Capt. James and Elizabeth S. McCoy Morgan.

Capt. James Morgan is the son of Garrard II and Sarah Sanderson Morgan. There is a very nice history here.

Capt. James married Elizabeth S. McCoy, a descendant of Scottish emigrant William McCoy. William’s family settled first on the East Shore of Maryland. Ultimately they settled in Kentucky, as did the Morgans and the Hamiltons. Their names are interwoven throughout our family’s history.

Capt. James Morgan
b. Jan 9, 1802, Nicholas Co., Ky.
m. Nicholas Co., Ky., 1821, Elizabeth S. McCoy
d. April 1, 1872.

Elizabeth S. McCoy
b. April 12, 1802, Nicholas Co., Ky.
d. May 10, 1874, Greensburg, Ind.

“They removed from Kentucky to Decatur Co., Ind., in 1822, before he was of age, settling some three miles northeast of Greensburg, in the unbroken forest, and taking shelter in the hollow trunk of a large poplar tree, being very large at the ground, and hollow, and as large as an ordinary room of a house. Here they spent first winter. He afterward used same stump, as the tree was cut away, for a stable for a span of horses.

"He was full of energy and push; was active in politics all his life. In 1829 was elected to position of County Commissioner, which gave him the management of the school funds of the county. He held this position until 1833. He was then elected sheriff, and held this office until 1837; then elected member of State Senate, and was re-elected twice, making three terms he held the office. In 1845 was elected member of House of Representatives. In 1860 and 1862 was elected County Treasurer. He was a leader of men, of unswerving integrity, and of an excitable temperament, yet a man easily approached, and a generous friend of the poor. Severe in his denunciation of what he believed to be wrong, but highly respected by his opponents. For many years he was extensively engaged in buying and shipping hogs and pork-packing in Cincinnati. He was an honest, faithful public servant.

"In 1861, when Ft Sumter was fired upon, he at once raised a company for the Seventh Indiana Regiment, in the three months' service, was commissioned captain, and served his time in West Virginia. A man of undoubted courage. He was worshiped by his men. He thought seriously of going into the three years’ service, and Governor Morton offered him the colonelcy of a regiment, but his friends protested vigorously, because of his advanced age, and he gave it up. He was a generous friend of the soldiers’ orphans and widows.

"’Aunt Betsy Morgan,’ as she was familiarly known, was twin sister to Barton S. McCoy, and was of a quiet, humble disposition, of few words, but of a strong determination of character.” They had nine children, all born in Decatur Co., Ind., except their oldest daughter, Amazet."

William McCoy and His Descendants, compiled and published by Lycurgus McCoy, 1904. Online here. Picture from Nicholas G. Morgan gray brochure for Morgans in the West.

Robert and Mary Eward Hamilton, William and Isabella Thompson Hamilton.

The mouth of the Licking River

where it joins the Ohio River, from Wikipedia.

Robert and Mary Eward Hamilton's four sons, and thier families, emigrated from Kentucky to Indiana. They are all listed in the 1850 census.

Robert Hamiltonb. June 17, 1768,
came from Pennsylvania to Kentucky
m. Mary Edwards [Eward], 21 April 1794 (b)
d. June 17, 1817, Kentucky

Mary Eward
b. May 20, 1774
came from Virginia to Kentucky
d. March 15, 1848, Decatur, Indiana, at the home of her son, Robert Marshall Hamilton

Their children:
1-James Eward, 1795-1881, m. (1) Jane McCoy 1796-1851 [5 Nov 1818 ] (n) (2) Rosannah McCoy 1808-1891.
2-Fidelia, 1797-1860, m. Elijah Mitchell [16 Apr 1816] (b)
3-Thomas 1798-1800, m. Julia Ann Donnell
4-Cyrus 1800-1879, m. Polly McCoy
5-Spicey Glover 1802-1838, m. John Thomson
6-Eliza 1804-1880
7-Ellen E. 1806-1832, m. Barton W. S. McCoy
8-Sarah 1809-1892, m. Thomas Donnell
9-Robert Marshall 1811-1901, m. Mary Morgan
10- Mary Jane 1814-1891, m. Jackson Lowe
11-Minerva 1817-1903, m. (1) Peter Bartholomew, (2) John C. Donnell

"Robert Hamilton was born in Pennsylvania on June 17, 1765, and died at his home in Kentucky on June 17, 181 7, he was married to Mary Eward, who was born in Virginia on May 20, 1774, and died at the home of her son, R. M. [Robert Marshall] Hamilton, northeast of Greensburg, in this county, March 15, 1848. They were married on June 19, 1794 in Kentucky. Robert Hamilton emigrated from Pennsylvania to Kentucky when the latter state was admitted to the Union and recruited a company and captained it during the War of 1812, serving against the Indians. He died in 1817 and his body was buried in the old Concord churchyard in Nicholas county, Kentucky. Afterwards his remains were brought by his descendants and placed beside those of his wife in the Kingston cemetery.

