Robert Morris
The subject of this sketch, one of the oldest and most
prominent citizens of Freeport, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, September 27,
1804, and came to this country with his parents, James and Elizabeth
(McLaughlin) Morris, in 1819. The family first located in Indiana county, from
which they soon removed, however, to Greensburg; thence after a sojourn of
several years they went to Pittsburgh, where the lives of the parents were
both ended, and where they were married. Robert served an apprenticeship under
his father, and learned the carpenter’s trade. July 28, 1829, he was united in
marriage in Allegheny (then a borough) with Isabella Gilchrist, who, like
himself, was a native of Scotland. In 1832 they removed to Freeport, where Mr.
Morris has ever since lived. His wife died in 1854. Four children were the
offspring of the union — James M. (deceased), Elizabeth J. (wife of Judge A.
D. Weir, of Butler county), Alexander G. (located in Tyrone, Pennsylvania),
and Margaret G. (Mowry), deceased. Upon September 11, 1855, Mr. Morris married
his second wife, who is still living, Mrs. Sophia D. Boyd, n�e Weir. Mr.
Morris has led a very active and useful life. Besides working at the
carpenter’s trade and as a builder and contractor, he has taken a prominent
part in several enterprises. He was the prime mover in the project which
resulted in the laying out of the Freeport cemetery, and was one of the
original stockholders and organizers of the Freeport Planing Mill Company, and
the Buffalo Milling Company. He has several times been elected councilman, and
has held other offices in the borough government. Politically he is a
democrat, and religiously his affiliation is with the United Presbyterian
church,
Source: Page(s)
608-609,
History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania by Robert Walker Smith, Esq.
Chicago: Waterman, Watkins & Co., 1883.
Transcribed December 2000
by Jeffrey Bish for the Armstrong County Smith Project.
Contributed by Jeffrey Bish for use by the Armstrong County Genealogy Project
(http://www.pa-roots.com/armstrong/)Armstrong County Genealogy Project Notice:
These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format, for any
presentation, without prior written permission.
Return to the Biographical Index
Return to the Smith Project
About Author
