The Farmville herald and farmer-leader. (Farmville, Va.) 1934-1957, 1954-01-29
Seen and Heard
Seen and Heard
Local Ceneoiogisi Enjoys
Dissecing Family Trees
by JACKIE WALL

by JACf
What's in a name? Ii is said
that rose by any other name
would smell as sweet, but with
people it's not SO easy. For in
stance. Il Smith would Stll be II
Smith even if hc We're called
something else. but he likes to be
called Smith because he is proud
Of his inheritance and wants to
be identifiable Most people like
to know who their ancestors We're
and what relation they are to
such and such a person living
over in the next county who bears
the same name
If people didn't have this in
terest Mrs William S Morton
would never have BECOME so
wrapped up in her own and any
one elSe's geneology Almost every
day She receives at least one let
ter asking her to go TO work.
Letters come from all over Vir-
ginia. surrounding states. Tenn
esses, California. Nevada and
even England
Variety of Requests
Many OF the requests she re-
ceives come from people who want
to Join the Daughters of the
American Revolution OF the Col
onial Danes A requirement for
membership III such organizations
is a clearly-defmed line back to
a particular ancestor Other let
tiers come from people who are
writing histories of their families,
Or who are merely interested IN
then lorebearS
AT present MIS- Morton is
working on two REQUESTS Of parti-
cular note. one Is from a man in
England who is tracing his Wife's
ancestors. and tile other from
man who wishes to locate his
ancestral home.
The latter is taking a great deal
Of time MIS- Morton saws
have been working for him for
over year. ana ] reckon ] have
copied a hundred deeds FOR him
word .cr word, ~
Long Interest
Mrs. Morton's interest in gene
oloev began a long time age.
When she wa a young girl, She
worked up the history OF her own
family. and i vQs while she was
thus engaged that she caught the
bug She was still Margaret
lIaW then and living IN Richmond
Along came Mr. Mort n and mar
ried her. and the Young couple
settled down in Charlotte until
they moved to Farmville in 1881.
1t was not long before Mr.. Nor
ton, a graduate Of Union Thee
logical Seminary IN Richmond,
wanted TO work up his own fam
lily People began writing HIM
about their own Morton ancestors,
knowing that many Mortons were
from Charlotte Requests then
started coming from other fam
lilies. While he was doing all this
research, MI Morton would come
across material he could write up
IN the form Of articles and many
were printed in historical maya
zines
Before his death in 1913 Mr.
Morton had become a Well-estab-
lshed professional geneol0giSt
with large collection OF histori-
cal and genealogical magazines
and books People continued to
write hum after he died and his
widow started answering the let
tiers She is still answering them
today
However. genealogical researcl
is not the only interest that keep
Mrs. Mortons day full For ths
past sixteen years she has beer
receptionist and clerk for tht
Prince Edward Welfare Depart.
ment. Even here her knowledge
is an asset to the department
because. as one co-worker put it
It's Just a wonderful help K
have someone so familiar witt
records. 1t takes her five minute
to look up something, whereas i
would take anyone else at leas
half-an- hour" She is. in addition
notary public. and membe
of the Virginia Historical Socie
ty.
A little over year ago, Mrs
Morton became a leader IL estab
nshed the new Slate Hill D. A
r. chapter, for which she is nov
historian The group is named 70