USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > A History of Bristol County, Massachusetts, vol 2 > Part 43
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"My hobby ever since I completed my law course has been the study and practice of law," were his own words on his personal life. "My favorite pastime is salmon fishing, and my greatest happiness is when I am with my wife and children."
Such was the life of Judge James M. Morton, who died honored by the bench and the bar, es- teemed in his city, and loved by his friends and by all who knew him.
JAMES MADISON MORTON (3) - When James Madison Morton, Sr., resigned the seat upon the Supreme Bench of the State of Massachusetts, in December, 1913, that he had occupied for nearly twenty-five years, there was still a Judge James Madison Morton in active service, for that eminent jurist and his son had been contemporaries upon the bench although in different courts. James M. Morton (3) was appointed United States District Judge for Massachusetts by President Taft on August 9, 1912, an office which he still holds. He is the eighth District Judge of the United States in Massachusetts since the establishment of the court in 1789, on the adoption of the Constitution. Learned and sensible in the law, with the qualities of character that command respect and confidence, and with unusual ability in legal administration, Judge Morton, who assumed judicial office in his eight- eenth year of practice, has peculiar qualifications for the high office he fills.
James Madison Morton (3), son of Judge James Madison and Emily Frances (Canedy) Morton, and of the ninth generation of the family in New Eng- land, was born at Fall River, Massachusetts, Au- gust 24, 1869. He prepared in the city schools, Phillips Exeter Academy, and then entered Har- vard University, from which he was graduated A. B., (1891), A. M. and LL. B., receiving the last
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Frank Walcott Hutt.
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BIOGRAPHICAL
named degrees, class of 1894, and being the law orator at that commencement. He began profes- sional practice at Fall River, immediately after grad- uation from Harvard Law School, and became a law partner of Andrew J. Jennings, who had been his father's partner from 1876 until the latter's ap- pointment to the Suprme Bench in 1890. From 1896 until 1912, Mr. Morton practiced his profes- sion at Fall River and won high standing as a lawyer of learning and skill. From 1903 to 1912, he was a member of the Board of Police Commis- sioners of Fall River and was largely instrumental in bringing the police force up to a very high stand- ard of efficiency. The Great War threw upon the federal court many new, delicate, and difficult ques- tions of law and of administration which Judge Morton handled with marked success. He still re- tains Fall River as his home.
In politics Judge Morton is a Republican, and in religious faith a Unitarian. He is President of the Sagamore Manufacturing Company; chairman of the directors of the Wentworth Institute of Boston; director of the Boys' Club of Fall River; and a member of the following clubs: Union, Tavern, Har- vard of Boston, Fall River Country, and Que- quechan of Fall River. He is known as a yachts- man and fisherman.
Judge Morton married, June 10, 1896, Nancy J. B. Brayton, daughter of Israel Perry and Parthenia (Gardner) Brayton, of Fall River. Four children were born to them: 1. James M. (4), born June 10, 1897, died May 14, 1908. 2. Brayton, born Oc- tober 24, 1898; a graduate of Harvard, A. B., 1920, who afterwards studied at Cambridge University, England, and at Harvard Law School; during the war with Germany, 1917-18, he served in the Royal Air Force as a flight officer. 3. Sarah, born September 29, 1902; now a student at Smith's Col- lege. 4. Hugh, born September 10, 1906; now a student at Williams' College.
ZEPHANIAH W. PEASE, a contributor to this work, was born in New Bedford, August 21, 1861, the son of Peleg and Joanna Morton (Thomas) Pease. He is of "Mayflower" and Revolutionary ancestry, being of the eighth generation from John Howland, and a descendant of Noah Thomas, a Revolutionary soldier, who was wounded at the battle of Bunker Hill.
Peleg Pease, father of Zephaniah W. Pease, was born in New Bedford in 1822, the son of Zephaniah and Mary (Spooner) Pease. He died in 1879. Mary (Spooner) Pease was the daughter of the captain of a merchant ship, and was born in Plymp- ton, Massachusetts, in 1828. She is still living.
