2 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



Revolution and Samuel B. Morris, grandfather of George Spencer, 

 who was one of the founders of Haverford College. 



On his mother's side George was connected with Edward Harris 

 of Moorestown, N. J., friend and patron of Audubon. 



As we are wont to trace back our characteristics to ancestral 

 sources we would attribute Morris's general interest in natural 

 history to the wide spread love of nature so firmly established 

 at all times in the Society of Friends and nurtured in their schools, 

 while direct influence came to bear upon him through an aunt, 

 Beulah Morris Rhoads, a devout lover of nature especially of 

 plant life. Direct interest in birds came, doubtless, from his love 

 of hunting, the traditions of Harris and Audubon and the posses- 

 sion of a copy of ' The Birds of America ' which he read and reread 

 with reverence and admiration. 



Morris enjoyed to the full the rough life of the sportsman, the 

 fisherman and the canoeist, but back of all the pleasure of physical 

 exercise and the contest of skill between the hunter and his quarry 

 he saw the beauty of nature through the eyes of the artist and 

 poet. His skill in depicting nature with the brush was notable, 

 and while he did not attempt verse, much of his admirable prose 

 writings are in substance poetry. Doubtless his interest in the 

 outdoors could be traced back to Capt. Samuel Morris who, be- 

 sides his activities in the Revolution, was a fox hunter and a 

 founder of the State In Schuylkill Fishing Club; while his artistic 

 ability was inherited from his father, who in early life drew and 

 painted with skill. 



George attended school at Haddonfield, N. J., and later went 

 to the famous Quaker boarding school at Westtown, Pa., which 

 has developed so many noted naturalists. Following his artistic 

 bent, after graduation, he became an architectural draughtsman 

 and later went into business as an architect, first with William S. 

 Vaux, Jr., and later with Richard Erskine. In 1895 he married 

 Lydia EUicott, who with one son and four daughters survive him. 



All his life he lived on the Morris estate near Crescentville on 

 the Tacony Creek, first in his father's house "OIney" and later 

 in his own home " Birdfield, " which he built nearby. Here from 

 early childhood to manhood he acquired his intimate knowledge 

 of the home birds. Every thicket, every stretch of creek, every 



