PIM

Isom Pemberton Morton, Son of George C. Morton

I've found that all are in agreement that Ezekial Morton and his wife, Betsy (Elizabeth Brumbelow Morton), had at a minimum a dozen children. Some family trees add a 13th child and others, even add a 14th. I'm here today to explore one of them, to which my DNA gives a little creedence. The paper trail of the descendants of Ezekial Morton and Elizabeth Brumbelow Morton is a little rusty. 

Ezekial and Betsy frist show up in the census records of North Carolina as a young married couple living in Anson County with one young son under 10, and both of them were under 25 years of age. 

That son should be John D. Morton, born in 1799.

Ten years later, in 1810, the young family has moved to the area of Palmer in what was then Montgomery County, NC, and is now Stanly County, NC. Listed on that same page of families living in "Palmer" were John Burrows, Solomon Burrow (Burris), Ambrose Huneycutt, Henry Underwood, Dempsey Hathcock, Edward Almond, Malichi Harwood, Hardy Hatley, William Hatley, Martin Almond, Isaac Burleson, Jacob Greene, Demarcus Palmer, and Thomas Castles, all very familiar names to anyone who has done any research at all on the families living in the western part of the county, around the present communities of Red Cross, Endy, Frog Pond or Big Lick. 

The family size is now 7, they have 2 sons between 10 and 15 and two under 10, and just one daughter under 10. We can easily presume these 5 to be John (1799) and Joseph (1801) as the 10 to 15, Betsy probably being pregnant with Joseph at the time of the last census, William (1802) and Hezekiah (1803) as the under 10 year old sons, and Hannah (1810) as the only daughter, keeping in mind that record and age-keeping in those days was not always an exact science, although certain old tombstones had age down to nearly the minute. 

The 1820 census for Montgomery is missing, so there is a 20 year jump to the 1830 census. In 20 years, a child could have been born,  married and out on there own, especially if that child was a girl. I've borne witness to that in my own family tree, especially in between the 1880 and 1900 census's as most of the 1890 census was lost to fire.

The Ezekial Morton family in 1830 was a family of 9, but this was not complete as the older children were in their 20's and 30's and out on their own, starrting their own families. He is now noted as living on the West Side of the Pee Dee River, the area we now call Stanly County. There are 3 young females and 4 males. 

There are a total of 14 Morton families in Montgomery County in 1830. They are divided into "East Pee Dee", the side that remained Montgomery County, and "West Pee Dee", the side that would become Stanly County. 

East Pee Dee boasted the households of David Jr., Dominick, Edward, Jincy, and Thomas.

West Pee Dee contained the households of Ezekial, George, James, 2 Johns, Joseph, Samuel P. and two Williams.

I must mention here that Samuel P. Morton was none other than the Rev. Samuel Parsons Morton, and another ancestor of mine on my mother's side of the family. While he was buried at Red Hill Church in Anson County, he was born and grew up around Ebenezer Church in Stanly. Ebnezer is now Badin Baptist and slap dab in the middle of the town of Badin, which was not in existence when GGGGGrandpa 'Crying Sammy' was born. 

With this knowledge, I can divide the Stanly County Mortons into two basic groups, the Badin area/ Eastern Stanly Mortons and the Red Cross/ Big Lick Western Stanly Mortons. 

For instance, James Morton and Samuel P. Morton were listed within a few households of each other. So was one of the John's and one of the Wills. 

Joseph, was of course, my line to Ezekial, his second born son. 

So we have Joseph as a young man in his 20's and he and his wife have 3 little children under 5.

Of the two John Mortons, one has a household of 6 and lives two homesteads from Samuel P. Morton, the other has a household of 8 and lives among Western Stanly names and one page over from Ezekial. My bets are on the family of 8 John being John D. Morton, Ezekial's oldest son. The age of the children work, with just one out of place.

