to what he found useful in his own transactions.³ If this statement be true, and it was made by one who should have known, it justified the remark of that person, that Mr. Morris,"as a mercantile genius was thought to have no equal in the land."

In Mr. Morris's time, besides the export of tobacco, a very considerable trade in wheat had grown up, the Talbot lands having shown that remarkable adaptability for the production of this grain which they have continued to manifest to the present day, and their unfitness for the growth of the finer qualities of tobacco, which has caused the entire abandonment of that crop. There were other articles of export, such as peltries, pork and the products of the forest. One of the most profitable parts of the business of the Messrs. Cunliffe was that of supplying the shipwrights at Oxford and its vicinity with these articles which were requisite in the construction and equipment of vessels. Ship building was carried on extensively, and this firm was a purchaser of the products of the shipyards of the neighborhood. Besides the materials for the building of vessels which could not be supplied from domestic sources, the families of the workmen had to be furnished with many of the necessaries of life from the stores under Mr. Morris's care, and this was a source of great gain. It has been noted that the Liverpool house was engaged in the African slave trade, and that its factor at Oxford had been admitted to share the bloody emoluments earned by one of its vessels. The standards of morals are not absolute, but vary with time and place: so it is not proper to judge the Messrs. Cunliffe and Mr. Morris by that one which is accepted at the present day as a measure of the character of this traffic in negro slaves. Although, at the time, there may have been some few whose moral sensibilities were more acute than those of the great majority (and such sensibility was by that majority thought to be morbid or eccentric) most people were either indifferent to the question of the right or the wrong of the trade, or they pronounced upon it in the manner their interests dictated. There is no evidence that the Messrs. Cunliffe or Mr. Morris were men of low moral development, yet they seem to have had no qualms of conscience about the purchase or sale of negro Slaves:⁴ and it would be difficult now to prove by any ethical dialectics founded upon an utilitarian system of morals, that African slavery was wrong, the enormities of the middle passage excepted which were not necessary incidents of the system, if its injurious effect upon the superior race, then not apparent or at least not realized, were eliminated from the premises. They were not absurd though they may have been dishonest who said they enslaved negroes that they might better them, by bringing them within the verge of civilization.

There was another form of human traffic carried on by the Messrs Cunliffe and their agent at Oxford which was entirely free from censure, though not always nor wholly free from hardship and suffering to the objects. This consisted in the transportation and sale of servants under articles of indenture and convicts under judicial sentence. It is not necessary to warn intelligent readers against the error of confounding these two classes of enforced immigrants. The first, as is known from the records of this county, as well as from those of others lying upon tide water, were generally not the scum and refuse of the city populations, but reputable, self-respecting though poor and humble people, who driven by the pressure of necessity at home, or invited by the hope of bettering their condition sought the new world; but being unable to defray the cost of their passage across the ocean in money, contracted with Master or Ship owner to serve for a certain specified time such person, in the colonies, as should purchase the right to such service. There was no dishonor, except such as will attach to laboring poverty in spite of all our philosophy and religion, accompanying this condition; but each indentured servant was respected as his character and position deserved he should be. It is known that some who came into this country were the equals if not the superiors, of those who bought their term of service in the elements of a self-reliant manhood and all that wins the regard of men except wealth; and this they were not slow in acquiring, so that they became the founders of families as reputable as any existing in the county. The other class of enforced immigrants, the convicts, were persons of a very different combination of qualities, and were never welcomed. Its numbers seem not to have been very great at any time. As previously intimated this whole system of obligatory servitude, whether applied to reputable or disreputable persons, was, like the system of slavery, liable to be abused, and the court records give abundant evidence of the wrongs and cruelties inflicted upon its subjects, though the law pretended to afford defence and protection to these very helpless classes of citizens. The Messrs. Cunliffe were justifiable in appropriating any profit that could be derived from the transportation of these people, and are not, in any degree, censurable for such injuries as were inflicted by the cruel masters who bought the right to the services of the redemptioners or the convicts. There were a few other involuntary immigrants, who suffered neither from poverty nor crime, landing at Oxford, while Mr. Morris was factor there, with whose transportation and distribution he may have had nothing to do, but with whose compulsory domiciliation in Maryland and elsewhere in the colonies, the fortunes of the Cunliffe's were involved. There were the Scotch rebels taken in arms at the battle of Culloden in 1746, fighting under the young pretender, Charles Edward. Mr. Robert and Mr. Ellis Cunliffe were zealous supporters of the Hanover dynasty, and rendered such military service during the uprising of the adherents of the Stuarts, as to merit the notice of the King, who rewarded them with orders of Knighthood.⁵

While thus contending in life's race, overleaping all obstructions and daring all dangers of a new and untried course; just when he was distancing all rivals however fleet or strong, and he thought the prize of superiority was surely within his reach; when he already heard the plaudits of the witnessing throng, and felt in his own breast the pulses of a laudable pride in his success, he was suddenly cut off in mid career. The circumstances of his unfortunate death, which constitute one of the tragic legends of the county, have been related with a particularity of detail so varied as to impair their authority: but fortunately there has been preserved a record written by a person who was personally cognizant of the occurrences, if not an eye witness to them. It was the custom of the period for the captain of a ship making a successful voyage from the old country, and arriving safely at his destination in the new, to entertain on board his vessel, in such manner as sailors think most proper and agreeable, the neighboring planters, merchants and other consignees or shippers. The factors or commercial agents of the ship owners were favored guests, if they were not often the provident hosts, upon these festive and sometimes too hilarious occasions. It was while returning from one of these scenes of bibulous jollity, where prudence had been supplanted by good humor, that Mr. Morris, who had so far preserved his usual equilibrium as to have been apprehensive of danger from the maudlin demonstrations of good will, received a hurt that speedily cost him his life. The following account of this sad occurrence, which strips off many of the accretions the story of Mr. Morris's death has gathered about it in time, is said to be part of a letter of a gentleman of Talbot, dated July 14th, 1750.⁶

