Mortons: A new year of Marryin', Birthin', and Writin'

[ophelia]

Link to their 2009 NYE: http://mortonclan.blogspot.com/2009/01/calathora-new-years-ball.html 

Their circle really wasn't that small. I think it is hard to say wether these marriages were arranged or not. The parents surely encouraged their kids!

Does anybody remember how the Morton's home church was called? They had a homepage a few years back and organized retreats and conferences. I just can wrap my head around the name of the church. 

edited to add: found it!! https://www.christbereanchurch.com 

Good thing that the NCFIC network map still works. ?

Edited November 26, 2018 by ophelia

[lexiloumarie]

14 hours ago, picklepizzas said:

I always got the impression cleve's was pretty arranged too - as in, he was getting a bit old (for the mortons) so they "encouraged him" towards an older sahd whose parents also wanted her to get a move on.  they did live away from the compound but they've been back for awhile now, i'm pretty sure. they're in all addie's pics these days. certainly not breaking away from the family. 

fwiw i get the vibe that the michael and katie were "encouraged" into their smith marriages (not necessarily in an unhappy way for michael), and then as a result of spending so much time together the wesley/rachel and grandparent marriages were a bit more organic. and maybe if wesley hadn't been so clearly "in" to rachel she would have been pushed on cleve, but if there was mutual interest there why not go with it? jmo.

There was a post on one of the locked instas of Morton's visiting Cleve and Lises house - it appeared to be in Florida not far from the Morton's if I understood the location correctly. 

[anjulibai]

I think it's interesting the number of relationships where the girl is older than the guy. Cleve, Sam and John all married women that were older than them, and Martha and Katie both married men younger than them. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but it's surprising to me because it's unusual, both within and without fundiedom. 

[Black Aliss]

3 hours ago, anjulibai said:

I think it's interesting the number of relationships where the girl is older than the guy. Cleve, Sam and John all married women that were older than them, and Martha and Katie both married men younger than them. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, but it's surprising to me because it's unusual, both within and without fundiedom. 

It might have something to do with the thinking that the man also must remain pure until marriage and that men have a difficult time controlling their urges. So the men must marry young (although Cleve is certainly the exception; I always figured he was the confirmed bachelor type), the women can more easily wait until God and Daddy provides the right headship.

[picklepizzas]

Alyssa (Campana) Morton had her third girl yesterday.  Another hospital birth, tgod. She looks kind of cone-headed so I hope for Alyssa's sake it was another vbac. With her fertility rate I would hate to see her start having consistent c-sections... Name is Audrey Kress (I wonder if that's a nod to Kressant, which would be cute). 

I think it's super funny that both alyssas (bates and campana) have had three girls in a row in about the first three years of their marriages. who will get to the precious boy baby first?? the world waits with bated breath. 

[ophelia]

2 hours ago, picklepizzas said:

Name is Audrey Kress (I wonder if that's a nod to Kressant, which would be cute). 

It is indeed a nod to Kressant. They seem to be close, although Kressant lives in Paraguay.

[Mudgie]

It's a lovely baby and I'm glad that everyone appears to be healthy.

Mariah posted a story on Instagram showing the ride home from the hospital and tragically, both Nora and Victoria were in forward facing car seats with their seat belts positioned incorrectly. All of those babies should be rear facing.

I do not and will not ever understand how the Morton's continue to be so willfully reckless with car seats. There is no reason for it and there is absolutely no excuse for it.

[ophelia]

They refuse to be told how things should be done properly. They have Jesus - that's all that matters. Us evil heathens with all their worries and cares about car safety are just a little background noise to them. 

A lot of the Mortons have been fined by the police in the past for not using proper safety measures while driving. If the police would continue to catch them would they face some more severe consequences than a monetary penance?

[Lurky]

It's the Mortons - having an actual car seat is a major step up.  They bragged about how many of the Morton men have had multiple driving violation tickets, and wasn't it them who put normal chairs in a truck, unsecured, for the kids to use when they were going anywhere?

[ophelia]

6 hours ago, Lurky said:

It's the Mortons - having an actual car seat is a major step up.  They bragged about how many of the Morton men have had multiple driving violation tickets, and wasn't it them who put normal chairs in a truck, unsecured, for the kids to use when they were going anywhere?

Yes. I think Martha mentioned that in her book. This shows not only how incredible ignorant they are when it comes to safety measures, but also that there was a time when they lived in real poverty. Didn't they also live in a tent when they first moved to the compound?

