Elizabeth Carrington Morris (7 July 1795 – 12 February 1865) was an American

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

, and an expert on the flora of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. With her sister,

Margaretta Morris Margaretta Hare Morris (3 December 1797 – 29 May 1867) was an American entomologist. Morris and the astronomer Maria Mitchell were the first women elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1850. She was also the seco ...

, she has been credited by historian Catherine McNeur as helping to transform American science in the 19th century.

Life

Elizabeth Carrington Morris was born in Philadelphia in on 7 July 1795, the daughter of Ann Willing Morris (1767–1853) and Luke Morris (1760–1802) of

Germantown Germantown or German Town may refer to: Places Australia * Germantown, Queensland, a locality in the Cassowary Coast Region United States * Germantown, California, the former name of Artois, a census-designated place in Glenn County * Ger ...

. Elizabeth and her sister, Margaretta, used the back garden of the family home in Germantown to observe and study insects and plants. This was described by Samuel Hotchkin in ''Ancient and Modern Germantown, Mount Airy and Chestnut Hill'' (1889):

The garden, so protected by its trees and shrubbery as to retain the attractions of its original seclusion, was for many years the beautiful scene of the scientific researches of Miss Elizabeth Carrington Morris, who, retiring in disposition, was an accomplished botanist, and numbered among her many scientific correspondents Dr. William Huttall, Dr. William C. Darlington, of West Chester, and Dr.
Asa Gray Asa Gray (November 18, 1810 – January 30, 1888) is considered the most important American botanist of the 19th century. His ''Darwiniana'' was considered an important explanation of how religion and science were not necessarily mutually excl ...
, of Cambridge, Massachusetts. Her collection of rare plants, cultivated and preserved, was celebrated among many, whose refined taste led them to pursue with her this course of study. Her garden was her Eden, and the greenhouses of Messrs. Thomas Meehan and Henry C. Waltemate, were her favorite resorts.

The Morris sisters had a wide circle of correspondents, which included botanist Asa Gray and social reformer

Dorothea Dix Dorothea Lynde Dix (April 4, 1802July 17, 1887) was an American advocate on behalf of the indigent mentally ill who, through a vigorous and sustained program of lobbying state legislatures and the United States Congress, created the first gene ...

. Both Elizabeth and Margaretta contributed articles to scientific journals using pseudonyms, and though Margaretta later began to use her real initials, Elizabeth remained anonymous. In the words of historian Catherine McNeur, she 'preferred anonymity to accolades'. Nevertheless, she established a reputation for herself as an expert in the flora of Philadelphia: authoring articles, supplying plants to the country’s leading botanists, and creating illustrations for scientific books and articles. Elizabeth Carrington Morris died at home in Germantown on 12 February 1865 and was buried at Saint Luke's Episcopal Churchyard.

References

{{Authority control 1795 births 1865 deaths American women botanists 19th-century women scientists People from Pennsylvania