Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/513

 MORTON

MORTON

farming until 1764, when he was commissioned a justice of the peace. He was elected a represent- ative in the general assembly of Pennsylvania in 1764, and held the office several years, serving as speaker almost continuously. He was appointed Sept. 11, 1765, a delegate to the stamp act con- gress, which met in New York in that year, and was sheriflf of Chester county, 1766-69. He served as president judge of the court of general quarter sessions and common pleas, and as judge of the supreme court of Pennsylvania previous to the Revolutionary war. He was appointed in July, 1774, a delegate to the first Continental congress, which met in Philadelphia, Sept. 5, 1774. He was chosen colonel of a battalion of volunteers raised in Chester county soon after the battle of Lexing- ton, 1775, but public duties prevented his accept- ing the commission. He was instructed to assist in framing and adopting a plan " for the purpose of obtaining redress of American grievances ; for placing American rights upon a solid and consti- tutional basis, and for establishing if possible har- mony between Great Britain and the colonies." He served with ability on several important com- mittees during his term in congress, and was chairman of the committee of the whole during the organization of a system of confederation finally agreed upon Nov. 15, 1777, and on July 4, 1776, gave the casting vote of the delegation from Pennsylvania in favor of the Declaration of In- dependence, and subsequently signed the docu- ment. This was most important, as it settled

the position of Pennsyl- vania on the question of ad- opting the De- claration, and this act cost him the friend- ship of his con- stituents, who almost univer- sally ques- tioned the policy of taking so radical a course, and while Franklin and Wilson favored the measure, Willing and Humphreys strongly op- posed it. He did not live to witness the change in public sentiment, and on his death bed said, "Tell them that they will live to seethe hour when they shall acknowledge it to have been the most glorious service that I ever rendered my country." He was married to Ann Justis of Delaware. A monument was erected to his memory in the Episcopal churchyard at Chester, Pa., Oct. 9, 1845, and a memorial tablet was placed by his grandson in Independence Hall, Philadel- phia in 1876, but exact dates are not recorded. He died in Chester county, Pa., in April, 1777.

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MORTON, John P., publisher, was born in Lexington, Ky., March 4, 1807. He entered Transylvania university in 1821, but left in 1823 on account of his father's business failure. He was a tutor for a short time ; clerked in a Lex- ington bookstore, and in 1825 was engaged by W. W. Worseley as his agent, and later took entire charge of his publishing business. In 1826 he was in partnership with Mr. Worseley in pub- lishing the Focus and in book-selling. In 1827 the publishing house of Morton & Co. was estab- lished, and continued until 1829, when the name was changed to Morton & Smith and later to John P. Morton & Co. This was the only house in the south that published a full line of school books. Mr. Morton was the pioneer in Kentucky in the manufacture of books and of blank books. He built the John N. Morton Memorial infirmary for the sick at Louisville, at a cost of $100,000 and gave it to the Diocese of Kentucky, a memorial to his son. He died in Louisville, Ky.. July 19, 1889.

MORTON, Julius Sterling, cabinet officer, was born in Adams, Jefferson county, N.Y., April 22, 1832 ; son of Julius D. and Emeline (Sterling) Morton.; grandson of Abner Morton, and a des- cendant of George Morton, who was the financial agent of the Pilgrims in 1620, and chartered the May- flower. He was taken by his parents to Michigan in 1834 ; at- tended school at Mon- roe, and the Wesley- an seminary at Al- bion, and matricu- lated at the Univer- sity of Michigan in the class of 1854, but left before gradua- ting, receiving his degree in 1858 nunc pro tunc. He was married, Oct. 30, 1854, to Caroline French Joy, and removed at once to the then territory of Nebraska, which had just been opened to settlement. He became a member of the Townsite company at Nebraska City, established the Nebraska City News, and was twice elected a member of the territorial legisla- ture. In 1853 he was appointed secretary of the territory by President Buchanan, and served in that position, part of the time as acting governor, under the organic act, until May, 1861. In 1872 as a member of the state board of agriculture he originated the phrase " Arbor Day," and institu- ted the observation of that tree-planting festival. From that all arbor days in all the states have germinated. He was the Democratic candidate for governor of the state in 1866, 1882, 1884 and

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