Charles Morris (surveyor general)

For other people with the same name, see Charles Morris (disambiguation).

Charles Morris (8 June 1711 – buried 4 November 1781) army officer, served on the Nova Scotia Council, Chief Justice of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court (1776–1778) and, the surveyor general for over 32 years, he created some of the first British maps of Canada's maritime region and designed the layout of Halifax, Lunenburg, Lawrencetown, and Liverpool.^[3] In Halifax, he laid out both the present-day down town core and the Halifax Common.

Charles Morris
Charles Morris in Regency Era attire[1]
Surveyor General
In office 1748–1781
Monarch	George III
Succeeded by	Charles Morris (1731–1802)
Chief Justice of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court
In office 1776–1778
Preceded by	Jonathan Belcher (jurist)
Succeeded by	Bryan Finucane
Personal details
Born	(1711-06-08)8 June 1711 Boston, Massachusetts
Died	4 November 1781(1781-11-04) (aged 70) Windsor, Nova Scotia
Relations	Charles Morris (1731–1802), son; Charles Morris (1759–1831), grandson

Charles Morris St. Paul's Church (Halifax), Nova Scotia

Chaining Pin and Plaque marking original Charles Morris House Location, VIC Suites on Hollis & Morris Streets, Halifax, Nova Scotia^[2]

History

He was born in Boston and when he first came to the colony he fought in the Battle of Grand Pré. The maps he produced and information he gathered about the disposition of Acadians villages during his surveying of the colony was later used by the Military authority in Halifax to initiate the Expulsion of the Acadians during the French and Indian War.

He was named to the Council 30 December 1755, and did not directly participate in the expulsion decision that July.^[4]

He fought for and won the establishment of the Nova Scotia House of Assembly (1758). Morris was instrumental in establishing New England Planters in the colony.

As chief justice, his most famous trial was of those who participated in the Eddy Rebellion (1776) at the outbreak of the American Revolution.

Publications

Site of First Court House Plaque, Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society, Scotia Square, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Charles Morris map. A CHART OF THE SEA COASTS OF THE PENINSULA OF NOVA SCOTIA, 1755

• Morris, Charles (1881) [1755]. "Judge Morris' remarks concerning the removal of the Acadians". Collections of the Nova Scotia Historical Society. II: 158–160.
• Morris, Charles (1964) [1764]. "Observations and remarks on the survey made by order of His Excellency according to the instructions of the 26th June last, on the eastern coasts of Nova Scotia and the western parts of the island of Cape Breton". PANS Report (Halifax): app.B, 20–28.
• Morris, Charles (April 1903) [1768]. "The St. John River: Description of the harbour and river of St. John's, in Nova Scotia, and of the Townships of Sunbury, Burton, Gage, and Conway, lying on said river . . . dated 25th Jan. 1768". Acadiensis. III (2): 120–128.
  • (originally printed as a four page pamphlet)
• Morris, Charles; Bulkeley, Richard (1933) [1763]. "State and condition of the province of Nova Scotia together with some observations &c, 29th October 1763". PANS Report: app.B, 21–27.
• Morris, Charles (1904) [1762]. "Description and State of the New Settlements in Nova Scotia in 1761". Report Concerning Canadian Archives for the Year 1904: Appendix F, 289–300.
• Morris, Charles (1912) [1749]. "Report by Captain Morris to Governor Shirley Upon His Survey of Lands in Nova Scotia Available for Protestant Settlers, 1749". Report of the Work of the Archives Branch for the Year 1912: Appendix H, 79–83.

Legacy

• namesake of Morris Street, Halifax
• namesake of Fort Morris (Nova Scotia)
• Morris House (Halifax) which his son purchased and where he lived is the oldest wooden residence in Halifax^[5]

See also

• Military history of Nova Scotia
• List of cartographers

References

Endnotes

1. This image is not contemporaneous. Given the era of the clothing, the clothing may be simply a mistake by the artist or the image is actually of Charles Morris III, who lived during the Regency Era.
2. "Charles Morris Plaque Unveiling". snapd Halifax - Community Events Media. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016.
3. Morris was preceded in his mapping by Nathaniel Blackmore's work of 1711 & 1712, published by Herman Moll, Geographer, of London. Morris may have been the first observer/surveyor to produce and publish his own maps of the region. Like Blackmore, Morris surveyed portions of the region and then combined his work with information from other mapmakers' maps to produce his larger regional maps.
4. Blakeley, Phyllis R. (1979). "Morris, Charles (1711-81)". In Halpenny, Francess G (ed.). Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Vol. IV (1771–1800) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
5. "Researchers Identify Morris Building as Halifax's Oldest Wooden House". St. Mary's University. 19 June 2012. Archived from the original on 19 August 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2021.

Texts

• Crathorne, Ethel (June 1976). "The Morris family – surveyors-general". Nova Scotia Historical Quarterly. 6 (2): 207–216.
• Eaton, Arthur Wentworth Hamilton (1913). "Eminent Nova Scotians of New England birth, number one: Capt. the Hon. Charles Morris, M.C." New-England Historical and Genealogical Register. LXVII: 287–290.

Government offices
New office	Surveyor General of Nova Scotia 1748–1781	Succeeded by Charles Morris (1731–1802)