"On Thursday last died at his house in Oxford, Mr. Robert Morris, Merchant, agent and factor of Foster, Cunliffe, Esq., of Liverpool. He received his death by a gun-shot wound in his right arm, which melancholy and unfortunate accident happened in this manner: The Friday before his death, upon the arrival of the Liverpool Merchant, a ship of Mr. Cunliffe's, he went on board her with some company, and after a small stay there, went into the boat to come ashore, at which time the Captain⁷ was about paying him the usual compliment with the guns. Mr. Morris (as he told me himself), being under an unusual apprehension of mischief, desired the guns might not be fired till he was astern of the ship. But the Captain not apprehensive of any danger and in the boat with him, unfortunately gave the signal for firing whilst the boat was aside of the ship, at about twenty yards distant. The wadding of the first gun passed near the head of Mr. James Dickinson, who sat by Mr. Morris; and that of the third did the mischief. The breechings were left indiscreetly under the guns, and the ship had a heel to the side next to the boat; otherwise this sad accident could not have happened, for without the concurrence of these circumstances, the waddings must have passed over the boat without doing any mischief. The bone of his arm was broken a little above the elbow and a large wound and contusion was made in the flesh. The wound began to mortify the next day, but by the skill and assiduity of those who attended him, the mortification was stopped, and there was good hopes of saving both his life and his arm, until Wednesday evening, when he was seized with a violent fever, which carried him off the next afternoon. Thus melancholy and unfortunate was the exit of this gentleman, after he had about twelve years past managed the extensive concerns under his care, with advantage to his principal and reputation to himself. My acquaintance with him warrants me to affirm, that he was a merchant punctual and strictly honorable; as a friend sincere, steady, and generous; as a companion gay, cheerful and sensible; as a member of society the foremost to promote any scheme for the public good; in a word a gentleman of the most flowing and diffusive benevolence; frequent and most disinterested and secret in charity, and other good offices; and a shining example of every kind and friendly disposition. These qualities deservedly gained him a general esteem 'while he lived and have occasioned a hearty sorrow among his friends for his death'."⁸

By chance there has been preserved another letter, written undoubtedly by the presumptive author of the one just quoted, which gives some additional incidents connected with the death of Mr. Morris, and also a glimpse of his inner life. This letter is one addressed to Mr. Robert Morris, of Philadelphia, the son of the subject of this memoir, who subsequently became the great financier of the Revolution, by Mr. Henry Callister, to whom reference has heretofore been made, and is dated Dec. 11, 1764. It says:

"If I were writing to Your father of respectable memory, I should be more particular; and this I can show by four or five voluminous rolls of his letters in my trunk. He seemed to be at first and for some time, my enemy; but it was a mistake. Before his unlucky death, I am much mistaken, if, barring that cursed accident, he would not have preferred my friendship in his last days, as indeed he made a beginning, which however produced more benefit to Messrs. Cunliffe than to him or me. You are perhaps yet too young to read lessons of morality. I shall not plague you with them. I shall only tell you that I was the last that spoke to your father, and the last that heard him speak (for I make no account of two or three old women in the chamber). At his request I read him Plato's Phaedo, with which he was extremely pleased, and I am confident he died with less pain than he would have done without that. I have the last place in his will, but it was written before he contracted friendship with me, and his death was too sudden."⁹

It would seem from this that Mr. Morris, instead of seeking in his last hours the consolations of religion dispensed through the authorized channels, which would have been the ministrations of the Rev. Thomas Bacon, the rector of the Parish, than whom none was more capable of strengthening the hope of another life by Christian persuasives, preferred those afforded by a heathen philosophy as presented by its highest interpreter, through the unlicensed medium of an humble fellow servant and friend. It must not be inferred from this, however, that he rejected those tenets which are distinctive of the accepted and orthodox belief, for his will is prefaced with the customary pious formula, expressive of a godly faith and hope, though it must be confessed his life in some particulars had not been conformed to that severe rule of morals, which devout minds accept if religion does not always impose.

He was interred in the burial ground of the parish Church, called White Marsh, and upon the occasion a funeral discourse was pronounced, probably, by his friend the Rev. Thomas Bacon, the rector. An extract of this sermon, so much of it as related to the deceased, was sent by Mr. Callister to Mr. Craven, then in the employ of the Messrs. Cunliffe, for whose eyes it was intended. The grave of Mr. Morris, at the south-west corner of the old and deserted church edifice, may be seen to this day, covered by a much mutilated slab of stone, bearing the following inscription, at this time almost illegible.

"In Memory of Robert Morris, a Native of Liverpool In Great Britain Late a Merchant at Oxford In this Province Punctual integrity influenced his dealings Principles of Honor governed his Actions: With an uncommon degree of sincerity He dispised artifice and dissimulation. His Friendship was firm, candid and valuable. His Charity frequent, secret and well adapted. His Zeal for the Public Good, active and useful. His Hospitality was enhanced by his conversation Seasoned with cheerful wit and Sound Judgment.  A Salute from the cannon of a Ship (The wad fracturing his arm) Was the signal by which he departed Greatly lamented as he was esteemed, In the fortieth year of his age: On the 12th day of July 1750^"10

There is a legend connected with the death and burial of Mr. Morris which, being better authenticated than most of its kind, for it is of contemporary record, may have mention here, if for no other reason than that it is confirmatory of the possession by brute animals of the nobler sentiments. It is related that a spaniel dog belonging to Mr. Morris lay in his sick chamber until his death, and then refusing to leave the room where his body was placed preparatory to interment, it crouched beneath his lifeless form, there died and was buried the same day as its beloved master.¹¹ Another story of more doubtful authenticity has been often told and may be repeated without however the garnishments of fiction with which it is usually served. It is related that Mr. Robert Morris, the son of the merchant of Oxford, years after the death of his father, gave a turtle feast to some of his young friends, ladies and gentlemen of Philadelphia, upon the banks of the Schuylkill. When the intelligence reached him that the man who fired the cannon which had killed his father was present, he was overcome by his emotions in the midst of the festivities.¹²

The business of the Messrs. Cunliffe at Oxford, after the death of Mr. Morris was for awhile conducted by Mr. Hanmer, and at a later date by Mr. Henry Callister: but having lost him to whom it owed its greatest vitality, it languished, and seems to have become wholly extinct in or about the year 1759 or 1760.