Of the two Will Morton's, one lives two households from Sammy, the other lives actually in Tyson community. I would place my bets on this Will being the son of Ezekial. The problem with this, is that the census shows 3 little girls under 5. If this is the right William, those little girls are unknown. 

The last of Ezekial's older children to be found on their own is his oldest daughter, Hannah. She married with a small son, and not yet 20.

The one known child of Ezekial not accounted for in this census was Hezekiah. Perhaps he was the additional young man in John's household, however, he should have been a bit older. 

This brings up the subject of the George Morton in the 1830 census. This George is between 40 and 50 years old. This is definitely NOT George C. Morton.

By 1840, Ezekial Morton has passed away and Betsy is listed as the Head of Household. 

There are now 11 Morton household listed in Montgomery County. We can break them down into West Pee Dee and East Pee Dee, as they were enumerated separately. The ones listed in West Pee Dee were: Betsy, David Jr. (another David was in East Pee Dee), Hezekiah, Jessee, John, Joseph, Samuel P., William and William Sr. No sign of a George. Hezekiah, Jessee, John and Joseph were of course, sons of Ezekial and Betsy. Of the two Williams, one was living fairly close to Joseph and very close to Green D. Morgan, who married his sister, Dicey, and Mark Morgan, who married his sister Nancy. The other William, by virture of his neighbors, John Melton, G. W. Thompson, Kirks and others, seemed to be living around the Swift Island area, so we'll peg him as being the East Stanly William Morton. The other two Mortons on the Eastern side of West Pee Dee were GGGGGrandpa Samuel P. Morton and David Jr. 

By 1850, the Mortons had expanded all over the county as sons and grandsons struck out on their own. Hezekiah was no more, but left his widow, Susannah, with their children. Betsy was still alive and living with her son, Allen Green (or Green Allen, it was interchangeble) Morton and his young family. They were right next door to her son, ( my line), Joseph and Margaret Almond, and oldest son John's son, (Joseph) Calvin Morton (Jr.), named for his uncle. 

I don't see where George Crogan Pemberton "Pem" Morton fits in. We do find George for the first time in a census in 1850, where he is living with his wife, Mary, and their little girl in Harris Township, which is the Northeastern section of the county. 

This is probably the land he bought on December 14 1849, just months before this census was taken, from David Safely. In Book 3, Page 6, of the Stanly County Deed Books, we see where George bought 82 acres for $82 from David Safely that was located on both sides of the Salisbury Road and on the waters of Grassy Creek, meeting the property line of Wiley Safely.

Just two years later, on February 11, 1851, he bought 40 acres for $100 from Noah Thompson and his wife, Tabitha, that seems to have adjoined the previously purchased property. This lot, obviously much more valueable due to the purchase price for half the size, was also located on both sides of the Salisbury Road and both sides of Grassy Creek and also ran with Wiley Safely's line. 

But the 1849 deed was not the first record I find for George Morton in Stanly County, instead, he is first found in the Minutes of the Pleas and Quarters Court in the February 1846 Session on a charge of Bastardy. George C. P. Morton, about 26 years old,  had fathered a child out of wedlock with one Polly Kirk, about 18. He was ordered to pay $30 at the May 1846 term of court, $15 at the May 1847 term of court and $15 at the May 1848 term of court. 

The child was a little girl that Polly Kirk named Eliza Sophronia Kirk (Morton). 

In 1850, she and her mother, Mary "Polly" Smith Kirk, were living with Polly's family in a home headed by her younger brother, Parham, with their mother, Sarah Stone Kirk, and their youngest brother, William Deberry Kirk. 

Mary Smith Kirk did not stay single, Smith being her middle name, and not her maiden name, by the way. On February 25, 1853, Mary S. Kirk, now 25, married Rev. John Wesley Middleton, son of John Littlleton and Betsy Carter Littleton. 

In 1860, Eliza was still living with her Grandmother and Uncle Parham, while her mother had started a family with Rev. Littleton.