Peleg Pease was an assistant editor of the "Mer- cury" in 1876, and a writer of verse and many humorous articles that appeared in the local news- papers. He was for many years a member of the School Board.
Mr. Pease graduated from the high school in 1877, and after a brief experience on a Fall River newspaper became a reporter on the morning "Mer- cury," of New Bedford, in the fall of 1880. In
1895 Mr. Pease became editor of the "Mercury," a position he has since occupied. The same year Mr. Pease was appointed by President Cleveland collector of customs for the Port of New Bedford, an office he held until 1900. Mr. Pease has also served on the New Bedford Water Board, and is a member of the selective service board of Division No. 3. Mr. Pease is the author of "The Catalpa Expedition," published in 1897, a "History of New Bedford," and "Life in New Bedford A Hundred Years Ago," and has contributed many special articles to various publications.
Mr. Pease married (first), October 24, 1888, Anna F. Bryden, of Fairhaven, who died in 1921, and has one son, Bryden Pease, who is with George H. Mc- Fadden & Brother, cotton merchants of Philadel- phia. In October, 1922, Mr. Pease married (second) Eliza C. White, of Fairhaven.
born FRANK WALCOTT HUTT was in Gloucester, Massachusetts, on September 6, 1869, son of the late William V. and Ruth A. Hutt. His early education was obtained in the public and high schools of Gloucester, following which he matric- ulated at Trinity College, and subsequently, at Bos- ton University. He was then employed for some years as private secretary to the famous sculptor, William Ordway Partridge. After his resignation from this position Mr. Hutt followed his innate flair for literature and was engaged for many years as a journalist for a number of publications throughout Eastern Massachusetts. While residing in Lynn, Massachusetts, and covering a period of five years, he had charge each week of a page of illustrated historical articles for the Lynn "Daily Item," con- cerning the history of Lynn and its environs. So thorough was Mr. Hutt in this connection and so great his scope of research, that he was honored by election to the Lynn Historical Society. Later, while a resident of Taunton, and for the same un- usual and constant application to historical re- search and study, he was elected as secretary to the Old Colony Historical Society. He is also a member of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities.
The name of Frank Walcott Hutt is not un- known among the American literati. He is the author of many plays, musical comedies and short stories that have been published in various maga- zines, and specimens of his excellent verse are included in a number of anthologies pertaining to the lyric side of prosody. Perhaps his greatest and most monumental work in the literary field is the compilation of the historical data that goes to make up this "History of Bristol County"-the most com- prehensive, withal compendious, historical account of this section extant. As editor-in-chief, author of the greater part of the contents, and super- visor of the work of a corps of assistant writers, Mr. Hutt has achieved and given a bequeathment to future generations of an history that has no peer in this very specialized and exacting field of literary endeavor.
Frank Walcott Hutt was married, on the Thanks-
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BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS
giving Eve of 1893, to Emma F. N. Eason, daugh- ter of the late George E. and Mary A. Eason.
RICHARD JACKSON BARKER-The follow- ing is the record of the lines of Barker and Lawton, united in the marriage of Richard Jackson Barker and Eliza Harris Lawton.
(I) The American founder of the Barker branch herein recorded was Robert. Barker, who was born in 1616, and came to this country at an early date with John Thorp. In 1641 he was one of those who bought from Jonathan Brewster, son of Elder Brewster, a ferry and one hundred acres of land at Marshfield. Later, he settled in Duxbury, Massa- chusetts, where he served as surveyor for several years. He died about 1691. He married Lucy Wil- liams, who died March 7, 1681 or 1682. Children: 1. Robert, born February 27, 1630, died September 25, 1729. 2. Francis, died in 1720. 3. Isaac, men- tioned below. 4. Abigail, died in May, 1718. 5. Rebecca, died in 1697.
