The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
State of Service: PA
Qualifying Service: Patriotic Service
Author: Christopher E. Devereaux
Richard Morton was born July 3, 1749 in County Durham, England. His family probably first immigrated to Pennsylvania based on the Revolutionary War pension application of his brother, Thomas Morton. He married Margaret Downs here and had his first two sons, Richard Junior (1772) and Thomas (1774). Following the death of Margaret, Richard and his brother’s, Thomas and Samuel, were among the first settlers of Kentucky arriving there prior to 1779.
En route to Kentucky, Richard married his second wife, Mehetabel Luce, on January 10, 1776 in Annapolis, Maryland, and they would have children: William (1782), Samuel (1783), Isaac (1785), David (1789), and Mary (1799). Richard Morton took the Oath of Allegiance during 1778 in Prince George’s County, Maryland.
In Kentucky he settled his family east of Salem Town (later Bardstown in Nelson County), and served in the militia defending the isolated settlements from Indian attacks. Specifically he is identified as serving with General George Rogers Clark from May 4th to 11th, 1782, employed in burning tar in the mountains. This was done by filling a cave with long-leaf pine logs over a pan with a long spout leading to a barrel outside the cave. The entrance was sealed and the logs fired creating tar that collected in the barrels.
Following the Revolutionary War, he was a prominent citizen and had considerable landholdings of about 3800 acres. He signed the petition for the creation of Nelson County, and sat on the Grand Jury for the County in 1791.
He later moved to Ohio County, Kentucky about 1796, and lived in Hartford on the northwest corner of Liberty and Center Streets where the Hartford Methodist Church is located today. In 1800, he was granted a ferry license on the Green River in Ceralvo, Ohio County. He was elected Justice of the Peace for Muhlenberg County in 1799. He would sit on the Grand Jury for Ohio and Breckinridge Counties in 1800. His wife, Mehetabel, was a founding member of the Hazel Creek Missionary Baptist Church in 1797.
During the early 1800’s he began to withdraw from civic life. Richard’s wife, Mehetabel, died November 3, 1819 in Hartford. Richard Morton carried on another nine years before he died on March 1, 1828, and was buried beside his wife in the Morton Family Graveyard (future Wayland Alexander Cemetery) on Old Main Street in Hartford. His will would direct the division of his vast landholdings and money equally among his sons, and a share of land to his daughter’s children.
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