Charles Morton (educator)
Encyclopedia
Charles Morton was a Cornish
nonconformist minister and founder of an early dissenting academy, later in life associated in New England
with Harvard College
.
, in Cornwall, and baptised at there on 15 February 1627, the eldest son of Nicholas Morton, who married, on 11 May 1616, Frances, only daughter of Thomas Kestell of Pendavy. He was probably the Charles Morton, undergraduate of New Inn Hall, Oxford, who submitted on 4 May 1648 to the jurisdiction of the parliamentary visitors. On 7 September 1649 he was elected a scholar of Wadham College
, and he graduated B.A. 6 November 1649, M.A. 24 June 1652, being also incorporated at Cambridge in 1653. At Oxford he was known as a mathematician and highly thought of by John Wilkins
.
In 1655 Morton was appointed to the rectory of Blisland
in Cornwall, but he was ejected after the 1662 Act of Uniformity, whereupon he retired to a small tenement, his own property, in St. Ive. He lost property through the Great Fire of London
, and went to London to support himself. Morton was probably the ‘Charles Morton, presbyterian,’ who in 1672 was licensed for a room in his dwelling-house in Kennington
.
A few years later he ran at Newington Green
, in those days a village north of London, the leading school for Dissenters, "probably on the site of the current Unitarian church
". The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography judges Morton's "probably the most impressive of the dissenting academies [prior to 1685], enrolling as many as fifty pupils at a time". The ODNB goes on to describe its advanced and varied curriculum (religion, classics, history, geography, mathematics, natural science, politics, and modern languages) and a well-equipped laboratory, and even "a bowling green for recreation". Lectures were given in English, not Latin, and Daniel Defoe
, one of Morton's students, praised its attention to the mother tongue. Many dissenting ministers, including John Shower
, Samuel Lawrence, Thomas Reynolds
, and William Hocker, were educated by Morton. Another of his pupils was Samuel Shute
.
Such schools were both controversial and outside the letter of the law. Samuel Wesley the elder
, a contemporary of Defoe's, described his teacher "as universal in his learning", but in 1703 attacked the dissenting academies, including Morton's, in his ‘Letter from a Country Divine'. A pamphlet
war ensued, with the academies defended by the Rev. Samuel Palmer in ‘A Defence of the Dissenters' Education in their Private Academies,’ to which Wesley replied in ‘A Defence of a Letter on the Education of Dissenters,’ 1704, and Palmer retorted with ‘A Vindication of the Learning, Loyalty, Morals of the Dissenters. In answer to Mr. Wesley,’ 1705.
Legal actions from the bishop's court made Morton decide to emigrate. He arrived in New England in July 1686 with his wife, his pupil, Samuel Penhallow
, and his nephew, Charles Morton, M.D. Another nephew had preceded them in 1685. It had been proposed that Morton should become the principal of Harvard College, but another person was appointed before his arrival. He was, however, made a member of the corporation of the college and its first vice-president, and he drew up a system of logic and a compendium of physics, which were for many years two of its text-books. Lectures on philosophy which he read in his own rooms were attended by several students from the college, and one or two discontented scholars desired to become inmates of his house, but these proceedings gave offence to the governing body. Morton was also inducted as minister of the first church in Charlestown, New England, on 5 November 1686, and was the first clergyman of the town who solemnised marriages. He was prosecuted for alleged seditious expressions in a sermon preached on 2 September 1687, but was acquitted. His name is the second of the petitioners to the council on 2 October 1693 for some encouragement to a system of propagating Christianity among the Native Americans
, and his was the senior signature to an association for mutual assistance among the ministers of New England. He acted with those who urged the prosecutions for witchcraft at Salem, Massachusetts
.
About 1694 Morton's health began to fail. He died at Charlestown on 11 April 1698, and was buried on 14 April, his funeral being attended by the officers of Harvard College and its students. By his will, dated November 1697, he left money to Harvard; his houses and lands at Charlestown and in Cornwall with the rest of his property passed to his two nephews, Charles and John Morton, and his niece in equal shares. An epitaph was written for him by the Rev. Simon Bradstreet
, his successor in the ministry.
praised him in his Life and Errors. He published many small volumes on social and theological questions. A paper by him on ‘The Improvement of Cornwall by Seasand’ is in the Philosophical Transactions, x. 293–6, and his ‘Enquiry into the Physical and Literal Sense of Jeremiah viii. 7—the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times,’ is reprinted in the ‘Harleian Miscellany,’ 1744 ii. 558–567, 1809 ii. 578–88.
