My Contribution: As a doctor in Harrisburg, I helped many citizens with their health, but I was also busy with church and civic affairs. I tirelessly worked to establish the Forster Street YMCA as a place of recreation and health for our youth. I also was active in local fraternal and professional development organizations.
My Legacy: My legacy is the success of the Forster Street YMCA. Also, my work in the tuberculosis clinic aided the public health of the city and local students through awareness and testing, which eventually led to a decline in positive cases.
About Me: “He practiced medicine in Germantown and Carlisle before opening offices in this city and since has served as a president of the Forster Street YMCA board of directors, and as a trustee of the Wesley AME Zion Church.” Harrisburg Telegraph, June 5, 1944.
Full Name: Morris H. Layton, Jr.
Birth Date: August 23, 1887
Death Date: June 4, 1944
Place of Birth: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Sex: Male
Race: “Mulatto” (1910 and 1920 Federal Censuses), “Negro” (1930 and 1940 Federal Censuses)
Places of Residence: 708 East Street (1900-1910) and 930 N. 6th Street (1920-1940), Harrisburg; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Germantown, Pennsylvania; Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Connection to the Old Eighth Ward: Resident; physician and public health advocate; attended church in ward.
Family Members: Maternal grandmother: Harriet Marshall. Maternal grandfather: Eby Marshall. Father: Morris H. Layton, Sr. Mother: Ella Marshall Layton. Siblings: Ira L. Layton, Marshall Layton, Harriet “Hattie” R. Layton. Wife: M1: Daisy (Chapman) Layton (d. 1912). M2: Olive Nelson Layton. Child: Olive (Layton) Harris. Son-in-Law: Thomas Harris.
Education: Harrisburg High School, 1905 (salutatorian). Philadelphia Medico-Chirurgical College, 1910.
Occupations: Physician
Church Membership: Wesley Union A.M.E. Zion Church
Activism: President of the Forster Street YMCA board of directors (president); Wesley Union A.M.E Church (trustee); Sanhedrin Court and The Knights of the Round Table; Officer of State Association of Colored Doctors, Dentists and Druggists; Alpha Musical Club, National Association of Negro Musicians (advisor); Dauphin County Medical Society; Tuberculosis Clinic on Sixth Street.
Connections: Alexander Dennee Bibb, Dr. Charles Crampton, C. Sylvester Jackson. Related to Harriet Marshall (grandmother), Rev. W.H. Marshall (uncle), A. Leslie Marshall (cousin), Dr. William E Marshall (cousin), and Morris H. Layton, Sr. (father).
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