Anthony Morris (I)

Anthony Morris (I)

Anthony Morris, Jr. (23 August 1654, Stepney, London, England – 24 October 1721, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was a brewer, Quaker preacher, judge, and mayor of Philadelphia.

Morris immigrated to Burlington, New Jersey, in 1682, and relocated to Philadelphia three years later. In 1687, he built the original Morris Brewery, establishing a family business that would last until the 1830s. As the Francis Perot (and Sons) Malting Company, it endured into the 1960s as arguably the oldest continuous business in the United States. The original brewery was located on Front Street, south of Walnut. In 1745, Morris's grandson Anthony IV (son of the second Anthony Morris in Philadelphia) built a larger brewery at the corner of Dock and Pear (now Thomas Paine Place). At this location, Anthony IV's grandson, Benjamin Wistar Morris, brewed the preferred porter-style beer for President George Washington during the early 1790s.

In addition to serving Philadelphia as one of its leading brewers, Anthony Morris served in a variety of judicial capacities during the 1690s and was described by William Penn as "one of the most sufficient as well as diligent magistrates" in the colony. In 1704, Morris became the city's mayor, a post later occupied by his son Anthony III, as well. Most of the older Anthony's attention after the turn of the 18th century, however, was devoted to preaching among the Society of Friends throughout North America.