David came from Wales to America about 1747 and he settled in Pennsylvania, possibly Bucks Co., initially. By 1787, he was living in Loudoun Co., Virginia when he leased a parcel of land there. The 1787 holding was just ease of the Blue Ridge (the Loudoun-Clarke Co. line) and south of Route 7 and the town of Bluemont. In 1792, he apparently moved about five miles west because on 18 Aug 1792 he leased land in what is now Clarke Co., VA but was then still part of Frederick county. This land is just east of the Shenandoah River, north of Routes 17 and 50. The land is along the south-central fork of a Shenandoah tributary called Morgan Mill Stream.
This 1792 lease is only about two miles from a holding of a Michael Reveal. Reveal's land was near where modern Highways 17/50 cross the Shenandoah River. Two of Michael Reveal's sons married Morgan women --- one, Catherine, definitely a daughter of David, the other, Elizabeth, thought to be.
By 1795, David Morgan and his children move to Bourbon Co., Kentucky. David apparently died in Nicholas Co., Kentucky about 1817, since his estate inventory was dated 1817.
We are pointed to Wales for his origins by at least two sources: An 1880 Keokuk Co., Iowa article about his grandson Thomas Morgan said that Thomas' grandfather ``came to this country about 1747, was born in Wales''. No first name is given, he's only referred to as the grandfather.
Another family story in the Ogle John Morgan and Ira Mervin Morgan families, three Morgan brothers came to the US from Wales. According to Valentine Morgan's family, the father gave them a salt box to bring. Mary M. Morgan of Indianapolis, IN, who passed this story along, has the supposed salt box, as of 1999. The salt box is a deep, octagon-shaped glass dish.
Other information about this David comes from rememberances of Frances Ann (Thompson) Morgan, wife of David's grandson Valentine Morgan. About this David, she said he, ``was well educated for a lawyer is thought to have come from Wales, and had four children, Reece, John, Katherine, and David.'' Frances was elderly at the time she dictated the information to a granddaughter. Her information was mostly regarding Reece Jones Morgan and the Crawford family. Most things she presented as facts have been proven true. However, Frances also did not give a first name to this head of the family.
Another family tradition pointing to Wales and which does give the first name of David is from a Jackson Co., Indiana DAR book article about Morgan descendent Minnie Deputy Lewis. It includes a paragraph on David Morgan, the son of this David Morgan. It states that the son David, ``descended from David Morgan who came with his parents from Wales to Bucks County, Pa.''
There is no other supporting evidence for the ``Bucks County'' part of the location, and that DAR biography goes on to relate David to Sarah Morgan, the mother of Daniel Boone, the famous frontiersman. It is a pretty common Morgan family myth to claim relationship to this Sarah Morgan. The dates and known facts about her don't match up very well with the sketchy origins of our Morgan family here. However, the fact that this David Morgan family came through Pennsylvania is supported by his daughter Catherine's 1850 Census (Nicholas Co., KY) entry which says she was born in Pennsylvania.
According to the birthplaces of his children, David had moved to Virginia by 1773 when his son Reece was born. His son David W. was also born in Virginia sometime between 1775--1780.
The first name of David is known from various land, tax, and court records in Kentucky and Virginia. We trace our Morgan family to Bourbon county Kentucky through several family records where it is given as the birthplace of this David's grandchildren, for instance the above mentioned biography of Thomas Morgan and DAR records.
The reason both Bourbon and Nicholas counties are mentioned is because Nicholas county was split off from Bourbon in 1799.
The 1795 Tax list for Bourbon Co., Kentucky has the names: David Morgan, John Morgin, Rees Morgin, and David Morgan Jr. listed near each other.
The names John, Rees, and David correspond exactly with the sons of this David Morgan mentioned by Frances (Thompson) Morgan, and since there is a David and David, Jr., that implies that this father's name was David.
Another piece of evidence suggesting that his name is David comes from Mary Malita Morgan (a descendent and researcher). Mary wrote that his name might be David, citing something found in Nicholas Co. that she couldn't find again at the time she wrote me. But she recalled it was from Nicholas Co., KY, the ``inventory of David Morgan, Joseph Reveal, adm.'', ``dated 1817'' and ``consisted of a statement of ` ' [blank] acres of land, no quantity, no location, nothing else'' which they (Mary and Reba Morgan Fraustein) found on LDS microfilms. Mary wrote that they looked through all the boxes in the Nicholas Co. courthouse which might be relevant but couldn't find anything.