Cornish people
The Cornish are a people associated with Cornwall, a county and Duchy in the south-west of the United Kingdom that is seen in some respects as distinct from England, having more in common with the other Celtic parts of the United Kingdom such as Wales, as well as with other Celtic nations in Europe...
nonconformist minister and founder of an early dissenting academy, later in life associated in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
with Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
.
Life
He was born at Pendavy, EgloshayleEgloshayle
Egloshayle is a civil parish and village in north Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The village is situated beside the River Camel immediately southeast of Wadebridge. The civil parish extends southeast from the village and includes Washaway and Sladesbridge.-History:Egloshayle was a Bronze Age...
, in Cornwall, and baptised at there on 15 February 1627, the eldest son of Nicholas Morton, who married, on 11 May 1616, Frances, only daughter of Thomas Kestell of Pendavy. He was probably the Charles Morton, undergraduate of New Inn Hall, Oxford, who submitted on 4 May 1648 to the jurisdiction of the parliamentary visitors. On 7 September 1649 he was elected a scholar of Wadham College
Wadham College, Oxford
Wadham College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, located at the southern end of Parks Road in central Oxford. It was founded by Nicholas and Dorothy Wadham, wealthy Somerset landowners, during the reign of King James I...
, and he graduated B.A. 6 November 1649, M.A. 24 June 1652, being also incorporated at Cambridge in 1653. At Oxford he was known as a mathematician and highly thought of by John Wilkins
John Wilkins
John Wilkins FRS was an English clergyman, natural philosopher and author, as well as a founder of the Invisible College and one of the founders of the Royal Society, and Bishop of Chester from 1668 until his death....
.
In 1655 Morton was appointed to the rectory of Blisland
Blisland
Blisland is a village and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is approximately five miles northeast of Bodmin. According to the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 565....
in Cornwall, but he was ejected after the 1662 Act of Uniformity, whereupon he retired to a small tenement, his own property, in St. Ive. He lost property through the Great Fire of London
Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a major conflagration that swept through the central parts of the English city of London, from Sunday, 2 September to Wednesday, 5 September 1666. The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall...
, and went to London to support himself. Morton was probably the ‘Charles Morton, presbyterian,’ who in 1672 was licensed for a room in his dwelling-house in Kennington
Kennington
Kennington is a district of South London, England, mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth, although part of the area is within the London Borough of Southwark....
.
A few years later he ran at Newington Green
Newington Green
Newington Green is an open space in north London which straddles the border between Islington and Hackney. It gives its name to the surrounding area, roughly bounded by Ball's Pond Road to the south, Petherton Road to the west, the southern section of Stoke Newington with Green Lanes-Matthias Road...
, in those days a village north of London, the leading school for Dissenters, "probably on the site of the current Unitarian church
Newington Green Unitarian Church
Newington Green Unitarian Church in north London is one of England's oldest Unitarian churches. It has had strong ties to political radicalism for over 300 years, and is London's oldest Nonconformist place of worship still in use...
". The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography judges Morton's "probably the most impressive of the dissenting academies [prior to 1685], enrolling as many as fifty pupils at a time". The ODNB goes on to describe its advanced and varied curriculum (religion, classics, history, geography, mathematics, natural science, politics, and modern languages) and a well-equipped laboratory, and even "a bowling green for recreation". Lectures were given in English, not Latin, and Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe , born Daniel Foe, was an English trader, writer, journalist, and pamphleteer, who gained fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest proponents of the novel, as he helped to popularise the form in Britain and along with others such as Richardson,...
, one of Morton's students, praised its attention to the mother tongue. Many dissenting ministers, including John Shower
John Shower
-Life:The elder brother of Sir Bartholomew Shower, he was born at Exeter, and baptised on 18 May 1657. His father, William, a wealthy merchant, died about 1661, leaving a widow and four sons. Shower was educated in turn at Exeter, and at Taunton under Matthew Warren....
, Samuel Lawrence, Thomas Reynolds
Thomas Reynolds (minister)
-Biography:Born in 1752, he was the son of Joseph Reynolds, a clergyman, of Marston Trussell, Northamptonshire, and belonged to the family of Dr. Edward Reynolds, bishop of Norwich. He matriculated from Lincoln College, Oxford, on 18 October 1769, and graduated with a B.A. in 1773, M.A. in 1777...
