BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 



487 



was married to Alice, the daiij^hter of 

 Cadwahuler Evans of Edgniont. Their 

 marriai^e was accomplished at the 

 meeting-iiouse at Middletown, accord- 

 ing " to the good order" of the Society 

 of Friends, of which society they both 

 remained exemplary members during 

 their lives. This marriage resulted in 

 the mutual happiness of the jjurties 

 during a period of more than sixty 

 years. 



After his marriage, Dr. Morris re- 

 moved to Marple township, and settled 

 on the premises now owned and oc- 

 cupied by Walter W. Green, where he 

 resided till near the close of his life. 

 It was here that his superior qualifi- 

 cations as a physician, and particularly 

 as a surgeon, became generally known, 

 and secured for him as large a practice 

 as the sparsely populated country could 



From the early period at which Dr. 

 Morris obtained his medical education, 

 it might be supposed that his know- 

 ledge was deficient, and that his prac- 

 tice would, in a great measure, be 

 empirical. This would be a serious 

 mistake, for although he commenced 

 bis course of studies at the very dawn 

 of correct medical science, several of 

 the great lights of the profession had 

 lived before him, or were then in the 

 full tide of their successful careers, 

 and his position in Philadelphia and 

 New York, and his residence in the 

 vicinity of the latter city, enabled him 

 to avail himself of every new discovery. 

 The true circulation of the blood, dis- 

 covered by Harvey, was then well un- 

 derstood, while it may be presumed 

 that manj- of the discoveries of the two 

 Hunters in Anatomy were promulgated 

 during his student life, or shortly after- 

 wards. 



He was a man of quick perception 

 and close observation, and of course 

 availed himself of the knowledge gained 

 by experience, but his leaning was 

 strong against empircism in any shape. 

 In fact he was the father of the regular 

 })ractice of medicine, Avithin the limits 

 of this County. 



Dr. Morris was a man of the greatest 

 humanity. The suftering poor were 

 cared for equally with the rich. When 

 the sound of cannon at the battle of 

 Brandy wine reached the neighborhood, 

 he at once repaired towards the scene 

 of conflict, and in the vicinity of Con- 



cord meeting-house assisted the medical 

 staff in the care of the wounded. 



Dr. Morris, in person, was under the 

 ordinary stature, and apparently of a 

 delicate frame, yet he enjoyed almost 

 uninterrupted health to extreme old 

 age. He possessed an unusual amount 

 of both physical and mental activity, 

 and but few men have evinced more 

 decision of character. Though a re- 

 ligious man, he had neither leisure nor 

 taste for theological discussions, but he 

 practiced in humility the Cliristian 

 virtues — Love to God and good-will to 

 men. 



Towards the close of his life be re- 

 moved to Darby, where his wife died 

 in 1818, aged eighty-three years. After 

 her- death he removed to the residence 

 of his son in London Grove, where he 

 died on the 7th of April, aged one 

 month less than ninety years. 



Morton, Joiis, whose name has been 

 immortalized by his vote for the De- 

 claration of Independence, was born in 

 Ridley, Delaware County, in the year 

 1725, on the farm now owned by 

 Charles Ilorne. His father, whose 

 name was Jolin, was a sou of Morton 

 Jlortonson, but probably not the first of 

 that name, and died before the birth of 

 his only child, the subject of this no- 

 tice. His mother was Mary, the 

 daughter of William and Gertrude 

 Archer, also of Ridley. In the will of 

 John Morton, provision is made for his 

 unborn child. John Sketchley, an 

 Englishman, married the widow of the 

 elder John Morton, but had no children 

 by her to survive him. She was still 

 living at the time of the decease of her 

 second husband in 1753. 



In 175G John Morton was elected a 

 member ot the Provincial Assembly, 

 and was re-elected ten years consecu- 

 tively to that office, till 17G7, when he 

 was elected Sheriff of Chester County 

 for three years. In 1TG5 he was one of 

 the rei)resentatives from Pennsylvania 

 in the first American Congress held at 

 New York. He was again sent to the 

 Assembly from Chester County in 

 1772, and continued in that ofllce till 

 1775, when he presided over that body 

 as speaker. He also held the office of 

 Justice of the Peace, and was one of 

 the Justices of the Court many years. 

 He was again a representative from 

 1 Pennsylvania in Congress in 1774, and 