Eliza ended up getting married, herself, on September 8, 1869 to John M. Jenkins. She was 23. Eliza named her parents as G. C. Morton and Mary S. Littleton.

Eliza Sophronia Kirk Morton Jenkins lived a long and productive life. She and John Jenkins raised a family of  7 children in the New London area, where Eliza died at the age of 84 on June 16, 1830. They were: Parham (1870), Sarah Elizabeth (1873),Mary Ada (1875),Sophronia Tommie (1878), Dora Kron (1872), William M. (1876), and Charles E. (1887). 

She, and her family, fully knew who her parents were, even though her father had left for Missouri in 1855. We last (and first) saw George in 1850 with a wife, Mary and a daughter, Sarah. Somewhere around 1848, after his bond payments, or court-ordered child support, for Eliza Sophronia Kirk stopped, he married another Mary Kirk. 

Mary Smith Kirk Littleton was born on February 27, 1828 and died on July 4, 1886 in Stanly County. 

She was the daughter of Parham Kirk (1782-1854) and Sarah Elizabeth Stone Kirk (1802-1884).

The Mary "Polly" Kirk he married was born November 12, 1826 in Stanly County, NC and died Oct 17, 1887 in Webster County, Missouri. 

She was the daughter of Alexander Kirk (1797 - 1858) and Louisa Forrest Kirk (1802-1881).

Since Parham Kirk Sr. and Alexander Kirk were brothers, sons of  John Lewis Kirak and wife, Sarah Mary Steele, Kirk, that made the two Polly Kirk's first cousins. So to wrap all of that up, in 1846, George C. Morton had a relationship with Polly Kirk, daughter of Parham that resulted in the birth of a little girl, Eliza. He then married her older cousin,  Polly Kirk, daughter of Alexander. Both girls even had brothers named Parham. Got that?

So, lets go back to 1850 for a minute. George and family lived in Harris Township. The previous December, he had purchased land on Grassy Creek along the Salisbury Road, from David Safely. His closest neighbors were Parkers, Carters, Calloways, Millers, Kirks and Crowells. That helps to place whereabouts he lived.

There was another detail about George C. Morton that set him apart from the Ezekial Morton family, he owned 2 slaves. Ezekial and his family did not. I do not know if the two enslaved people came to him through his wife, Polly, as some of  the Kirks were slave owners, but in 1850, George is listed with a 35 year man and a 15 year old boy.

So here begins a bit of mystery, between 1851 and 1860, George and family moved to Missouri. The mystery is that there is no record of him selling his land before he moved. What happed to the land?

The 1860 census shows him in Marshfield, Webster County, Missouri, working as a House Carpenter, with Mary and 5 children. The older 3 children, Sarah, Martha and Adam, were born in North Carolina, and the younger two, Nancy and Robert, were born in Missouri. 

George Morton was registered for the draft in Missouri as a Mechanic and birth year of 1819. Also from North Carolina was a David Melton. They likely had traveled together.

George died in Webster County, Missouri on February 28, 1864. I can not determine if his death was the result of anything having to do with the Civil War or not, for cetiain, but there are hints that it was. He was 44 years old. All I can find is that he served in a Civilian capacity and credited with providing supplies. Missouri was a hotbed of division in those years.

The Mortons had settled in Marshville, the county seat of Webster County, Missouri, about the time it was founded, in 1855. Webster County is located "on the summit of the Ozark Range", and noted for being well-watered and of pleasant climate.

