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UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE 
BY A POLITICAL OPPONENT. 
J^ Sterling Morton was born in Adams, Jefferson 
County, N. Y., April 22, 1832. His father’s name was 
Julius Dewey Morton, born at St Albans, Vt., and he 
was of Scotch descent. Ilis ancestors were among 
the earliest of New En¬ 
gland Puritans, being 
immigrants on the first 
ship after the Mayflower 
—the “ Little Ann.” His 
mother’s maiden name 
was Emeline Sterling, 
born at Adams, N. Y., 
and she was of English 
origin. 
The parents removed 
from New York to Mich¬ 
igan in 1834. Here 
young Morton attended 
a private school at Mon¬ 
roe, until he was 14 years 
old. He was then sent 
to a Methodist school at 
Albion, Mich , where he 
prepared for college. In 
1850 he entered the 
Michigan University, at 
Ann Arbor, remaining 
there until near the 
clo3e of the course. He 
graduated at, and re¬ 
ceived his diploma from 
Union College, New 
York, in 1854. He was 
married October 30 of 
the same year, at De¬ 
troit, Mich., to Miss 
Caroline Joy French, 
daughter of Hiram Joy, 
of Chicago, Ill., and 
adopted daughter of Mr. 
and Mrs. David French, 
of Detroit, Mich. The 
young couple were class¬ 
mates at Albion, where 
they became engaged. 
Within an hour after 
marriage, they started 
for Nebraska, reaching 
Belleview in November 
following. Here they 
remained but a few 
months, removing to 
Nebraska City. A home¬ 
stead was taken, a tract of land adjoining the town, 
ihe first residence was a small log cabin, with two 
rooms. In its place now stands a large, well-arranged 
building, surrounded by orchards, vineyards and 
groves of rare forest, evergreen and other trees, the 
place known as “Arbor Lodge.” It has been the 
continuous Morton home since first the newly married 
couple there located. There were born to them four 
children, boys, all living : Joy, Paul, Mark and Carl. 
The wife and mother died June 29, 1881. 
Mr. Morton’s characteristics, based on principle, are 
fixed, firm and unyielding; he always has the bold¬ 
ness to write and speak his convictions, be they what 
they may, and under all circumstances. This, to an 
extent at times, to those not well acquainted, would 
seem next to stubbornness. To say he “ never forgets 
his friends,” nor often allows “ his enemies to forget 
him,” perhaps well illustrates this characteristic. 
His “ charities are know a of all men.” No man of 
his financial ability has done more to make “ happy 
homes.” His ideas of home and its sacredness are most 
exalted, and overshadow all else terrestrial. Of this 
all about “ Arbor Lodge ” is indicative. The title to 
the old home is so drawn and stipulated tint it is 
never to go out of the family—after the old English 
entailment system. The idea is that it shall ever be 
a rendezvousing place for the children and their chil¬ 
dren, for all successive generations. 
The Morton lot in the cemetery near Nebraska 
The Hon. J. Sterling Morton, Secretary of Agriculture. Fig. 142. 
City, where Mrs. Morton is buried, is of rustic charac¬ 
ter throughout. The inclosure, as it were, is one 
round of imitation logs made of stone, and laid up in 
log house, or cabin order, logs crossing each other 
and notched in at the corners, being the size, in length 
and breadth, of the original home cabin. The me¬ 
morial shaft or column erected over the wife’s grave 
is an elegant and elaborate work of art, carved from 
a solid piece of stone representing the trunk of a tree 
broken off about 20 feet above ground. A portion of 
the bark is shown peeled d^wn, on which is this in¬ 
scription : “ The mother of Jc . Paul, Mark and Carl 
Morton.” On one of the limbs of the tree is repre¬ 
sented a bird’s nest, with four nestlings; the mother 
bird is leading the little ones out from the nest; 
three are out on the limb with her, one on the edge, 
to represent the four sons, three out in life, the young¬ 
est just leaving home. Mrs. Morton’s rural tastes 
were all in a line with those of her husband. She 
was a devoted horticulturist and florist. At the base 
and on the memorial column are carved a vase of 
flowers and a basket of fruit. The whole is thor¬ 
oughly characteristic of both Mr. and Mrs. Morton 
in her lifetime. 
Daring the whole of Mr. Morton’s residence in 
Nebraska, the bent of his mind and labor has been in 
the direction of agriculture and all kindred pursuits, 
in advocacy of which his pen and voice have been 
constantly and untiringly engaged. His farm, “Arbor 
Lodge,” is an ideal home 
in all respects. He is, 
as the world knows, the 
originator of “Arbor 
Day.” The thousands 
of fruit and forest trees, 
vines and shrubs stand 
as living witnesses of 
his earnest and unceas¬ 
ing work in tree-plant¬ 
ing in the before tree¬ 
less prairie regions of 
the country once known 
as the great American 
desert. He was the first 
to introduce into Ne- 
. braska improved breeds 
of horses, cattle and 
swine. All these have 
received his constant 
care and attention, and 
on them he has spent 
many thousands of dol 
lars as an experimenter, 
and from them others 
have realized greatly 
more than he has him¬ 
self. 
m Klu ,. ^ In writing and speak¬ 
ing on agricultural sub¬ 
jects, he has been noted 
for original utterances, 
many of which have be¬ 
come standard axioms, 
especially in the “New 
West,” among them: 
“ Corn is king, and hog 
heir apparent,” “A well- 
bred mother porcine to 
the farmer is an in¬ 
convertible bond, her 
• v m juvenile porkers the an¬ 
nual coupons.” He has 
not forgotten Izaak Wal¬ 
ton, as his well-arranged 
and well-stocked farm 
will attest. He was one 
of the original members 
of both the Nebraska 
Territorial, since State Board of Agriculture, and 
State Horticultural Society. He has been president 
of, and is still a member of each. He was a charter 
member of the Nebraska State Historical Society, and 
is at present its president. lie was a commissioner to 
the late Paris International Exposition. 
Endowed by nature with an unusually good memory 
and comprehensive powers, in school and college days 
he was early able to keep at the head of his classes. 
Since reaching manhood these faculties, aided by a 
higher education, close reading and observation, have 
made him a power both as a writer and speaker. 
While at Ann Arbor, between the ages of 14 and 18, a 
