William Morthland, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of William Morthland
WILLIAM MORTHLAND - William Morthland was born in Topeka, Kansas, on November 9, 1896, the son of Alonzo and Jennie (Tolcott) Morthland, the former of whom was a native of Galion, Ohio, and the latter of Crown Point, Indiana. The maternal grandfather, Henry, was the son of Judge Tolcott of Porter County. To the parents of our subject were born three sons, of .whom the subject of this sketch is the youngest. The others are John, who married Lyra Stone, of Indianapolis; and Charles, who died at the age of fourteen.
William Morthland completed the grade and high school courses and then entered Valparaiso University. On the completion of his studies at this institution he accepted a position with the engineering department of the Gary steel mills, and remained in this service until he entered military service. He was assigned to the Brigade Headquarters, Field Artillery, Twelfth Division, which was located at Camp Custer, Battle Creek, Michigan. He remained there during his entire service, and was mustered out January 14, 1919. He then returned to the steel mills at Gary, and served in the engineering department until his election as county surveyor of Porter County in 1925, and to which office he was renominated in May, 1926.
Mr. Morthland was united in marriage with Faye, daughter of Isaac and Patience Dillingham, of Valparaiso. To this union were born three children: Earl, Marie and William. Mr. Morthland has a number of achievements in the engineering field to his credit, among which was the platting of the new town of Ogden Dunes, and he was also the engineer for the town of Chesterton. He prepared the plans for the Brown ditch in Pine Township, one of the large drainage projects of its kind in this part of the state. He is a member of the Valparaiso Lodge of Masons, Elks, Chamber of Commerce, American Legion, Indiana Association of County Surveyors and County Engineers, and the Indiana Engineering Society.
Source: Cannon, Thomas H., H. H. Loring, and Charles J. Robb. 1927. History of the Lake and Calumet Region of Indiana Embracing the Counties of Lake, Porter and Laporte. Volume II. Indianapolis, Indiana: Historians' Association. 827 p.
Page(s) in Source: 276-277
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook