William J Morton

William J Morton was a farmer in Orange County, Virginia, U. S. A. His mother was Mary E Morton and his father was E Morton. He was thirty years old during the 1860 census, being born in 1830. His family number in the census is 278. He lived in a household with six other people, seven if you included him as well. These six other people who lived in the household during the census were Eliza Morton, at the age of seventy two, Mary G Morton, at the age of seventy one, Mary E Gooch, at the age of thirty five, Agness W Morton, at the age of thirty, Morton L Gooch, at the age of twelve, and Wm F Morton at the age of two. On May the fourth, 1856, William J Morton married Agness W Beasley, who then became Agness W Morton. His real estate value was worth five thousand, and his personal estate was worth four thousand, eight hundred, and eighty five. His ancestry reference code is cn2414.

On May Fourth of 1861, he joined the confederate army and became a part of the 6th Cavalry under the company of Muster Roll. In his service he went to the hospital a few times for remittent fever (a fever that appears then fades repeatedly), chronic diarrhea, v.s. left index finger (couldn’t find out what that meant), and debilities (the period after an illness has passed in which one feels weak, weary, or aches as they recover from the damage). He usually went to the Orange County General Hospital, and there are some records of him being sent there without reason why on the cards. On October 9th, 1864, he was wounded and captured. There are no records of treatment he received during his capture nor detainment. Also, there’s a payment record between the months of September and October of 1864 stating he was killed, no more information is given on the record, just the single word “killed.” There were no records telling of the battle in which he was killed or if he was killed some time after being captured. During his service, he was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant within a year of joining the confederate army (in the year of 1861) and then he was promoted again to the rank of captain during the next year (in the year of 1862).

In conclusion, William J Morton was an average person from Virginia born in 1830 who was killed in the service in 1864 at the age of 34.

His national archives catalog ID is: 5 8 6 9 5 7

His Ancestry.com reference ID is: c n 2 4 1 4

His card numbers are as follows:

1: 5 0 8 0 3 8 0 8

2: 3 8 7 9

3: 3 9 5 5

4: 4 0 2 7

5: 4 1 1 4

6: 4 1 9 9

7: 4 2 8 8

8: 4 3 7 3

9: 4 4 5 8

10: 4 5 6 3

11: 6 7 7 1

12: 5 1 9 0 6 1 4 4

13: 5 2 0 0 4 7 7 8

14: 2 8 6 5 0

15: 7 0 7 3 1

16: 0 7 3 6

17: 3 7 7 2 5 5

18: 5 1 7 8 0 6

Sources: Fold3, Ancestry