Delaware Valley Archivists Group

From Margaret: The Morris family was proud and appreciative of President George Washington’s presence in their house. Samuel Buckley Morris’s children knew that Washington had lived for two summers in their home. Indeed, an elderly gentleman abruptly entered the house to recount having tea with George Washington and his grandson Park Custis in the very parlor in which the young Elliston and Beulah Morris were sitting, Elliston once recalled. Elliston and his wife Martha allowed photographs of their house known as “Washington’s Residence” to be published when that medium had been perfected. The house, trumping other Philadelphia historical sites, was featured on the cover of an 1876 Centennial bilingual Visitor’s Guide: The Deshler-Morris House in 1876 Centennial Guide Elliston and Martha probably let individuals outside their personal acquaintance tour the house for its interior was public knowledge and described in the 1884 Lippincott Magazine’s article: “[The house’s] outside aspect and inner arrangement have both been well preserved, and are much the same as when it was the Executive Mansion. You may see in it the actual rooms where Washington lived…. Its hall is fine; its rooms are wainscoted and paneled from floor to ceiling with heavy cornices. The woodwork, old as it is, remains perfect to this day, and the door-knobs, latches, and fastenings are of a good fashion, unspoiled by modern improvements. Some of Washington’s furniture from his other places of residence have been added to the house, and every room is rich in suggestions of the storied times of the last century.” The association with Washington had shielded the house from incompatible change. The family added furniture inherited from the Canby and Morris families to enhance the look “suggest[ing] … the last century.” Late-eighteenth century chairs are placed in front of the windows in the room photographed by young Marriott Morris; note also the “old but perfect” woodwork and tiles around the fireplace: Marriott Morris's photo of the Deshler-Morris House Tea Room A colonial tall-case clock stands in the hallway in another cyanotype by Marriott:

Marriott Morris's photo of the Deshler-Morris House Hallway  

Family members broadened their interest to the house’s entire history and its neighborhood. They collected any information on the house’s first known owner, David Deshler, they could obtain including a genealogy. Elliston wrote “Memories of Old Germantown” for the 1903 Annual Report of the Site and Relic Society of Germantown in which he reminisced about the buttonwood shade trees planted by his father. He mourned the loss of the majority of the trees but praised the Society for saving the last tree threatened by “supposed improvement.” A favorite document of mine in this collection relates to Elliston and Martha’s promotion of the House’s history.    

1889 Photo Card of the Deshler-Morris House

Text on the reverse side of 1889 House Photo Card They created as a favor to be distributed at the Perot Family Reunion in 1889 a mounted photograph. (The House appealed strongly to that family because the Perot brothers had shared the house as a summer retreat in the early nineteenth century before Samuel Buckley Morris, who had married Hannah Perot, bought it). The card has a photograph attached on one side and this text mounted on the other: WASHINGTON’S RESIDENCE IN 1793. This house, No. 4782 Main Street, Germantown, Philadelphia, was built by David Deshler in 1774 and 1775. At the time of the battle of Germantown in 1777, it was taken possession of by Sir William Howe, commander-in-chief of the British Army, as his head-quarters… Martha and Elliston commissioned a souvenir worthy to be available at the site today. From Dana: Today, the Deshler-Morris House is just as beautiful as it was over a century ago, thanks to the historic preservation efforts begun by the Morrises and continued by the National Park Service.  Here is a 2010 photo of the Deshler-Morris House: The Deshler-Morris House Today Here is a 2010 photograph of the Deshler-Morris House tea room, looking much as it did in Marriott Morris’s cyanotype, above: The Deshler-Morris House Tea Room Today It is probably not a coincidence that the Morris family began working to preserve the history of the house in 1876 during America’s Centennial Celebration.  In that year, Philadelphia was proud host to the Centennial Exhibition, the United States’ first major World’s Fair.  The event attracted over nine million people to the city and fueled a explosion of interest in America’s colonial and Revolutionary periods.  For more information on this Centennial Exhibition, check out the Free Library of Philadelphia’s excellent website on the topic at http://libwww.library.phila.gov/cencol.  As the Morris family recognized, General Washington’s stay in the house was (and is!) certainly an important part of the house’s history, but there is so much more to the story of this historic house.  Here, in a nutshell, is a brief version of the long and interesting history of the Deshler-Morris House: The story of the Deshler-Morris House begins with a German immigrant named David Deshler, who arrived in America in 1733 at age twenty-one.  By 1739, Deshler had begun a successful business as a paint and hardware merchant and started a family with his wife, Mary Le Fevre.  David and Mary converted to Quakerism and became quite prominent within their meeting; they donated to a variety of charities and David was active in local politics.  In the 1750s, Deshler decided to build a summer retreat for his family in the growing community of Germantown, six miles northwest of Philadelphia.  He purchased a two-acre tract of land on Germantown’s Main Street in 1751-52 and constructed a two-story home where his family spent many happy summers.  In 1774, Deshler completed an elegant addition to the home. Silhouette of David DeshlerThe home, however, sustained damage in the Battle of Germantown on October 4, 1777.  British General William Howe had removed the bulk of his troops from their occupation of Philadelphia and pursued the American army to Germantown, where he and his staff made their headquarters at the Deshler house.  After dealing the American troops a devastating defeat, Howe remained at the Deshler house for about a week before moving on to capture Fort Mifflin on November 16th.  In 1782, Deshler advertised the house for sale in the Pennsylvania Gazette.  While his reasons for selling the house are not entirely clear, it is possible that he hoped to avoid some of the costs associated with repairs to the home.  When Deshler died in 1792, the home was finally sold to Isaac Franks, a prominent Philadelphian and owner of a successful brokerage firm on High Street—a central location that allowed him to make many important personal contacts, including President George Washington.  Franks, formerly ensign of the Seventh Massachusetts Regiment, was not in good health and had sought out the home in Germantown as a peaceful retreat for his family.  In the summer of 1793, an epidemic of yellow fever swept through Philadelphia.  President Washington left the city for his home at Mount Vernon for the summer, but made arrangements to rent the Germantown house from Franks, who had temporarily relocated his family to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.  Washington took residence in November of 1793, and the house became the seat of government from November 16-30, 1793.  Four cabinet meetings were held there before the President returned to Philadelphia.  Washington apparently liked the home, as he returned in the summer of 1794.  He and Martha, along with their two adopted grandchildren, spent a quiet summer in Germantown, entertaining occasionally and enjoying the beauty of their surroundings.  After the Washington family departed the home, Isaac Franks and his family returned and resided there until 1802, when they sold the house to brothers Elliston and John Perot.  

Silhouettes of John and Elliston Perot

The Perot brothers, born in Bermuda, arrived in Philadelphia in 1784 and became partners in a successful mercantile business.  Their families enjoyed the home as a summer retreat for many happy years until 1836, when Samuel B. Morris married Hannah Perot, Elliston’s oldest child, and purchased the residence from Elliston Perot’s estate.  The home remained in the Morris family for three generations, from 1836 until 1948.  In the century that followed, the Morris family grew and became the prosperous, fascinating family that has begun to emerge in this look into the Morris Family Papers.  In 1948, the family of Marriott C. Morris continued the tradition of historic preservation begun by Elliston and Martha Morris during the Centennial of 1876 when they donated the house to the National Park Service.  (History of the Deshler-Morris House adapted from the Historic Structure/Furnishings/Grounds Report on the Deshler-Morris House by Anna Coxe Toogood, 1974)