Judge Robert Richard Morris

Served in Continental Army

BIOGRAPHICAL/HISTORICAL INFORMATION The mercantile firm of Morris & Ludlum (active 1790s) operated a hardware store on Water Street in New York City, and also engaged in potash production in Sussex County, New Jersey.

The partners of the potash venture and presumably the hardware store were Robert Morris (1762-1851), a New York City merchant with property in Sussex County, and merchant Gabriel Ludlum (1765?-1801) of Wantage Township. The potash works were in the area of Deckertown, now Sussex, New Jersey. James Ludlum (1770-1834), a member of the hardware firm ("our James Ludlum," letter of 1797 November 11), was Gabriel Ludlum's younger brother. They were the sons of Isaac Ludlum of Goshen, New York, and the brothers-in-law of Robert Morris who married their sister Frances (died 1852) at Goshen in 1786.

Robert Morris (1762-1851), of Mount Fordham in what is now Bronx County, was the son of Richard Morris (1730-1810) of Morrisania, New York, a judge of the royal Court of Vice-Admiralty and Chief Justice of the State of New York; the grandson of Lewis Morris (1698-1762), also a Vice-Admiralty judge; and the great-grandson of Lewis Morris (1671-1746), chief justice of New York and governor of New Jersey. He was the nephew of Lewis Morris (1726-1798), signer of the Declaration of Independence.

The Ludlum family was additionally related to the Morris family by Gabriel's marriage to Mary Lawrence, the daughter of Thomas Lawrence (died 1823) and his first wife Rebecca Bond (died 1771). Thomas Lawrence was the son of Thomas Lawrence (1720-1775) of Philadelphia and his wife Mary Morris, sister of Richard and Lewis Morris. He married, second, his first cousin Mary Morris (daughter of Lewis Morris, 1726-1798), and third, her sister Catherine Morris. Thomas Lawrence acquired Lewis Morris's farm Morrisvale in Sussex County, becoming a judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He entered into a brief mercantile partnership with Robert Morris in New York City in the mid-1780s.

The hardware business of Morris & Ludlum appears to have ended in 1799, with James Ludlum forming his own partnerships in the City's wholesale grocery trade with H.W. Phillips (Phillips & Ludlum; 1799-1803) and Jeromus Johnson (Ludlum & Johnson, later Ludlum, Johnson & Co., founded 1803).

After his brother Gabriel died intestate in 1801, James and his sister-in-law Mary were empowered to dispose of Gabriel's real estate by an act of the New Jersey Legislature in November 1802, as petitioned by James, his father Isaac Ludlum, Gabriel's widow Mary, and her father Thomas Lawrence. James Ludlum and Thomas Lawrence were appointed guardians of Gabriel's children, James, Julia, Thomas and Gabriel, in early 1803. (Gabriel's son James was referred to as "James Jr." in James Ludlum's lifetime.) James Ludlum bought land in Sparta, engaging in farming and milling operations. He married Catherine Miller (d. 1831), the widow of V. E. Beekman, also associated with the hardware store of Morris & Ludlum. In the 1820s Ludlum moved to nearby Lafayette. James's nephew Richard R. Morris, the son of Robert and Frances Morris, was the executor of his will.

Source for above information: Creator Morris & Ludlum Call number MssCol 24326 Physical description .20 linear feet (1 volume) Language English Preferred Citation Morris & Ludlum letter and order book, Manuscripts and Archives Division, The New York Public Library Repository Manuscripts and Archives Division