George Morton was born about 1587, possibly in Yorkshire, England. His birth year is based on his estimated age at marriage. I have not discovered his parents, although there’s plenty of conjecture, mostly in older resources, some stating he was from Austerfield, Yorkshire. His marriage record states he was from York. He is my 11th great-grandfather on my grandfather Arthur Washburn Davis’ side of the family. He was one of the leaders of the Pilgrim contingent at Leiden, Holland, who settled there to practice their Separatist beliefs in peace. He helped conduct business on behalf of the Pilgrims in Leiden and London.
George is thought but not proven to be the “G Mourt” who brought Mourt’s Relation to London to be published. Mourt’s Relation is a pamphlet about the beginning of Plymouth Colony from November 1620 and to November 1621. It was primarily written by Edward Winslow and William Bradford contributed.
On 23 July 1612 George Morton, described as an unmarried merchant from York, married at Leiden Juliana Carpenter, a spinster from Bath. Juliana was accompanied by her father Alexander Carpenter, sister Alice Carpenter, and acquaintance Ann Robinson. George was accompanied by his brother Thomas Morton and acquaintance Roger Wilson (MD 11:193). Note that Bath is not far from Wrington where the Carpenter family was from. Juliana was born 1584 in Wrington, Somersetshire (year of birth based on age at death).
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| Leiden City Hall where some Pilgrims were married |
George and Juliana were early settlers in Plymouth Colony, arriving in July 1623 on the ship Anne, according to their son Nathaniel’s writings. They were likely in their late 30s. George’s brother Thomas is likely the man of that name who arrived at Plymouth on the Fortune in 1621.
James Freer Faunce wrote that the Morton family had several hair-raising adventures at sea. They set sail twice to Plymouth from England on board the ship Paragon in 1622. Twice they had to turn back after storms damaged the boat, the first time taking on water. The second time they were half way to Plymouth when they turned back. And yet they still had the courage to board a boat for a third time! I have wondered if they were also on the Speedwell which left with the Mayflower but turned back when it was taking on water.
Juliana and George had five children:
1. Nathaniel born about 1613 in Leiden, m. 1) Lydia Cooper and 2) Anne Pritchard
2. Patience born about 1614 in Leiden, m. 1) John Faunce who also came on the Anne and possibly 2) Thomas Whitney
3. John born 1616, m. Lettice ——
4. Sarah born about 1620 in Leiden, m. George Bonham
5. Ephraim born about 1623 possibly in Plymouth or on the voyage, m. 1) Ann Cooper 2) Mary Shelley
Incredibly I descend from four out of five of George and Juliana’s children: Nathaniel, Patience, Sarah, and Ephraim. I wrote about Nathaniel here; Patience's and her husband here; Ephraim here.
In the 1623 Plymouth land division, George Morton was paired with Experience Mitchell as passengers on the Anne sharing in a grant of eight acres (PCR 12:6). George Morton received one share in the Dartmouth lands (MD 4:187); as he was long dead when this division was made, the grant was presumably to his heirs.
Unfortunately George Morton did not have much time in Plymouth Colony where he died in June 1624. He would have been very proud of the accomplishments of his sons. His brother-in-law Gov. William Bradford raised Nathaniel and possibly Ephraim as well. Nathaniel became the secretary to the colony and was a historian and scholar who wrote New England Memorial. Ephraim was a church Deacon who served the colony in a number of ways including Representative to the Court and Magistrate.
In New England Memorial, a history of early Plymouth Colony, Nathaniel Morton wrote that his father George 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 sphere and condition, a suitable promoter of the common good and growth of the plantation of New Plimouth; laboring to still the discontents that sometimes would arise amongst some spirits by reason of the difficulties of these new beginnings but it pleased God to put a period to his days soon after his 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.”
Joseph Barlow Felt wrote in his Ecclesiastical History of New England: “In June the colonists met with a great loss in the death of Geo. Morton, an exemplary Christian and a pillar of church and society…Through his tarry here is short his memorial on high is everlasting.”
Juliana was about 39 years old when she was widowed in a new, uncertain world, the mother of five children. By 1627 she married, second, Manasseh Kempton at Plymouth. Juliana’s sister Alice Carpenter married Governor William Bradford in August 1623 after the death of his first wife Dorothy who fell or jumped from the Mayflower and drowned. In the 1627 cattle division Manasseh and Juliana are in William Bradford's company, along with four of her children by George—Nathaniel, John, Ephraim, and Patience (PCR 12:13). Her daughter, Sarah Morton, was in Francis Eaton's company (PCR 12:12).
Juliana (Carpenter) (Morton) Kempton died at Plymouth 19 February 1664 "aged fourscore and one year" (PCR 8:25). What an incredibly strong woman he must have been.
Sources Not Mentioned Above:
Eugene Stratton, Plymouth Colony Its History and People, 1986
Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins
Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs, Strangers and Pilgrims, Travelers and Sojourners, Leiden and the Foundations of Plymouth Plantation, GSMD, 2009.p. 282 (George and Juliana’s marriage record)
James Freer Faunce, NEHGS Register, “The Faunce Family,” April 1960
Frederic Kidder, Communicated by, NEHGR Register, “Letter of Mary Carpenter,” 14:195-196, 1860
Torrey’s New England Marriages to 1700
John K. Allen, George Morton of Plymouth Colony and Some of his Descendants, privately printed, 1908, 62 pages, available on Internet Archive
Mortons are in my family tree
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