Colonial families of Philadelphia, Volume II, Part 105

Author: Jordan, John Woolf, 1840-1921, ed
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: New York : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 978

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The late Dr. Charles D. Meigs, in a biographical sketch written for the Academy of Natural Sciences, says :

"Dr. Morton was a man above the ordinary stature; his face was oval, and always pale; his eyes a clear bluish-gray; his hair light. As a man, he was modest in his demeanor, of 110 arrogant pretensions, and of forgiving temper; charitable and respectful to others, yet never forgetful of self-respect. That he was a religious man I know from many opportunities had with him, and from his life and conversation. He was always in earnest, and always to be depended upon. Few men are to be found more free from faults, and few of greater probity, or of more liberal sentiments, or purer designs and aspirations. Doubtless he had faults but they were not obvious, and I never discovered them in an acquaintance of near thirty years with him."

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An interesting and important feature in the social life of Dr. Morton was the Sunday evening reception held for many years at his home, for the purpose of bringing together his scientific friends. Among those generally seen upon these delightful and instructive occasions were the Audubons, father and son ; Silliman the elder; George Combe, of Edinburgh; Sir Charles Lyell, William Maclure, Prince Charles Bonaparte, the ornithologist; Louis Agassiz, Prince de Wied. Haldeman, Joseph Leidy, and others too numerous to mention.

DR. SAMUEL GEORGE MORTON married, October 23. 1827, Rebecca Grellet, born June 18, 1805, died January 20, 1864, daughter of Robert Pearsall, of New York, (a native of Flushing, Long Island), later a resident of Philadelphia, and his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Isaac Collins, the distinguished printer of New Jersey and later of New York City. She was a lineal descendant of Henry Pearsall, who set- tled at Hempstead. Long Island, as early as 1643-44; of Captain John Seaman, as well as of the Underhills, Bownes, Moores, Pryors, Lathams, and other prominent families of Long Island. Through her grandmother, Rachel Budd, the wife of Isaac Collins, she descended from the Rev. Thomas Budd, who died in Ilchester jail, Somersetshire, in 1670, "Firm in the Faith" of George Fox, to which he had become an early convert. She was also a descendant of Mahlon Stacy, of New Jersey, and Thomas Atkinson, of Bucks county ; Lieutenant Robert Feake and the Winthrops of Groton.

Issue of Samuel George and Rebecca Grellet (Pearsall) Morton:

James St. Clair Morton, Brigadier General of the Engineer Corps of the U. S. A., b. in Phila., Sept. 24, 1829; d. June 17, 1864: appointed a cadet to the West Point Military Academy, by Hon. Joseph R. Ingersoll, member of Congress from Phila .; and gradu- ated with high honors, in 1851; assistant engineer in charge of erection of harbor forti- fications at Charleston, S. C., 1851-52; was selected by Navy Department to explore the Chiriqui country, South America, to test the practicability of an interoceanic rail- road route across the isthmus, and on his return to Washington was placed in charge of the entire work of the Washington aqueduct; was made First Lieutenant, July 1, 1856, and promoted Captain, Aug. 6, 1861, and sent to the Gulf of Mexico to put the fortifications of Dry Tortugas in a state of defence; reported for duty to Gen. Hal- leck, May, 1862, and was assigned as Chief Engineer of the Army of the Ohio, under Gen. Buell; when Buell's troops marched to Ky. he was ordered to remain at Nash- ville, Tenn., and with Generals Negley and Palmer, superintended the defences of that city. He was appointed Brigadier General of Volunteers, to date from Nov. 29, 1862, and was Chief Engineer to Gen. Rosencrans until Oct. 10, 1863. When the Army of the Cumberland was given in command of Rosencrans, Gen. Morton was placed in command of the pioneer brigade, and at the battle of Stone River proved that he was as brave as he was skillful. He was killed in an assult at Petersburg, Va., June 17, 1864, at which time he was Major General in the Regular Army;

