George Morton

George Morton was a member of the Leyden congregation under Robinson, probably because it was the available English church at that place. Like many of the other members he was a merchant or small trader from York, England. Before that, he was said to be a merchant of Harworth, Notts., and to have come from Austerfield, Yorks. He came to Plymouth in the Little James in 1623 along with Mrs. Juliana (Carpenter) Morton. He was a merchant of Harworth, Notts County, England. A Thomas Morton Jr. came over in the Ann the same year, and his father, Thomas Morton, came over in the Fortune in 1621. He was granted 8 acres jointly with Experience Mitchell "against the swampe & reed-ponde" in Plymouth in 1623. [Shurtleff 12:6] The following is from "New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial" by William Richard Cutter, Vol. 3, page 1586-7: George Morton is presumed to be the editor of the valuable book usually called "Mort's Relation." (See Dr. Young, Chronicals of Pilgrims, p. 113, and Dr. Felt's Annals of Salem, and Cutter's New England Families). This book is made of contributions from Robert Cushman, John Robinson, William Bradford, and Edward Winslow, covering much the same ground as by Governor Bradford's work. It was published by John Bellamie in London in 1622. George Morton wrote the introduction only, and signed his name G. Mourt. His son Nathaniel, in his "New England Memorial" (Cambridge, Mass., 1669, page 48), says of his father: "Mr. George Morton was a pious, gracious servant of God and very faithful in whatsoever public employment he was betrusted withal, and an unfeigned well-willer and according to his spehere and condition a suitable promoter of common good and growth of the plantation of New Plimouth, laboring to still the discontents that sometimes would arise among some spirits, by occasion of the difficulties of these new beginnings; but it pleased God to put a period to his days soon after arrival in New England, not surviving a full year after his coming ashore. With much comfort and peace he fell asleep in the Lord in the month of June, Anno 1624." The "New England Memorial" contains some of the matter published in "Mourt's Relation." Mr. Morton appears to have been an agent of the Leyden colony in London at the time the book was published. As to his ancestry there is reason to believe that he was the George Morton of the family of Anthony Morton of Bawtry. !Marriage: Mayf.Des.11:193 (Marriage Certificate). !Birth-Baptism-Marriage-Death-Bio: "New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial" by William Richard Cutter; Lewis Historical Publishing Co.; New York; 1914, pages 1586-7. His birthdate is given in NEHGR 114:117 as 1585. There it says he was a merchant of a well-to-do Roman Catholic family of Harworth, near Scrooby, England who organized the Ann and Little James company and died impoverished not long after landing. ========================================================================= The following is from Dictionary of American Biography VII:254: MORTON, GEORGE (1585-June 1624). Pilgrim father, was probably the son and heir of Anthony Morton, a wealthy Catholic gentleman living near Bawtry or Harworth, not far from the little village of Scrooby, in Nottinghamshire, England. When still very young, he was converted by William Brewster to Puritanism. He was a member of the Scrooby congregation before their emigration and either went to Holland with them or followed them after a residence at York. He is one of the three emigrants to America who can be traced to the Scrooby district, the others being Brewster and William Bradford. On July 23, 1612, he was married at Leyden to Juliana Carpenter. Morton was possessed of considerable means, was entered in his marriage record [MD 11:193] as a merchant from York, was apparently one of the financial mainstays of the Pilgrims at Leyden, and was certainly closely associated with the leaders. He was one of those who went to London in 1619 to negotiate with the merchants, living probably at Aldgate, where his brother-in-law, Edward Southworth, was already established. Here he changed his name to Mourt, perhaps to escape the displeasure of his Catholic relatives. While Robert Cushman was absent in America, Morton was probably chief Pilgrim agent in London. He received the writings sent in the Fortune from Plymouth in 1622, and published them under the title: "A Relation or Journall of the beginning and proceedings of the English Plantation setled at Plimoth in New England...London, Printed for John Bellamie" (1622), which is still the only contemporary account of the voyage of the Mayflower and the first months of the colony. Tradition has assigned to him the authorship, and it has always been known as "Mourt's Relation". It has been conjectured that Bradford and Winslow were the authors and Morton merely the publisher, but since the narrative Bradford wrote and sent back on the Fortune was retained by the captain of teh French privateer which captured the Fortune on its return voyage (Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, 1574-1660, 1860, p. 124), it is possible that Morton wrote a narrative from information brought back by those returning on the Mayflower and teh Fortune and published it together with material by Winslow and others not retained by the French captain. The authorship of the book cannot now be definitively established. Morton was one of the organizers of the voyage of the Anne and the Little James in 1623 and came himself with his wife and four children, and his wife's sister, Alice Southworth, a widow, who married Governor Bradford the following year. He was assigned an excellent piece of land in 1624, but died in June of that year. His property having by this time been spent in the Pilgrim service, Bradford assumed care of his wife and children. Morton's descendants have been numerous and influential. His eldest son, Nathaniel, was secretary of the colony for many years.