(II) Isaac Barker, son of Robert Barker, was a surveyor of Duxbury in 1674, and a constable in 1687. He married, December 8, 1665, Judith Prince, daughter of Governor Thomas and Mary (Collier) Prince. In 1710 his widow married William Tubbs, of Pembroke. Children: 1. Samuel, born Septem- ber 2, 1667, died February 1, 1738-39. 2. Isaac, mentioned below. 3. Robert, born in 1673, died September 6, 1765. 4. Jabez. 5. Francis. 6. Re- becca. 7. Mary. 8. Lydia. 9. Judith. 10. Martha. 11. Bathsheba.
(III). . Isaac (2) Barker, son of Isaac and Judith (Prince) Barker, seems to have been a man of great business ability, as he was interested in numerous enterprises, owning a grist mill on the Herring brook, engaging in merchandising, in farming, in laying out roads and erecting water works. He was a great student for his day and was a member of the Society of Friends. He died May 7, 1754. He married, October 23, 1707, Elizabeth Slocum, of Dartmouth, daughter of Peleg and Mary (Holden) Slocum; she was born February 12, 1687, and died August 18, 1774. Children : 1. Mary, born August 1, 1708, died in 1788. 2. Sylvester, born in May, 1710. 3. Peleg, born in August, 1712. 4. Prince, mentioned below. 5. Elizabeth, born December 9, 1719. 6. Lydia, died August 13, 1754.
(IV) Prince Barker, son of Isaac (2) and Eliz- abeth (Slocum) Barker, was born February 9, 1716, and died January 27, 1784. Prince Barker was a very hospitable man and was noted for his honesty. He married, November 6, 1746, Abigail Keen, of Pembroke, daughter of Benjamin and Deborah (Barker) Keen; she was born February 6, 1721, and died September 2, 1790. Children: 1. Prince, born October 26, 1747. 2. Isaac, born May 1, 1749. 3. Abigail, born January 29, 1751. 4. Deborah, born January 29, 1753. 5. Benjamin, mentioned below.
(V) Benjamin Barker, son of Prince and Abigail (Keen) Barker, was born November 30, 1756, and was a prominent and wealthy man. In 1773 he took half the Barker fulling mill, near the homestead, and later bought the homestead and farm in Scitu-
ate. Also he owned considerable property in Tiver- ton, and was very well-to-do when he died, June 19, 1837. He married (first) January 31, 1785, Ann Barker, daughter of Abraham and Susannah (An- thony) Barker, of Tiverton; she was born August 29, 1750, and died August 16, 1789. He married (second) June 23, 1791, Rebecca Partridge, of Bos- ton, daughter of Captain Samuel Partridge; she was born in 1752, and died August 11, 1835. Children by first wife: 1. Abraham, mentioned below. 2. Susan Ann, born April 27, 1788, died March 5, 1861. By the second wife: 3. Samuel Partridge, born August 2, 1792, died in the far West.
(VI) Abraham Barker, son of Benjamin and Ann (Barker) Barker, was born November 16, 1786, and died February 24, 1855. He married, January 7, 1819, Margaret Buffum, daughter of David and Hepsibah (Mitchell) Buffum; she was born at New- port, Rhode Island, August 27, 1785, and died No- vember 4, 1839. Children: 1. Benjamin, of whom further. 2. Eleanor, born December 4, 1824, died November 29, 1869. 3. Elizabeth Huntington, born August 11, 1826, died May 8, 1900. 4. Margaret Buffum, born April 9, 1829. 5. Anne, born July 20, 1832, died December 15, 1857.
(VII) Benjamin Barker, son of Abraham and Margaret (Buffum) Barker, was born September 24, 1822, and died April 14, 1897. He lived in Tiver- ton and was extensively engaged in the lumber business. He was highly honored and respected by those who knew him. He married, December 1, 1847, Catherine Jackson Dennis, daughter of James and Hannah (Jackson) Dennis, of Cranston, Rhode Island. She was born December 7, 1829. Children: 1. Richard Jackson, mentioned below. 2. Benjamin, born July 19, 1858. 3. Catherine Wheaton, born January 25, 1863, married Effingham C. Haight, of Fall River, Massachusetts.