Robert Pearsall Morton, b. in Phila., May 22, 1831; d. Dec. 1, 1906; m., Oct. 1, 1868, Julia Van der Burgh, dau. of Ambrose White and Maria (Van der Burgh) Wiltbank; they had issue :

Julia Carleton Morton, b. in Germantown, Jan. 30, 1870; d. March 25, 1872;

Robert Pearsall Morton, Jr., b. in Germantown, Ang. 1, 1871; m., Nov. 25, 1896, at Boston, Mass., Gertrude Eliza, dau. of Joseph Howe and Abbey Little (Hitchcock) Tyler ; she d. in Florence, Italy, Nov. 28, 1903.

George Morton, b. in Phila., Dec. 21, 1832; d. May 14, 1850;

THOMAS GEORGE MORTON, M. D., b. in Phila., Aug. 8, 1835; d. May 20, 1903; m. Ann Jenks Kirkbride; of whom presently;

Anna Morton, b. in Phila., Nov. 4, 1838; m., Oct. 31, 1860, Thomas Harrison Mont- gomery, son of Rev. James Montgomery, and his wife, Mary Harrison White;

William Henry Harrison Morton, b. in Phila., April 28, 1841 ; d. Nov. 26, 1841; Mary Elizabeth Morton, b. in Phila., Oct. 16, 1842; d. Sept. 1, 1882;

Rev. Algernon Morton, b. in Phila., April 18, 1845; d. March 25, 1878; a graduate of the Divinity School, West Phila., 1870, who after traveling abroad for over a year, visiting his relatives in Ireland and spending the winter in Rome, was appointed assistant at St. Luke's Church, Phila., and later filled the same position at old St. Peter's. At the

Thomas Senaccordion

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time of his death, he was in charge of the Church of the Holy Comforter, Phila .; he m., Dec 14, 1876, Mary Grier, dau. of John Edmund and Helen Vaughn (Merrick) Cope; they had issue :

John Edmund Cope Morton, b. in Phila., Sept. 19, 1877; m., June 5, 1907, Eliza Mellon, dau. of Thomas Mellon and Boydanna (Adler) Rogers.

Charles Mortimer Morton, b. in Phila., Feb. 11, 1848; m., Oct. 10, 1883, Sarah Glenn Douglas, dau, of Caleb North and Sarah ( Bland) Emory; she d. March 21, 1885; they had issue :

Charles Mortimer Morton, Jr., b. and d. March 21, 1885.

DR. THOMAS GEORGE MORTON, son of Samuel George and Rebecca Grellet (Pearsall) Morton, was born in his father's Arch street house, Philadelphia, August 8, 1835. The usual preliminary schooling preceded his entrance to the University of Pennsylvania in 1850; but his father's sudden death in May, 1851. forced him to leave college at the end of his freshman year, when he was employed in the book publishing establishment of J. B. Lippincott & Company.

Nothing in the line of business proving congenial, he borrowed from his brother, James St. Clair Morton, sufficient funds for a course of medical studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 1856. Many of the University professors sent him complimentary tickets to their lectures out of respect for his celebrated father and admiration for the efforts of the plucky boy. So great was his reputation for hard work and ability that one of his professors at the final examination did not even ask him to sit down but merely shaking his hand said that he had passed a very good examination. His preceptor was Dr. John McClel- lan. In 1856 Dr. Morton was Resident Physician at St. Joseph's Hospital and in 1857 at the Wills Eye Hospital; in 1857-58 he was Resident Physician to the Pennsylvania Hospital and at the close of that service spent six months in Europe.

During the Civil War, Dr. Morton served as Acting Assistant Surgeon of the United States Army in Washington, Virginia and Pennsylvania. He was Sur- geon-in-Chief of the Mower Hospital at Chestnut Hill, the largest army hospital of its day, where he divided with Dr. D. Hayes Agnew the responsibilities of the care of several thousand surgical beds. He also organized the Army Hospital at Twelfth and Buttonwood streets, Philadelphia, and acted as its Surgeon-in-Chief until it was closed after the War.

