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Colonial AmericaAmerican Revolution

Morton Homestead

Prospect Park, Delaware County, Pennsylvania

Marker Inscription

Begun about 1654 by Morton Mortonson, ancestor of John Morton, Pennsylvania signer of the Declaration in 1776. (Administered by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission) - painted out in blue as it is no longer.

Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission

The Story

This riverside homestead was begun around 1654 by Morton Mortonson, part of the Swedish and Finnish settlement of New Sweden along the Delaware, and it is among the oldest European-built structures in the region. The family line ran forward to John Morton, the Pennsylvania delegate who cast a decisive vote and signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

Why it matters

It bridges two founding chapters of American history — the little-remembered Swedish colonization of the Delaware Valley and the Revolution — through a single family and the log dwelling they raised.

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  • · Morton Mortonson
  • · John Morton

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Nearby & related markers

Old Swedish Burial Ground

Chester, PA · est. 1954

This ground in Chester marks the site of the first St. Paul's Episcopal Church, built in 1702 in one of Pennsylvania's oldest settlements with roots in New Sweden. Just south lies the grave of John Morton, the Pennsylvania delegate whose vote helped tip the colony toward independence and who signed the Declaration of Independence.

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Mikveh Israel Cemetery

Philadelphia, PA · est. 1957

Founded in 1740, this is one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in the United States and the resting place of some of colonial and Revolutionary America's most notable Jewish families. Among those buried here are Nathan Levy, whose ship carried the Liberty Bell across the Atlantic; Haym Salomon, the broker whose financing helped sustain the American Revolution; and the prominent Gratz and Levy families. Their graves testify to a Jewish community woven into Philadelphia life from its earliest colonial days.

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John Morton

Ridley Park, PA · est. 1967

Here stood the birthplace of John Morton (1724–1777), a Delaware County farmer and surveyor who rose to serve in the Continental Congress. When Pennsylvania's delegation was split over independence, Morton's vote—joining those of Benjamin Franklin and James Wilson—swung the colony behind the break with Britain. He went on to sign the Declaration of Independence, casting a decisive ballot at a hinge point of American history.

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Morton Morton House

Norwood, PA · est. 2019

Long before there was a United States, Swedish colonists settled the lower Delaware Valley as part of New Sweden. This house, raised around 1750, was built by a great-grandson of that pioneer line — kin to John Morton, the Delaware County farmer whose vote helped carry Pennsylvania for independence in 1776. Its walls tie a quiet borough to the region's earliest European roots.

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