page_title: John Morton (American politician)
section_title: Early life
hierarchical_section_title: John Morton (American politician) / Early life
caption_attribution_description: English: Photograph of the birthplace of John Morton, signer of the Declaration of Independence, in Essington, PA. circa 1919
context_page_description: John Morton was a farmer, surveyor, and jurist from the Province of Pennsylvania and a Founding Father of the United States. As a delegate to the Continental Congress during the American Revolution, he was a signatory to the Continental Association and the United States Declaration of Independence. Morton provided the swing vote that allowed Pennsylvania to vote in favor of the United States Declaration of Independence. Morton chaired the committee that wrote the Articles of Confederation.
context_section_description: Morton was born in Ridley Township, in Chester County, present-day Delaware County, in 1725, the exact month is unknown. His father, John Morton (Senior), was Finnish, who originated from Finland, then a part of the Realm of Sweden, with his great-grandfather, Martti Marttinen, or Måns Mårtensson (name alternated for Swedish military records, later anglicized as Morton), himself a native of Juva, Finland, who had arrived in the Swedish colony of New Sweden in 1654. His mother, Mary Archer, was also of Finnish descent.
  Morton was the only son of his father who died in 1724 before Morton was born.  When Morton was about seven years old, his mother married John Sketchley, a farmer of English ancestry, who educated Morton. About 1748, Morton married Ann Justis, the great-granddaughter of Finnish colonists to New Sweden. The couple would have eight children. Morton was an active member of the Anglican Church in Chester County.
caption: Birthplace of John Morton
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