Biographical Sketch of Judge Joseph T. Morton, Greene County, Missouri,
Campbell Township

>From "History of Greene County, Missouri," St. Louis: Western
Historical Company, 1883.

**********************************************************************

This gentleman is the son of John and Mary Morton, and was born in 
Rutherford county, Tennessee, May 9th, 1808.  He was reared in Ruther-
ford and Williamson counties, where he received such education as the
country afforded in those early times.  He was married June 21st, 1832
to Lucinda Hancock, of Maury county.  Their union was blest with one
son, John A. Morton, who married Margaret V. Logan, and died June 11th,
1865, leaving three children.  Soon after his marriage Judge Morton 
began farming in Marshall (then Bedford) county, Tenn., and was also 
the proprietor of a mill.  In 1836 he came to Greene county, Missouri,
and settled upon the place where he still resides.  Before the war he
was extensively engaged in stock trading.  During the war his sympath-
ies were with the South, though not favoring a disruption of the Union.
For many years he was director of the branch at Springfield of the old
Missouri State Bank, and for four years was its president.  In the fall
of 1874 he was elected upon the Democratic ticket one of the associate
justices of the county court.  In 1878 he sent in his resignation to
Governor Phelps, but it was not accepted.  A few months after he again
tendered his resignation and it was accepted.  The presiding justice
and Judge Morton favored a compromise of the railroad bond indebtedness
by which it could have been effected for much less than the face value
of the original bonds, by new bonds bearing six percent instead of 
eight percent, the original interest.  A mass meeting was called by
citizens opposed to the measure, and, as strong opposing action was
taken by the meeting, Judge Morton, believing his plan was best, re-
signed his position.

====================================================================
     USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing
         free information on the Internet, data may be used by
         non-commercial entities, as long as this message
         remains on all copied material. These electronic
         pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit
         or for presentation by other persons or organizations.

         Persons or organizations desiring to use this material
         for purposes other than stated above must obtain the
         written consent of the file contributor.

         This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb
         Archives by: Joe Miller <mio@netins.net>
		      Penny Harrell <Incog3678@aol.com>

====================================================================