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Scots and Scots Descendant in America
Part V - Biographies
George Austin Morrison, Jr.


GEORGE AUSTIN MORRISON, JR., was the son of the late George Austin Morrison, and Lucy Anne King, and was born March 26, 1864, in New York City. He received his early education from private tutors and then attended the Cutler School, from which he entered Harvard University in 1883. He was graduated in 1887, receiving the degree of A.B. "Cum laude," having taken honours in Philosophy. He entered the Columbia Law School the same. year and took the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1889, taking also in 1888 the degree of Master of Arts of Columbia University. During his college and law school career, he wrote a number of plays, burlesques and operettas, the most popular being Captain Kidd, William Penn, Lafayette and Narcissa, all of which were produced by the Columbia College Dramatic Club during 1888-1891.

He was admitted to the Bar of the State of New York in 1889 and after being some years in the office of Coudert Brothers, and of Olin Hives & Montgomery, started to practise law for himself in 1897.

Mr. Morrison was a member of the Saint Andrew’s Society of the State of New York since 1885, and held the office of Secretary for a period of fifteen years (1895-1910) ; was Second Vice-President. 1910-1911, and was President 1912-1915, and a member of the Standing Committee.

The year 1906, marking the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Society (1756-1906), Mr. Morrison, as Secretary, compiled a History of Saint Andrevi’s Society, a volume of some three hundred pages. it contains an historical sketch of the Society, the portraits and biographies of all the Presidents, the Constitution, and a full list of the Officers and Members since 1756, as well as the financial history of the Society and a list of the places where the banquets were held during the one hundred and fifty years of its existence. The book is of great value, as it preserves for all time many records which were rapidly falling into decay and important facts concerning the administration of the Society ‘s work.

Mr. Morrison always had strong literary tastes and was the author of many other works, the best known of which are Clement King of Marshfield, Massachusetts, and His Descendants; The DeCamp Family of New Jersey: The King Heraldry; The Clarke Families of Rhode Island; The King Family in England, etc. He also wrote a number of plays and comic opera libretti, as well as numerous articles in the magazines and periodicals of the day.

His hobby was antiquarian and genealogical research and an authority upon the King and the Clarke families, both in Old and New England. He further made the military records of the War of the Revolution a special study and discovered and contributed many MSS., Muster Rolls, Lists of Revolutionary. Soldiers and Sailors, and Army material to magazines.

Although born in America, Mr. Morrison was an authority upon Scottish subjects. He was an accomplished musician, having a good baritone voice and possessed a fine collection of the songs and ballads of the "Land o’ Cakes," which he sang with feeling and intelligence. Of athletic tastes, Mr. Morrison was a skilled horseman, an enthusiastic motorist and golf player and devoted to all out-door sports. In social life he was a most delightful companion, a ready speaker and a capital story teller, being an excellent example that the descendants of Scotsmen resident in America do not lose the rugged qualities. 

He was General Counsel and Treasurer of the Metals Trading Corporation and the International Fabricating Corporation, as well as a director in each of these companies; and also Secretary and director of the New England Motor Sales Co., of Greenwich, Conn.

He was a member of the Metropolitan Club, the Army and Navy Club, the Society of the Cincinnati, the Society of Colonial Wars, the Society of the Sons of the Revolution, the Veteran Corps of Artillery, State of New York, the Military Society of the War of 1812, the Naval Order of the United States, the Society of American Wars, St. Andrew’s Society of the State of New York, St. George’s Society, St. Nicholas Society, New York Historical Society, and member and trustee of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society.

He married, April 9, 1912, Magdalen Sophrona Worden, daughter of the late Linas Dean and Mary Ann (Kraft) Worden.

Mrs. Morrison is a talented composer, the pupil of Louis Lombard, Clarence Lucas and the late Max Spicker, all eminent professors of Musical Composition and Harmony. She is also an accomplished pianist and has written a large number of songs and ballads which have been published and are sung by many of the artists of the operatic and concert stage.

Mr. Morrison died suddenly of heart failure on St. Andrew ‘s Day, November 30, 1916, in the fifty-fourth year of his age. He is survived by his wife and brother, Charles King Morrison.


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