THE MORTON LINE
Grandfather chose his grandmother's maiden name of Morton when he decided to
have his name changed in court. Every family record and every literary source which
I have found gives "John Morton, Immigrant who married Susan Foster in 1682" as the
first known member of this Morton family in Virginia. Aunt Mary has a letter from
Dr. Morton of Lexington in which he gives a preceding generation: "John Morton, who
married Susan Foster" and then gives John and Joanne. I have found nothing to con-
firm this.
I found a volume on the Mortons in Virginia at the Library of Congress and
was interested in their claims of descent from Robert, Comte de Mortain, half-
brother of William the Conqueror, and of a Morton who was deeded immense holdings
in Virginia, Maryland, and what is now the District of Columbia. I soon realized
that this was not our line, although the author gave some information about our
family and indicated that he believed our line had the same origin.
There is a typewritten manuscript in the D.A.R. Library by Beulah F. Johnson,
The Morton Family of Virginia, which does deal with our line. The lineage of this
family is also given in the Colonial Lineages of America and in Virkus' Compendium.
There are often discrepancies, but I believe I correctly list the two Morton lines
that we are descended from.
The name Morton means "great, or large hill". Interestingly enough, the name
DuPuy means "of the mountain", according to Rev. DuPuy.
I. JOHN MORTON, New Kent County, Virginia
Beulah Johnson said that he was in Virginia about 1672. He married Joanne
Hughes, a widow, of Louisa County, in 1682. Mrs. Johnson believed that Joanne
came over with the Randolphs.
From Colonial and Rev. Lineages of America:
John Morton transferred 200 acres in Chickahominy Swamp to William Randolph.
John and Joanne had at least three sons:
1. John, Jr., b. 1683, m. Elizabeth --- (some sources said Elizabeth Ferris).
Issue: John, Joseph, Samuel.
2. Thomas, b. 1690, m. Elizabeth Woodson (They are our ancestors on grand-
father's side.)
3. Joseph, b. 1693/5
There is more confusion about Joseph than any other Morton. He is often given
as the son of John and Joanne, and sometimes Joseph Morton of Charlotte Count
and Joseph Morton of Prince Edward County are treated as two difference persons,
when there was actually only the one. To further confuse things, this notation
is in the Vestry Book of Henrico Parish: "John Morton m. John Wade's widow-
1682." However, there seems to be no doubt that John and Joanne were our
ancestors.
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II. THOMAS MORTON b. 1690, Henrico Co., m. Elizabeth Woodson. Elizabeth was the
sister of Obadiah and Agnes, and we are descended from all three of these
Woodsons. There are many references to a Thomas Morton in The History of Prince
Edward County, but they must have referred to Thomas, Jr. Thomas, Sr., died in
1731. His will was proved the first Monday in April, 1731. Elizabeth married
Edmund Goode next.
Thomas and Elizabeth had five children:
1. Richard, 1721-1786
2. Ann
3. Judith, m. Mr. Goode
4. Thomas, Jr., 1726-1786
5. John, 1730-1796. John was our ancestor. He was only a year old when his
father died, so would have been brought up by Elizabeth and his step-father,
Edmund Goode.
WOODSON
Elizabeth was the daughter of Richard Woodson and Ann Smith, hence her line
is: 1. John Woodson and Sarah Winston, 2. Robert and Elizabeth Ferris,
3. Richard and Ann, 4. Elizabeth. She was born in 1699 and was married to
Thomas Morton in 1718. In 1740 she made a deed to her children.
III. CAPTAIN JOHN MORTON b. Feb. 9, 1730. I am not sure where he was born, but it
must have been in Henrico Co., Va. He married Mary Elizabeth Anderson in
1750, when she was only fourteen and he was twenty.
John Morton was busy in Cumberland County in 1759, as he is mentioned as
letting the contract for a County jail, and as being on the building commit-
tee for a new courthouse. He received 175 pounds of tobacco for seven days
attendance at court as a witness. He proposed and saw to the building of
new roads and bridges and was on a committee to help clear the Appomattox.
John was a Colonel in the Militia in 1762. He accompanied Obadiah Woodson
on the ill-fated Shawnee Indian exploit, but he was paid for his service,
in contrast to Obadiah. He was a First Lieutenant in Major Lewis Andrew's
detachment of the First Virginia Regiment in the French and Indian Wars.
John Morton was very active in County affairs. He was a County Court
Justice 1754-76, and again in 1785. He was made Sheriff in 1776 and in
1778. He was one of the two Commissioners of Revenue from 1786 to 1796,
and a Delegate to the General Assembly of Virginia 1777-78. John Morton
and nine other men of Prince Edward County met at the courthouse in June
1776 as the "Committee of Prince Edward" to consider the trends of the
times. (The events that were leading to the break with England.) They met
again in July, and, recognizing that the break was inevitable, made rules
and resolutions and appointed a Committee of Safety for the County.
Bradshaw tells us:
On Feb. 19, 1776 officers of the Second Company of the Fourth Virginia
Regulars were commissioned. John Morton was made the Captain and Obadiah
Woodson, Jr., the Second Lieutenant. The payroll of this Company for the
month of June 28-July 28, 1776, has been preserved. Capt. Morton received
8 lbs. and Obadiah 5 lbs., 8 shillings. The sixty-three privates received
2 lbs. each.
