Q. E. MORTON was born September 25, 1835, in Bedford County, Tenn., find is the son of Jacob and Annie (Fisher) Morton. The father was born February 17, 1787, in North Carolina, immigrated to Tennessee about 1814, and engaged in the blacksmith trade. He was the first alderman of Shelbyville. The mother was also a native of North Carolina, and her marriage to Jacob Morton, September 12, 1815, resulted in the birth of fourteen children.
Our subject grew to manhood on the farm, and at the age of twenty began farming for himself, and this he continued very successfully up to the time of the late war. In the spring of 1861 he enlisted in the Confederate Army, in the Twenty-third Tennessee Infantry, remaining but thirteen months in the regular service, when he was appointed sutler of his regiment. He was soon captured, and upon being released returned home and engaged in agricultural pursuits, which he has continued up to the present time. Previous to the war, in 1855, he wedded Nancy M. Jackson, of this county. To them were born seven children: John J.; Martha E., wife of E. C. Barnes; Mark J., a practicing physician of Center Grove, who was born September 8, 1864, and graduated from the medical department of the State University, of Nashville. Prior to entering the university he had studied medicine for three years. He has at present quite a good practice, which is constantly increasing.
The fourth child of our subject is Q. Emmet; sixth, Rufus H., seventh Nannie R. and eighth James L. Mr. Morton is a Republican, and he and wife are members of the Primitive Baptist Church. He was elected magistrate in 1882, and this office he filled in a highly satisfactory manner.
Transcribed by Kathryn Hopkins
Goodspeed Publishing Co. History of Tennessee from the Earliest Time to the Present: Together with an Historical and a Biographical Sketch of Maury, Williamson, Rutherford, Wilson, Bedford & Marshall Counties, Besides a Valuable Fund of Notes, Reminescences [Sic], Observations, Etc., Etc. Easley, S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 1988.