167 
He was born in Ames, Montgomery County, N. Y., where his 
father was a small farmer, on the 5th day of February, 1798, and at 
death was 79 years and 6 months of age. His life has been one of 
many years of usefulness, and his memory will be long cherished by 
those whom, being dumb, he has taught to speak, and whose minds 
have been lifted from mental darkness. Thoroughly master of the sign 
language, he was yet one of the first in this country to advocate and 
put in practice, literally, “ teaching the dumb to speak.” 
He prepared for college at the Albany Academy, but being com- 
pelled by straitened circumstances to abandon this cherished hope, 
he devoted himself to teaching, in various district schools, “ board- 
ing round,” until in 1829 he received the appointment of Principal 
of the “Central Asylum for Deaf and Dumb, located at Bowman’s 
Creek,” now called Buel, in Montgomery County, N. Y. 
In 1833 this asylum was consolidated by State enactment with 
the New York Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, at which time he 
moved with his family to this city and became one of the Professors 
in that now famous institution. This connection continued until 
1869, with the exception of two years spent in Knoxville, Tenn., in 
organizing the State Institution for the Deaf and Dumb in that city. 
It will thus be seen that forty years of the most active portion of his 
life has been devoted to the instruction of that unfortunate class. 
Since 1869, at which time his life long partner, whom he married 
in 1823, died, he held the office of Librarian of Cooper Union, and 
the many thousands who have visited that great public beneficiary 
will testify to his untiring zeal, faithfulness and urbanity as an officer 
and friend. 
Notwithstanding the obligations of his occupation as teacher, by 
his untiring industry, he became a proficient in -the sciences of 
Mineralogy, Conchology, Botany, Astronomy and Meteorology. In 
Numismatics he was also a devotee. While Curator of the Museum 
at the Deaf and Dumb Institution he made a rare and valuable 
collection. 
’ In Meteorology and its phenomena he seemed to take his great- 
est delight, commencing daily observations more than forty years 
ago, when recording instruments had not attained their present per- 
fection. Prof. Morris was the meteorological recorder of the 
Smithsonian Institute, for this city, from its organization to the 
present time, and he was often called upon by the courts as an 
expert and reliable observer in determining disputed conditions of 
weather on certain days in question. Among his papers may be 
found probably the only reliable records of Meteorology of this 
locality, dating back fifty years. 
Prof. Morris leaves three sons and one daughter, living at the 
present. 
He was an active member of the New York Historical Society, 
the old Lyceum of Natural History (now the New York Academy 
of Sciences), the Geographical Society, the American Institute, etc., 
etc., and of the 23d St. Presbyterian Church, 
Prof. Morris was one of the earliest members of the Torrey 
BoranicaL Cuvup, and contributed to its Catalogue a carefully com- 
