Rash's Surname Index
Notes for John Sketchley MORTON
JOHN S. MORTON was born August 6th, 1835, at Springfield Township (now (1874) called Morton), Delaware County, Pennsylvania. He is the son of Sketchley Morton, and Elizabeth A. (Newlin) Morton. John S. Morton is a great-grandson of John Morton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, whose name is conspicuous, even among those famous names, as the one who, by giving the casting vote of his delegation in the Congress of 1776 in favor of the Declaration, secured the absolute and complete unanimity of all the thirteen States in the vote for that immortal instrument. John S. Morton was educated at the common school of West Chester, and afterwards at a private academy, finishing his school course in 1853. In 1854, he commenced the study of law and conveyancing, in Philadelphia, and continued it until 1857, in which year he established himself in practice as a conveyancer. He followed his profession steadily, and very successfully, gathering around him a large clientele, until 1866, when he resigned his more active professional duties and devoted himself altogether to the management of the West Philadelphia Passenger Railway, more commonly known as the Market Street Railway, of which he was elected President, in 1863, and which position he still holds (1874), having been unanimously re-elected yearly. In this position he has won the good opinions not only of those connected with the railway but of the community generally. Especially has he done so in the matter of the recent (1873) dispute as to the railway tracks on Market Street, Philadelphia, between his own Company and the Union Passenger Railway Company, which greatly agitated the merchants and property owners of the city, and at one time threatened to develop into a serious controversy. He succeeded, by firmness and judicious concession at the right time, in bringing the whole matter to a happy termination, and received the formal thanks of the merchants and property owners of that part of the city of Philadelphia for his successful management of the case. He designed the depot of the Company at West Philadelphia, which building includes a hall, called Morton Hall, wherein has been erected an appropriate mural tablet in honor of the President's illustrious ancestor.
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