Editing Levi P. Morton (section)

==Early life==
Morton was born in [[Shoreham, Vermont]], on May 16, 1824, one of six children born to the Reverend Daniel Oliver Morton, a [[Congregationalism in the United States|Congregational]] minister, and Lucretia Parsons.<ref name="Emery1893">{{cite book |last1=Emery |first1=Samuel Hopkins |title=History of Taunton, Massachusetts: From Its Settlement to the Present Time |date=1893 |publisher=D. Mason & Company |pages=62–65 |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b4602987&view=2up&seq=984&size=150 |via=[[HathiTrust]] |access-date=May 14, 2019}}</ref> Morton was of entirely English ancestry, all of his immigrant ancestors came to North America from England during the [[Puritan migration to New England (1620–1640)|Puritan migration to New England]].<ref>Memoranda relating to the ancestry and family of Hon. Levi Parsons Morton, vice-president of the United States (1889–1893)</ref> His paternal ancestors included Captain [[Nathaniel Morton]] of [[Plymouth Colony]].<ref>The Mayflower Descendant: Volume 27 1925 – Page 136; George W. Bowman</ref> Morton was named for his mother's brother Reverend Levi Parsons (1792–1822), a clergyman who was also the first U.S. missionary to work in [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]].<ref name=Red_Book>{{cite book |last=Murlin |first=Edgar L. |date=1897 |title=The New York Red Book |url=https://archive.org/details/newyorkredbook00unkngoog |location=Albany, N.Y. |publisher=James B. Lyon |pages=[https://archive.org/details/newyorkredbook00unkngoog/page/n39 85]-90}}</ref>  His older brother, [[Daniel O. Morton|Daniel Oliver Morton]], served as the [[List of mayors of Toledo, Ohio|Mayor of Toledo, Ohio]], from 1849 to 1850.<ref>{{cite web |title=Partial Genealogy of the Mortons of New York, Plymouth, and Ohio |url=http://www.politicalfamilytree.com/samples%20content/members/PDF%20Content/Morton-NY-1.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.politicalfamilytree.com/samples%20content/members/PDF%20Content/Morton-NY-1.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live}}</ref>  His younger sister, Mary Morton, was married to William F. Grinnell, and was the mother of [[William Morton Grinnell]], who served as the [[Third Assistant Secretary of State]] while Morton was vice president.<ref name="Harvard1912">{{cite book |last1=of 1880 |first1=Harvard College (1780-) Class |title=Harvard College Class of 1880 Secretary's Report |date=1912 |publisher=Plimpton Press |page=55 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WLcnAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA55 |access-date=March 5, 2019}}</ref>

Morton's family moved to [[Springfield, Vermont]], in 1832, when his father became the minister of the Congregational church there.<ref name="Hubbard">{{cite book |last1= Hubbard |first1=C. Horace |last2=Dartt |first2=Justus |date=1895 |title=History of the Town of Springfield, Vermont |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YulHAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA75 |location=Boston |publisher=Geo H. Walker & Co. |page=75 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Rev. Morton headed the congregation during the construction of the brick colonial revival-style church on Main Street that is still in use.<ref name="Hubbard"/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/ec265cfa-b84e-420c-ae3c-a646c6a48175 |title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory: Springfield Downtown Historic District |last=National Park Service |date=July 14, 1983 |website=NPS.gov |publisher=U.S. Department of the Interior |location=Washington, D.C. |access-date=May 14, 2020 |page=14}}</ref> Levi Morton was considered by his Springfield peers to be a "leader in all affairs in which schoolboys usually engage."<ref name="Hubbard"/>{{rp|40, 75, 236}} The Morton family later moved to [[Winchendon, Massachusetts]], where Reverend Morton continued to serve as a church pastor.<ref name="Red_Book"/> In 1838, Levi Morton graduated from the academy in Shoreham, Vermont.<ref name="Brown">{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=Roscoe C. E. |last2=Smith |first2=Ray B. |date=1922 |title=Political and Governmental History of the State of New York |volume=III |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hlCb3BCZqvkC&pg=PA408 |location=Syracuse Press |publisher=Syracuse, N.Y. |page=408 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>{{rp|408}}