Autographs
Perez Morton Massachusetts Revolutionary War Era Patriot
PEREZ MORTON (1751-1837). Massachusetts Revolutionary War Era Patriot in Boston, Lawyer, Politician. On April 8, 1776, Morton spoke at the memorial service held for Joseph Warren, the hero of the Battle of Bunker Hill, dying on that hill that June day in 1775, at King's Chapel.
March 4, 1795-Dated Federal Period, Autograph Letter with Integral Postal Cover Signed, "Perez Morton", 7.5" x 9", 1 page, at Boston (MA), Very Fine. Loss at bottom blank selvage due to its intact red wax seal being opened. Well written on clean laid period paper in rich brown ink. Morton writes to LeRoy Bayard about a debt he is owed. It reads, in full: "I have enclosed to your care a Bill on Mr Whithorp Esq for Eleven hundred eighty eight Dollars 20 cts payable 11th Instant, being Balance due me from him. Be so good as to present it, & remit the proceeds, by first Opportunity. Should he refuse payment, you will protest it in form, for which the necessary expense will be reimbursed you" -- I am Sir, with due Esteem & most Obdt. Serv (Signed) Perez Morton".
Morton was born in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1751, and raised in Boston. His father, Joseph Morton, worked as a tavern-keeper at the White Horse Tavern. Perez attended the Boston Latin School starting around 1760, and Harvard College, graduating in 1771. He was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1774.
He participated in the Committee of Safety, and the Committee of Correspondence; he was also a Mason, serving as Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts in 1789-1790. In 1775-1776, he was Deputy Secretary of the Council of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay. On April 8, 1776, Morton spoke at the memorial service held for Joseph Warren, at King's Chapel.
In 1778, he married Sarah Wentworth Apthorp. Together they had 5 children: Sarah Apthorp Morton (1782"1844); Anna Louisa Morton (1783"1843); Frances Wentworth Morton (1785"1831); Charles Ward Apthorp Morton (1786"1809); and Charlotte Morton (1787"1819) From ca.1796 to ca.1803, the Mortons owned a house on Dudley Street in Dorchester; the house may have been designed by Charles Bulfinch. Friends and associates of Morton included James Bowdoin, John Adams, and James Swan.
In 1788, the Mortons were the subject of a public scandal regarding an illegitimate child of Sarah Morton's sister, Fanny Apthorp, rumored to have had an affair with Perez. The scandal was amplified in the press, notably the Massachusetts Centinel and the Herald of Freedom and the Federal Advertiser. A novel published in 1789, The Power of Sympathy, written by a neighbor of the Mortons, William Hill Brown, depicted an adulterous affair between a man and his sister-in-law; at the time, many suspected the novel to be based on the real-life Morton/Apthorp affair.
Morton served as Massachusetts Speaker of the House, 1806"1808, and 1810"1811; and as Massachusetts Attorney General, 1810-1832.
He died in Dorchester in 1837.
Portraits of Morton have been made by Charles Balthazar Julien Fvret de Saint-Mmin, and others. Some items owned by Perez Morton are now in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, including a silver ladle made by Paul Revere