[JermajestyDuggar]

14 minutes ago, ophelia said:

Yes. I think Martha mentioned that in her book. This shows not only how incredible ignorant they are when it comes to safety measures, but also that there was a time when they lived in real poverty. Didn't they also live in a tent when they first moved to the compound?

Some of the stuff she mentioned about their childhood reminded me a lot of the Nogs. However the Nogs will never work their way out of their current situation unlike the Morton’s. 

[ophelia]

1 minute ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

Some of the stuff she mentioned about their childhood reminded me a lot of the Nogs. However the Nogs will never work their way out of their current situation unlike the Morton’s. 

I don't really know anything about the Nogs, because I never followed them. But when reading about their childhood (BTW: thank you to the brave FJ-member who took one for the team and actually read her book) I thought that this is a realistic image how a life and especially a childhood are effected by their QF, fundamentalist beliefs. The Duggars and Bateses tend to make the public think that it is all hearts and bows to live this lifestyle, while most people in the real world suffer some real damage. 

[hoipolloi]

Re: children in (or out of) carseats. Can't fathom people who would jeopardize infants' & children's lives this way. Remember, we're talking about adults who are so, so pro-life that they regularly protest at Planned Parenthood. ?

What a bunch of fucking hypocrites. I hope that the little ones don't end up paying for their arrogance.

[albireo]

This is more of a response to the conversation about enmeshment between the Mortons and their family friends in the Upcoming Babies thread, but: did you know that Danny Lane and Hugh Morris (Campbell's ex) are cousins? I was doing a bit of research on the Lane family and who their friends were, and the Morrises kept showing up. Turns out they're related. That circle just got tinier.

https://www.instagram.com/p/prAEKyPS9_/

Example: This is from Hugh Morris's insta, and the_98_rock, the cousin Hugh mentions, is Rockey Lane, Danny's younger brother.

[lexiloumarie]

1 hour ago, albireo said:

This is more of a response to the conversation about enmeshment between the Mortons and their family friends in the Upcoming Babies thread, but: did you know that Danny Lane and Hugh Morris (Campbell's ex) are cousins? I was doing a bit of research on the Lane family and who their friends were, and the Morrises kept showing up. Turns out they're related. That circle just got tinier.

https://www.instagram.com/p/prAEKyPS9_/

Example: This is from Hugh Morris's insta, and the_98_rock, the cousin Hugh mentions, is Rockey Lane, Danny's younger brother.

He has a sister that looks like Danny's sisters and I can't remember her name at all. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

My sister and our female first cousin married two male first cousins. So I guess their kids are double second cousins ?

[SolomonFundy]

19 hours ago, ophelia said:

Yes. I think Martha mentioned that in her book. This shows not only how incredible ignorant they are when it comes to safety measures, but also that there was a time when they lived in real poverty. Didn't they also live in a tent when they first moved to the compound?

They lived in a series of homemade tents for close to a year, as best as I could tell. Martha was all over the place in her timeline.  Ultimately, after braving snakes, spiders, mosquitoes, and at least a few home surgeries, a hurricane destroyed their tent arrangement. The family moved into the husk of the house ahead of schedule, despite the fact it had missing walls, windows, and no front door for a long time. (And of course, no plumbing or interior electricity.)

The Mortons were scrounging for food, living under tarps, and roaming the countryside around the compound without supervision, adequate food, or access to sanitary bathing facilities for a long time. I'm sure the life had its charms, but it's clear that the family lived with a lot of uncertainty and hardship.

[JermajestyDuggar]

1 hour ago, SolomonFundy said:

They lived in a series of homemade tents for close to a year, as best as I could tell. Martha was all over the place in her timeline.  Ultimately, after braving snakes, spiders, mosquitoes, and at least a few home surgeries, a hurricane destroyed their tent arrangement. The family moved into the husk of the house ahead of schedule, despite the fact it had missing walls, windows, and no front door for a long time. (And of course, no plumbing or interior electricity.)

The Mortons were scrounging for food, living under tarps, and roaming the countryside around the compound without supervision, adequate food, or access to sanitary bathing facilities for a long time. I'm sure the life had its charms, but it's clear that the family lived with a lot of uncertainty and hardship.

She can also look back on it with rose colored glasses because things eventually got better and was ok. No one died or lost a limb. They didn’t starve or get separated. Therefore the happy ending can make the hard times seem rosier.

[fundiefan]

5 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

She can also look back on it with rose colored glasses because things eventually got better and was ok. No one died or lost a limb. They didn’t starve or get separated. Therefore the happy ending can make the hard times seem rosier.

