Thomas Morton

Thomas Morton (c. 1579–1647) was an early colonist in North America from Devon, England. He was a lawyer, writer, and social reformer known for studying American Indian culture, and he founded the colony of Merrymount, located in Quincy, Massachusetts. Biography Mount Wollaston Morton took a three-month exploratory trip to America in 1622, but was back in England by early 1623 complaining of intolerance among ruling elements of the Puritan community. He returned in 1624 as a senior partner in a Crown-sponsored trading venture aboard the ship Unity with his associate Captain Wollaston and 30 indentured young men. They began trading for furs on a spit of land belonging to the Algonquian tribes. Morton immediately began selling liquor and firearms to the Indians, disregarding the laws of Plymouth Colony. Morton and his cohorts attempted to establish their own colony which they called Mount Wollaston. Captain Wollaston moved to Virginia in 1626, leaving Morton in command of the colony, which was renamed Merrymount.