(VIII) Richard Jackson Barker, son of Ben- jamin and Catherine Jackson (Dennis) Barker, was born at Tiverton, Rhode Island, January 27, 1849, and died November 26, 1921. He was named for his maternal great-grandfather, Hon. Richard Jack- son, who was a member of Congress from Rhode Island and very prominent in the State. Hon. Richard Jackson was the founder of the Washing- ton Insurance Company, served on the Board of Fellows of Brown University, and filled numerous important offices in the State. He was the father of Governor Charles Jackson, of Rhode Island. Mr. Barker was a descendant of four Colonial govern- ors, including Governor Prince, of Massachusetts, and he traced his ancestry likewise to Roger Wil- liams. He was educated at the Friends' School in Providence, the Eaglewood Military Academy at Perth Amboy, New Jersey, and the Rensselear Institute, Troy, New York. While a student at the military academy, he enlisted in the Union Army in the Civil War, although then but a boy, and toward the end of the conflict, when only eight- een years of age, he was appointed judge advocate of the First Brigade, Rhode Island Militia, by Gen- eral Burnside, and served on his staff. In later
life, his most cherished possessions were two
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BIOGRAPHICAL
swords worn while attached to General Burnside's staff when he held the rank of major. Upon the completion of his education, he entered business with his father, and upon the death of the elder man, continued the Fall River Lumber business alone, in his later years having as his associate and partner his son, Richard Jackson Barker, Jr. Mr. Barker was the founder and the first president of the Warren Trust Company; was prominent in local financial circles; and his reputation in business as in private life was one based upon the strictest in- tegrity. His political faith was Democratic, al- though his tendencies were independent, and his attitude towards public questions was always marked by a keen desire for public welfare above party success. He served as a member of the Tiverton Town Council, and was its president at one time; and twice was the candidate of his party for the State Senate from Warren. Mr. Barker was a lover of art and all things beautiful. In the communities whose life he touched he is respectfully and affec- tionately remembered as a man of high principle and kindly spirit.
Richard Jackson Barker married, October 9, 1873, Eliza Harris Lawton (see Lawton VIII). Mr. and Mrs. Barker were the parents of a son, Richard Jackson, Jr., mentioned below.
(IX) Richard Jackson Barker, Jr., son of Richard Jackson and Eliza Harris (Lawton) Barker, was born in Fall River, Massachusetts. He was gradu- ated with honors from the English and Classical Private School in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1894, and entered Brown University, class of 1898, attend- ing two years. After leaving college he was associ- ated with his father in the lumber business in Fall River, Massachusetts, and is now conducting the enterprise, succeeding his father, the Hon. Richard Jackson Barker, with great success. He is the third in a direct line to engage in the lumber business in Fall River, known as the Barker Lumber Company, and now carries on the business very successfully. He is a member of the Masonic order, the Que- quechan Club, the Sons of Brown, and the Uni- versity Club.
Richard Jackson Barker, Jr., married, October 6, 1917, Jessie Satterlee Durfee, a granddaughter of Hon. Nathaniel B. Durfee, member of Congress from Rhode Island. Jessie Satterlee (Durfee) Bar- ker, wife of Richard Jackson Barker, Jr., is also a lineal descendant of Governor William Green, Colonial Governor of Rhode Island. The ceremony was performed in Grace Church, Providence. They have one daughter, Elizabeth Lawton, born Febru- ary 7, 1919.
(The Lawton Line)
(I) George Lawton, the early ancestor, was among the first settlers at Portsmouth, Rhode Is- land, being admitted an inhabitant of the Island of Aquidneck in 1638. He was a descendant of Admiral George Lawton, of the Royal Navy. In 1639 he was one of the twenty-nine persons who signed the compact for a body politic. In 1748 he received a grant of forty acres near that of his
brother Thomas, and the same year he was admitted freeman, and was deputy from Portsmouth in 1665- 72-75-76-79-80. He was assistant in 1680-81-82-83- 84-85-88-89-90. He also held many other important positions, showing his capability and prominence in the colony. He married Elizabeth Hazard, daughter of Thomas and Martha Hazard, and he died October 5, 1693, being buried in his orchard. Children: Isabel; John; Mary; George, mentioned below; Robert; Susanna; Ruth; Mercy; Job and Elizabeth.
