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JOHN MORLEY

Closely identified with the farming interests of Marion county is John Morley, who is pleasantly located about three miles northeast of Silverton, where he is prosperously engaged in the pursuit of agriculture. He is numbered among the veteran farmers of the county who have labored with unceasing toil in their chosen vocation, and are now enjoying comfortable competencies, acquired
chiefly by their own efforts. Of good old Virginia stock, he was born May 9, 1823, in Jackson county, Ohio, a son of Moses Morley.
Moses Morley, a native of Virginia, born about 1788, removed with his parents, when a small boy, to Ohio, where he lived until after his marriage to Catherine Wadkins, a native of Maryland, and the birth of several of his children. In 1850, although then past the prime of manhood, he made an overland trip to Oregon, crossing the plains with ox-teams, and settled near Sublimity, Marion county. Two years later he sent for his wife, who crossed the plains to join him, but their reunion was of brief duration, his death occurring the same year, in 1852. His widow spent her remaining days with their son, John, the subject of this sketch, passing away at the advanced age of eighty-three years. She was the mother of thirteen children, John Morley being the only survivor of the family.
Obtaining his early education in the district schools, and remaining on the old home farm in Ohio until twenty-one years of age, John Morley then left the parental roof and began the battle of life for himself, working for wages the first three years thereafter. In 1847, following the tide of immigration westward, he and two boys by the name of Darst started for Oregon, crossing the
plains with an ox-team, and being four months on the road. They crossed the Missouri river at St. Joseph May 5, and reached the Willamette valley September 5. Becoming a pioneer of Marion county, he took up a claim near Sublimity, about three miles from the town, and after his marriage settled to housekeeping on property still nearer that place, living there about eight years. Removing to
Silverton in 1862, Mr. Morley turned his attention to the milling business, operating a grist-mill there for eight years. In 1871 he bought a farm nearly three miles northeast of Silverton, after which he purchased the farm which he now owns and occupies. He has one hundred and forty-six acres of land, which he devotes to stock raising and general farming, twelve acres being planted to hops.


"Portrait & Biographical Record of the Willamette Valley Oregon." Chicago: Chapman Publishing Company, 1903. p. 1153. This is an open sourced book that can be freely quoted from.
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John Morley was at Champoeg for the Provisional Vote. He claimed land under the Provisional Government later located in Marion County.
The Provisional Government was the first recognized Oregon government by the United States of America. It was before women had the legal right to vote.

John Morley was born 09 May 1823 in
Jackson County, Ohio and he died 15 Jan 1907 in
Silverton, Marion County, Oregon.



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Oregon State Archives, Salem
Case#: Vol 6 pg 091
Name: Morley, John
Date: 10/26/1847
Record Type: Land Claim
County: Champoeg
Source: Provisional and Territorial
Remarks: Located in Marion County
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Oregon State Archives, Salem
Case#: 1078
Name: Moorley / Morley, John
Date: 1849
Record Type: Census
County: Champoeg
Source: Provisional and Territorial
Remarks: Located in Marion County