Jeremiah MORTON, Congress, VA (1799-1878)

MORTON Jeremiah , a Representative from Virginia; born in Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania County, Va., September 3, 1799; attended a private school and Washington College (now Washington and Lee University), Lexington, Va., in 1814 and 1815; was graduated from the College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Va., in 1819; studied law; was admitted to the bar and practiced at Raccoon Ford, Va.; on account of illness abandoned the practice of law and engaged in agricultural pursuits; elected as a Whig to the Thirty-first Congress (March 4, 1849-March 3, 1851); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1850 to the Thirty-second Congress; resumed agricultural pursuits; member of the State secession convention in 1861; trustee of the Theological Seminary of Virginia at Alexandria; died at ``Lessland,'' Orange County, Va., November 28, 1878; interment in the private cemetery at his old home, ``Morton Hall,'' Orange County, Va.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present