John Morton – Signer of the Declaration of Independence – Pennsylvania

Date Visited: 14 August 2022

Link back to main Article:?https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/where-now-jason-rusk

1725 – 1777

Accomplishments

• Represented State at the Continental Congress
• Signed the Declaration of Independence at the age of?51
• Elected to the Pennsylvania state legislature in 1756?
• Justice of the peace and Sheriff in his county
• Associate justice of the Pennsylvania supreme court
• Appointed to the First Continental Congress
• He cast the decisive vote that swung Pennsylvania in favor of independence

On August 2, 1776, John Morris signed his name on the Declaration of Independence. (August 2 is when most of the delegates signed the Declaration.)

Born: 1724 Ridley Township, PA

Died: 1777

Address: 1 E Beacon Light Ln Chester, PA??19013

Coordinates: 39.84699° N, 75.35825° W

If you have ever flown in or out of Philadelphia International Airport, then you have most likely flown directly over John Morton’s Grave. It is just south of the airport just off I-95.

I have to laugh, as I have driven past his grave countless times since I was 7 years old growing up in the area. John Morton was of Swedish descent. There was/is a large Swedish population in this area, his ancestors arrived in Pennsylvania on the ship “the Eagle”. Which, it all makes sense now since I grew up not far from Swedesboro, New Jersey.?

Did you know there was a colony called New Sweden??It was settled around the same time Morton’s ancestors arrived.??The colony was established along the lower reaches of the?Delaware River from 1638 to 1655, when?Sweden?was a great military power. New Sweden formed part of the?Swedish efforts to colonize the Americas.?Link

Here are some John Morton Stats:

• He was the first signer to die, less than a year after he signed the Declaration of Independence
• He was hesitant at first to support the patriot cause because he lived in an area with a high Loyalist population and much of his success in life had come from living under British rule
• After he signed the Declaration of Independence, he lost many friends who may have felt betrayed by his allegiance to the patriot cause.
• He died in 1777 at age 52 of tuberculosis
• Shortly after his death his family had to flee from their home in the face of an imminent British attack

This is a prime example of how most of us have no idea how close we are to historical places, and may drive past them everyday. The Old Swedish Burial Ground is in an industrial park, just feet away from the Industrial Highway.

You can see from the headstones that many of these graves date back to the 1600's, though you can't read them since the engravings are worn away by time.

The good news is, there is at least an acknowledgement of the importance of one gravesite.

I did have to climb into the fenced area to straighten it up and clean out some weeds, but overall this is a fitting memorial.

I know everyone watched the HBO series John Adams by now, the drama that played out with the Pennsylvania delegation was front and center. Benjamin Franklin was a master at finding solutions to political challenges. I won't spoil it, but Morton took advantage of the situation.

He is most remembered for his act as Delegate to the Continental Congress, in which he typically sided with the moderates, was his sudden and crucial switch on July 1, 1776, to the side of his friend Benjamin Franklin and James Wilson in the vote for national independence. On the final vote the next day, these three ballots outweighed those of Thomas Willing and Charles Humphreys. Robert Morris and John Dickinson being purposely absent, Pennsylvania registered a "yea"

Two down, 11 to go on, our way to Independence.

This ends day one on my way to New Hampshire. The next day (15 August) covers 8 signers, from Pennsylvania to Connecticut. Ending with my ghost story.