John was voted 20 lbs., 10 shillings, to use for bounty money and recruiting
expenses in Prince Edward County. His Company left Prince Edward Courthouse
in March 1776. It was engaged in skirmishes with Lord Dunmore's troops at
Suffolk and at Portsmouth. Capt. Morton and his men went by water to the
head of the Elk (in Maryland) and marched through Philadelphia and Newark to
New Brunswick, New Jersey, where it joined Washington's Army after his
retreat from Fort Washington. The regiment was in the battles of Trenton,
Princeton, Brandywine, and Germantown, and was at Valley Forge in the
terrible winter of 1777-8.
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John Morton was very active in the County after the War and held many
important offices, as I have listed above. Patrick Henry moved to Prince
Edward County after the War and John and other important men of the County
served with him in several capacities. His influence was not restricted to
civic and military duties. He was active in the church and must have been
one of the first Presbyterians, as he did the preliminary work of arranging
places for Rev. Davis to stay and introduced him to his cousin, Joseph
Morton and his wife Agnes. Later, he was the Ruling Elder appointed by
the Hanover Presbytery to the General Assembly of Virginia in 1773 to urge
passage of the bill to extend the Act of Toleration.
Among Captain John Morton's many achievements, the one which lives the
longest in the memory of his townspeople is the part he played in esta-
blishing Hampden-Sydney College. He was on the committee to draw plans and
let contracts for the building, and was one of the first Trustees. The
story of the origin and building of this college by the men of the Hanover
Presbytery is very interestingly told in Bradshaw's History. Morton Hall,
the present classroom building at Hampden-Sydney, was the gift of Samuel
Packwood Morton of Baltimore, in honor of his ancestor Capt. John.
In 1780 he received a land grant of 4000 acres at Worsham in Prince Edward
County. His land extended from the courthouse to the Buffalo River near
Farmville. Most of these facts came from Bradshaw's book. Mr. Bradshaw
recommended a book by Womack called Buffalo as an authentic source for the
Morton genealogy, but it is out of print and I could not find it at any of
the libraries.
John and Mary Elizabeth had fifteen children. The Virginia Magazine of
History states that eight of his sons served in the Revolution.
The following is an exact line list of the births of John Morton, his wife,
and fifteen children:
Captain John Morton, b. Feb. 9, 1730
His wife, Mary Elizabeth Anderson Morton, b. Nov. 19, 1736
1. Charles Morton, b. June 19, 1752, m. Judith Walker
2. Elizabeth Morton, b. Nov. 28, 1754, m. Jacob Woodson
3. James Morton, b. Sept. 8, 1756. According to a note I have, he was on
Washington's Staff and was also Lafayette's Aide. He was called "Solid
Column".
4. Hezekiah Morton, b. Nov. 28, 1757. I believe he married a Coleman.
5. Benjamin Morton, b. Feb. 24, 1760, m. Agnes Morton. He lived in
Charlotte County.
6. Jacob Morton, b. Nov. 3, 1761
7. Josiah Morton, b. April 26, 1763. He moved to Kentucky.
8. Nathaniel Morton, b. April 9, 1765. He married Napoleon's niece, Miss
Patterson, of Baltimore.
9. Mary Morton, b. Sept. 28, 1766
10. Nancy Morton, b. May 16, 1768
11. Sally Morton, b. June 4, 1700, m. a Fuqua
12. John Archer Morton, b. Nov. 18, 1772, m. Clara Lee Henry, daughter of
the Governor of Haiti. He was Minister to France. He attended the
wedding of Napoleon and Josephine and brought back the suit he wore to
show his mother.
13. Richard Morton, b. Jan. 25, 1776
14. Obadiah Morton, b. Dec. 22, 1778, m. Eliza Ligon. They lived at Morton
Hall.
15. Patty Morton, b. Dec. 15, 1780. She lived at the Morton home in Prince
Edward County near Sandy Ford. We have excerpts from her will.
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Eight of Captain John's sons were in his Company, the Fourth Virginia
Regulars.
The above dates came from Burke's Commentary. Uncle John has this book
which belonged to Capt. John. The notes on the individuals were added by
Aunt Mary or Uncle Marshall, I think. Aunt Mary said that her father
received a small legacy from the will of Capt. Morton before his fourth
son was born, and named him for this ancestor, but grandmother inserted
"Taylor" in his name in honor of one of her favorite Presbyterian
preachers, hence, "John Taylor Morton". Grandmother's great-grandfather
was named John Taylor.
Captain John Morton died in Clinch Mountain, Virginia, in 1796.
IV. ELIZABETH MORTON b. May 28, 1753, m. Jacob Woodson. They lived at Happy
Valley. She was "noted for her industry" and lived to be "upwards of
ninety years of age." Her tombstone at Happy Valley bears this inscrip-
tion:
A F F E C T I O N
Dedicates this stone to the
Memory of
Elizabeth Woodson
Born Nov. 28, 1754
Died Feb. 12, 1845
United in marriage with
Jacob Woodson
Nov. 1, 1775
"Precious in His sight is the
death of one of His saints"
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