Born in 1774 in Philadelphia
Katherine Morris is the only daughter of
Thomas Morris and Rebecca Schuyler (pronounced SKY luhr). A precocious
young child, Katherine showed an early aptitude from mathematics. This
was not unexpected for a child born to a scion of the powerful Morris
banking family of Philadelphia, but it wasn't necessarily celebrated in
a daughter. In fact, Katherine's mathematical abilities would probably
been limited to the keeping household books and parlor games had two
acts of fate not intervened - her mother's death and her father's new
duties as caretaker of the Morris family's international accounts.
In 1789, when Katherine
was five her mother Rebecca died under
mysterious circumstances. The family would only discuss of Rebecca's
death in hushed tones, referring to it in almost code, "when Rebecca
passed on" and "after Rebecca left us." Later when she was
older,
Katherine was told that her mother died after an illness and that the
family didn't like to speak about it because it caused Thomas so much
pain. Katherine can remember none of her mother's illness. Her few
memories are of a tall woman with black hair and blue eyes, who smiled
often and laughed with easy abandon. Katherine's father talks very
little about his wife and seemed in so much pain when Katherine asked
that she stopped bringing it up.
Thomas Morris did not
remarry after Rebecca's death and Katherine
remained a rather lonely only child. She did enjoy the time she would
get to spend with her Morris family cousins - there were plenty - but
this was soon cut short when Thomas took over the family's
international banking interests. It was Thomas' brother Robert who was know
as the "Financier of the Revolution." In his job as the United State's
superintendent of Finance, Robert Morris worked with General George Washington,
wrung money and supplies from the states, borrowed money in the face of overwhelming
difficulties, and on occasion even obtained personal loans to further the
Revolutionary War cause. To help fund Washington's Yorktown campaign Robert
Morris used his and his family's personal credit, issuing notes over his own
signature. That combined with a loan from France secured enough money to finance
the army. Later Morris used a portion of that loan from France and his own
personal fortune to fund and charter the
First Bank of North America in 1782. The bank was the first financial
institution chartered by the United States.
Shortly after the bank's
chartering, Thomas Morris - at the bequest of
his brother Robert - traveled first to England and then on to the
Continent to secure certain investments. The Morris family was
originally from Liverpool, England, and made their fortune first as
merchants plying trade between the New World and England before taking
up banking. Their mercantile roots were very important in supporting
their new banking enterprise and in helping their new country.
During the Revolutionary
War, The Morris family maintained extensive
correspondence with gentlemen in England, by which means they received
information of importance to the United States. These letters were read
to a few select mercantile friends, who regularly met in the insurance
room at the merchant's coffee house, and through them the intelligence
the letters contained was diffused to those who needed it.
This practice, which began
before the war between the United States and
England, was continued during the hostilities by using a route through
the continent, especially France and Holland.
When the war ended and
Thomas began his trip abroad, the messages
continued, but now they carried information on the growing tensions
between England and France and the state of affairs in Europe. Thomas
sent the letters directly and indirectly to Robert in Philadelphia and
from there the information was disseminated.
Rather than leave Katherine
in Philadelphia during his journeys, Thomas
took Katherine with him, giving her the chance to see the wider world.
Throughout his travels Thomas made sure that Katherine received an
excellent education. But, not being schooled in the feminine arts
himself, Thomas worried little about Katherine learning how to sew and
dance and instead approved a course of study that emphasized
mathematics, languages and the sciences.
The result was that Katherine
could carry on an esoteric discussion on
complex mathematics principals but could barely manage the waltz (It
helped when she tried thinking of it as complex geometric figures
instead of dancing.)
As Thomas and Katherine
have traveled, she has learned more and more
about the family's complex investments across England, France, Holland
and the United States. She has taken over the correspondences for her
father helping to share the burden of tracking the family business.
Along with passing information on the basic numbers of investment,
profit and loss, she has picked up a good grasp of what "other"
information is needed. By both the Morris in America and their
"friends."
Between helping her father
with the family "business," keeping up with
her studies and traveling, Katherine has had very little time to
cultivate many friendships. As an only child of a widower, she early
mastered the art of quietly observing adult conversations without ever
being noticed. A bright child, she enjoyed the complexity of adult
conversations far more than the talks she had with the few other
children she met. This has continued into her adult life. Katherine has
the ability to melt into the background of social occasions, observing,
listening and cataloging into memory what she has heard.
While not a firebrand
in social situations, Katherine should not be
discounted as a quiet mouse. When it comes to science, Katherine is a
passionate woman. Her articles to several journal resound with the
words of someone who is devoted to unraveling the world of science. Of course
no one would reconcile these challenging texts with the quiet daughter of
the widowed Thomas Morris. The fact that Katherine writes the
articles under the pen name of K. Schuyler also provides some
confusion. Unable as a woman to get her articles even read by the editors
of these scholarly journals, Katherine resorted to a bit of subterfuge. How
could
she be blamed if these editors assumed that K. stood for Kenneth rather
than Katherine?
By 1791, Thomas Morris'
travels had brought him to Paris. Thomas
Jefferson had returned to the United States in 1789 and Hamilton,
who was more pro-British, pushed for someone who would view the
unfolding French Revolution with eyes not clouded with revolutionary
romance. Thomas, the brother of Hamilton's good friend and
distinguished American Robert Morris , appeared to be the perfect candidate.
The Morris family shared Hamilton pro-British feelings and recognizing that
America's financial future was for now tied to England's, they were not adverse
to providing a more moderate American diplomat to France.
For the past two years,
Katherine and her father have lived in Paris,
occasionally traveling to Holland and Spain on business. Thomas has
been the United States diplomat to France's ever-fluctuating government, but
at the same time he and Katherine have been the eyes and ears for the
Morris family and others, relaying much-needed information abroad.
For the most part, Katherine
has been consumed with her work and her
scientific writing to have thought much about marriage. She naturally
assumed that at some point she would marry, but has never really
considered how it would happen. If pressed for details she would
describe marriage as like a merger, when two suitable business partners
join for the betterment of both. But her opinion is one formed more by
naiveté than from anything else. Romance and love has never been a
part
of her life and because of that, she finds herself very vulnerable to
such feelings.
Katherine is 5' 8"
tall with curly black hair and blue-gray eyes. She
looks a great deal like her mother, or at least that is what she's been
told.