, and William Hocker, were educated by Morton. Another of his pupils was Samuel Shute
Samuel Shute
Samuel Shute was a military officer and royal governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. After serving in the Nine Years' War and the War of the Spanish Succession, he was appointed by King George I as governor of Massachusetts in 1716...
.
Such schools were both controversial and outside the letter of the law. Samuel Wesley the elder
Samuel Wesley (poet)
Samuel Wesley was a poet and a writer of controversial prose. He was also the father of John Wesley and Charles Wesley, founders of the Methodist Church.-Family and early life:...
, a contemporary of Defoe's, described his teacher "as universal in his learning", but in 1703 attacked the dissenting academies, including Morton's, in his ‘Letter from a Country Divine'. A pamphlet
Pamphlet
A pamphlet is an unbound booklet . It may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths , or it may consist of a few pages that are folded in half and saddle stapled at the crease to make a simple book...
war ensued, with the academies defended by the Rev. Samuel Palmer in ‘A Defence of the Dissenters' Education in their Private Academies,’ to which Wesley replied in ‘A Defence of a Letter on the Education of Dissenters,’ 1704, and Palmer retorted with ‘A Vindication of the Learning, Loyalty, Morals of the Dissenters. In answer to Mr. Wesley,’ 1705.
Legal actions from the bishop's court made Morton decide to emigrate. He arrived in New England in July 1686 with his wife, his pupil, Samuel Penhallow
Samuel Penhallow
Samuel Penhallow was a Cornish colonist and historian in early American.-Life:He was born at St Mabon, Cornwall, UK. From 1683 to 1686 he attended a school at Newington Green conducted by the Rev. Charles Morton , a dissenting clergyman, with whom he emigrated to Massachusetts in 1686...
, and his nephew, Charles Morton, M.D. Another nephew had preceded them in 1685. It had been proposed that Morton should become the principal of Harvard College, but another person was appointed before his arrival. He was, however, made a member of the corporation of the college and its first vice-president, and he drew up a system of logic and a compendium of physics, which were for many years two of its text-books. Lectures on philosophy which he read in his own rooms were attended by several students from the college, and one or two discontented scholars desired to become inmates of his house, but these proceedings gave offence to the governing body. Morton was also inducted as minister of the first church in Charlestown, New England, on 5 November 1686, and was the first clergyman of the town who solemnised marriages. He was prosecuted for alleged seditious expressions in a sermon preached on 2 September 1687, but was acquitted. His name is the second of the petitioners to the council on 2 October 1693 for some encouragement to a system of propagating Christianity among the Native Americans
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
, and his was the senior signature to an association for mutual assistance among the ministers of New England. He acted with those who urged the prosecutions for witchcraft at Salem, Massachusetts
Salem witch trials
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings before county court trials to prosecute people accused of witchcraft in the counties of Essex, Suffolk, and Middlesex in colonial Massachusetts, between February 1692 and May 1693...
.
About 1694 Morton's health began to fail. He died at Charlestown on 11 April 1698, and was buried on 14 April, his funeral being attended by the officers of Harvard College and its students. By his will, dated November 1697, he left money to Harvard; his houses and lands at Charlestown and in Cornwall with the rest of his property passed to his two nephews, Charles and John Morton, and his niece in equal shares. An epitaph was written for him by the Rev. Simon Bradstreet
Simon Bradstreet
Simon Bradstreet was a colonial magistrate, businessman, diplomat, and the last governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Arriving in Massachusetts on the Winthrop Fleet in 1630, Bradstreet was almost constantly involved in the politics of the colony but became its governor only in 1679...
, his successor in the ministry.
Works
John DuntonJohn Dunton
John Dunton was an English bookseller and author. In 1691, he founded an Athenian Society to publish The Athenian Mercury, the first major popular periodical and first miscellaneous periodical in England.-Early life:...
praised him in his Life and Errors. He published many small volumes on social and theological questions. A paper by him on ‘The Improvement of Cornwall by Seasand’ is in the Philosophical Transactions, x. 293–6, and his ‘Enquiry into the Physical and Literal Sense of Jeremiah viii. 7—the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times,’ is reprinted in the ‘Harleian Miscellany,’ 1744 ii. 558–567, 1809 ii. 578–88.