Peoria, Illinois from Wikipedia.Names and places mentioned in John Hamilton Morgan’s journal, so foreign to me a year ago, are becoming more familiar. Some even friends.
Upon the first two or three readings, I wondered, will I ever learn who these people are? One sentence from his March 15, 1882 entry seemed impossible.
Cousin H. B. Morgan, Peoria, called on me.
Yesterday, as I again read there, I realized I now know who H. B. Morgan is. He must surely be Henry Bruce Morgan of Peoria, Illinois. Listed as the fourth child of William F. and Anna Thielkeld Bruce Morgan posted in an earlier post here and seen below.
H. B. Morgan married into the family of Nelson L. and Mary A. Monroe Woodruff, of Peoria, Illinois. In 1855 Mr. Woodruff went into the ice business and continued until his death on October 24, 1879.
The Woodruffs had "six children, two sons and four daughters. Harriet, now Mrs. Emmerson, of Peoria, Lois, now Mrs. Luthy, Jennie, now Mrs. H. B. Morgan, Chauncy, Ida, and Edward, living with their mother at 1025 N. Jefferson street." The ice business is still carried on under the firm name of N. L. Woodruff & Co., under the management of Mr. H. B. Morgan.
John Hamilton Morgan Journal, Special Collections, Marriott Library, University of Utah., Biographical Record of Champaign County., S.V. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1900. Champaign Historical Archives, Champaign County Library, Urbana, Ill. copied August 4, 1978, FHL #1,026,785. From The History of Peoria County, Illinois, 1880, pg 704. http://www.peoriacountyillinois.info/bios/bios_w.html#woodruffedward
You are discovering such wonderful things. Have you had any thoughts about the 9th child Millard and the Millard in Eliza's letter?
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for posting this. I believe William F. Morgan is my ggg grandfather and this is so awesome to see the history laid out like this (and scans of original documents to boot!!!).
ReplyDeleteThanks again,
L. Rose Heichelbech
(granddaughter of Mary Lura Morgan)
How happy I am you found my blog. Could Lura Morgan in the family reunion picture here, http://ancestralties.blogspot.com/2010/06/morgan-family-reunionpeoria-illinois.html, be your grandmother? The uncle who preserved this picture did so hoping Morgan Cousins in the West might get to know their Morgan cousins in the East.
ReplyDeleteIt's Rose again. I got so far down the rabbit hole that I made my own blog about my family's history. I saved a copy of the 1925 picture and have been studying it. My great grandmother is Ruth Stemm. I believe that the Lura Morgan in that pic is my grandmother's namesake. If that's true, then Ruth and Lura must have been close.
ReplyDeleteI hope you don't mind if I use photos from your site and reference your site in my blog. I really appreciate all the work you have done and hope to continue to find out about our family.