Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/515

 MORTON

MORTON

MORTON, Marcus, governor of Massaclmsetts, was born in Freetown, Mass., Feb. 19, 1784; son of Nathaniel and Mary (Gary) Morton; grandson of Nathaniel and Hannah (Pritchard) Templor Morton, and great-grandson of George and Julia .(Carpenter) Morton. He was graduated with highest honors at Brown university, A.B., 1804, A.M., 1807, and studied law at Litchfield, Gonn. He was married in 1807 to Gharlotte, daughter of James Hodges, of Taunton, Mass., and practised law in Taunton. He was clerk of the Massa- chusetts senate, 1811-13; a Democratic represent- •ative from Massachusetts in the 15th and 16th congresses, 1817-21; a member of the executive council of Massachusetts in 1823; lieutenant- governor in 1825, and became acting governor on the death of Governor Eustis in that year. He was judge of the supreme court of Massachusetts, 1825-39, and resigned in 1839 to accept the jiomination of governor of Massachusetts, and was elected over Edward Everett by one vote. He was defeated for election in 1841, but was elected in 1842 by the legislature, and again by a majority of one vote, and served through 1843. He was collector of the port of Boston by -appointment of President Polk, 1845-48, when he resigned. He was a member of the Massa- chusetts constitutional convention of 1853, and ia representative in the state legislature in 1858. He served as a member of the board of over- seers of Harvard university, 1826-52, and 1854-60, ^nd received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Brown university in 1826, and from Harvard uni- versity in 1840. He died in Taunton, Mass., Feb. •6, 1864.

MORTON, Marcus, jurist, was born in Taun- ton, Muss., xVpril 8, 1819; son of Governor Mar- cus and Gharlotte (Hodges) Morton, and grand- -son of James Hodges, of Taunton. He was pre- pared for college in Bristol County academy; was graduated at Brown university, A.B., 1838, A.M., 1841; and at the Harvard Law school, LL.B. 1840. He continued his law studies in the oflSce of Peleg Sprague and "William Gray, in Boston, and practised in Boston, 1841-50. He was married Oct. 19, 1843, to Abby B., daughter of Henry and Amy (Harris) Hoppin of Providence, R.I., and in 1850 removed to Andover, Mass. He was a delegate to the constitutional convention of 1853; .a representative in the state legislature of 1858, where he served as chairman of the committee on elections. He was appointed judge of the superior court of Suffolk county in April, 1858, to .fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Josiah G. Abbot, and served until the abolition of that court in 1859. He was appointed justice of the superior court of Massachusetts on its organization in 1859, to succeed Judge E. R. JHoar; became an associate justice of the supreme

court of Massachusetts in 1869, succeeded Horace Gray as chief justice in January, 1882, and re- signed on Aug. 27, 1890. He received the degree of LL.D. from Brown university in 1870 and from Harvard university in 1882. He died at Andover, Mass., Feb. 10, 1891.

MORTON, Nathaniel, author, was born in Leyden, Holland, in 1013; son of George and Julia (Carpenter) Morton, and a grandson of Alexander Carpenter. George Morton, a native of Ansterfield, Yorksliire, England, joined the Pilgrims at Leyden, Holland, before 1613, immi- grated to America in the ship Ann with his wife and five children, and settled in Plymouth, Mass., in June, 1623. Nathaniel accompanied his parents to the new world, and after the death of his father, in 1828, was adopted by Governor Bradford, who had married his mother's sister. He became associated with Bradford in the man- agement of public affairs; was made a freeman in 1635, and served as secretary of the Plymouth colony, 1647-85, longer than any incumbent of a similar office. He was also secretary of the United colonies of New England, and almost all the records of the Plymouth colony and the United colonies of New England are in his hand- writing. He noted the happenings of the early days of the colony, which were published under the title, *' New England's Memorial; or, a Brief Relation of the Most Memorable and Remarkable Passages of the Providence of God, manifested to the Planters of New England " (1669); re- printed in England (1669), with a supplement by Josiah Cotton, Boston, Mass. (1721); 3d edition (1772); 4th edition, with supplement and large ad- ditions with marginal notes, and a copy of an ancient map by John Davis (1826), and 6th edition (1855). He was placed next in honor after the governors, and before Captain Standish and Robert Gushman, in recognition of his long and important services to the colony. He was married in 1635 to Lydia Cooper, and a second time April 29, 1674, to Hannah, widow of Richard Templar, and a daughter of Richard Pritchard. He is the author of numerous verses commemorating the virtues of the Pilgrims, the best specimens being those on the death of Mrs. Bradford, published at the end of Governor Bradford's " History" (1856), and of a Synopsis of the Church History of Ply- mouth (1680), preserved in Ebenezer Hazard's "Historical Collections," and published in Alex- ander Young's " Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers of the Colony of Plymouth " (1841). He died in Plymouth, Mass., June 29, 1685.

MORTON, Oliver Hazard Perry Throck, states- man, was born in Salisbury, Wayne county,' Ind., Aug. 4, 1823; the fourth child of James Throck and Sarah (Miller) Morton, and a direct descend- ant of John Throckmorton, who reached Boston