Concentration of purpose and persistently applied energy rarely fail of
success in the accomplishment of any task however great, and in tracing the
career of Dr. Morton, a well known physician of Vernor, Marion county, it is
plainly seen that these things have been the secrets of his rise to a
position of prominence and respectability. Moreover he possesses genuine
love for his work and regards it as a privilege to carry comfort and aid to
the sick and suffering.
Dr. James S. Morton was born in Clinton,
Alabama, September 8, 1864, the son of Samuel and Julia (Bizzell) Morton.
His father was born in Belfast, Ireland, March 28, 1827, and came to the
United States in 1852, landing in New Orleans, soon afterward coming on to
Clinton, Alabama, where he remained for a short time when he began the study
of medicine, later attending the University of Pennsylvania from which
institution he graduated with honor, after which he returned to Alabama and
became one of the state's most able physicians. He came to Patoka, Illinois,
in 1868 and went to farming, five miles northwest of that town. He came to
Vemon in 1872 for the purpose of resuming the practice of medicine which he
continued with much success until his death July 10, 1906. He was one of a
family of ten children and he came to America unaccompanied. The mother of
our subject was born near Goldsborough, North Carolina, in 1841. The parents
of our subject were married in 1860, and to them the following children were
born: Andrew B., who became a physician, died at the age of thirty-eight;
James S. was the second in order of birth; John died in infancy; Eliza P.,
who is thirty-eight years old at this writing, married William Binnion. They
have three children and are living in Vernon, Illinois. Samuel, the third
child of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Morton, died when three years old; George died
in infancy; Anna is thirty-five years old, is single and living with the
subject.
Doctor Morton received his early education in Vernon, this
county, where he attended the common schools and made a splendid record.
Being ambitious to follow in the footsteps of his worthy father in the
medical profession, he went to Valparaiso, Indiana, where he took a course
in the university from 1880 to 1883, after which he entered Rush Medical
College in Chicago in 1884, from which institution he graduated with high
honors in 1887, and he has been engaged in practice in Vernon, Illinois,
ever since, being the oldest doctor here.
Extracted 27 May 2019 by Norma Hass from 1909 Biographical and Reminiscent History of Richland, Clay and Marion Counties, Illinois, pages 485-486.