Levi P. Morton

Morton married Lucy Young Kimball on October 15, 1856 in Flatlands, Brooklyn. Together, they had a child. Lucy died in 1871.

After Lucy’s death, Morton married Anna Livingston Reade Street in 1873. They had five daughters.

He died on his 96th birthday, i.e. on May 16, 1920 at Rhinebeck, in Duchess County, New York. He was interred in the Rhinebeck Cemetery. A village in Illinois, Morton Grove, has been named after him.

Levi Parsons Morton was born on May 16, 1824 to Reverend Daniel Oliver Morton and Lucretia Parsons in Shoreham, Vermont. His father was a Congregational Minister. Levi had an elder brother, David Oliver Morton.

Born in a modest household, Levi had to leave school early. Though he wanted to pursue higher education, the financial constraints of the family barred him from studying any further.

Levi Morton started working quite early in his life. His first job was as a clerk in a country store. After slogging out in the general store, he left his manual labour job to take up the position of a teacher for a school in Boscawen, New Hampshire.

From a teacher, Morton soon shifted back to clerical job with Estabrook. However, this time, he engaged himself in learning the nuances of bookkeeping and made himself adept at calculations. Adequately trained, he ran an Estabrook store on his own in Hanover, New Hampshire.

Morton’s business acumen and skills soon earned him a place at the prestigious Beebe & Co, Boston’s largest importing firm then. However, he soon moved up the ladder and formed his own dry goods company in New York.

During the Civil War of 1861, Morton suffered from substantial losses. As such, he disbanded his company and instead in 1863, founded a Wall Street banking house. His banking career did profoundly well and by 1873, he became one of the distinguished bankers in the nation

It was during his banking career that Morton befriended political bigwigs such as President Ulysses S. Grant and Senator Roscoe Conkling of New York. In 1876, he became financial chairman of the Republican National Committee.

During his term as the United States Minister to France he helped build commercial relations between United States and France and largely administered the ceremonies connected with France's gift of the Statue of Liberty to the United States.