Any successful portraiture of the character of Mr. Morris, must be little more than a reproduction of the lines and shades that have been already given in the foregoing imperfect depiction of his life. The laudatory words of his epitaph seem to have been better deserved than such mortuary inscriptions generally are, for their truthfulness is confirmed by the concurrence of the testimony of disinterested contemporaries with the well established traditions of descendants. The encomiums of Mr. Callister or of him who wrote the communication to the Maryland Gazette at the time of his death, correspond not only with the inscription upon the tomb, but with the estimate of Col. Banning written many years later, which probably reflected the opinions that were still entertained by men who had known Mr. Morris in various relations of life. Mr. Banning in his journal said in addition to what has already been quoted:

As a mercantile genius 'twas thought he had no equal in this land. As a companion and bon vivant, he was incomparable. If he had any public political point to carry, he defeated all opposition. He gave birth to the inspection law on tobacco and carried it, though opposed by a powerful party. He was a steady, sincere and warm friend, where he made professions, and had a hand ever open and ready to relieve real distress. At repartee, he bore down all before him. His greatest foibles, that of a haughty and overbearing carriage, perhaps a too vindictive spirit, and to this may be added an extreme severity to his servants and which indeed might have been reckoned the greatest reflection on the times, for it was not uncommon, when people of the first class met together at each other's houses, to hear them boast of the new invented ways of whipping and punishing negroes and servants; and I am sorry to say, that the ladies would too often mingle in the like conversation and seem to enjoy it. I am assured, if such characters existed at this day they would be hooted out of society.

This strong and vivid delineation is doubly valuable, first because it was not the extravagant expression of friendship made in the first hours of sorrow and bereavement, and secondly because it notes the spots and blurs upon a character which but for these would have appeared to be too free from blemish to be natural. In a letter of Mr. Robert Morris the younger to Mr. Henry Laurens, President of Congress, dated Dec. 26th, 1777, he said: "Mr. Thomas Morris and myself are descended from a father whose virtues and whose memory I have revered with most filial piety."

Such words could hardly have been drawn from one of such tempered speech and spotless candor unless there had been ample justification for their warmth and sincerity, written when he was suffering the shame and humiliation which the disgraceful conduct of a brother had brought upon him. What then, does this picture painted by different hands, strangers and kinsmen present to our view? A young man overcoming all the hindrances of humble birth, imperfect education and exigent poverty; rising through simple native vigor of mind and probity of character to a position of trust, responsibility and influence; faithfully promoting the fortunes of his employers, yet achieving by no questionable means considerable wealth for himself, in the short space of twelve years: reforming the vicious customs of trade, which he found established, by the introduction of new and untried expedients, to be finally confirmed by statutory provisions; simplifying transactions involving finance, by the abolition of cumbersome methods of the notation of values; giving to the pretty town where his lot had been cast, a distinction and prominence above every other in the Province, the seat of government excepted, by the extent and boldness of his commercial adventure; influencing legislation for the public good, without the aid of official position, and often in defiance of strong opposition; by his intelligence, integrity and trustiness, securing the esteem and friendship of many of the first characters of the county and Province, and by his cordiality, vivacity and wit making himself their chosen companion in their hours of relaxation and merriment; no niggard in personal expenditures and liberal in his bounties to the poor. But this portrait is not all light and color. It has its dark lines and shades. The habits he formed as the independent agent of a great commercial house, in a remote station, and divested of all direct control by his superiors, may have strengthened a naturally imperious will and rendered him arbitrary and exacting towards his inferiors and haughty to his equals. The assumption of these qualities, if they were not inherent, may have been necessary, for the constituents of the new and unsettled community, with which he had to deal required their exercise. As society was then and there constituted, the arrogance and pride of the large planters had to be met with like manner and disposition or the meek and humble would go to the wall, while the ruder populace took the display of such humors to be the right and privilege of the strong and rich, to be tolerated if not admired. Cruelty to servants and slaves cannot be excused but the offence may be palliated by the circumstances. The white servants were often from the most degraded classes of the large cities of England, and sometimes actual criminals from the jails and work-houses of the old country, and the blacks were actual barbarians fresh from the African coasts. By both of these tenderness would have been interpreted as evidence of weakness and its exhibition would have rendered them more and more idle and disobedient. It should always be remembered when forming our judgments of the treatment of servants and slaves by their masters and owners, that what would be cruelty to highly organized and sensitive natures would be nothing more than tolerable, if not proper punishment, for these constructed of coarser and less impressionable fibre. It should be remembered too, in considering this particular case, that when Col. Banning, a very compassionate man to his negroes notwithstanding he had been in the African slave trade, perhaps because he had seen the enormities of this trade, was writing of these flaws in the character of Mr. Morris, and reprehending the conduct of the men and women of his time in this community, his mind was suffering from a feverish spell of philanthropy, instituted by the teaching of the Quakers, Methodists and French Philosophers, so that his impressions may be said to have been morbid, though his facts may have been precisely as he has stated them.

All that is known of Mr. Morris's personal appearance is derived from an oil painting in the possession of his great-granddaughter, Miss Elizabeth Nixon of Philadephia, which has been reproduced in an engraving. It represents him as a man of medium height, full habit, heavy but intelligent countenance, with stern expression, in an attitude of address, or command.

