Buckner Stith Morris | |
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| 2nd Mayor of Chicago | |
| In office 1838–1839 | |
| Preceded by | William B. Ogden |
| Succeeded by | Benjamin Wright Raymond |
| Lake County Circuit Court Judge | |
| In office 1853–1855 | |
| Chicago Alderman from the6th ward[1] | |
| In office 1844–1844 Serving with Michael Diversey | |
| Preceded by | George W. Dole/ J. Marback |
| Succeeded by | James H. Rees |
| In office 1839–1840 Serving with John H. Kinzie | |
| Preceded by | George W. Dole/Grant Goodrich |
| Succeeded by | R.J. Hamilton/ William B. Ogden |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1800-08-19)August 19, 1800 |
| Died | December 16, 1879(1879-12-16) (aged 79) |
| Party | Whig,American |
| Spouses |
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| Residence(s) | Chicago,Illinois |
| Profession | Lawyer |
| Signature | .png) |
Buckner Stith Morris (August 19, 1800 – December 16, 1879) served asmayor of Chicago,Illinois (1838–1839) for theWhig Party.[2]
Morris married Evelina Barker inKentucky in 1832 and the couple moved to Chicago in 1834 where Morris established a law practice withJ. Young Scammon. He helped to create the Chicago Lyceum, the city's first literary society. By 1835, however, Morris had left his partnership with Scammon, and was practicing law with Edward Casey. He was elected mayor of Chicago in1838 and went would subsequently serve as Alderman from the6th ward from 1839 to 1840 and again in 1844, resigning during his second tenure as alderman.[1] He unsuccessfully ran for the office ofIllinois Secretary of State in 1852 under the Whig ticket and served as aLake County Circuit Court Judge from 1853 to 1855.
Following Evelina's death in 1847, he married Eliza Stephenson in 1850. Eliza died in 1855.
In 1856, he was theKnow Nothing nominee for governor.
Morris was outspoken in his opposition to theAmerican Civil War, and appeared to sympathize with theCopperheads. In 1864, he was arrested for aiding in aConfederate attempt to free prisoners of war fromCamp Douglas in Chicago. He was held for 9 months, but was then exonerated by a military court.[3] Being unable, while so detained, to attend to his business affairs, he lost most of his assets throughforeclosures. Incensed over the treatment of their ancestor, his heirs refused to donate his papers to theChicago Historical Society when they were requested.
The first use recorded in theOxford English Dictionary of the phraseto hell in a hand basket, is inThe Great North-Western Conspiracy in All Its Startling Details, by I. Windslow Ayer, in alleging that, at a meeting of theOrder of the Sons of Liberty, Judge Morris of the Circuit Court of Illinois said: "Thousands of our best men were prisoners in Camp Douglas, and if once at liberty would 'send abolitionists to hell in a hand basket.'"[4][5] Note that he was portrayed as Judge Morris in that anecdote dated 1865, although his time on the bench was of the previous decade.Morris was a member of Chicago's oldest meeting Freemason Lodge,Oriental Lodge # 33.
Morris died in Chicago in 1879.
The first example of 'hell in a hand basket' that I have found in print comes in I. Winslow Ayer's account of events of the American Civil WarThe Great North-Western Conspiracy, 1865. A very similar but slightly fuller report of Morris's comments was printed in theHouse Documents of the U.S. Congress, in 1867
| Party political offices | ||
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| First | Know Nothing nominee forGovernor of Illinois 1856 | Succeeded by None |
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
