Debunking the family legend
When I was quite young, my grandmother, Nellie Joyce Morton Allison told me that we were descended from John Morton, signer of the Declaration of Independence. My dad knew the story, as did my Aunt Betty and many other family members. It was a point of pride. Grandma also told me that we were related to Julius Sterling Morton, the founder of Arbor Day.
In 2003, armed with a copy of our family tree information that Betty Morton Baird (grandma’s niece) had prepared and shared with her cousins via a letter dated Jan 27, 1976, I set out to prove the connection.
But try as I might, I could not confirm a connection between grandma and John Morton, signer. I found biological data for John Morton, including the names of all of his children, but none of them were named Willliam, whom I had confirmed was our ancestor, nor did the list of William's siblings match up to the names of John Morton's children. John Morton's ancestors and descendants are well documented so I felt confident that this wasn't just due to faulty records.
There was also a huge gap in years – 56 - between John Morton's birth and our William's birth, which made me doubt that John Morton was William Morton's father, as Betty had listed. That said, William Morton was born four years after John Morton's youngest of 10 children so it wasn't entirely impossible but I started thinking that perhaps John Morton was William Morton's grandfather not father.
However, I couldn't find a William Morton listed as a child of any of John Morton's children. I could go up or down either Morton branch but I could not get the two ends to meet.
I was also puzzled that family legend failed to mention Swedish ancestry. Given that John Morton's grandfather's and great grandfather's surnames are listed as Mortonson and that his great grandfather had emigrated from Sweden, that seems like a big detail to leave out of the family legend.
By this time, I had also uncovered the Blackburn family tree website, which matched my information for William Morton's descendants and provided me with his ancestors.
So I said goodbye to the family legend and started researching our actual family lineage for grandpa’s side (Allison) and grandma’s side (Morton). I had to put it aside not long after I started but I’m back at it and having a blast learning about our family’s roots.
Lisa Allison Albert
P.S. I was able to connect John Morton, signer, to Julius Sterling Morton. As a gardener, I was sorely disappointed to learn that I wasn't related to the guy who started Arbor Day.
