Columbia-Clatsop County OR Archives Biographies.....Morton, Swepson C. May 4, 1879 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com November 6, 2009, 5:33 pm Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 168-169 Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company SWEPSON C. MORTON is numbered among those whose activities have been directed toward the development and upbuilding of St. Helens, Oregon, and no resident of the community is held in higher regard. He was born in Bath, Georgia, on the 4th of May, 1879, and is a son of Rev. Paul C. and Serena (Cox) Morton. His father, who was of Scotch descent, was born in Halifax county, Virginia, and became a minister of the Presbyterian church. At one time he occupied the pulpit of the First Presbyterian church at Wilmington, North Carolina, the same pulpit once filled by President Wilson's father. He was appointed synodical evangelist, in which capacity he preached in many cities and towns of the southern states, following that sacred calling up to the time of his death, which occurred in Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1901. He served throughout the Civil war in the Confederate army, being known as the fighting chaplain of Stonewall Jackson's brigade. His wife, who was of French Huguenot descent, was born in Lexington, Georgia, and died in Portland, Oregon, in April, 1919. She served as president of Portland Chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy. To Rev. and Mrs. Morton were born seven children: Mary E., who now resides in Portland, Oregon; Irene, deceased; Mrs. H. S. Hammond and Paul C., who live in Portland; Swepson C.; Mrs. J. N. Rice, of Portland; and Emma, who is doing clerical work in the office of the United States forestry service at Portland. Swepson C. Morton attended the public schools at Tuskegee, Alabama, and graduated from Alabama Military Institute in 1896. He taught school for one year near Durham, North Carolina, and was employed as a clerk in a store at Chadbourne about one and a half years. He then went to work as a clerk in the auditing department of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad at Wilmington, where he remained three years, when he was transferred to Gulfport, Mississippi, for six months. In 1902 Mr. Morton came to the Pacific coast, locating at Astoria, Oregon, having accepted a position as bookkeeper for the old Astoria & Columbia River Railroad, with which he remained three and a half years. He then crossed the river to Knappston, Washington, where he took charge of the books and the general store of a large lumber company, holding that position until 1909, when he came to St. Helens as auditor for the Charles R. McCormick Lumber Company. He served in that capacity for seven years, when he resigned and bought the St. Helens Mist, a weekly newspaper, which he ran with marked success for ten years, selling it in 1926. During that period he changed the paper from a weekly to semi-weekly and more than doubled its circulation, while from the point of news service it was all that could be desired. In 1903, at Astoria, Oregon, Mr. Morton was united in marriage to Miss Therese Heilborn, who was born and reared in that city and is a daughter of Charles and Alma Heilborn, both of whom were natives of Germany. Her father came to Oregon in the '70s and engaged in the furniture business at Astoria, running a successful store there for many years. He served several terms as treasurer of Clatsop county and became a man of prominence and influence in his community. Mr. and Mrs. Morton have three children. Marion, who was born in Knappton, Washington, graduated from the high school at St. Helens and as an honor student from the University of Oregon and is now teaching in the high school at Rainier, this state. She is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa honorary scholastic sorority, and Delta Gamma sorority. Virginia, born at St. Helens, is a senior in the high school here and Swepson C., Jr., is a freshman in the high school. In the affairs of St. Helens, Mr. Morton has long been active and effective, having served three and a half years as mayor of the city and four years as a member of the city council. He was one of the organizers and the first president of the Chamber of Commerce, served as a member of the board of education, and as county judge one year and eight months. He is a member of St. Helens Lodge, No. 32, A. F. & A. M., and the Kiwanis Club. During the World war he handled the third and fourth Victory Loan drives for Columbia county, which was one of the first counties in the state to meet its quota, and in other ways performed effective work in behalf of the various war measures. He has measured up to the full stature of American citizenship in every respect and his record has won for him an enviable place in the esteem and confidence of the people of his city and county. Mr. Morton has recently begun the publication of the Columbia Informant, a monthly magazine, devoted principally to the financial affairs of Columbia county and its several municipal corporations, so he is again in the newspaper business. He has for years been the St. Helens correspondent for the Oregon Journal. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/columbia/bios/morton955gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 5.6 Kb