Mr. Morris left two sons by different mothers. The eldest inherited his name, his talents and his fortune. The name he rendered illustrious, and it is inscribed "in letters of living light" upon that scroll of Fame, the Declaration of Independence. The talents and the fortune developed and enlarged by a prosperous mercantile career, after he was appointed the minister of finance for the United Colonies were most diligently and unselfishly devoted to the cause of freedom, so that to him more than to any other man save Washington only, is the success of the American revolution attributable. This subject has frequently been referred to in these contributions, to correct impressions that excessive cruelty was practised upon negro slaves. The writer is no apologist of slavery, but also, he is no slanderer of slave holders. The real evils of that institution were sufficiently great for it to merit the condemnation of all men, and to consign it to the perdition it has so justly found without resort to the exaggerations and inventions of inflamed minds.  He is said to have come to America when he was thirteen years of age, and to have spent some time at school in Talbot, before entering the counting room of Mr. Greenway in Philadelphia. After the war of the Revolution he was a partner in business of Col. Tench Tilghman, a native of this county, the aide and friend of General Washington. Mr. Morris of Oxford has descendants through Robert Morris, the signer and financier, yet living. The second son bore the name of Thomas, and died in 1777 without children.

The authorities consulted in the preparation of this memoir have been commonly mentioned in the text or the notes: but they may be summarized as follows: The Public Records of the County, the 'Maryland Archives,' the Maryland Gazette, the Callister letters, the Banning Journal, the Easton Gazette, Boocher's Repository, and private letters of Henry Casey Hart, Esq., of Philadelphia.

_{1. See extracts from his Journal in the Memoir of Col. Jeremiah Banning, one of this series of  papers.}

_{2. See memoir of Henry Callister and also that of Col. Jeremiah Banning in each of which are references to the part taken by Mr. Morris in improving the staple of tobacco by the employment of receivers; and also in securing the passage of an Inspection law.}

_{3. Whether Mr. Morris was the first to introduce the system of keeping accounts in money or not, the records of Talbot county show that at or about 1750 it became common for merchants to employ this method. Suits were brought up on accounts in 1754 rendered in part in Sterling money, in part in Currency and in part in Tobacco. In 1723 the rates of charges at the Ordinaries were stated in currency and in tobacco; in 1734 and forward in currency only. The levy of the county was made in tobacco until 1777.}

_{4. The advertisement of Mr. Robert Morris in the old Maryland Gazette of July 8, 1746 of "a parcel of negro men, women, boys and girls" just received by the ship Cunliffe, Capt. Johnson from Barbadoes, and for sale at Oxford, falls upon eyes illumed by the light of the last quarter of the nineteenth century with startling effect.}

_{5. These rebels came by the ship Johnson of Liverpool, William Pemberton, Master, and arrived at Oxford, July 20th, 1747. Scharf's History of Maryland, vol. 1, page 425. The ship Johnson belonged to Mr: Richard Gildart of Liverpool who had a factory at Oxford.}

_{6. There is but little doubt, from internal evidence, that this letter was written by Mr. Henry Callister.}

_{7. The name of the captain commanding the Liverpool Merchant was Samuel Matthews and inasmuch as after the date of the accident neither his name nor that of his ship appears in the long list of Masters and their vessels which has been compiled from the county record. It is believed that they no more visited the waters of Talbot. If this be a fact, it may partly be attributed to the superstition of sailors.}

_{8. Maryland Gazette, of July 18th, 1750. The variants of this story need not be given, as they are important and apocryphal. One of the fullest of these accounts is given by a grand-daughter, Maria Nixon, and published in Boocher's Repository, of Philadelphia, for March, 1883. In this the expression of Mr. Callister "being under an unusual apprehension of mischief," is explained by the statement of Mrs. Nixon that "he dreampt the day had been agreeably spent but on returning to the shore, he received awound from a salute (which was customary to fire), and which would cause his death." The statement, that has been repeated again and again, that the accident was caused by the movement of the Captain in brushing a fly from his face being taken by the sailors as a signal for firing the guns, is probably the product of a frivolous imagination.}

_{9. The collection of Callister letters, unedited, and in the possession of the Diocese of Maryland.}

_{10. The epitaph as given in the text is as printed in the Easton Gazette of March 31st, 1821. There are variations such as "Punctuality and fidelity influenced," &c.,for"Punctual integrity influenced,"&c.; "Principals of honesty governed," &a.; "He despised art" for "He dispised artifice;" "His Charity free, discreet and well adapted," for "His Charity frequent secret and well adapted;" "His Zeal for the Public," for "His Zeal for the Public Good;" and MDCCL for 1750. The lineation is not always the same, nor is the spelling of certain words, as "Publick" for "Public," and "canon" for "cannon." Copies of the epitaph have been made by different persons, no two of which are precisely alike, though the differences are immaterial.}

_{11. This story is varied by the statement made upon apparently good authority that the dog "followed his master to the grave-could not be induced to leave it- and died there." Maria Nixon in Boocher's Repository, March, 1883.}

_{12. This story with embellishments was first told in Des Plaine's Repository of Philadelphia in 1821; but it was discredited by the circumstances recited.}

Marriage: BEF 8 February 1668
Spouse: Martha GOSTLIN (By 29 August 1630, Groton, Suffolk, England - AFT 14 March 1707, England)

Child 1: Robert MORRIS (died BEF 14 March 1707, England) [M]

Child 2: John MORRIS (died AFT 14 March 1707, England) [M]

[Source: Louis Dow Scisco. "Captain Robert Morris of Ratcliffe Manor," Maryland Historical Magazine 38 (1943), pp. 331 - 336]

OLD WHITE MARSH CHURCH.

ADDRESS BY W. THOMAS KEMP,

BEFORE THE EASTERN SHORE SOCIETY OF BALTIMORE CITY, MARCH, TWENTY-FIFTH, NINETEEN-HUNDRED AND TWENTY.

