Siddhesh Joshi (Editor)

John Albert Morris

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Cause of death
  
Stroke

Parents
  
Frances Morris

Role
  
Businessman


Name
  
John Morris

Spouse(s)
  
Cora Hennen

Resting place
  
Metairie Cemetery

Born
  
July 1836
New Jersey, United States

Residence
  
New Orleans, Louisiana, Throggs Neck, New York, Boston, Massachusetts, Bar Harbor, Maine, Gillespie County, Texas, Hanover, Germany.

Occupation
  
Businessman, Lottery operator, Racetrack owner, Racehorse owner/breeder

Honors
  
Morris Park, Bronx John A. Morris Handicap at Saratoga Race Course

Died
  
May 25, 1895, Kerrville, Texas, United States

Children
  
Alfred Hennen Morris, David Hennen Morris

People also search for
  
Alfred Hennen Morris

Board member of
  
Louisiana State Lottery Company, Morris Park Racecourse

John Albert Morris (July 1836 – May 25, 1895) was an American businessman widely known as the "Lottery King" and a prominent figure in the sport of thoroughbred horse racing. A native of New Jersey, he benefited from a large inheritance and added substantially to his fortune through a majority interest in the Louisiana State Lottery Company.

In 1857, he married Cora Hennen, the daughter of Alfred Hennen, a wealthy and prominent judge in New Orleans. The couple had four children:

  • Francis Morris (c. 1864–1880)
  • Alfred Hennen Morris (1864–1959) — a Vice-Chairman and steward of The Jockey Club
  • Dave Hennen Morris (1872–1944) — lawyer, diplomat, United States Ambassador to Belgium (1933–1937), and co-founder of the International Auxiliary Language Association
  • Isabel Morris — married Lewis Cass Ledyard, a grandson of statesman and politician Lewis Cass
  • Thoroughbred racing

    His father, Francis Morris, was also involved in horse racing, and notably owned Ruthless, the winner of the 1867 Belmont and Travers Stakes. John Morris inherited his father's 25,000-acre (100 km2) ranch in Gillespie County, Texas, fourteen miles (23 km) from the town of Kerrville, where he established a horse breeding operation.

    John Morris owned a large racing stable in the United States and another in Europe. With Leonard W. Jerome as his minority partner, in 1889 he opened Morris Park Racecourse in what was then Westchester County, New York. The racetrack hosted the Belmont Stakes from 1890 through 1904 as well as the Preakness Stakes in 1890. A few days before he died in May 1895, he leased the racecourse, with an option to purchase, to the Westchester Racing Association. The Morris heirs sold the property to real estate developers in 1905.

    John Albert Morris suffered a stroke and died at age 59 in 1895 while at his Texas Ranch. His remains were sent by train to New Orleans where he was interred in the Metairie Cemetery.

    The neighborhood of Morris Park in the Bronx, New York, a large part of which covers the site of Morris Park Racecourse, is named in his memory.

    References

    John Albert Morris Wikipedia