I suspect there is also a lot of their godly provision BS going on with their thinking of that time in life. In his time, god never fails, godly protection, blessings. However it could be phrased, they all grew up with the thoughts and beliefs that their god literally had a hand in their lives, so looking back, they can say god used that time to teach them something, or reward them afterwards for trusting him. They all prayed hard enough, trusted enough, and idolized their parents enough that their god brought them through that season and has rained down his blessings for their faithfulness.

I know that's a word salad; it was intend to be.

[SolomonFundy]

They were utterly dependent on the kindness of the community. I can't remember all of the smaller details, but they benefited from donated clothes, food, bedding (all of the children slept on the floor for years in "nests" made of towels and blankets), and direct monetary assistance. Some of which was offered with a veneer of dignity by paying the children for "odd job" work. They relied on neighbors for free/discounted junker cars, access to phones when mama morton went into labor every year, and, of course, turning a blind eye to the growing hoard of unsupervised children who were never in school, and who participated in illegal child labor with their father's construction company from the age of 9-10 onward.

Quick edit to say, I'm sure the Mortons don't see it this way at all. I'm sure they fancy themselves completely self-sufficient, and that the random acts of "Christian kindness" shown by members of the community were just meant in a friendly way. The reality was that it was actually respite charity for a homeless family that was one parental illness or injury away from being dispersed into foster care at any given time, but... #blessed.

Edited December 13, 2018 by SolomonFundy

[dramallama]

1 hour ago, SolomonFundy said:

They were utterly dependent on the kindness of the community. I can't remember all of the smaller details, but they benefited from donated clothes, food, bedding (all of the children slept on the floor for years in "nests" made of towels and blankets), and direct monetary assistance. Some of which was offered with a veneer of dignity by paying the children for "odd job" work. They relied on neighbors for free/discounted junker cars, access to phones when mama morton went into labor every year, and, of course, turning a blind eye to the growing hoard of unsupervised children who were never in school, and who participated in illegal child labor with their father's construction company from the age of 9-10 onward.

Quick edit to say, I'm sure the Mortons don't see it this way at all. I'm sure they fancy themselves completely self-sufficient, and that the random acts of "Christian kindness" shown by members of the community were just meant in a friendly way. The reality was that it was actually respite charity for a homeless family that was one parental illness or injury away from being dispersed into foster care at any given time, but... #blessed.

Somehow all of that's fine but ask them about the ebil gubmint providing a social safety net for citizens and they're all "MAH TAXES" and "THE LARD" and "FREEDUMB".  I think it might have been their blog (or the Sanderses?  not 100% sure) that had a post back in the day railing against the evil of FDR and the New Deal.  

[NachosFlandersStyle]

39 minutes ago, dramallama said:

Somehow all of that's fine but ask them about the ebil gubmint providing a social safety net for citizens and they're all "MAH TAXES" and "THE LARD" and "FREEDUMB".  I think it might have been their blog (or the Sanderses?  not 100% sure) that had a post back in the day railing against the evil of FDR and the New Deal.  

Classic conservative thinking: charity is good as long as the white Christian patriarchs get to decide who's deserving and who isn't. If the government gets involved, they might end up helping ALL of the poor, including the ones we don't like!

[caitrona]

1 hour ago, dramallama said:

Somehow all of that's fine but ask them about the ebil gubmint providing a social safety net for citizens and they're all "MAH TAXES" and "THE LARD" and "FREEDUMB".  I think it might have been their blog (or the Sanderses?  not 100% sure) that had a post back in the day railing against the evil of FDR and the New Deal.  

That was definitely Papa Morton. He also railed against "government schools" a LOT. 

[ophelia]

I wonder what the grandparents thought about all this. Jeanine seems to come from a middle-class family and this lifestyle most certainly meant a step down for her.

I just can't imagine how they could live this way. And add a new child to the mix every once in a while.

[lexiloumarie]

15 hours ago, ophelia said:

I wonder what the grandparents thought about all this. Jeanine seems to come from a middle-class family and this lifestyle most certainly meant a step down for her.

I just can't imagine how they could live this way. And add a new child to the mix every once in a while.

Her father seemed very involved in their lives - perhaps to keep an eye and help when he could? The kids all seemed very close to him from the blog and instas. Now the Morton parents I don't remember seeing much about - even though Pa Morton (Michael Sr) did a bit of blogging in the early days.