The Stories In The Stones: John Morton and the First Middleborough Carver

Jeff Stevens

Friends of Middleborough Cemeteries

 

The land of Middleborough was bought from the Wampanoags as part of Twenty Six Man’s Purchase, and one of the purchasers was John Morton who arrived in America in 1623 on the Anne.

In 1670, he was one of only six “freemen” in the town. His son, John, was born in Plymouth in 1650 and is credited with founding the first free school in the Americas in Plymouth in 1671. Only families with resources could send their children to school in early colonial times because it cost money to attend in those days. By providing “free” education to Plymouth children, John Morton is considered the first “public school teacher” in not just Plymouth, or the Massachusetts Bay Colony, or even the British colonies of the new world. John Morton is credited with being the first “public school teacher” in the new world.

Young John Morton later moved from Plymouth to Middleborough where he lived and farmed his father’s land, along with his second wife, Mary Ring, and their six children. He died in 1718 and is buried in the Church at the Green Cemetery. He is clearly an early settler of our community and one of our nation’s earliest educators. (He also happens to be the ninth great grand uncle of Jeff Stevens, the author of this piece.)

He was a man with very limited carving ability and his lettering and images are extremely simple.His work is all straight lines and compass curves. The Morton stone is a perfect example of his work. The “death's head” on the top of the stone is made with compass scrapings to form the simple image of a skull with eyes and a circle mouth. He was unable to cut a curve without a compass. To tell us that Morton was sixty seven years old when he died was a real problem. The number 6 is made with several compass scratches that almost form an 8. The lettering is all in capitals to avoid the curves of lower case letters.

Still, the stone is a great example of early gravestone art with a simple elegance and artistic balance that continued in Middleboro stones for the next hundred years.

The Middleboro Cemetery Friends are looking for volunteers to clean historic stones this coming summer. To volunteer, e-mail the FOMC Clerk at clerk@friendsofmiddleboroughcemeteries.org