Born in Charlton, Massachusetts, William T. G. Morton was the son of James Morton, a miner, and Rebecca (Needham) Morton.In 1841, he gained notoriety for developing a new process to solder false teeth onto gold plates.[2] In 1842, he left college after graduating [3] to study in Hartford, Connecticut with dentist Horace Wells, with whom Morton shared a brief partnership.Morton then left Harvard without graduating.[4]