ABSTRACT
George P. Morris, one of the pioneer merchants and prominent citizens of McConnelsville, was born in 1798 in Trowbridge, a manufacturing village of Wiltshire England. His father, Joseph Morris was a well-to-do merchant and a man of some prominence in his native tongue. Young George evidencing an inclination for books was given an academical education and fitted for the profession of a teacher. The plans of the parents, however, were doomed to disappointment, the glowing accounts of the new country and the opportunities offered for the acquirement of property and position, excited his youthful mind and in 1817 in company with an elder brother Edward he came to Marietta, Ohio, where the former found employment as a teacher and the latter at his trade, that of a coppersmith. The expectations they had formed of the new Elderado were fully realized, and in a short time Edward returned to England for the family.
