Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1772
Perez and Sarah Morton had their house built in 1796 at a location that today would be approximately 600 Dudley Street (then called Stoughton Street). The Mortons moved from Boston to the Dorchester site in late 1796 or early 1797. Sarah said that the house was built according to her own “whimsical plan.” Charles Bulfinch, however, was her cousin, and the design of the house has been attributed to him by Kimball Fisk, author of Domestic Architecture of the American Colonies and of the Early Republic. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1922. Bulfinch did design the Swan House across the street from the Morton House.
Sarah was a poet and her publications include poems contributed to literary magazines. Her first long poem was published in December, 1790, Ouabi: or The Virtues of Nature, An Indian Tale. In Four Cantos. Boston: Isaiah Thomas and Ebenezer Andrews, 1790. Other works include: Beacon Hill. A Local Poem, 1797; The Virtues of Society. A Tale Founded on Fact, 1799; My Mind and Its Thoughts, in Sketches, Fragments, and Essays, 1823.
In 1806 Perez was elected Speaker of the lower house in the General Court of Massachusetts and was re-elected in 1807, 1810 and 1811. He was appointed to Attorney General in 1810 to fill a vacancy. He served in this position until 1832.
The property was later acquired by the Tailor family. It was taken down in 1891.
____
The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. If you receive this e-mail by mistake, please reply to be taken off the e-mail list. If you know others who would like to receive the daily e-mail, please encourage them to join the group by going to http://groups.google.com/group/dorchester-historical-society. You may contact Earl Taylor at ERMMWWT@aol.com
If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org
