The biographical encyclopœdia of Ohio of the nineteenth century:

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOP2EDIA.
ability and broad, liberal views. March I2th, I863, he reported from his committee the first reconstruction bill introduced in either House of Congress, and subsequently delivered several speeches in favor of the plan of reconstruction
which he provided for in his first bill. In i866 he introduced
the original resolution for the impeachment of Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, which was referred to
the Judiciary Committee. The evidence presented to the
committee was reported upon, and finally a resolution was
passed by the House impeaching the President. In 1869
he was appointed by General Ulysses S. Grant Governor
of Montana, but in 1871 was removed by him for alleged
unfriendly criticism of his administration. At the present
time he is engaged in the practice of law in Toledo, Ohio.
Ill 1872 he voted for Horace Greeley, and has acted since
with the Democrats and liberal Republicans. He was married, in November, i851, to Emma J. Smith, of Kentucky.
Having been prepared at Bracken Academy, Augusta, Kenr-tucky, he entered Augusta College in the samee place, and
after a four- years' course graduated August 7th, 1 834. He
then went to the Theological Seminary, Pr-inceton, New
Jersey, where he completed another four-yeangs' course, Septemnbetr 24th, I838. During vacations he atten ded lectures
at the theological departm ent of Yal e College, and travelled
e xtensively o ver t he country. He was licensed to prea ch
by the Presbyte ry of Phi ladelphia, in that city, April I8tht,
I838. His first sermon was preached in the Presbyterian
Church at Newtown, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, April
22d, 1838, and his second discourse was delivered on the
afterno on of the same day in the ol d Bell S alem Presbyterian
Church, near the Philadelphia line. Having been called to
Newtown, in August following he was o rdain ed and installe d
pas t or o f that church by t he Seco nd Presbytery of Philadelphia, October 23d, i838, and sustained that relation for
eighteen years. Ile removed thence to Oxford, Ohio, where
he has been for over sixteen years President of Oxford Female College. He received the honorary degree of D. D.
from Centre College, Kentucky, June, I870. He was married, May 3d, i842, to Elizabeth, the youngest daughter of
Matthew L. Bevan, an eminent merchant and Christian
gentleman of Philadelphia. The old Newtown Church was
built before the Revolution, and had many historic associations. Washington's head-quarters were near by, and when
the Hessians were captured over at Trenton, almost in sight,
many of them were lodged within the solid stone walls of
the old church. A British officer, annoyed at the curious
crowds, took a piece of charcoal and wrote on the wall opposite the pulpit:
~ORRIS, REV. ROBERT DESHA, D. D., Clergy l mail, was born in Washington, Mas on county,
Kentucky, August 22d, 1814. Ie is the eldest
sona o f Colonel Joseph Morris, who removed from
N e w Jersey to Kentucky in 1794. The Morris
family Maur-rwyce: literally, "warlike, powerftlul "- trace their descent from a chieftain primogenitor in
Wales in 933. In later times, they had important comands, and f ought in the battles of the Parli ament against
Charles I.; but after the death of Cromwell they were obl iged to flee from Monmouthshire to escape the vengeance
of Charles II., and took refuge in the Island of Barbadoes.
From this island is s fourth grandfa ther, Lewis Morris, soon
after sailed for New Jersey, and settled in that part now
termed Monmouth county, wh ere he wa s one of the Judges
of the first Monmouth court. Another branch of the family,
about the same time, settled at and gave the name to
Morrisania, New York, and have become famous in the
history of the country. His paternal g randfa ther was in
the revolutionary war, and having been taken prisoner,
was conf ined with many o the r patriots in the "POld Sugar
House," in Liberty street, New York, where they endured
untold sufferings, pounded glass being sometimes mingled
with their miserable food. His maternal ancestors, the
Deshas, fled from La Rochelle on the Revocation of the
Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV. in i685, and came to New
Rochelle, New York. They subsequently settled on the
DI)elaware, above the Water Gap, where they lived many
years. In 1784 the Deshas and the Overfields emigrated
to Kentucky. They were with the Kentons, Simon and
John, in their stations, and shared in their struggles with
frontier life and the merciless Indian. His mother being
descended from the Huguenot stock, held tenaciously to
the Reformed or Calvinistic faith. Her only son early imbibed these tenets, to which he has steadfastly adhered.
In times of war, and not before,
God and the soldier men adore;
When the war is o'er, and all things righted,
The Lord's forgot and the soldier sliglhted.
These memories aided not a little to in crease the zeal of
the young pastor; and the old church was renovated and
enlarged, and continues to flourish. Besides diligent attention to his pastoral duties, he was abundant in labors and
in preaching and planting churches in other places. Several
important churches in Bucks county owe their formation to
his persistent efforts. He was uniformly prompt and active
in his attendance upon the judicatories of his denomination,
and was several times elected by his Prlesbytery to represent
them in the highest court of the Presbyterian Church. He
was a member of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian
Church at Louisville, Kentucky, in I844; at Cincinnati in
I850; at New Orleans in I858, and at Philadelphia in I870.
In general improvement, in temperance and educational
movements, he was very active, having been President of
the Pennsylvania State Temperance Convention at Harrisburg in I846. He served as Director in the common schools,
and established a superior Parochial School and Classical
Academy, now in successful operation at Newtown. He
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