Morfit, Campbell, 1820-1897

Chemist.

From the description of Campbell Morfit papers, 1862-1865. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 70982730

Campbell Morfit, son of attorney Henry M. Morfit, studied chemistry with James C. Booth, and worked in Booth's chemical laboratory in Philadelphia. Campbell Morfit developed methods of soap and starch manufacture and taught at the University of Maryland. He wrote Chemical Manipulations, Treatise of Applied Chemistry, and other works.

From the description of Letters, 1816-1857. (University of Pennsylvania Library). WorldCat record id: 122637888

Henry Mason Morfit was born in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1793. After his capture at sea in 1810, Morfit escaped from his French captors and returned to the United States, where he became a lawyer and Andrew Jackson's commissioner to Texas in 1836. In 1857, he moved to Maryland, where he remained until his death. He and his wife, Catherine Campbell, had 15 children.

Campbell Morfit (1820-1897), the son of Henry M. Morfit, was a chemist and worked for a time as a professor of chemistry at the University of Maryland before moving to England during the Civil War. Morfit authored several notable works on the science throughout his life.

John Wright, the uncle of Wilbur and Orville Wright, lived in Chicago, Illinois, in the mid-1850s, and attempted to secure a patent for improvements in reaping knives and mining machines.

From the guide to the Wright family collection, 1835-1940, 1835-1868, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)