The early history of the Eastern Shore of Maryland begins with Claiborne's settlement upon Kent Island in 1631. As Claiborne and his followers had migrated from the Colony of Virginia where the Church of England was firmly established, it is only natural that the earliest church records pertaining to the Eastern Shore should concern the founding of the Church of England, later called the Episcopal Church in America. It is known that the Rev. Richard James accompanied Claiborne on his trip from Hampton, Va., to Kent Island in 1631, where he remained until 1638. The first building for public worship on the Eastern Shore was erected some years later on Broad Creek, Kent Island, and though the church building itself has long since disappeared, the foundations still remain to mark its location.

But the oldest church on the Eastern Shore in which public worship was conducted in recent times is unquestionably White Marsh Church, situated in Talbot County, about a quarter-of-a-mile east of the village of Hambleton on the old public road leading from the port of Oxford toward Dover, one of the earliest settlements on the Choptank River. Today there remain standing only the ruined brick walls of the church building, which was destroyed by fire as recently as January 12, 1897. The passing traveler now observes the rectangular church-yard, protected by the spreading branches of a dozen or more large oak trees surrounding the blackened walls of the old church, and shading the countless graves of those who slumber there.

In a paper read some years ago before this Society by Percy G. Skirven, Esq., it is stated that according to the Land Records of Talbot County, the original White Marsh Church was built about the year 1665, and that it remained a place of public worship for nearly 200 years thereafter. Though located within the confines of St. Peter's Parish, Talbot County, as laid out under the Act of 1692, the selection of this hallowed site and the erection of the old building antedates the beginning, of the history of St. Peter's Parish by nearly 30 years. Among the records of Talbot County Court, held June 20, 1693, may be found the following: "The Court proceeds to lay out the parishes of this County, as also to nominate and appoint the vestry for the several and respective parishes." Then follow the names of the vestrymen appointed for St. Peter's Parish, as follow.-;: Thomas Robins, Thomas Bowdle, George Robins, Nicholas Lowe, Samuel Abbott, and Thomas Martin.

St. Peter's Parish was bounded by the Third Haven or Tred Avon River, the Choptank River, curving as far around as Tuckahoe Creek, and then by a line following Tuckahoe Creek, and thence to the headwaters of the Tred Avon River. Located about the center of this territory, Old White Marsh Church became, and for many years remained, the only church of the parish. It was not until a century or more later that Christ Church in the town of Easton was erected, and became by virtue of its more accessible location in the county seat, the main church of St. Peter's Parish.

In the year 1856, upon the petition of sundry persons living at or near the town of Trappe, consent was given by the vestry of St. Peter's Parish to the formation of a new parish within its limits, and on May 12, 1856, David Kerr, Jr., Alexander Matthews and James Lloyd Chamberlaine, a committee representing persons anxious for a division of the parish, procured the passage of a resolution by the Diocesan Convention whereby that portion of St. Peter's Parish lying south of a line from the waters of Trippe's Creek to the waters of the Choptank River was organized under a separate jurisdiction with the name of White Marsh Parish. Though embracing the ancient parish church, the new church building of White Marsh Parish was erected in the town of Trappe, and was dedicated in the year 1858, under the name of St, Paul's Church. The old communion service which had been used at White Marsh Church was removed to St. Paul's Church, where it is still in use. One of the silver cups of this service bears the initials of John Builen, registrar of the parish from May 2nd, 1710 until May 15, 1731, when he was succeeded by his son Thomas Bullen, whose salary was then fixed at 1000 lbs. of tobacco.

The old mahogany alms-box is preserved as a relic by one of the parishioners. The box is about six or eight inches square, and is covered by a top with a hole in the center. It has a long handle, which served the two-fold purpose of passing the box during the collection, and of punching any of the congregation who might fall asleep during the sermon. After 1858 regular services ceased to be held in the ancient church until the summer of 1896, when, through the activities of the Rev. J. Gibson Gantt, then rector of the parish, the old church building was repaired, the surrounding grounds cleared, and arrangements made to renew the holding of services within the old structure. But unfortunately not many months thereafter a farmer while burning brush, consisting in all probability of the same undergrowth which had been cut away from the church site, accidently set fire to the church building itself, so that the interior was gutted by fire, leaving only the high brick walls standing to mark the site of what was until that time the oldest church edifice on the Eastern Shore.

Returning now to what is known as the early history of old White Marsh Church, we glean some information from the official record of "Births, Marriages and Deaths, St. Peter's Parish." For instance, there is the record of the birth of William Riche of this parish on the 9th of July 1681, but the name of the minister officiating at the baptism is not given. The following is another record: "Thomas Delahay, son of Thomas Delahay and Eve his wife, was borne ye 23rd of October Ano Domi 1689 and christened, pr. Rev. Joseph Leech." The name of Mr. Leech appears in this connection during many years down to 1697. The following minute is quoted from the proceedings of a Court held June 7, 1681:

To the Worshipful Commissioners of Talbot County, the Humble Petition of John Lillingston showeth: That your petitioner at the request of Alice Bradburne, widow and Relict of John Bradburne, did preach a sermon upon the funeral of the said Bradburne, for which your Petitioner humbly conceives himself to be well worthy of four hundred pounds of Tobacco. The administration of the said deceased his personal estate was committed to Mr. Will. Bishop, who refuses to pay your Petitioner the said four hundred pounds of Tobacco. 

The Court ordered the Tobacco to be paid.

Among the records of the Court of Talbot County for June 21, 1687, is one of the appointments of overseers of the roads. William Dickinson was appointed to repair the road "from Cooley's gate to the church at White Marsh" showing the existence of a church edifice some years before the passage of the first law for establishing a religion in the province, 1692.

