Litchfield enquirer., 1868-08-13
MORRIS POINT.

few weeks since, some gentlemen o
 this place, went down with their families t,
 Morris Point in East Haven. From one o
 them We obtain the following facts regard
 Ing the Morris place, the family, and tn
 Collins family connected with it, .
 The farm was purchased by Thomas Nor
 ris in 1871. Amos Morris was the first res
 ident. His papers show that he was large ly engaged in commerce with the West In
 dia Islands. His wharf would accommo
 date vessels of some size, was built of stoae C and remains to this day. His ware house often contained large quantities of goods.
 He also manufactured salt, and had g building with five boilers for that purpose. He lived till the Revolution, and many cu- r1ous facts are related of him. One of his 1 daughters, Esther, married William Col hns of Guilford, and moved to new farm ln Litchfield, where they resided thirty nine years. Their family consisted of sev. en sons and three daughters They moved
 with most of their family to Collinsville, Ill. One of his sons, Amos NJ. Collins, married Mary Lyman, daughter of Colonel Moses Lyman of Goshen, who carried on the dry goods business in Hartford until l Io42, when he relinqushed to his sons. Collins Brothers, who are still engaged in the business. He was chosen deacon in l. aration from the Centre Church. He was also Mayor of the City of Hartford from 1543 to 1947
 In 1850, Tn response to an invitation cir culated through the papers, more than one hundred and fifty of the descendants of Amos Morris assembled at the old dwell ling-place of their ancestors at Morris Point. At the dinner served in an ar Dor west of the house, there was much singing, toasting and good cheer, and among other things, Dea Amos M Collins referred to the advice given by Dr. Beech CT to his father, not to go away from Litch- field "on wild goose chase" The good Doctor proved to be anything but proph- ct in this instance.
 A part of the mansion at Morris Point is of great antiquity. During the Revolu- tionary war. it was conveniently situated for foraging parties of the British, and on one occasion was saved from pillage by a shrewd stratagem of its veteran owner. He was made aware one night, that descent upon him was imminent, by the splashing of the oars of the advancing party. Re- pairing to the beach, mounted on his fa- vorite horse, the old gentleman rode rap idly to and fro, shouting out orders to an imaginary company of militia The ene- my easily heard him, and concluded that they might meet too warm reception, and returned without landing. At another time, he was surprised by the British, ta- ken from his bed, and confined, with his son, Amos 2d, on board man -of-war, from which the latter contrived to escape, and the old gentleman was liberated on parol.
 On tho fourth of July, 1779, the British landed a force at the cove, for the purpose of attacking New Haven from the east. The women and children were hurried away so late that they could hear the whis- ting of the enemy's bullets. The old gen. tleman and his hired man stayed still lon ger, and finally escaped by running along the line of stone wall which protected their flight until they reached a pair of bars. There they were greeted with shower of bullets, one of which struck a bar just over Mir. Morris head as he was passing. This rail remained in its place, with the mark of the bullet grooving it's centre, till 1S45, when 8 portion of it was deposited in the collection of the Histori- cal Society at Hartford. The house, barn, salt and cider mill were burned-a loss of 91, ,235.
 The two ends of the old mansion were built of stone, with substantial, old fash toned, chimneys. These remained stand ing after the fire, and the present house was built between them. By the we'll stands heavy basin cut out of a solid stone and marked IT'S.
 1t IS at present occupied by J. H. Mor- rls' Esq, whose interesting family of three sons and five daughters, we under stand to be the 7th generation of the name who have inhabited the place.
 The Mobile Tribune has no doubts abon,