Description

Glass negative showing Marriott C. Morris' siblings Elizabeth Canby Morris and Samuel Buckley Morris with Morris' Aunt Beulah's neice Anna Rhoads and Ellie Rhoads sitting on the porch step of the Deshler-Morris House at 5442 Germantown Avenue. There is a chair in front of them and Jet, the small black family dog, sits on the patio on the left side of the group. The Rhoads women wear long coats and top hats. The Morrises wear hats. David Deshler built the original four-room summer cottage on this Germantown lot in 1752, adding the three-story front addition in 1772. The house was sold to Col. Isaac Franks in 1792 after Deshler’s death. President George Washington rented the home for the duration of the yellow fever epidemic of 1793 and the summer of 1794. Elliston and John Perot purchased the house in 1804, selling it to Elliston’s son-in-law Samuel B. Morris after his death in 1834. The house stayed in the possession of the Morris family for over a century, when Elliston P. Morris donated the house to the National Parks Service in 1948. The name was officially changed to the Germantown White House in 2009.

Record Contributed By

The Library Company of Philadelphia

Record Harvested From

PA Digital