Dr. Samuel A. Harrison's manuscript on St. Peter's Parish mentions two "visitations" or conferences of clergymen held in White Marsh Church, one on May 30, 1722, and the other on June 16, 1731. In the latter visitation Rev. Jacob Henderson presided as "Commissary" of the Bishop of London, and the following clergy men were present: Rev. Thomas Fletcher, rector of All Hallows parish, Somerset county; Rev. William Wye, rector of Somerset parish, Somerset county; Rev. Thomas Thompson, rector of Dorchester parish, Dorchester county; Rev. Thomas Avery, rector of Great Choptank parish, Dorchester county; Rev. Thomas Dell, rector of St. Mary's White Chapel, Dorchester county; Rev. Daniel Maynadier, rector of St. Peter's Parish, Talbot county; Rev. Henry Nichols, rector of St. Michael's parish, Talbot county; Rev. James Cox, rector of St. Paul's parish, Queen Anne's county; Rev. Thomas Phillips, rector of Christ's church, Kent Island; Rev. Alexander Williamson, of St. Paul's parish, Kent county; Rev. George Ross of St. Mary Ann, Cecil county.

From the parish record of St. Peter's Parish (copy whereof is now preserved in the Maryland Historical Society), it further appears that "Rev. Mr. Wm. Glen an Orthodox minister of the Church of England sent by the Right Reverend Father in God, Henry, Lord Bishop of London" was received as rector on July 18, 1708; Rev. Daniel Maynadier was rector from 1717 to 1746; Rev. Thomas Bacon from 1746 to 1758; Rev. Hindman in 1779 - , Bishop Claggett, the first Episcopal Bishop of Maryland, held a confirmation in the church in 1793.

The parish records also state: in 1708 "the vestry bought of Mr. Robert Grundy 185 acres of land situated and lying near St. Peter's Church called and known by the name of Tranquility to be and remain a certain Glibb to the ministers of St. Peter's Parish forever for the sum of 16,000 pounds of tobacco" also 50 and 34 acres adjoining.

On June 7, 1709, the following entries appear: "The vestry ordered the Register to give Mr. Wm. Coursey an order on Mr. R. Ungle for 400 pounds Tobacco for drawing two conveyances for certain Glibb land bought for the use of your Minister of St. Peter's Parish and his succeeding Ministers forever." "Ordered church wardens to provide nails for certain work to be done at the church and to agree with a workman to do the same."

     "Ordered that the church wardens admonish Mr. Dan'l Sherwood not to frequent the company of Mary Stevens."
     "Then also ordered that the church wardens admonish Mr. Thos. Collier not to frequent the company of Mary ---------"
     "Then the vestry ordered that the church wardens provide two quires of paper for the use of the vestry."

Later on the parish records read: The Revrd. Dan'l Maynadier, rector of St. Peter's Parish, was married to Mrs. Hannah Parrott the 12th day of January Ano. Domi 1720. During the rectorship of Dr. Maynadier the following answers to "Queries of Ministers" (published in Dr. W. S. Perry's Historical Collection of American Colonial Churches) were prepared in 1724 concerning St. Peter's Parish: "I was removed to this parish I now possess in the year 1714 in May. I was licensed by the then Henry, Bishop of London. My parish is 29 miles long and 14 miles broad; there are 344 families in it. There are several negroes in my parish but no Indians. I hold Divine service on Sundays and holidays; on the Lord's day I have a large Congregation, on holidays very small. I have a Glebe and a dwelling house upon it and I occupy it myself."

These records also show the progress made from time-to-time in fitting out the interior of the church, and in making certain alterations or extensions of the church building itself. On March 7th, 1709, the vestry authorized the making of ten new pews and altering several old ones, the building of a new pulpit and repairing the windows and chancel doors, and ordered the same paid for to the amount of 5,250 pounds of tobacco. On April 3rd, 1722, 150,000 bricks at the rate of 200 pounds of tobacco per thousand were ordered burned for an addition to the building, and on April 6th, 1724, the size of the church was made 56 feet in length and 28 feet in breadth. On June 8th, 1726, the minutes gave an account of subscriptions for building St. Peter's Church" and state that "the old church is much decayed and unfit for Divine service." In 1731, the church was ordered to be enclosed with palings, with the church yard 200 feet in length and 130 feet in breadth more or less, the palings to be well sapped and drawn."

On May 6th, 1751, the Parish Record states: "The pews in the new addition to St. Peter's Parish Church in Talbot County that are underwritten were this day divided among the several subscribers herein mentioned to the said new addition, the largest subscriber having his first choice and then the next largest, and where they are equal by Lot:"

     "No. 10. To the Revd. Thos. Bacon.
      No. 14. Mr. James Dickinson, by Lot.
      No. 18. Messrs. Foster, Cunliffe &Sons, of Liverpool,
     (Jan. 14. 1758, Henry Callister sold the within Pew to
     Nichs. Pampillon who's property it now is)."

In 1745, during the rectorship of Rev. Thomas Bacon, the attendance upon the services at White Marsh Church had increased to such an extent that the church building was insufficient to accommodate the people, and shortly thereafter a brick addition to the church was built which nearly doubled its seating capacity. Thus the church remained until 1834 when further extensive repairs were made. On February 3rd, 1834, the list of pew holders at White Marsh Church included the following:

Nicholas Goldsborough, Anna Maria Tilghman, Richard Trippe, Edward Martin, Samuel Stevens, Rev. Thomas Bayne, Theodore Loockerman, Thomas Worrall, Thomas Hayward, Harriet Martin, Thomas Coward, James Lloyd Chamberlaine, Robert Delahay, Josiah Rhodes, Thomas Baker, Samuel T. Kennard, Martin Goldsborough, William R. Trippe, Joseph Martin, Mariah Goldsborough, Nicholas Martin, Nicholas Thomas, Mary Clare Martin, Robert Henry Rhodes, Mrs. Chaplin. Later the following names appear as pew holders: John Goldsborough, John Bullen, William R. Hughlett, Samuel Banning, William H. Groome.