William A. Martin.  Among the men of Webster county, Mo., who have 
attained prominence as tillers of the soil and stock men, may be men-
tioned Mr. Martin, who was born in Marion county, Tenn., March 19, 1841
but was reared to manhood in Webster county, Mo., whither he came with
his parents, James D. and Catherine (Thompson) Martin, in 1852.  The 
father was born in Virginia, and after attaining manhood went to Tenn.,
where he was married, and after a few years' residence in that state,
moved to St. Louis county, Mo.  In August, 1861 he joined Company B,
Twenty-fourth Missouri Infantry, and served until his death in May, 
1864 at Pleasant Hill, La.  William A. Martin enlisted at the same time
in the same company as his father, and was at the battle of Pleasant
Hill, and in a great many skirmishes, and was severely wounded in the
right shoulder by a gunshot at the former engagement, being in the
hospital at New Orleans and Memphis for about five months.  He received
his discharge at St. Louis, January 11, 1865, homesteading the same
year the farm of 200 acres where he now lives.  He has about 150 acres
under cultivation and well improved, and his farm is situated about
eight miles from Marshfield.  He has always supported the measures of
the Republican party, and in the fall of 1884 was nominated and elected
sheriff of Webster county, and ably filled the duties of that office
for two years.  Since then he has resided on his farm.  February 19,
1865 he was married to Miss Mary L. Turner, who died in Webster county,
on the 16th of April, 1868, and he took for his second wife Miss Sarah
L. Morton, a native of North Carolina, and daughter of George Morton,
who died during the war.  Two children were born to his first marriage,
Laura M. and Charles F.  The following are the children of his last
marriage: Mary S., and James P. and Matilda C. (twins).  Mrs. Martin
is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he belongs to the
A. O. U. W. and G. A. R.

From "History of Laclede, Camden, Dallas, Webster, Wright, Texas, 
Pulaski, Phelps and Dent Counties, Missouri" The Goodspeed Publishing
Company, 1889.

"Miss Sarah L. Morton, a native of North Carolina, and daughter of George Morton, who died during the war."

From the 'Ozarks Civil War' Collection, I found the following information at the following link:

https://ozarkscivilwar.org/regions/webster

When the Civil War began, most residents did not want to get involved in the conflict. There were very few slaveholders in the county, so there were few strong feelings on the slavery issue. However, after the Confederate victory at Battle of Wilson’s Creek, residents began to choose sides. The Confederate troops began to victimize the residents who supported the Union, and by August of 1861, most pro-Union residents fled to Rolla. They did not return to the area until it was back in Union control.

And after  the War, the citizens went into a veil of silence, wanting to forget the terror and tragedy of War, and to return to an era of peace and to rebuild and reestablish their quiet and solemn existence.

With George gone, the story moves on with his widow, Mary and their children, some who had been born since the 1960 census.

Mary 'Polly' Kirk, daughter of Alexander and Ludie Forrest Kirk and wife of George C. Morton

1870

Mary Kirk Morton had been joined in a community of women by her mother, Louisa Forrest Kirk and her younger sister, Francis. 

Her older daughter, Sarah Louisa Morton, had already married William A. Martin and started her own family. Son Robert, an infant in 1860, is not in the household, so he evidentally died as a child. She still has Martha Jane, Adam S, Nancy Paralee and her two sons, Isaham Pemberton and George Parham Morton, who were born after the census. In fact, Mary was pregnant with George Parham, who was born on July 1, 1864, when George C. Morton, his father, died on February 28, 1864. My heart goes out to this strong pioneer woman.

Marshfield, Webster County, Missouri

Nancy was also a sister of Mary and a daughter of Louisa Forrest Kirk.

Wagon Train by R. G. Williams

Isaac Freeman Calloway and wife Louisa Shook

Finding Nancy Kirk Calloway opened up a narrative that also opens a window to the life and death of George Morton and family.

Restored Calloway Cabin, Webster County, Missouri

The cabin of Parham and Nacy Calloway still exists and has been lovingly restored by the county of Webster. 

Written by Mrs. G. D. Reynolds and published in the Stanly News and Press on Dec. 12, 1953.

Wincy Elizabeth Morton Turner

CLIPPED FROM The Biblical Recorder Raleigh, North Carolina 01 Jul 1885, Wed  •  Page 2

Nancy Parlee Morton Yandle and grandchildren.