Judge George Morton and Dr. George Morton

In the 1800s, there were two well-known gentlemen, both named George Morton, who called Sandusky home. This excerpt from a page from the 1855 Sandusky City Directory lists both George Mortons along with their address and occupation.

George Morton, the civil engineer, resided at 49 Franklin Street. George R. Morton, the physician, resided at 14 Adams Street. Below is a portrait of Judge George Morton, the former civil engineer in Sandusky, from the Bishop Collection of photographs.

Judge George Morton was born in 1803 in Pennsylvania. He and his wife, the former Ruth Fifield, had a large family of six children. Mr. Morton worked as a civil engineer in Sandusky for many years. From November 1861 to November 1863, he served as Judge of the Erie County Probate Court. After serving as Judge, Mr. Morton went on to work as the Sandusky City Engineer. On June 4, 1888, Judge Morton passed away in Conneaut, Ohio. The Sandusky Register printed a copy of the telegram that had been sent to I.F. Mack & Brother, publishers of the Sandusky Register:


I.F. Mack & Bro:

George Morton died today in the 85th years of his age. Burial at Conneaut, Wednesday.

E. Chapin



We do not own a photograph of Dr. George R. Morton, but we do know that he is buried in Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery, where he has two grave markers. The tall monument provides his dates of birth and death. Dr. Morton was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 13, 1806. He died on April 9, 1875 in Columbus, Ohio, while visiting his daughter’s family.

A flat stone is adjacent to the tall monument that honors the doctor's memory. (While one stone lists Dr. Morton’s birth year as 1805, the other states he was born in 1806.)

Dr. George R. Morton first practiced medicine in Coshocton, and then he moved to Sandusky. His later years were spent residing on North Bass Island, where he was involved in the growing of grapes.

Tip for researchers: When you find yourself researching two names that are the same, and the individuals lived in the same county in the same time period, gather all the census and vital records that you can find, and compare the occupations and the names of other family members. Make two separate files with the information you have found, and eventually you will most likely end up with solving the case of the two individuals with the same name.