Among the last minutes of the registry of the vestry of St. Peter's Parish, having reference to old White Marsh Church, is one relating to the ancient burial-ground surrounding this church. It is dated August 4, 1845, and reads as follows: "On motion, Resolved that the parishioners be requested to meet at the parish church, with their hands, carts, grubbing-hoes and axes for the purpose of cleaning up the churchyard on Wednesday the 27th of August, if fair; if not, the next fair day."

As above stated, services at the old church were discontinued after 1858 until 1896, when the churchyard was again cleaned and the building restored sufficiently to permit the holding of occasional services therein.

As might be expected, tradition attaches many a legend to the memories of this ancient church. A strange and weird story has been handed down from generation to generation of the Martin family, two members of which were vestrymen at the time of the incident.      It was in 1714 that the Rev. Henry Maynadier, a Huguenot, was the Rector of White Marsh Church. The rectory was an old brick mansion on the Glebe farm, about a mile distant from the church, and the house still stands in excellent repair at this time. The story is that the rector's wife died, and her last wish was that she should be buried with a valuable family ring upon her finger, for it was customary in hose days to bury a body without removing jewelry that had been most worn in life.

Two strangers who had attended the funeral had observed this valuable ring and determined to secure it that night; so they went to the old churchyard, for it was then over half-a-century old, and digging into the grave, removed the coffin, broke it open and attempted to take the ring off the woman's finger. It would not come off, and so a knife was used to sever the joint, and this was the means, with the restoration to fresh, cool air, that revived her, who not being dead, suddenly uttered a cry and sat up in her coffin. Tradition does not say what became of those two grave-ghouls, but it is to be hoped that the fright they received turned them from their evil ways.

As for Mrs. Maynadier, she realized the situation, and though alarmed and ill, she was possessed of great nerve; she drew her shroud about her form and started upon her homeward way.

In the rectory the old clergyman was seated before his hearth alone, doubtless recalling the wife he had won in the long-ago, far across the seas, and whom he had just buried in their adopted land. Sad must have been his memories; deep must have been his sorrow; as he sat there looking into the past and thinking of the loved one in the White Marsh burying ground.

Suddenly he was startled by a fall against the door, followed by a low moan. - A fearless man, he sprang to the door and beheld the fainting, shrouded form of his wife. The sight nerved him to action and drove away fear. He raised her in his arms, bore her to her bed, gave her stimulants, chafed her hands, one still bleeding from the cruel cut of the ghoul, and soon restored her to coconsciousnessThen he called his servants, told them the weird story and sent, to Oxford, five miles distant, for a physician. Mrs. Maynadier recovered from her illness and lived for many years. She and her husband now lie side-by-side in sweet repose in the old White Marsh churchyard.

Such indeed is the story from the pen of Richard T. Martin, Esq., a worthy member of this Society.

No history of White Marsh Church would be complete without a reference to the age-darkened grave-stones and wrecks of tombs of those early colonists, many of them our own ancestors, who lie buried in the churchyard. Several of the grave-stones are illegible; others are fairly well preserved. Among those which can be deciphered, we read as follows:
 

JOHN THOMPSON
Merchant From
White Haven, in England,
Died, Match 14th, 1742.
Age 26 Years.

To The Memory Of
MR. THOMAS RICHARDSON, Merchant,
Who Died October 10th, 1734,
Aged 41 Years ------ And ------

MARY, (His Wife) Who Died in 1728,
Aged ------ Years ------ And Of

ABIGAIL, Their Daughter, Who Died, September, 23rd, 1728,
Aged Ten Months.

MR. ANTHONY RICHARDSON, Merchant,
Who Died Nov. (ye 22) 1740,
In The 39th Year Of His Age.

This Monument Was Erected
May Ye 12,1742, By Their Most Affectionate
But Afflicted Kinsman,
ANTHONY BACON.

As one stands within the ruined walls of the old church, there can be observed several brick-lined sepulchres wherein lay the dust of some prominent members, or perhaps one or more of the rectors of the church, whose importance entitled them to burial beneath the floor of the church. Rather a sad commentary on the frailty and uncertainty of merely human achievement.

By far the most interesting, as well as the most legible, is the restored tomb of Robert Morris, father of the celebrated financier of the American Revolution of the same name, and himself a worthy and notable character.

The inscription reads:

IN MEMORY OF ROBERT MORRIS,
a Native of Liverpool
In Great Britain,
Late, a Merchant at Oxford
In This Province.

Punctual Integrity influenced his dealings
Principles of Honour governed his actions
With an uncommon Degree of Sincerity
He despised Artifice and Dissimulation
His friendship frequent, secret and well adapted
His Zeal for the Publick Good, active and useful
His Hospitality was enhanced by his Conversation
Seasoned with cheerful Wit and a sound Judgment
A Salute from the Cannon of a Ship
The Wad fractured his Arm
Was the Signal by which he departed
Greatly lamented as he was esteemed
In the fortieth year of his Age
On the 12th day of July
MDCCL

Perhaps I may be pardoned if I now digress from the subject of this paper in order to recount a few details of the life of the father and son, both bearing the same name, which is thus linked with this account of Old White Marsh Church.

