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JONATHAN FLYNT MORRIS Jonathan F. Morris, fifth son of Edward Morris of Belchertown, Mass., and of the seventh generation from ancestor Edward Morris of Waltham Holy Cross Abbey, in the county of Essex, England, and Roxbury, Mass., was born at "Kentfield Place" in Belchertown, March 20, 1822. After the death of his father, in 1824, he lived with his maternal uncle, Rufus Flynt, in Monson, until 1836. In April of that year he went to New York city, where he attended school and filled clerkships until October, 1843, when he went to sea as supercargo of a vessel engaged in the Haytian trade. He spent most of the four succeeding years in commercial establishments at Port de Paix and Gonaives; but in the autumn of 1847, having become reduced in health by an attack of yellow fever, which was followed by a relapse, he was compelled to seek a change of climate, and returned to New England. He soon recovered his health, and obtained a situation in the cashier's department of the Western Railroad - now Boston & Albany - at Springfield, where he remained until March, 1850, when he was offered and accepted the position of teller in the Tolland County Bank of Tolland, in this state. He remained with this institution until chosen cashier of the Charter Oak Bank of Hartford, September 13, 1853. He entered upon the duties of his new position on the first opening of the bank, October 3, 1853, and remained in it until chosen its president, September 3, 1879, which latter position he continues to fill.In politics Mr. Morris has been a whig and a republican. With the latter party he continues to act. He was one of the nine persons who met in Hartford, February 4, 1856, to take the first step toward the formation of the republican party in Connecticut. Of these nine gentlemen only three are now living, viz.: General Hawley, now United States senator; Judge Shipman of the United States district court; and the subject of this sketch. In educational affairs Mr. Morris has always manifested a lively interest, and during his residence in Hartford has borne an active part. He is, and has been for years, treasurer of the Wadsworth Athenaeum, treasurer of the Hartford Theological Seminary, and treasurer of the West Middle school district. He is a member of the Connecticut Historical Society, and for many years has been its treasurer also. In business matters, additionally to his duties as president and director of the Charter Oak National Bank, he has filled the position of trustee for the Society of Savings on Pratt street for thirty-four years, and has been for thirty years an auditor of the same institution. He is also a director in the National Fire Insurance Company, and one of the original members of the Cedar Hill Cemetery Association. He has during the same time served as trustee or executor in the settlement of several important estates. He was one of the founders of the Connecticut Society Sons of the American Revolution. He is a member of the Asylum Hill Congregational church. Mr. Morris married May 8, 1855, Harriet, youngest daughter of Samuel Hills of Springfield, Mass. She was for many years an invalid, and died March 3, 1879, leaving two daughters. The elder, Anna, married Rev. Alfred Tyler Perry of Ware, Mass.; and the younger, Alice, is the wife of Rev. Charles Smith Mills of Andover, Mass.
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