"Robert Hamilton was the son of William Hamilton, a Scottish Presbyterian who emigrated from the north of Ireland about 1750 and located in Pennsylvania, whence he later emigrated to Kentucky, settling on McBrides creek, then in Bourbon county, now Nicholas county, being among the earliest settlers of that section. William Hamilton married Isabella Thompson, in Pennsylvania, to which union were born seven children, namely: William, who was killed while battling with the patriots for independence during the Revolutionary War; Alexander, who settled in Clark county, Indiana; Thomas, who married Charity Welch and died near Carlisle, Kentucky, in 1803; Samuel, who married Jeannie Sweeney; Robert, who married Mary Eward; Eleanor, affectionately known as "Nellie," born on May 12, 1758, married John Blair and died on December 25, 1827; and Isabella, who, about 1808, married Samuel Hindman."

I found a few of these family members' marriage dates in the following books.
(b=Bourbon County) FHL US/CAN 976.9423 V2s, Burbon County, Kentucky, Marriage Records 1786-1851, Compiled by Robert E. & Phyllis J. Selby, Copyright 1982, Selby Publishing & Printing, Kokomo, Indiana 46902.

(n=Nicholas County) FHL, Nicholas County, Kentucky, Vital Statistics, Vol. II Marriage Records 1799-1855, Copyright 1976, John L. Sharp.

The information in this post is from History of Decatur County, Indiana; its people, industries and institutions, by Lewis A. Harding, 1915. http://www.archive.org/stream/historyofdecatur02hard/historyofdecatur02hard_djvu.txt

Great Grandfather John Hamilton Morgan's cousin, Sarah Morgan Hamilton Rankin.

I wanted to know more about this lady than I was able to learn in the gray brochure I posted about here. Having studied the 100 some-odd Hamiltons that appear in the 1850 Decatur, Indiana Census, helped me.

Sarah Morgan Hamilton is Great Grandfather John Hamilton Morgan’s cousin. Why do their Morgan and Hamilton names appear in opposite order of one another?

Sarah's mother is Mary Morgan Hamilton, married to Uncle Marshall (Robert Marshall) Hamilton [some information about him is posted here]. John Hamilton Morgan’s father, Garrard III Morgan, is Mary Morgan Hamilton’s brother [some information about him is posted here].

Sarah was born to Uncle Robert Marshall and Aunt Mary “Polly” Morgan Hamilton in 1845 in Decatur, Indiana. The Hamilton's gave their first daughter her mother's maiden name, Sarah Morgan Hamilton.

On February 24, 1875, in Decatur County, Indiana, Sarah was married to John T. Rankin, a man 20 years her senior.

In the 1880 Washington Township, Decatur, Indiana census, John was listed as a farmer, born in Ohio, and his mother and father were born in Tennessee. Sarah was keeping house.

A daughter, Mary, was born to them. According to the 1900 census, they were still in Washington, Decatur, Indiana. John T. was listed as age 74, and Sarah Rankin as age 54. There 16-year old daughter would have been born in about 1884. Under the question to the mother of how many of her children were living, Sarah listed 1. Under "how many children," she listed 4.

According to this record, John T. Rankin served in two South Carolina infantry divisions, and one from Illinois. His place of birth on his census record was Ohio, with his parents each born in Tennessee.

According to this Civil Ward record, John T. Rankin filed for an invalid’s pension in 1890. Sarah filed for a widow’s pension on July 18, 1915.

In the 1930 Greensburg, Decatur, Indiana census, Sarah Rankin was 84, and her daughter, Mary Rankin was 45, and lived with her mother.

What became of Mary "Polly" Morgan Hamilton's granddaughter, Mary, who was named for her grandmother?

Marriage Records 1878-1905 Books L thru P, compiled by Ruth M. Slevin Part I-Grooms Part II, Book L, Page 150, Ancestry.com. Indiana Marriage Collection, 1800-1941 [database on-line. Provo, UT, USA:Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.

Morgan Family Reunion,Peoria, Illinois, 1925.

Among my Mother (Helen Rex Frazier’s) things was a gray 26-page booklet she received from her Uncle Nicholas G. Morgan sometime after 1955. I tried reading it years ago, but I couldn't understand how it applied to any Morgans I knew of. This picture is from that booklet.

In the front of the booklet, Nicholas G. Morgan wrote,

“brochure of the Bruce and Morgan Families for the information largely of the Morgans of Utah and the West.”

Children and grandchildren of William Franklin and Ann Threlkeld Bruce Morgan are pictured in this family reunion photo. Information about some of these family members was posted on this blog here and here.

