Graduation Speech: I Vote By John Morton

Sweat rolls down your chin. Although this isn’t a silly game for children to play, it’s certainly as trying. A thousand thoughts hit the sides of your head. Your vote decides if Pennsylvania ratifies the Declaration of Independence. Should you vote in favor? The British wouldn’t bother you anymore, but at least they gave you supplies. I should vote against, your brain says. Again, it says, I should vote against. “Mr. Morton, are you for or against?” Against everything your thoughts tell you, you say: “For.” That vote by John Morton, my 8th great-grandfather, provided the swing vote that caused Pennsylvania to ratify the Declaration of Independence (Mouser, David). That is one of many interesting stories of my family’s past. I’m Isaiah Savage, and this is who I am. I decided to
I have always wondered what country I could trace my family back to. I’d made some guesses and had settled on Germany. I never would have guessed that I am Finnish. Skip over two generations to the year 1683 and you’ll find newborn John Morton (Sr.) living with Martti. They lived a normal life for living in the 1700s. Then, in 1724, John married Maria Archer. They moved to Calcon Hook, Chester, Pennsylvania and had a child - John Morton, signer of the Declaration of Independence. Sadly, John Morton Sr. died the next year on a plantation given to him by his uncle (Daniell, “John Morton”). John Morton was then raised by his stepfather, John Sketchley. John then grew up, became a member of several government bodies, and had nine kids together with his wife, Ann Morton (“John Morton, Signer of the Declaration of Independence”). Skip over seven generations* to my great-grandparents, Chuck and Beatrice Mouser. They had 3 kids, including my maternal grandfather, David Mouser, born in 1951. He has three children, one of which is my mother, Tamara Savage, who married my father, Cory Savage, in 1999. That brings us to my generation. I have two brothers and one