CEDAR COUNTY, NEBRASKA - HON. HENRY MORTEN

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Hartington Herald  June 11, 1892

Henry Morten Sr. - Dead.  Just as we go to press we learn of the death 
of Henry Morton, sr. Father of Joe Morton, one of our county commissioners.  
Deceased was born in England, Dec. 20, 1812, and died June 10, 1892,. 
At his home nine miles east of Hartington.

He came to America in 1858 (1848) and located in Wisconsin where he 
resided until 1867 (1857) when he moved to Cedar county.  Being an old 
settler in the county he was widely known and very highly esteemed; he 
served two terms as county commissioner.

The funeral will take place from the residence to-day (Saturday) at 2 
o'clock p.m.  Rev Lewis, of Vermillion, will conduct the services, and 
the remains will be laid to rest in the family burying ground on the 
farm where he lived."

NOTE: Corrections are listed in ( ).





Hartington Herald  Saturday, June 18, 1892

Obituary - Died, at the home of his son, Joseph Morten, In Cedar county, 
Nebaraska, on June 10, 1892, Hon. Henry Morten, aged 79 years, 5 months, 
and 19 days.  He was buried the day following.  The pall-bearers were 
Lewis E. Jones, John Andres, Henry Ferber, Peter Keegan, Thomas Goodwin 
and Ira N. Lyman.  Rev. Mr. Clueth preached the funeral sermon.  Thou 
shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh 
in his season; Job, V, vs.26 King James Version.

Henry Morten was born in Derbyshire, England, December 22, 1812.  He 
was married in that country where his elder surviving son was born.  
The deceased lived through the Corn Law Controversy in his native land 
and continued a steadfast advocate of free trade till the close of his 
life.  He came to America in the eventful year of 1848; and settled in 
Dane county, Wisconsin, where he resided nine years.  At the formation 
of the republican party, Mr Morten's strong anti-slavery proclivities 
led him to affiliate with that political body.  He came to Nebraska in 
1857, and settled in Cedar county where he has resided ever since.  He 
was elected a member of the legislature, and voted for the adoption of 
the XIV and XV amendments to the Constitution of the United States.  Mr 
Morten was twice elected county commissioner.  He was the father of eight 
children, three of whom survive him.  His elder son, Henry Morten, Jr., 
lives at Vermillion, S.D.  Joseph, the second is the present chairman of 
our board of county commissioners.  Hannah, the daughter, is the wife of 
Donald McLeod, who lives on the East Bow, so called.  Mr. Morten left 
nineteen surviving (grand) children.  During a long life of sobriety and 
industry he had amassed a considerable estate.

The deceased was baptised and confirmed in the Church of England, but 
afterward became a member of the Methodist Communion.  His wife, a member 
of the same body, died sometime since.

It was my privilege to have known the deceased intimately and thoroughly.  
In fact I never had a better or truer friend nor one who was trusted more 
implicitly.  On hearing of his death I felt led to exclaim, with the Hebrew 
prophet:  "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the driver 
thereof!"  Cato was called the last of the Romans; and, in a much truer 
sense, was this meek and lowly Christian man a novel reminder of the past. 
Henry Morten was a Primitive Methodist.  The very sight of him would take 
one back in fancy, to the era of that spiritual rebellion of the great and 
good John Wesley against the cold formality of the Establishment.  I would 
fling to the winds every earthly hope and petty ambition that, in the vanity 
of my callow youth, ever haunted my dreams, to be one half as well prepared 
to meet my God as was my venerable friend.  Reader, you can take your oath, 
that old man is in Heaven.  Henry Morten was not only good, but he had more 
that ordinary natural abilities; and, had he received a proper education in 
early life, he might have risen to eminence in church or state.  The writer 
recollects listening to an argument between the deceased and one of the best 
educated clergy men it was ever my good fortune to meet in the west.  The 
question under discussion was 'Did or did not Samuel appear to King Saul at 
Endor?'  The story is told in the XXVIII chapter of the first Book of Kings 1 
of Samuel in King James Version.  The old gentleman had the best of the 
argument and afterwards learned that his arguments were the same as those 
used by the patristic writers which he never could have read.

I have seen Father Morten in Prosperity, I saw him after the grasshopper 
scourge.  I saw him at the terrible flood of 1881, when his dwelling 
containing himself and daugther had been swept away for two miles in the mad 
whirl of waters and his son paid $500.00 to two boatman to rescue the living 
freight.  On each of these occasions I saw the same meek and contrite man.  
Believe or disbelieve as you may, there is some thing beautiful in faith; 
where two behold Saint Ignatius in the Coliseum crying out: "I am the wheat 
of Christ, ground by the teeth of lions." of Agamemnon veiling his face while 
his virgin daughter is sacrificed to appease the wrath of Diana, whether we 
listen to the touching reply of Abraham to Isaac as they journey to Mount 
Morah, or hear Horatius Cocles praying to Father Tiber before he plunged in to 
the cold waves of the river.

If Christianity is a delusion it is a happy one. 'Let my soul die the death of 
the just and my last end be like to them.'
'So live, that when thy summons come to join
The Innumerable caravan, which moves
To the pale realms of shade, where each shall take
His chamber in the silent halls of death,
Thou go not, like the quarry slave at night
Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed,
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave,
Like one who wraps the drapery of they couch(?)
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams,"

Requiescat in pace. (Rest in peace.)
	Wilbur E. Bryant.

[The above transcribed by Gary N. Morten on January 1, 1999.  Spelling per original.  
Original copy of obituary is in Henry's file.]