MIMOIR

REV. MORTON DEXTER

By FRANEIN TIGH DIXTER

RTON IVFR, the only son of the Rev. Dr. Henry Martyn ter, apa ber of this Society from 1871 to 1890, and of e Av usta (Painer) Dexter, was born in Mancer, He, where his father wis pastor of the Second 2 Chirch, on July 12, 1840.

d bis descent from Jon Aiden, George Morton, Priest, and William Palmer, among others of the early h Pileries, and from Themas Dexter, who settled at 1930.

infancy his father care to Boston as the pastor of Street Congregational Church afterwards the Berky and in 1854 the family residence was removed ba where Morton was prepared for college in the Pxin School.

: red Yale, his father's college, in 1863, and 1 ..] r's degree in 1867, maintaining throughout a le standing, and graduating among the first third es in scholarship. In his junior year he won the !tary Magazine's prize medal for an essay on Syd ey

e autumn of 1867 he entered the Theological Semin ry dover; and after the completion in 1870 of the regular there, he travelled in Europe and the East for two

April 30, 1873, he was ordained and installed as the lar pastor of the Union Congregational Church in ton, which had been organized five years before in one burbs of that city (Whittenton). He visited Europe

MEMOIR

OF

REV. MORTON DEXTER

BY FRANKLIN BOWDITCH DEXTER

MORTON DEXTER, the only son of the Rev. Dr. Henry Martyn Dexter, a member of this Society from 1871 to 1890, and of Emeline Augusta (Palmer) Dexter, was born in Manchester, New Hampshire, where his father was pastor of the Second Congregational Church, on July 12, 1846.

He traced his descent from John Alden, George Morton, Degory Priest, and William Palmer, among others of the early Plymouth Pilgrims, and from Thomas Dexter, who settled at Lynn in 1630.

In his infancy his father came to Boston as the pastor of the Pine Street Congregational Church (afterwards the Berkeley Temple), and in 1854 the family residence was removed to Roxbury, where Morton was prepared for college in the Roxbury Latin School.

He entered Yale, his father's college, in 1863, and received his bachelor's degree in 1867, maintaining throughout a creditable standing, and graduating among the first third of his class in scholarship. In his junior year he won the Yale Literary Magazine's prize medal for an essay on Sydney Smith.

In the autumn of 1867 he entered the Theological Seminary at Andover; and after the completion in 1870 of the regular course there, he travelled in Europe and the East for two years.

On April 30, 1873, he was ordained and installed as the first regular pastor of the Union Congregational Church in Taunton, which had been organized five years before in one of the suburbs of that city (Whittenton). He visited Europe

again in the summer of 1876 and also in the summer of 1878.

In November, 1878, he resigned his pastoral charge, and removed to Boston, to enter the editorial office of The Congregationalist, and to be in close association with his father, who had long been connected with that paper as editor and proprietor. In making this change he was far from surrendering the ideals which had led him into the ministry; and he was undoubtedly right in the conviction that as a journalist he would have opportunity for as conscientious and as useful service as in the pastorate. Nor did he wholly lay aside the ministerial office; down to the last year of his life he took occasional pulpit duty with acceptance.

His work on The Congregationalist was at first general, but afterwards principally that of the literary editor; and he gave himself to this field with cordial devotion, manifesting and developing an excellent literary taste. At the same time his unusual versatility should be noticed, which enabled him to carry on, in case of necessity, almost any or all departments of the paper with facility and success.

He was married in Taunton on June 9, 1881, to Miss Emily Loud Sanford, a daughter of the Hon. John E. Sanford, who was a member of this Society from 1884 to his death in 1907.

By the death of his father in November, 1890, Mr. Dexter became also a proprietor of The Congregationalist; and he remained at his post in the office until the property was acquired by the Congregational Sunday School and Publishing Society in 1901. When thus released from stated occupation, he had devoted the larger portion of his active life to exhaustive and conscientious editorial labor.

A new interest had in the meantime absorbed much of his leisure, and was henceforth to be a controlling purpose. His father had left incomplete at his death an elaborate study on the England and Holland of the Pilgrims; and the promptings of filial duty led the son to assume the responsibility of completing this work, which in the result involved the devotion to it of his spare time for fifteen years and the rewriting of his father's entire manuscript.

The first fruit of this period of labor was a book for young