Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/511

 MORTON

MORTON

He served as a scientific expert in numerous im- portant cases of patent litigation, and by reason of the revenue so derived was enabled to con- tribute to the endowment and enlargement of the Stevens Institute, to an aggregate amount of $140,000 up to 1901. This includes, besides a workshop fitted up in 1880, contributions to the fund for the erection of a chemical building and an endowment fund for the same of $80,000, as well as a new boiler-house and boilers to supply the entire group of buildings, costing over $15,000. In 1901 he took a lively interest in the expedition to excavate the ruins of Ur of the Chaldees, and to secure the early setting out of the same he guaranteed the expenses for the first year. On Feb. 6, 1902, the institute was further enriched through the efiforts of President Morton, by the Carnegie Laboratory of Engineering erected at a cost of $6.5,000 by Andrew Carnegie. Dr. Morton died in New York city, May 8, 1902.

nORTON, Henry Jackson, clergyman, was bom in New York city, Sept. 28, 1807 ; son of Jacob (q.v.) and Catherine (Ludlow) IVforton. He attended school in Jamaica, L.I., and New York city ; was graduated at Columbia A.B., 1827, A.M., 1830. After studying law for a short time he entered the General Theological seminary and was graduated and ordered deacon in 1830. He was elected assistant rector of St. James's church, Philadelphia, Pa., 1830 ; and was or- dained priest in 1831. He was married in 1831 to Helen, daughter of Henry and Mehitabel Blan- chard (Carmer) McFarlan of New York. He vis- ited Europe in 1836, and was rector of St. James's church, 1837-87, when he was made rector emeri- tus. He was a member and president of the standing committee of the diocese of Pennsyl- vania ; was a trustee of the University of Penn- sylvania, 1844-90, and of the Protestant Episcopal academy of Philadelphia. Having unusual ar- tistic ability, he was in early life an active mem- ber of the National Academy of Design in New York, and of the New York Sketch club, which afterward became the Century association. He was also a member of the board of managers of the Episcopal Hospital, Church Home and Philadelphia Dispensary. He received the de- gree of D.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1844. He is the author of : The Sunday-School Teacher's Call, and ITie Sunday-School Teacher's Aid both published in 1838. He died in Phila- delphia, Pa., Nov. 1, 1890.

MORTON, Jackson, senator, was born in Fred- ericksburg, Va., Aug. 10, 1794. His parents died when he was a boy, and he was reared by his grandmother until her death and then by his uncle, William Morton. He studied at Wash- ington college and was graduated at the College of William and Mary in 1815. He engaged in the

lumber business at Pensacola, Fla., in 1820, set- tled as a planter on his estate, " Mortonia," near Pensacola, represented his district in the terri- torial legislature, 1836-37, and was president of the council in 1837 and for several years there- after. He was a delegate to the convention that framed the constitution of Florida in 1838, a gen- eral of the volunteer forces during the Indian wars, and navy agent at Pensacola, Fla., 1841^5. He was a presidential elector on the Taylor and Fillmore ticket in 1848, and was elected to the U.S. senate as a Whig for the term 1849-55. He was a member of the Confederate congress, 1862-65. He died in Santa Rosa coimty, Fla., Nov. 20, 1874. MORTON, Jacob, soldier, was born in New York city, July 8, 1761 ; son of Jolin and Maria Sophia (Kemi)er) Morton. John Morton, the son of a Scotch clergyman, came to New York in the commissary department of the British army prior to 1760, and resigning his position after a time went into busi- ness as an exporter of flax and importer of Irish linen and other merchandise. He

married Maria Sophia, daughter of Jacob Kemper, who was born at Caub on the Rhine, Germany, in 1706 ; came to Amer- ica in 1741, with his wife (Maria Regina Ernest of Mankeim, Germany) and fam- ily, settled first at Rhinebeck, on the Hudson river, then at Beekman, on the Livingston " Pa- tent," and finally (in 1749) at New Brunswick, N.J. John Morton sided with the colonies in the Revolution, and left New York when its occupa- tion by the British was threatened, and with his family and effects removed first to Elizabeth, and soon after to Baskingridge, N.J. He placed a large part of his capital in the *' Loan Office " of the revolted colonies, and the extent of this depo- sit caused him to be called by the British " the Rebel Banker." He died at Baskingridge in 1781. Peace being declared in 1783, the Morton family removed to Eliza bethtown, and in December of the same year to New York city. Jacob Morton graduated from the College of New Jersey, A.B., 1778. A.M., 1781, studied law with Judge Patter- son in Trenton, N. J., and was admitted to the bar, first in New Jersey and afterward in New York, He opened an office and began practice as a lawyer in New York city. He received his first commission as an officer of the militia in 1786, and later became colonel of the 6th regiment of