The History of Anthony Morris, II

Anthony Morris (II) was a son of Anthony Morris (1) of Reading, in the county of Berkshire, England and of Barbados in the West Indies. The following is quoted verbatim from the book "The American Heritage of James Norman Hall", by Robert Leland Johnson, 1968.

"In 1630, Anthony Morris I became the father of Anthony Morris II, who became a mariner, dividing his time between residences in Barbados and in London, carrying on the business begun by his father. In 1653, Anthony Morris II was united in marriage with Elizabeth Senior of Weymouth, England, where she had been born in 1629. Her parents were prominent in the affairs of the community--her father, John Senior was a prosperous mercer, and her mother, Thomsine (Small) Senior was the daughter of one of the leading men of the town, John Small, Attorney and Town solicitor of Weymouth and Mel come Regis. It was to John Small that these towns entrusted the task of obtaining the permission of Queen Elizabeth to consolidate, and, through his efforts over many years, this was accomplished in 1616, the united town being called Weymouth.

Weymouth has always been a bustling sea port, and we can easily conjecture that Anthony Morris II and Elizabeth Senior met there when Anthony's ship made Weymouth a port of call. Perhaps more important to our story, however, is the fact the the Member of Parliament from Weymouth was William Penn, father of the founder of Pennsylvania, whose close ties with later generation of Morris family doubtless owed some of their warmth to the remembrance of their common ancestral home.

In 1654, when Anthony Morris III (later to be called Anthony Morris 2nd by the historians) was born, his father was a member of the Church of England. Oliver Cromwell ,a staunch Puritan, ruled England in 1654, and the afflictions the Puritans had suffered which forced them for found the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1620 were a thing of the past. Anthony Morris II fared well under the rule or Cromwell at the head of England. Indeed, Cromwell's rule was beneficial to Anthony Morris II, despite his personal religious convictions, since Barbados had become a Royalist refuge.

But is August, 1654, his mind was not occupied with thought of business. He had just returned from Barbados, timing his return to be at home for the birth of his first child. Only the welcome comfort of being home with his wife on Old Gravel Lane, Stepney, London, quieted the pounding pulse of this young man of 25 years as he awaited the birth. On August 23, 1654, Anthony Morris III was born, and two very proud parents carried Him to St. Dunstan"s Church, Stepney, London, to be baptized on August 25. Less than a year later, in 1655, the little boy's father would drown at sea off Barbados, on a return voyage to London, leaving him to be raise by his mother.

The estate of Anthony Morris II was detailed and large and active, requiring Mrs. Morris;s personal visit to Barbados soon after her husband's death. She continued there handling the details of her various commercial interests for several years, making a return voyage to London as often as her commercial interests allowed or required. Her child, being so young, had to remain in England. His only other contact and remembrance of his mother was that every three months or so a letter would come, and what great glow of warmth set his little face abeam as some adult would read aloud the message from his mother. The very mainstay of his existence was the receipt of these messages from his mother and her voyages home, and it was with down-cast countenance that he shuffles through the days in the one month in his sixth year when the message failed to come. It almost broke his heart when he was told that his mother was dead.

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References: "The Morris Family of Philadelphia", by Robert C. Moon. In the Library of Congress, it has material on the above family. It mentions that Anthony was of "Welsh Extraction", and was referred to as the "Mariner".

One account says that Anthony II died on the island of Barbados, rather that being lost at sea. His wife died in Barbados about 1660.