Dr. Morton served as Surgeon at the Wills Eye Hospital from 1859 to 1875, and in that time incidentally performed, with almost uniform success, upward of one thousand operations for cataract. Upon his retirement from the more active work of the Institution, he was elected Surgeon Emeritus.

The Orthopaedic Hospital and Infirmary for Nervous Diseases was founded by Dr. Morton in 1867, and he was senior surgeon there until shortly before his death, when he was appointed Consulting Surgcon. He always took special interest in the work at this hospital and some of his most brilliant contributions to surgery were there evolved. Other important surgical posts held by Dr. Morton were: Consulting Surgeon to the Philadelphia Institution for the Blind; Surgeon to the Jewish Hospital (1870 until his death) ; Consulting Surgeon Pennsylvania Insti- tution for the Deaf and Dumb; Consulting Surgeon to the Woman's Hospital of Philadelphia ( 1870 until his death) ; Surgeon at the Howard Hospital (1865-75) ; Professor of Surgery in the Philadelphia Polyclinic and College for Graduates in Medicine (of which he was likewise a founder) from 1883 to 1894, and subse- quently Emeritus Professor of Surgery. But the Pennsylvania Hospital, where

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he was Surgeon from 1864 until his death, was the institution that above all other absorbed his time, interest and activity. He served it, subsequent to living there a year as Resident Physician, as Pathological Curator from 1860 to 1864, and in 1862 founded its large Pathological Museum. His active professional connection with this hospital as Attending Surgeon during the thirty-nine years from 1864 to 1903, was longer than that of any other surgeon in its history, with the exception of Dr. Parke, whose term of service lasted from 1777 to 1823. It was entirely through Dr. Morton's efforts that the Ayer Clinical Laboratory was established and built. It was in the Pennsylvania Hospital that le invented the hospital bed- elevator and carriage and the ward dressing carriage which in some form made their way into nearly every hospital in the world and are now in almost universal use. The widely used apparatus for measuring inequalities of the lower limbs was also developed at that hospital, and the well known writings and lectures upon Asymmetry were founded upon hundreds of observations made in its wards. The ward dressing carriage was thought worthy of a diploma and medal by the com- missioners of the Centennial Exhibition in 1876. Dr. Morton's many unusual and new operations together with his inventions of instruments and surgical appliances gave him a world-wide reputation. He was the first surgeon deliberately to oper- ate for appendicitis by removing the vermiform appendix (April 23, 1887) and this first care recovered. as did nearly all of the great number upon which he sub- sequently operated.

The History of the Pennsylvania Hospital, the first edition of which was pub- lished in 1895, is a lasting monument to the energy, perseverance and thoroughness which were such characteristic traits in Dr. Morton. In addition to the "History," he wrote by appointment of the President, biographical sketches of his life- long friends and fellow members of the College of Physicians, Dr. William Hunt and Dr. Albert Fricke. He also wrote extensively on many medical and surgical subjects and frequently colaborated with Dr. Hunt; with the latter he wrote: "Surgery in the Pennsylvania Hospital," a volume published in 1880. He also took a keen interest in genealogical matters, and his researches in that field place upon his descendants, as well as many others, a large debt of gratitude.

Outside of his professional work, Dr. Morton was much interested in the edu- cational projects of the city in which he lived. He was a member of the Board of Education from 1890 until his death, and was chairman of several important committees, among them that of the Girls' High School at Seventeenth and Spring Garden streets. At one time he took an active interest in local politics, and was a member of the memorable "Committee of One Hundred" of Philadelphia.