(II) George Lawton, son of George and Eliz- abeth (Hazard) Lawton, married, January 17, 1677, Naomi Hunt, daughter of Bartholomew and Ann Hunt, and lived in Portsmouth. He died September 11, 1697, and his widow married (second) October 11, 1701, Isaac Lawton. Children : 1. Elizabeth, born November 15, 1678. 2. George, mentioned below. 3. Robert, born October 14, 1688. 4. Job, born January 22, 1692.
(III) Captain George Lawton, son of George and Naomi (Hunt) Lawton, was born April 30, 1685, and married, February 26, 1707, Mary Gould, of Newport, the ceremony being performed by Gov- ernor Samuel Cranston. He died April 11, 1740. Children, born in Portsmouth: 1. Robert, men- tioned below. 2. George, born April 20, 1710. 3. Job, born December 28, 1712, died December 11, 1713. 4. Job, born April 26, 1717.
(IV) Hon. Robert Lawton, son of Captain George and Mary (Gould) Lawton, was born February 4, 1708, and married, November 11, 1742, Mary Hall, daughter of William Hall. Children, born at Ports- mouth: 1. George, mentioned below. 2 Mary, born March 31, 1747. 3. Elizabeth, born July 4, 1750. 4. Phebe, born March 30, 1752. 5. Robert, born March 14, 1754. 6. William, born December 26, 1755. 7. John, born November 4, 1757. 8. Ruth, born May 23, 1759. 9. Job, born May 8, 1761. 10. Parker, born April 7, 1764.
(V) Hon. George Lawton, son of Hon. Robert and Mary (Hall) Lawton, was born April 12, 1744. He served in the Revolution in 1777, as a private in the Rhode Island regiment commanded by Colonel John Cook, and while the command was on duty at Fogland Ferry, Rhode Island, Mr. Lawton was wounded in the leg and left arm by a cannon shot from a British ship lying in the Seaconnet river. He married, April 10, 1766, Ruth Brownell. He may have married (second) Anne Borden. Chil- dren, born in Portsmouth: 1. Robert, born Janu- ary 22, 1767. 2. Thomas Brownell, born September 16, 1768. 3. George, mentioned below. 4. Mary H., born April 5, 1772. 5. William, born September 16, 1774. 6. Joseph, born April 2, 1776. 7. Ruth, born October 17, 1786, probably by his second wife.
(VI) Captain George Lawton, son of Hon. George and Ruth (Brownell) Lawton, was born June 7, 1770, and married, January 31, 1808, Patience Turner Lawton, daughter of Hon. Robert and Pati- ence (Turner) Lawton. Patience (Turner) Lawton was the daughter of Dr. John Turner, a Revolution- ary surgeon of eminence. Children, born at Ports- mouth : 1. Robert N., born October 7, 1808. 2.
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BRISTOL COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS
George B., born May 1, 1810. 3. William H., born March 20, 1812. 4. Moses Turner, mentioned below. 5. Hannah Turner, married William Bowers Bray- ton, of Fall River.
(VII) Moses Turner Lawton, son of Captain George and Patience Turner (Lawton) Lawton, was born at Portsmouth, December 25, 1817. His father moved to Tiverton soon after his birth, and here he grew up. His father was a large landowner of Tiverton. Mr. Lawton was a Republican in politics. "Although a man of quiet tastes, his pleasing dis- position had made many friends for him during his life of over three score years and ten." He mar- ried Elizabeth Tillinghast Harris, descendant of Elder Pardon Tillinghast and Roger Williams, who was one of the early graduates of Warren Seminary, Warren, Rhode Island. He died August 26, 1893, and was buried in Oak Grove Cemetery in Fall River. His wife was active in church and educa- tional work, being one of the first women in the United States to be elected on a school board, an office which her daughter, Mrs. Barker, held for twenty-one consecutive years as the chairman of the school board of Tiverton. Children: Hon. George Robert, born December 31, 1858; Eliza Harris, men- tioned below.