Robert Morris, the elder was born in Liverpool sometime in the year 1711. As a young man, he was sent to America as a factor or resident agent for the Liverpool firm of Foster, Cunliffe & Sons, and was established at Oxford, then the most thriving seaport in Maryland. In Bacons' Laws of Maryland (1706, ch. 14) it is provided that "All the Towns, Rivers, Greeks & Coves in Talbot County, and the Towns, Rivers, &c. in Great Choptank, and Little Choptank in Dorchester County and Kent Island in Queen Anne's County were to he decreed Members of the Port of Oxford. "All of the prominent English firms trading with the Colony had representatives called factors located at Oxford. Its excellent harbor could boast of ships that sailed the seven seas. For twelve years, Robert Morris remained at Oxford in general charge of the business of his Liverpool firm and of the various sub-agencies established at Cambridge and Dover on the Choptank and at other points on the Wye and Chester Rivers. In the journal kept by his business associate and personal friend at Oxford, Colonel Jeremiah Banning, (which Journal has fortunately been preserved) we read:

"The great natural abilities of Mr. Morris overleaped every other deficiency. As a mercantile genius it was thought he had not his equal in the land. As a companion and bon-vivant he was incomparable. If any public or political point was to carry he defeated all opposition. He gave birth to the inspection law on tobacco and carried it through though opposed by a powerful majority. He was the first who introduced the mode of keeping accounts in money, instead of so many pounds of tobacco, per yard, per pound, per gallon, as was formerly the case. He was a steady, warm friend wherever he made professions and had a hand ever open and ready to relieve real distress. At repartee he bore down all before him. Mr. Morris was father to the present Robert Morris, of Philadelphia, the most distinguished merchant of his time in America."

Mr. Banning gives this contemporary account of Mr. Morris's tragic death:

"Mr. Morris, the elder, agent to the great house of Foster, Cunliffe & Sons, Liverpool, received his death wound in July, 1750, by the wad of a gun, fired by way of a salute to him from the ship Liverpool Merchant, Samuel Matthews, commander, which was then lying at Oxford. The accident occurred in the following manner: On the arrival of the aforesaid ship from England, Mr. Morris and some other gentlemen went on board, as is usual on such arrival. On his return to the shore he was accompanied by the Captain, who, before he left the ship, gave orders, upon a certain signal to salute with such a number of cannon. The signal was the Captain putting his finger to his nose. Unfortunately a fly lit upon the nose of Captain Matthews, and he, with his hand brushed it away; this was taken by the officer on board as the signal. The guns were fired; the wad of one passing through the backboard of the pinnace struck Mr. Morris a little above the elbow, broke the bone and occasioned a contusion which in a few days brought on a mortification and put a period to his life in August. It may appear fabulous, but, notwithstanding, assuredly true, that Mr. Morris had a favorite spaniel by the name of Tray. This dog kept to his master during the whole of his sickness, and after he was laid out crouched under him, where he in a few hours died. I do not mention this through any superstition, but merely to portray the sensibility of those sagacious animals."

Substantially the same account of the death of Robert Morris is contained in a letter written by Henry Callister, his successor as a factor at Oxford, and quoted at length by Col. Oswald Tilghman in his history of Talbot County.

Robert Morris's son, "the present Robert Morris of Philadelphia," as Mr. Banning called him, was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and afterward the great financier whose credit saved Washington's Army in the darkest hours of the Revolution. Robert Morris, the younger, was born in Liverpool, England, January 31st, He emigrated to America in 1747, entered a mercantile house in Philadelphia and in 1754 became a member of the prosperous firm known as Willing, Morris & Co.* In the conflict with the mother-country, he was vice-president of the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety (1775-1776) and a member of the Continental Congress (1775-1778). At first he disapproved the Declaration of Independence, but he finally joined the other members in signing it on the 2nd of August. He retired from Congress in 1778, and was at once sent to the Legislature, serving in 1778--1779 and in 1780--1781.

His greatest public service was the financing of the War of Independence. As chairman or member of various committees, he practically controlled the financial operation of Congress from 1776 to 1778, and when the board system was superseded in 1781 by single headed executive departments, he was chosen superintendent of finance. With the able co-operation of his assistant, Governeur Morris, who was in no way related to him, he filled this position with great efficiency during the trying years from l78l to l784. For the same period, he was also agent of marine, and hence head of the Navy Department. Through requisitions on the states and loans from the French, and in large measure through money advanced out of his own pocket or borrowed on his private credit, he furnished the means to transfer Washington's Army from Dobb's Ferry to Yorktown (1781). In 1781 he established in Philadelphia the Bank of North America, chartered first by Congress and later by Pennsylvania, the oldest financial institution in the United States, and the first which had even partially a national character. A confusion of public and private accounts, due primarily to the fact that his own credit was superior to that of the United .States, gave rise to charges of dishonesty, of which he was acquitted by a vote of Congress. He was a member of the Federal Convention in 1787, but took little part in its deliberations beyond making the speech which placed Washington in nomination for the presidency of the body. On the formation of the new government, he was offered, but declined, the secretaryship of the treasury, and urged Hamilton's appointment in his stead. As United States Senator, 1789-1795, he supported the Federalist policies and gave Hamilton considerable assistance in carrying out his financial plans, taking part, according to tradition in arranging a bargain by which certain Virginia representatives were induced to vote for funding the State debts in return for the location of the Federal capital on the Potomac. After the war he gradually disposed of his mercantile and banking interests and engaged extensively in western land speculation. At one time or another he owned wholly or in major-part nearly the entire western-half of New York State, two million acres in Georgia and about one million each in Pennsylvania, Virginia and South Carolina. The slow development of this property, the failure of a London bank in which he had funds invested, the erection of a palatial residence in Philadelphia, and the dishonesty of one of his partners, finally drove him into bankruptcy, and he was confined in a debtor's prison for more than three years (1798-1801). He died in Philadelphia on the 7th of May, 1806.

Such was the tragic end of one of America's leading patriots, whose father's mortal remains have reposed peacefully in White Marsh Churchyard for nearly 200 years. And so the name of this ancient church, thus linked with the name of one of its earliest and most famous parishioners, passes down into the history of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, the appreciation and preservation of which is so dear to the members of this Society.

*The wife of Robert Morris, of Philadelphia, was Mary, daughter of Thomas White, who came to this country from London in early life and settled on the Eastern Shore of Marylond. White had a son and a daughter. The former was William, who became the first Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Pennsylvania and the second of that church in the United States. The other became Mrs. Robert Morris, who has been described as "elegant, accomplished and rich and well qualified to carry the bliss of connubial life to its highest perfection."