The poor insane of the state early aroused his sympathies and to alleviate their condition he worked for many years with great energy. Eventually he had the satisfaction of seeing the great results which came directly and indirectly from his efforts. From 1883 to 1895 he was a member of the Commission of Public Charities of Pennsylvania by appointment of Gov. Pattison, and the successive Governors of the state, and for eight years was the chairman of its Committee on Lunacy, a position of great labor and responsiblity. In 1874 he was appointed by Gov. Hartranft a member of the commission to locate and build what has since come to be known as the Norristown Insane Asylum. He was consulting surgeon to the Asylum for Chronic Insane at Wernersville and the Pennsylvania Epileptic Hospital and Colony Farm. He served for two years (1885-86) as president of

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the American Society for the Restriction of Vivisection ; also as vice-president and always an active member of the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruel- ty to Children. In 1895 he became president of the Philadelphia Academy of Surgery.

Dr. Morton was a fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia ; a mem- ber of the Academy of Natural Sciences ( from 1856), American Medical Asso- ciation, and in 1864 of the American Ophthalmological Association ; a founder and member of the American Surgical Association ; a member of the American Ortho- paedic Association, and a corresponding member of the British Orthopaedic Asso- ciation. He was also a corresponding member of several other foreign societies and medical bodies ; likewise a member of the Philosophical Society of Pennsyl- vania; Pennsylvania Historical Society; Loyal Legion; Society of the Colonial Wars; Colonial Society; Founders and Patriots; Foreign Wars; Sons of the Revolution; Netherland Society ; Underhill Society of America and the College Fraternity of Delta Psi. He was a member of the Union League of Philadelphia ; also of the Skating Club (1856), serving on the Board of Surgeons, 1859-62, and (1854) of the Philadelphia Cricket Club. He was a founder and member-with Dr. S. D. Gross and Dr. D. Hayes Agnew and other distinguished surgeons-of the Surgical Club, a social organization which during many winters held month- ly meetings at the homes of its members.

Of Dr. Morton's social side much could be said. His genial character, his love of a good story and his ability to tell one, his power of inspiring his children with the best and highest ideals, his love of music and nature, with other admirable traits too numerous to mention, combined to make him beloved-almost wor- shipped-by family, friends and patients. When a youth he played upon the vio- lin, but later took up the violincello, which became his favorite musical instrument, and almost to the end, in playing upon it he found relaxation and much enjoyment. He had a good ear and played well considering the small amount of time he could devote to it.

His fondness for animals was very marked. A favorite black Siberian squirrel, Alexander the Great, for years made a habit of sitting on his shoulder when he was writing. In his earlier days a fishing trip for brook trout in the spring and a hunting vacation in the fall gave regular and much needed outing. He was a great walker and horseback riding was always a favorite exercise. At various times, accompanied by some of his elder children, he took long trips in the saddle through Pennsylvania and the New England States, even so far as to Maine and back. The somewhat lengthened holidays of his later years were spent in keen enjoyment as sailor and fisherman upon the ocean and sounds about Cape May, New Jersey.

Besides the European tour already mentioned, Dr. Morton, always fond of travel, again in 1879 visited the old country with his two eldest children and re- newed acquaintance with his relations in Ireland and Scotland. He also traveled extensively in this country and Mexico. In the city of Mexico he had a special audience with President Diaz, who was exceedingly courteous in his attentions. Both men were intensely interested in the discussion of schools, hospitals and prisons and the President tendered Dr. Morton unusual honors and facilities be- cause of his standing in surgery and philanthropy. While in Mexico he visited

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the hospitals and schools in almost every place where he stopped and went through most of the prisons.

Dr. Morton was a member of the Protestant Episcopal church, attending First Grace Church, then St. James for some years, and finally the Church of the Epi- phany, where he served as vestryman. For a short time he was also vestryman at St. Mary's, Wayne. His death took place suddenly May 20, 1903, at Cape May, New Jersey, whither he had gone in search of health.

On November 12, 1861, Dr. Morton married Ann Jenks Kirkbride, born 6mo. 29, 1840, d. 3mo. 30, 1907, daughter of the celebrated alienist, Dr. Thomas Story Kirkbride, and Ann West Jenks, who with five children survived him.