(VIII) Eliza Harris Lawton married the Hon. Richard Jackson Barker (see Barker VIII). She completed her school life at Vassar College. She has always been keenly interested in educational affairs, and in 1885 was elected to the school com- mittee of Tiverton, serving as clerk until she made her home in the South. Upon her return to Tiver- ton, she was again elected to the school committee in 1896, and served as chairman for twenty-one consecutive years. She resigned from office at the end of this time and was most agreeably surprised by a reception tendered her by the townspeople in the parish house of the Central Baptist Church, when she received many testimonials of esteem and numerous gifts, loving cups, paintings, gavels and leather chairs in memory of the occasion. From the founding of the Women's College in Brown University, she has been one of the corporation.
Mrs. Barker has been active in patriotic work, and has long been prominent in the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was regent of the Gaspee Chapter, of Providence, with a membership of more than three hundred, having been the first woman not a resident of Providence to hold that office. Previously she served the chapter as his- torian for fourteen years, and during that time the office of State historian was created, which she filled for a six-year term under Three State Regents. She was elected by an unusually large vote in the National Congress of the Daughters of the Ameri- can Revolution to the high office of vice-president general in April, 1906, and during her term of office served upon the most important committees, being chairman of the Magazine Committee, chairman of the Furnishing Committee, member of the Auditing Committee, secretary of the Patriotic Educational Committee, and chairman of the program commit- tee, and secretary of the Philippine Scholarship
Committee. When she resigned the regency of Gaspee Chapter to accept the office in the national organization, she was presented with a silver- mounted gavel in Colonial style, made of wood from the old Gaspee room. Mrs. Barker is an honorary member of several Massachusetts chapters, and is also honorary regent of Gaspee Chapter and honorary State regent of Rhode Island. During her State work she was chairman for thirteen years of the Gaspee Prize Committee at the Women's College of Brown University, and she was chairman for New England for the Daughters of the Ameri- can Revolution exhibit at the Jamestown Exposition. She has also been historian of the Rhode Island Society of Colonial Dames. Mrs. Barker is State regent for Rhode Island of the Pocahontas Memor- ial Association, and was a speaker at the turning of the first sod for the monument, when she was presented with the gavel used on that occasion. She is chairman in Rhode Island for the Sulgrave Institute, and a member of the Women's Com- mittee, of which Mrs. Alton Brooks Parker is chairman. She is likewise a member of the Colonial Wars of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and a former organizing State regent of the Daughters of the American Colonists.
For many years Mrs. Barker has been vice- president of the Rhode Island Institute of Instruc- tion, and has served upon its important committees. During the Spanish-American War she was one of the chairmen of the Rhode Island Sanitary Relief Association, was vice-president of the Tiverton branch of the Rhode Island Anti-Tuberculosis Soci- ety, was a commissioner at the Atlanta Exposition, is a director of the Woman's Union, and on the board of the Woman's Exchange in Fall River, as well as serving as secretary of the Emergency Hos- pital of the city until it was merged with the pres- ent Union Hospital. Since that time she has served upon the board and as secretary and vice- president of the Union Hospital. Mrs. Barker is a former visitor to the Rhode Island State College, having served for several years. She is a member of the Republican State Central Committee for New- port county, embracing Newport, Jamestown, Mid- dletown, Little Compton, Portsmouth and Tiverton; and of the Republican Women's Executive Commit- tee, appointed by the Men's Republican State Cen- tral Committee. She is also on the executive board of the Newport County Republican Club; a former member of the board of governors of the Rhode Island Women's Republican Club; and a member of the Women's Club of Fall River. Mrs. Barker is a charter member of the Republican Club of New York, and on November 27, 1923, was appointed a member of the executive board of the Republican Finance Committee of Rhode Island, having already been a member of the Finance Committee and the only woman from Newport county so honored. In the course of her civic and patriotic activity, Mrs. Barker had contributed articles to several maga- zines and she is also the author of a historical volume, "The Daughters of Liberty." Mrs. Barker's mother, Elizabeth Tillinghast (Harris) Lawton, the
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