Manuscript estate inventory for little known pioneer American seedsman and gardener George Morris dated 1794. There is almost no documentation for Morris and thus he is little known today, but he sold seeds to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

          The inventory lists Morris’s surviving stock including” 31 Lots of Poplar Trees” “28 of Peach trees”, as well as other types of peaches, Weeping Willows, Apple trees, currant bushes, raspberries, Peach Rose, Lombard Poplars, Roses, cherries, “1 Passion flower”, a “pomegranate shrub”, “1 artichoak”, as well as boxes, barrels and kegs of seeds. There are also a variety of garden tools, pots, “flower glasses”, frames, baskets, et cetera, as well as 2 signs, and “5 books of gardening.” As well as the lot on which his garden sat.

          George Morris sold seeds in Philadelphia “at his garden between Market and Arch-streets, in Twelfth-street, or on Wednesdays and Saturdays opposite the Presbyterian meeting-house, South Market-street” (Philadelphia Dunlap’s Am. Daily Advertiser, 26 Mar. 1791).

           Morris died two years before Bernard M’Mahon arrived in Philadelphia from Ireland in 1796 and began his celebrated career as seedsman and nurseryman. His death occurred five years before the arrival of Frederick Pursh in America, and Morris’s role in the development of American botany and horticulture is at the present a matter of conjecture only. However, two significant clients, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison purchased seeds from Morris for their estates of Monticello and Montpelier respectively attests to his stature and reputation at the time. He must have known Bartram Humphrey Marshall, and Benjamin Smith Barton.

          Morris does not appear in Philadelphia Directories 1785-1794. Morris does not appear in several important studies of early American botany and gardening, including Ann Leighton’s American Gardens in the Eighteenth Century, and Joseph Ewan’s article Frederick Pursh 1774-1820, and his Botanical Associates, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Oct. 15, 1952, Vol. 96, No. 5.

     See:

     https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/02-02-02-0002

     https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-13-02-0309

     https://digitaldoorway.montpelier.org/2020/04/23/a-paradise-of-roses-flowers-at-montpelier/