The search for this Morgan family was directed to the area of Frederick County, Virginia, because of the daughter Catherine Morgan Reveal. There is a 1794 marriage record of Catherine Morgan and Joseph Reveal in Frederick Co. By itself, that wouldn't be much to go on. However, there are also land records which show this same Morgan family. According to a published map and lease records, in 1787, a parcel of land in western Loudoun Co., VA was leased by David Morgan during ``the Natural Lives of John Morgan David Washington Morgan & Lewis Jones Morgan sons of the said David'' (LoudounCo, Q-243-1787). The designation Q-243 indicates deed book Q, page 243. It appears that Reece Jones Morgan was referred to as ``Lewis Jones Morgan''. On 18 Aug 1792, David Morgan leases another parcel, about 5 miles to the west, in Frederick (now Clarke) Co., VA. The 1792 lease was ``to David Morgan ... for and during the natural lives of David Washington his Son, James Longwell & William Oldacre Son of John Oldacre, to commence from the 18th day of April last ...'' Jno Morgan was a witness.
Both parcels from 1787 and 1792 were in the tract of land known as the ``Manor of Leeds'' in Virginia.
One or two of David Morgan's daughters married sons of Michael Riley Reveal. Reveal family records also trace back to Frederick Co., VA, and the Reveal family later came to the same area of Kentucky as this Morgan family. The land lease maps and records show that in 1792, Michael Reveal and his sons James and Thomas are named on a Frederick Co. lease which is only about 2 miles from the 1792 David Morgan lease.
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Here
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is a map showing the approximate locations of David Morgan's land in
Clarke and Loudoun Counties, Virginia.
The box labelled 330 is his 1787 lease, and the box labelled 331
is his 1792 lease. Box 400 is Michael Reveal's parcel which he leased in 1792.
The numbers are following the identifiers in the indexed map where this
information was found.
Here is an excerpt from the 1792 lease:
Bk 23, p.292 - 18 Aug 1792. Lease between the Rev. Denny
Fairfax, lately called Denny Martin of Leeds Castle, Co. of Kent and
Kingdom of Great Britain, a devisee named in the last Will and
Testament of the Right Hon. Thomas Lord Fairfax Baron of Cameron in
that part of Great Britain called Scotland decd. by Thomas Bryan
Martin Esq. of Greenway Court, County of Frederick, and State of Virginia
and David Morgan of Frederick
County ... for and in consideration of rents and covenants hereafter
mentioned hath granted to farm let ... all that lot of Land No. 357 in
the County of Frederick being part of the Manor of Leeds and bounded
by a Survey thereof made by George Bell ... containing 220 A. including
the 100 A. formerly leased to Benjamin Berry, Jun. ... for and during
the natural lives of David Washington his Son, James Longwell &
William Oldacre Son of John Oldacre ... yielding and paying yearly
rent of four Pounds ...
Wit: G. Bell (surety) Denny Fairfax
Jno (x) Morgan Da. Morgan
William Mardias
A condition of both leases was that David Morgan had to plant and raise an orchard of 100 apple trees on the land.
There is a Morgan Mill Stream and a Morgan's Mill Road in the vicinity of David's 1792 lease. According to Keith Morgan, a 1990s descendent of a John Morgan who ran the ferry across the Shenandoah at Route 50 in 1795, a book by George Warren Chappelear states that David Morgan ``owned that land from 1785 to 1795. The land is now occupied by Jane Radford who lives in the original Morgan house. The mill is just off her property.'' I don't currently have a concrete citation for that quote, though.
However, one Morgan's Mill was apparently called that after it was sold to a Col. Benjamin Morgan by Raleigh Colston in the 1820s. According to maps, there is another Morgan's Mill on Wiley's Road and Morgan's Mil Branch. David Morgan's 1792 lease was about a mile south of that, apparently. So it appears that David may not have been connected with either of the Morgan's mills.
Two people who did a lot of work in researching the descendents of David Morgan are his great great great grandchildren, Mary Malita Morgan and Rebah (Morgan) Fraustein. I believe that some of Rebah's work went into notes compiled by Carl Bogardus, a well-respected Scott County historian, because there are some notes with Rebah's name on them which look very similar to the Carl Bogardus notes. Included in those Carl Bogardus notes is one page summarizing the four children of Reece: David, Reece, John, and Catherine. According to old traditions of the family of Mary and Rebah, the first name of this Morgan patriarch was Reece. But there wasn't really evidence for that and this tradition has been replaced with the above evidence for the name David.
David's daughter Elizabeth is linked to this family by Reveal family records.
Joseph S. Morgan told Mary Osterman that his grandfather, David, left 4 brothers and 2 sisters in KY when he came to Indiana.
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Sources for this individual: @S242@ @S27@ @S243@ @S244@ @S245@ @S246@ @S247@ @S248@ @S249@ @S179@ @S174@ @S250@
