Julius Sterling Morton was born in Adams, New York. His family migrated west; Morton was raised in Detroit and attended the University of Michigan. After receiving his diploma in 1854, he moved with his bride to Nebraska Territory and staked a claim in Nebraska City. There he edited a newspaper, became a successful farmer, helped survey the city, and was active in territorial politics. He served in the territorial legislature from 1855 to 1856 and from 1856 to 1858, and he was appointed secretary of the territory from 1858 to 1861.

Attributed

• The cultivation of trees is the cultivation of the good, the beautiful, and the ennobling in man.

• Arbor Day is not like other holidays. Each of those reposes on the past, while Arbor Day proposes for the future.

• Each generation takes the earth as trustees. We ought to bequeath to posterity as many forests and orchards as we have exhausted and consumed.

• The cultivation of trees is the cultivation of the good, the beautiful, and the ennobling in man, and for one, I wish to see it become universal.