Morton (Perez) is born in Plymouth.

The son of the keeper of the White Horse Tavern, Perez Morton graduates from Boston Latin School and Harvard College, studies law, serves on the Committee for Safety, and opens a law office at his home near today’s 28 State Street. He marries Sarah Wentworth Apthorp in 1781,* and subsequently becomes involved in a scandal with his sister-in-law. Morton serves as Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives (1806-11) and state attorney general (1810-32). He dies in Dorchester on October 14, 1837.