Some of these people are mentioned in Eliza Hamilton Morgan’s 1895 letter to her recently widowed daughter-in-law, Mellie, posted here.

Ann Threlkeld Bruce married William Franklin Morgan, the youngest son of Garrard III and Sarah Sanderson Morgan, of Nicholas County, Kentucky. Their children are Lucinda Bruce, Amelia I, Garrard, Henry Bruce, Woodson, Elizabeth, William Bruce, Annie, Millard and James Morgan.

Robert Edge mentioned in JHM journal 1882.

When I began posting entries from John Hamilton Morgan’s journals, I was asked if I’d seen anything about Robert Edge or Hyrum Belnap in the journal. At that time I’d never heard of either man, and determined to keep an eye out. Nor had I heard about a Mysterious Preacher.

Recently I’ve been following the interesting posts (14 of them) about Robert Edge, also referred to as A Mysterious Preacher, at the Amateur Mormon Historian here. I did discover there is a folder in the Nicholas Groesbeck Morgan, Sr. collection at the Marriott Library here, titled A Mysterious Preacher (Accn, Box 16, Folder 12). It holds the Juvenile Instructor account posted by Bruce Crow.

Had I limited my reading to John Morgan’s journal I’d have never seen mention of a Mysterious Preacher. And I’ve only seen Robert Edge mentioned in his journal once. Keeping in mind, the April 15-August 20, 1879, and October 9, 1880, to the end of 1880 sections, are not included in the Marriott Library’s journal copy.

On March 30, 2010, after noting the source of that day’s blog entry about “A Mysterious Preacher,” on Amateur Mormon Historian, Bruce Crow wrote, “Now all I need is President Morgan’s version.”

About a month ago, I was in the Church History Library here in SLC. While waiting for a microfilm I’d ordered, I decided to peruse an aisle in the periodical’s section. A group of volumes entitled “The Contributor” caught my eye. Unfamiliar with them, I selected the volume for 1894-1895, that being the one that would cover the year of John Morgan’s death. Maybe I’d learn something. In my initial attempt to thumb through the book, it fell open to a much used section beginning at page 461; Robert Edge, The Mysterious Preacher. On pages 461-473 I found just about everything I’ve read about this topic.

Page 461 begins: The following article was written some years since by Elder Hyrum Belnap who was at the time laboring as a missionary in the Southern States. It was published in the Juvenile Instructor and attracted considerable attention. During the life of Elder John Morgan the article was submitted to him, and he expressed a desire to enlarge upon it, as he had collected some incidents connected with the labors of Robert Edge which he desired to incorporate in a revised article. His unexpected death, however, prevented his accomplishing the work he intended to do. The CONTRIBUTOR therefore submitted the matter to Elder Hyrum Belnap, who stated that he had received no particular additional information concerning this personage and authorized the republication of his narrative.

We also communicated with the President of the Southern States Mission, who kindly delegated Elder W. W. Bean, who had been laboring as a missionary in the Southern States, but who had been released to return home, to gather what additional information he could concerning this noted preacher. The information he gathered we also append to the article, and trust that the whole narrative will prove of interest and encouragement to the Latter-day Saints, in whose services in the preaching of truth no one can labor without receiving their gratitude for his efforts to allay prejudice against the Gospel of the Son of God.

The page below, that mentioned Robert Edge in the John Morgan Journal, is of such poor quality, I have typed the text beneath it. August, 1882.

1882
August 7Early this a.m. drove to Rome [Georgia]. Met Elders Houston and Metcalf and spent an hour pleasantly with them. At 11:28, took train for Selma and arrived at 9 p.m. Put up at Southern Hotel.
T. B. Callicott, No. 1641 8th St., West Kansas City, Mo.

John Nelson} All at Judsonia, White County, Arkansas.
Meek Maddon} Names given by Robert Edge.
Nelson Andrews}
John Daver}[print page 29]
David Puttney, Leavenworth, Kansas. 710 Ottawa St.
August 8
I am forty years old today and am spending most of the day at Selma. At 4:20 p.m. took train for Lauderdale where I spent the night. Cool and pleasant.

You may be interested in reading: We Meet the Mysterious Robert Edge, from The Ancestor Files here.

I have a question: Within a year of the passing of President John Morgan, why would the Contributor choose to run these accounts of "A Mysterious Preacher"?

From Southern States Missionaries'

listed alphabetical in the John Morgan Collection.

Belnap, Hyrum, set apart June 14, 1879, date returned October 3, 1881

Belnap, Joseph, set apart December 14, 1882, date returned November 17, 1884

Belnap, Oliver, set apart October 31, 1887, date returned not available

Note: In his journal, John Morgan usually referred to his missionaries as Elder [Belnap, etc.]

Journal entries from John Hamilton Morgan Journal, Marriott Library, Special Collections, University of Utah.