Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/471

Rh the first Swedish emigrants to this eonntrv. settled in what are now the suburbs of Phihideljjhia. His father died in the son's youth, and his stepfather, John Sketchley, an Englishman, superintended his education. He became a justice of the peace in 1764, was soon afterward elected to the general assembly of Pennsylvania, served for many years, and was frequently speaker of the house. He was a dele- gate to the Stamp-act congress in 1765, was sheriff of Chester county in 1766-9, and sub- sequently president judge of the court of com- mon pleas, and a judge of the supreme court of the province. He was a delegate to the 1st congress in 1774-'6, gave the casting vote of Pennsylvania in the affirmative upon the question of adopting the Declaration of Independence, and was chair- man of the committee of the whole on the adop- tion of the system of confederation. At the close of his life he was abandoned by many of his friends whose political sentiments differed from his own. On his death-bed he said : " Tell them they will live to see the hour when they shall ac- knowledge my signing of the Declaration of Inde- pendence to "have been the most glorious service that I ever rendered my country." There is no au- thentic portrait of Morton. In 1876 a memorial tablet was placed by his grandson in Independence hall, Philadelphia.

MORTON, Levi Parsons, banker, b. in Shore- ham, Vt., 16 May, 1824. He became a clerk in a country store, soon developed aptitude for busi- ness, and rose rapidly. In 1850 he was made a member of the firm of Beebe, Morgan and Co., merchants of Boston, and in 1854 he removed to New York, where he established the firm of Morton and Grinnell. In 1863 he founded the bank- ing-house of Mor- ton, Bliss and Co., in New York, and that of Morton, Rose and Co., in London. The latter were the fiscal agents of the from 18/3 till 1884. The firms of which Mr. Morton is the head were active in the syndicates that negotiated U. S. bonds and in the payment of the Geneva award of $15,500,000 and the Halifax fishery award of $5,500,000. Mr. Morton was ap- pointed honorary commissioner to the Paris expo- sition in 1878. In the same year he was elected to congress as a Republican, and he was re-elected in 1880. In the latter year he declined the nomi- nation for vice-president on the Republican ticket. President Garfield offered to nominate Mr. Morton for secretary of the navy or minister to France. He chose tlie latter post, and filled it from 1881 to 1885. Through his intercession the restric- tions upon the importation of American pork were removed, and American corporations obtained a legal status in France. He was American com- missioner-general to the Paris electrical exposition, the representative of the United States at the sub- marine cable convention, and publicly received, in the name of the people of the United States, the Bartholdi statue of Liberty enlightening the world. Mr. Morton, in 1887. purchased " EUerslie," the es- tate of William Kelly, at Rhinebeck on the Hudson. The degree of LL. D. was conferred upon him by Dartmouth and M iddlebury. In 1888 he was chosen vice-president of the United States, and in 1895-'6 he was governor of the state of New York.

MORTON, Marcus, jurist, b. in Freetown, Mass., 19 Feb.. 1784; d. in Taunton, Mass., 6 Feb., 1864. He was graduated at Brown in 1804, and ad- mitted to the bar in Taunton, Mass. He was clerk of the state senate in 1811-'12, elected to congress as a Democrat in 1810, serving in 1817-'21, was a member of the executive council in 1823, and be- came lieutenant-governor the next year. He was on the state supreme bench in 1825-'39, was elected governor of Massachusetts by two votes over Ed- ward Everett in 1839, and from 1845 until his resig- nation in 1848 was collector of the port in Boston. He left the Democratic party about 1848 to become a Free-soiler, and was a member of the State con- stitutional convention in 1853, and of the legisla- ture in 1858. Harvard gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1840. He advocated the restriction of slavery, and throughout the civil war was an ar- dent supporter of the National cause. — His son, Marcus, jurist, b. in Taunton, 8 April, 1819; d. in Andover, Mass., 10 Feb., 1891, was graduated at Brown in 1838, and studied two years at Harvard law-school. He practised in Boston, but after 1850 resided in Andover. He was a member of the State constitutional convention in 1853, and in 1858 was in the legislature, and was appointed a justice of the superior court of Suffolk county. He was elevated to the superior bench in 1859, and became an associate justice of the supreme court of Massachusetts in 1869, and chief justice in 1883. He received the degree of LL. D. from Princeton in 1870, and from Harvard in 1882.

MORTON, Oliver Perry, statesman, b. in Saulsbury, Wayne co., Ind., 4 Aug., 1823; d. in Indianapolis, Ind., 1 Nov., 1877. His father, a native of New Jersey, whose ancestors came from England with Roger Williams, dropped the first syllable in the family name of Throckmorton. At the age of fifteen the son was taken from school and indentured to a brother, who was a hatter. After working at this trade four years he determined to fit himself for the bar, spent two years at Miami itniversity, studied law at Centreville, and began practice there in 1847. He soon attained professional eminence, and was elected a circuit judge in 1852, but at the end of a year, when his term expired by the adoption of a new state constitution, he willingly left the bench, and before resuming practice spent a year at a law-school in Cincinnati. Having been a Democrat with anti-slavery convictions, he entered into the people's movement in 1854, took an active part in the formation of the Republican party, and was a delegate to the Pittsbui'g convention the same year, and the candidate of the new party for governor. In a joint canvass with Ashbel P. Willard, the Democratic nominee, he established a reputation for political ability, but was beaten at the polls, and returned to his law practice. In 1860 he was nominated for lieutenant-governor on the ticket with Henry S. Lane, and during the canvass took strong ground in favor of exacting from the southern states obedience to the constitution. Upon convening, the legislature elected Gov. Lane U. S. senator, and on 16 Jan., 1861, Mr. Morton took the oath as governor. He opposed every compromise with the Secessionist party, nominated to the Peace congress men of equally pronounced views, began to prepare for the coming conflict