Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/516

 MORTON

MORTON

harbor with Roger Williams on the ship Lion, 1631, and first settled at Salem, but appears April

10, 1637, named in a grant of Williams, as neighbor Throckmor- ton. In 1642 he set- tled at Throg's Neck, N. Y., with thirty- five associates, and after the Indian mas- sacre of October, 1643, in which mem- bers of his family were killed, he re- turned to Rhode Island, where he was a freeman, 1655, and deputy in the colo- nial legislature, 1664- 73. He purchased land in the " Monmouth Patent," N. J., but continued the neighbor of Roger Wil- liams in Providence. His sons, Job and John, Jr. , went to Monmouth county, and among their de- scendants James, born in New Jersey, May 4, 1783, having a dispute with his brother, changed his name to James Tlirock Morton, and wrote it James T. Morton. He removed to Ohio in early life and married there, his first wife bearing him three children. On Feb. 14, 1815, he married secondly, Sarah, daughter of John and Hannah Miller, of Springfield, Ohio, who came to Ohio from Elizabeth, N. J. Mrs. Morton died when Oliver was three years old. He attended Wayne county seminary for one year, and when his grandfather removed to Centreville, Ind. (where he died, Oct. 12, 1838), Oliver was first employed in a drug store, and later was apprentice to his half-brother, William S. T. Morton, a hatter. He attended Miami university, Oxford, Ohio, 1843-45, but left before graduating and was married. He was admitted to the bar in 1846, and practised in Centreville until Feb. 23, 1852, when he was elected by the legislature judge of the sixth cir- cuit, and served eight months until under the new constitution the office became elective. He then attended the law school in Cincinnati, Ohio, for six months and returned to his practice in Centreville. In the presidential campaign of 1852 he spoke for Pierce and Butler, and was him- self favorably mentioned for representative in congress and even for U. S. senator. He how- ever refused to endorse the Kansas-Nebraska bill before the Democratic state convention at Indian- apolis in May, 1854, and was expelled from the convention. He attached himself to the People's party, July 13, 1864, which party carried the state. He was a delegate to the preliminary Free-soil convention at Pittsburg, Feb. 22, 1856, where the Republican party was formed. He

was the unsuccessful candidate of the People's party for governor of Indiana in 1856, being de- feated by Ashbel P. Willard after an exciting canvass, in which the two candidates met in joint debate several times. He was elected lieutenant- governor in 1860, and was inaugurated Jan. 14, 1861, with Henry S. Lane as governor, and upon Governor Lane's election to the U. S. senate, Jan. 15, 1861, Mr. 'Morton became acting governor. On April 15, before the publication of the Presi- dent's proclamation calling for 75,000 men, Gov- ernor Morton tendered to him, on behalf of the state, 10,000 men. The state treasury was at this period very low, and in order to equip his soldiers he was obliged to procure arms from the general government at Washington. He called a special meeting of the state legislature, April 24, 1861, which body passed appropriation bills to the amount of $1,740,000 to equip, organize and sup- port the state militia. In 1862 the Democrat* carried the state, the new legislature refused ta receive the governor's message, and had it not been for the prompt withdrawal of the Republican members, thus leaving both houses without a quorum, the military command would have been taken from the governor. He carried on the^ state government alone, refusing to call the legis- lature together, and assumed obligations amount- ing to over 11,000,000, for which act he wa» severely censured by the supreme court. The draft laws provoked the Peace Democrats in In- diana, and an organization was formed for resist- ing the draft, protecting deserters and in other ways embarrassing the administration, but the plans were discovered and Governor Morton ar- rested the leaders known as Knights of tlie Golden Circle, Order of American Knights and Sons of Liberty. He was re-elected governor in 1864. He suffered a slight attack of paralysis, Oct. 10, 1865, and went to France in November to consult with Dr. Brown-Sequard, of Paris. On his way he visited Washington, where President Johnson confided to him a secret mission to the emperor of the French to secure the withdrawal of the French troops from Mexico without re- sorting to a formal demand. This was under cover of an official mission to investigate sanitary and other methods adopted by the French army under credentials from the President and secre- tary of war. He delivered the secret message in person, and received the assurance of Napoleon III. that his only purpose in retaining troops in Mexico was to protect the rights of French credit- ors and residents, and that he should leave the people to the free choice of their rulers. After undergoing the moxa treatment in Paris he went to Geneva. President Johnson offered him th« Austrian mission if he wished to remain in Europe, but he returned home, April 12, 1866,