Issue of Dr. Thomas George and Ann Jenks (Kirkbride ) Morton:

Helen Kirkbride Morton, b., Phila., Nov. 5, 1862;

Thomas Story Kirkbride Morton, b., Phila., Jan. 18, 1865; m., Feb. 9, 1888, Mary Waln Wistar, dan. of Moses and Mary Waln ( Wistar) Brown, who d. Nov. 17, 1905; they had issue :

Samuel George Morton, b., Phila., Dec. 2, 1888; d. Jan. 31, 1889;

Mary Waln Wistar Morton, b., Phila., Nov. 26, 1889;

Thomas George Morton, b., Phila., Oct. 17, 1891; d. Sept. 10, 1892;

Helen Kirkbride Morton, b., Phila., May 13, 1893; d. Feb. 20, 1895;

Sarah Wistar Morton, b., Phila., Nov. 27, 1895;

Margaret Villiers Morton, b., Atlantic City, N. J., July 28, 1899.

Samuel George Morton, b., Phila., March 20, 1867; d. May 2, 1874;

Bertha St. Clair Morton, b., Phila., Oct: 16, 1870; m., Jan. 6, 1892, John Constable Git- tings, son of Samuel Evans Gittings and Isabel Stevenson Constable; they had issue :

Thomas Morton Gittings, b., Phila., Jan. 31, 1893;

Samuel Evans Gittings, Jr., b. Elkton, Md., Dec. 16, 1893;

Isabel Stevenson Gittings, b. Phila., July 4, 1895;

Julian Erskine Gittings, b. Cape May, N. J., Aug. 28, 1897; d., Washington, D. C., May 27, 1906;

Bertha St. Clair Morton Gittings, b., Washington, D. C., May 28, 1900; James Sterrett Gittings, b., Washington, D. C., Nov. 20, 1905.

James St. Clair Morton, b., Phila., May 6, 1872; d. Sept. 18, 1880; Arthur Villiers Morton, b., Phila., Sept. 2, 1873;

Isabella FitzGerald Morton, b., Phila., March 5, 1879; m., Sept. 27, 1902, John Story Jenks, Jr., son of William Henry Jenks and Hannah Mifflin Hacker; they had issue : Thomas Story Jenks, b., New York, Aug. 18, 1904;

Morton Jenks, b., New York, Jan. 26, 1907.

Diehl Von ugsburg.

F.D. 934.

DIEHL ARMS.

Supra of Captain Nicholas Wiehl commander of a troop of horsemen in the Revolutionary army

DIEHL FAMILY.

The German family of Diehl, of which the Diehl family of Philadelphia and vicinity is a branch, is of record on the heraldic tables at Vienna among the nobility of Augsburg, in which locality they had their residence for many genera- tions. The rank of the family as nobility is very ancient ; the first known ancestor being one Julius (probably not Julius Diel, as sometimes stated-family names not being then in use ), who about A. D. 500 offered his services to Hlodwig or Clovis, King of the Franks, and attained much distinction in that monarch's wars against the remnant of the Roman power, as well as against the other Teutonic nations which at that time divided Gaul ; receiving for his valor and success several badges of honor, one being a blue wing on the helmet. King Clovis made him Governor of Augsburg and granted him large domains near that city, the principal one being that called Diel. His descendants two hundred years later were known as the Nobles von Diehl, from this domain over which they were fendal lords. They continued to bear the badges of their ancestor Julius, the blue wing on the helmet and three roses on the shield. At a later period some of them served under Charle- magne, afterwards Emperor, when he subdued Bavaria, and he granted them further honors and emoluments. As the science of heraldry now gradually evolved out of the personal and family badges and marks of honor, used by the former semi-barbaric chieftains, those of Julius of Diel and his descendants the Nobles von Diehl, became the family coat-of-arms and crest. In A. D. 934. Henry the Fowler, Duke of Saxony, being then Holy Roman Emperor, secured these by patent to the Noble Wolfgang von Diehl, who distinguished himself at many war- like tournaments as well as in many of the wars of his time with the wild Hun- garians. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the family had a number of branches in that part of the Holy Roman Empire, now known as Germany. Some who came to Prussia with the Teutonic Knights are said to have fought at the battle of Tanneberg. Döring, district of Oesterode, and Zandesdorf, district of Labian, were holdings of the Diehls in 1500. The Döring branch, who were one of the most illustrious and most mighty families in the district of Oesterode and reckoned as one belonging to the oldest native nobility, abode at the present manor of Döhringen. George Albrecht von Diehl was Seigneur of Popclkin, Driessig- huben, etc., about 1625; he was of the Zandersdorf branch. At the death of George Gotthards von der Diehl, of Zandersdorf, in the last quarter of the seven- teenth century this branch terminated in the male line, though he had a sister Maria von der Diehl, who lived until 1719.

