11 Professional Land Surveyors of Oregon | www.plso.org Featured Article continues John Morton— Surveyor and Activist By Emily Pierce, PLS, CFedS I’ve really enjoyed digging into our surveying history, especially the incredibly talented and hard-working surveyors that helped found the nation. Today, I’m sharing my research about a surveyor who didn’t have the best start in life. John Morton was born in Pennsylvania in 1725 shortly after the death of his father, one of the first Swedish immigrants who settled on the banks of the Delaware River in Pennsylvania in an area called New Sweden. New Sweden I didn’t know this, but this colony was established by Sweden as part of an effort to colonize the Americas beginning in 1638. In fact, Fort Kristina in Wilmington, Delaware, was the first Swedish settlement and was named after the reigning Swedish monarch, Queen Kristina. At the time, the Realm of Sweden was one of the great powers of Europe, with territory that included parts of Russia, Poland, Germany, and Latvia as well as Finland and Estonia. Ultimately, New Sweden was conquered by the Dutch Republic in 1655 during the Second Northern War and incorporated into its colony of New Netherland. Then New Netherland was conquered by the British and subsequently included in William Penn’s charter for Pennsylvania in 1682. One of the lasting legacies of the Swedish Finnish immigration is the traditional Finnish forest house building technique, which became known as the log cabin. Only a few facts exist about John’s father. First, his son was named after him, and his family was actually of Finnish extraction, having emigrated to Sweden from Finland before coming to the Colonies. After seven years had passed, John’s mother remarried—to an English farmer named John Sketchley. Sketchley took his fatherly duties seriously. He schooled young John in math, reading, surveying and religion. Records show the family was highly involved in church activities. It was fortunate that Sketchley was such John Morton. Photo from public domain.
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