Edward Joy Morris
Edward Joy Morris (July 16, 1815 – December 31, 1881) was an American politician and diplomat from Philadelphia. He left the University of Pennsylvania as a freshman and later graduated from Harvard in 1836; he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1842, practicing in Philadelphia.
He served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1841–1842 and again in 1856. He was elected to the U.S. House as a Whig for Pennsylvania’s 1st district, serving 1843–1845, and later as a Republican for Pennsylvania’s 2nd district, serving 1857–1861.
In diplomacy, Morris was United States Chargé d’Affaires to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies from 1850 to 1853, and later Minister Resident to the Ottoman Empire from 1861 to 1870.
He was a director of Girard College in Philadelphia and wrote travel books, including Notes of a Tour through Turkey, Greece, Egypt, Arabia Petræa, to the Holy Land (1842). He spoke French, German, and Italian and translated several German works.
Morris died in Philadelphia in 1881 and was buried in Laurel Hill Cemetery.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 14:59 (CET).