My Genealogy Home Page:Information about George Morton*
George Morton* (b. 1585, d. 1624)
Notes for George Morton*:
came over in the "James" in 1623, as financial from London for the
"Mayflower" Pilgrims; wife and five children came over same year in the "Anne"; he settled in Middleboro, MA;
occupation-merchant; eight lots were assigned to him and Experience Mitchell; d. 1624 in Middleboro at age 39.
George Morton was a member of the Leyden congregation under Robinson, probably
because it was the available English church at that place. Like many of the other members he was a
merchant or small trader from York, England. Before that, he was said to be a merchant of
Harworth, Notts., and to have come from Austerfield, Yorks. He came to Plymouth in the Little
James in 1623 along with Mrs. Juliana (Carpenter) Morton. He was a merchant of Harworth, Notts
County, England. A Thomas Morton Jr. came over in the Ann the same year, and his father, Thomas
Morton, came over in the Fortune in 1621.
He was granted 8 acres jointly with Experience Mitchell "against the swampe & reed-ponde" in
Plymouth in 1623. [Shurtleff 12:6] The following is from "New England Families, Genealogical and
Memorial" by William Richard Cutter, Vol. 3, page 1586-7: George Morton is presumed to be the
editor of the valuable book usually called "Mort's Relation." (See Dr. Young, Chronicals of Pilgrims,
p. 113, and Dr. Felt's Annals of Salem, and Cutter's New England Families). This book is made of
contributions from Robert Cushman, John Robinson, William Bradford, and Edward Winslow,
covering much the same ground as by Governor Bradford's work. It was published by John Bellamie
in London in 1622. George Morton wrote the introduction only, and signed his name G. Mourt. His
son Nathaniel, in his "New England Memorial" (Cambridge, Mass., 1669, page 48), says of his
father: "Mr. George Morton 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
spehere and condition a suitable promoter of common good and growth of the plantation of New
Plimouth, laboring to still the discontents that sometimes would arise among some spirits, by
occasion of the difficulties of these new beginnings; but it pleased God to put a period to his days
soon after 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."
The "New England Memorial" contains some of the matter published in "Mourt's Relation." Mr.
Morton appears to have been an agent of the Leyden colony in London at the time the book was
published. As to his ancestry there is reason to believe that he was the George Morton of the family
of Anthony Morton of Bawtry. !Marriage: Mayf.Des.11:193 (Marriage Certificate).
!Birth-Baptism-Marriage-Death-Bio: "New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial" by
William Richard Cutter; Lewis Historical Publishing Co.; New York; 1914, pages 1586-7. His
birthdate is given in NEHGR 114:117 as 1585. There it says he was a merchant of a well-to-do
Roman Catholic family of Harworth, near Scrooby, England who organized the Ann and Little James
company and died impoverished not long after landing.
More About George Morton* and Juliana Carpenter*:
Marriage: 1612, Leyden, Holland.
Children of George Morton* and Juliana Carpenter* are:
- +Patience Morton*, b. 1615, Leyden, Holland, d. 1692, Plymouth, Ma.
- John Morton, b. Abt. 1616.
- Nathaniel Morton.
- Sarah Morton, b. 1619, England.
- Ephraim Morton, b. Abt. 1622.