Her Stories

- Documenting the Role of Women in Local History -

Mary Harris Morris, daughter of ironmaster Joseph Harris and Jane Stalker Miller, was born at the Howard Iron Works on August 5, 1836. She was the granddaughter of Ann Dunlop Harris, daughter and wife of the founders of Bellefonte and the author of The Alphabet of Thought. Mary lost her parents at an early age, and Quaker ironmaster William A. Thomas assumed her guardianship. Mary was baptized as a Presbyterian, although she became a Friend due to the influence of her guardian.

Mary's dedication to community service began early. At age eleven she organized a children's Saturday afternoon sewing society in Bellefonte which met at the homes of members. They bought their own materials, made garments, and then distributed them to the poor. After receiving her early education at the Bellefonte Academy, Mary went on to attend the Friend's Westtown Boarding School in Chester County. During her time at Westtown, she taught a class of African-American girls and regularly read to the poor in the community.

Mary Harris married Wistar Morris of Overbrook, PA at the Friend's Meetinghouse in Bellefonte. He was a director of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and they relocated to Overbrook, PA, where her work with charitable activities continued. Their home at Green Hill Farm became a center for social gatherings as well as community service. Mary began another sewing society there for making and distributing garments to the poor. She soon became a member of the board of managers for the Orphan's Asylum of Philadelphia. Organized by women in 1814, the Orphan's Asylum was the first institution of its kind in Philadelphia. Mary Harris Morris was a proponent of the Women's Christian Temperance Union and was also interested in the treatment of women prisoners. She was particularly involved with the women of the Eastern Penitentiary, and she would visit them in their cells. Mary later became the manager of the Howard Home, a home for women discharged from prison, where they were kept and cared for until ready to reenter into society.

Continuing with her interest in education, Mary Harris Morris and her husband became dedicated to the educational development of Native Americans. Wistar Morris established the Carlisle Indian School in Cumberland County, and he and Mary sought to develop the school so that students would be taught educational ideals as well as in the ways of home life.

Morris traveled extensively, and in 1870 she, her husband, and their daughter visited Egypt, Syria, and Constantinople. While in Egypt, she observed the work of the American Mission and was inspired to help organize the Foreign Missionary Association of Friends of Philadelphia, of which she became president. This organization was dedicated to spreading the word of Christianity in foreign lands.

In 1882, Morris became interested in the education of Japanese students. Of special interest to her was the introduction of Japanese students to the study of the Bible. Eight years later she spent three months in Japan and with a former Bryn Mawr College student from Japan, Miss Tsuda, opened a private school for girls in Tokyo. Their school gave instruction in English and was the only school of its kind in Japan at the time. In the fall of 1891, she and Miss Tsuda developed a Japanese Scholarship Committee, which raised an endowment with the purpose of supporting one Japanese girl at Bryn Mawr, the Women's Medical College, or the Drexel Institute.

Mary Harris Morris was a proponent of diversity in learning. Oriented towards charitable activities, primarily through her affiliation with The Society of Friends, she instigated and perpetuated the education of minority populations in Pennsylvania, established organizations dedicated to the aid of the less fortunate, and encouraged educational opportunities for women elsewhere.

Links:
Eastern State Penitentiary
Woman's Christian Temperance Union