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|---------David MORGAN (Great Britain - 1817, Kentucky)
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|------David Washington MORGAN (1775, Virginia - 1835, Indiana)
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| |---------Deborah JONES (1751 - )
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Thomas MORGAN (1814, KY - 1903, Iowa)
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|------Sarah HUGHBANKS (1775, Maryland - 1844, Indiana)
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I believe this half-section must have been the west half of Section 30 of English River Township (the town of Webster is at the south end of that section). There is an old, hard-to-read plat map of Keokuk County, dated 1861 which shows Thomas owning about that much land there. (It is hard to see the borders of the various parcels of land to know exactly what his holdings were there.) From a 1964-65 map, I believe Thomas' granddaughter, Ada (Morgan) Sturdevant still owned about 240 acres of that land\footnote{Ada Sturdevant et al owned most (about 240 acres) of the West half of section 30 and an additional 80 acres in the E half of SW 1/4 of Section 19.} in 1965, and his great-grandson Ken Snakenberg owned about 80 acres there \footnote{Ken's land was the N 1/2 of NW 1/4 of Section 30, English River Twp. maybe minus a few acres on the North border.} so it was in his family for well over 100 years.
On 15 Aug 1838, Thomas Morgan was issued a patent from the US Land Office in Jeffersonville, Indiana, for the NE quarter of SW q. Sec. 14, Twp 4N, Range 6E, 2nd PM, 40 acres in Jackson County. You can find images of this land patent on the WWW at: % http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/IN/2740/469.tif %
The date is the same day that John Ballard was issued one of his land patents and the two patents were just a few miles apart. Recall that the marriage date of Thomas and Polly was the end of 1838 (or Jan. 1839). So a likely scenario is that Thomas moved onto his own farm, met Polly who lived in the neighborhood, and then they were married. (Of course Thomas' father's farm in Scott county wasn't very far away, either.)
I'm not sure where Thomas and Polly were just before they came to Keokuk Co., Iowa. There is a Thomas Morgan in the 1840 census in Lee Co., Iowa who fits this Thomas and Polly's family at the time (one male age 20--30, one female age 20--30, one child under 10). Lee Co. is adjacent to Des Moines Co., Iowa where several of Polly's supposed brothers were living in 1840.
Thomas' wife Polly had a brother Simon, and seems likely that it was he who sold Thomas the land. Polly also had a sister Rebecca, who married Hugh Rodman. The 1880 Keokuk County History also notes that H. H. Rodman settled soon after the original settlers in English River Township, settling on Section 30 (the same as Thomas Morgan). (There were two men named Hugh Rodman: a Hugh H. and a Hugh Chambers Rodman. Hugh H. was Rebecca's husband.)
A Methodist Church was organized in South English in 1853 and Thomas Morgan was among its first members.
Through ``indomitable courage and perseverance, good judgement and economy,'' Thomas grew his farm holdings to total 720 acres (2 square miles). This was a pretty phenomenal size farm for this area in those days. The 1870 census includes a column for valuation of real estate. Thomas' holdings are valued at $20400, far more than anyone around. The typical farm was valued at about $2000--$3000.
Six of Thomas and Polly's 8 children died either as children or relatively young. Thomas remarried and had a second family with Mary McBride. Thomas held various township offices over the years and his 1880 biography describes him as ``a man well preserved in years; naturally a social man and is respected by all who know him.''
He lived with his children after Mary died in 1891. In the 1900 census, Thomas is living with his son, Thomas A. and his family, still in English River Twp. On August 1, 1903 Thomas fell on a sidewalk while going downtown in Webster, fracturing his hip. He suffered for five weeks before he died.
Thomas' Keokuk County biography names his father David of Scott Co., Indiana and I am sure it is the same David presented here. There is only one David Morgan in the 1830 census of that county and the children numbered could contain a boy of Thomas' age. Furthermore, notes of Carl Bogardus, a well-respected Scott County historian include a Thomas as a son of David (but I don't know what the source of his notes was). Thomas also gives his sons the same names as other sons of David Morgan. However, the probate records of David's estate don't mention a son Thomas at all. Also, Thomas' Keokuk County, Iowa biography says he came to Scott County, Indiana at age 12, but David Morgan came to Scott County in 1822. But Thomas' biography also apparently makes a mistake on Thomas' birthdate, and Thomas was a lot older than 12 when it was written in 1880, so I don't think being off by a few years is too terrible of a conflict.
Thomas' estate took over two years to settle after he died. Lyman Morrison investigated the probate records at the Sigourney courthouse and all this is from his findings there. His family spent a lot of time in court settling his estate after his death. There are about 70 pages of petitions of one kind or another. His personal property was not mentioned in his will and he left his land to three children from the second family. Page B. and Nancy J. died shortly after Thomas and before the estate settled, resulting in more petitions. Some of the more interesting pages concern the shares of his estate due to Ed and Jesse Morrison (only surviving children of Thomas Morgan's deceased daughter Hattie). The following were some of the relevant records:
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Sources for this individual: @S27@ @S172@ @S173@ @S133@ @S174@ @S175@ @S176@ @S177@ @S146@ @S1739@