Although the continuity of this family is established, it is rather curious that a total change of the armorial has taken place. Günther von der Diehl, a principal member of Prussian League, 1440, as well as his near relations, bore three cut down stems of trees with two branches diagonal lying toward the left, helmet crowned, upon a peacock's tail two of the tree-stems crossed ; pavilion red and white.

A seal of this time also shows three swords instead of the stems of trees. The

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Zandersdorf branch bore: In a blue field a white deer with a gold necklace, issu- ing from a gold crown ; helmet crowned with deer issuant ; pavilion blue and white.

At the time of the Thirty Years War, descendants of Noble Wolfgang von Diehl were among the nobility of Bavaria, the Rhine States and Northern Germany. The Philadelphia branch sprang from one of these, a family settled in the city of Franfort-on-the-Main. In the first half of the nineteenth century (the American branch being then well established) this family was still represented in Frankfort by Philip Karl Diehl, Doctor of German Law, and member of the Senate about 1817, and Carl Diehl, a Senator in 1837 and after. Illustrating the above remarks on a change of the armorial bearings of the family, it may be mentioned that the Government Almanac of 1817 gives the arms of Philip Karl Diehl as: On a blue escutcheon a silver cross-beam, with one gold star above and two below ; helmet crowned, with two wings and a star between. The Philadelphia family have al- ways used the arms and crest nearly as granted to the Noble Wolfgang von Diehl, which it is claimed Capt. Nicholas Diehl, the founder, brought with him, with proper authority, as his authentic arms: Azure, on a bend argent three artificial (conventional) roses ; crest, a blue wing, surcharged with the silver bend and roses.

NICHOLAS DIEHL was born in Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany, in or about 1741, and came to Pennsylvania when about twenty years of age. He arrived in Philadelphia, 1761, in the "Snow Squirrel," from Rotterdam, via Portsmouth, England. He took the oath of allegiance to King George III., October 21, 1761, which was probably the day of the arrival of the vessel, because foreigners were required to take the oath as soon as possible, being generally marched direct from the wharf to the Courthouse for that purpose. His full name was Johan Nicolaus Diehl, but he dropped the first name, "Johan," after coming to Pennsylvania, and anglicized "Nicolaus" to "Nicholas." It was a German custom to prefix "Johan" to the names of male children as an extra baptismal name, seldom used in after life, unless it was intended as the principal name; this was done with several of Nicholas Diehl's sons.

It has been mentioned above that he probably brought with him some proof of his noble descent and right to bear coat-armor ; a silver plate with the Diehl arms engraved upon it, still in the family, was his or his children's, who had knowl- edge of their authenticity. That his family had considerable wealth, and had well supplied him, is evident, for after about seven years' residence in the city of Philadelphia he was able to purchase a good-sized tract of land on Tinicum Island, then in Ridley township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, where he then took up his residence. On the tax list of 1768 for that township, his name ap- pears as "Nicolas Deal" for 105 acres and 20 cattle. On the tax lists of succeed- ing years his name appears with various spellings as follows ; In Ridley township:

1769 Nicolas Dale

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Colonial families of Philadelphia, Volume II, Part 105

Author: Jordan, John Woolf, 1840-1921, ed Publication date: 1911 Publisher: New York : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 978

Author: Jordan, John Woolf, 1840-1921, ed
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: New York : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 978