Lewis Morris - a signer of the Declaration

Lewis Morris - taken from here.

I was scanning two file folders of my grandmother's genealogical information recently provided to me by my mother. In the files were many, many newspaper clippings of family marriages, engagements and birth announcements. What a treasure trove.

What caught my eye was a claim in the marriage announcement of one of my great uncles that he was descended from Lewis Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

My grandmother assembled a really nice book called "Our Heritage" which is broken down in to the four branches growing from her marriage to my grandfather. I never read in that privately published book that we had a Signer in the family. Given that the project was originally begun, I have often heard, to 'prove' that my great grandfather could be a member of the "Sons of the American Revolution", you would think that tidbit would be very important. As it is, that branch in the book ends with: 'no earlier trace of him can be found'.

So, I thought I'd approach the research two ways - build the signers tree and simultaneously see if in the internet age I can find 'a trace' of that missing father, William Morris. The clues I have are his name, Lewis Henry Morris, and the possibility that he was named after an uncle who was a captain sailing between Boston and the West Indies.

I haven't made a connection.

Though, in the signer's tree, there are many, many sons named Lewis Morris. Given my Lewis Morris ancestor was born in 1806/7 - he's probably not a direct descendant, maybe a nephew, though I have not found any connection as of yet. And I have not found anything about that William.

There is mention, though, of the Signer's family members being from Barbados. So maybe there is something there... I just haven't found it.

Here are the clues I do have:

William Morris was a sea captain in command of a vessel sailing between the West Indies and Boston, Massachusetts. It is believed that he came from the West Indies, as he named a son after a brother who was of the West Indies and who plied a ship for Robert Livingston of New York City. No earlier trace of him can be found. He married Margaret Jenkins, daughter of George and Mary (McHard) Jenkins, born May 7th, 1770, married June 7th, 1801.

So, maybe some time spent with Robert Livingston is necessary. Also, maybe a maritime museum or archive would be helpful.

Ok, wait, I took my own suggestion... Robert Livingston is associated with drafting the declaration.... This is a bigger investigation than I can address here.

What I do know, though, is that we have many people with the name Morris as a middle name - clearly nodding to that branch of the tree. (I hadn't really focused on that before; I guess I always thought it was just using the masculine name Morris.) I guess this question requires more investigation.

The source of my grandmother's information is Morris Genealogy and New England Genealogical Society, Boston, MA. My grandmother was not as helpful about where I can find this Morris Genealogy. (I already checked my local library, and nothing there.)