A Sandusky Native’s Connection to President Lincoln

 

Howard Hill Morton was born in Sandusky, Ohio in 1840, to Dr. and Mrs. George R. Morton. When Howard was a young man, he and George Doll published a small leaflet which they called The Sandusky Gazette. In 1860 he moved to Washington, D.C. where he worked in a print shop, and published a small periodical about various governmental agencies, then from 1862 to 1869, he worked as a clerk in the Treasury Department. Later he transferred to the Department of  Internal Revenue.  On July 10, 1864, H.H. Morton married his wife Annie in Cincinnati, Ohio. After the wedding, the couple moved back to the nation’s capital. During the Civil War, Mr. Morton was a war correspondent for the Cincinnati Enquirer and other newspapers.  After his father’s death in 1875, Mr. and Mrs. H.H. Morton and their family moved to North Bass Island. Howard H. Morton died on September 30, 1888, and he was buried in Sandusky’s Oakland Cemetery.

The Sandusky Register and the Sandusky Star Journal both featured articles in February of 1922  in which Mrs. Annie Morton discussed her experiences from her years in Washington D.C.

Mrs. Morton and her husband often attended the Saturday receptions at the White House when President Lincoln was in office. Mrs. Morton said that Lincoln was friendly towards everyone, and often tried to make people smile. She said that while Lincoln was not a handsome man, she was struck by the kindness in his face and the strength of his handshake. Mrs. Morton wore a rose and azure blue gown to President Lincoln’s first and second inaugural balls. She was quite a petite lady, and she could still fit in the gown in 1922 when she was aged 79. Annie Morton died on January 8, 1925. At the time of her death, she was the only living Sandusky resident who had been a guest at Lincoln’s inaugural balls. 

To read more about the Morton family, see Hewson Peeke’s book The Centennial History of Erie County, Ohio ((Penton Press, 1925.)  Biographical sketches of Howard H. Morton, his father Dr. George R. Morton, and his son Lawrence D. Morton are found in Mr. Peeke’s 1925 book.