The Morgan family line can be traced back to 15th century Wales. The first
Morgan in this particular line was Thomas Morgan who wed Elizabeth Vaughn.
Their son was Rowland Morgan who married Blanche Thomas. Their son was
Thomas Morgan who wed Elizabeth Bodenham.
That
couple had a son called Sir William Morgan, born ca. 1582 in Llandoff,
Glamorgan County, Wales. Sir William married in 1606 Elizabeth Winter.
William and Elizabeth’s son James, born 1607 at Llandoff, traveled to America.
On 6 August 1640 he wed Margaret Hill of Great Barstead, England. There
are citations which say they wed in Roxbury, MA and some which say they
married in England, taking a child with them to the colonies. More investigation
is needed. They had six children.
Their
son generally called Capt. John Morgan was born on 30 March 1645 in Roxbury.
On 16 November 1665 he wed Rachel Dymond Deming of Wethersfield, CT. She
became the mother of seven children before her death. Capt. John married
agaiin and had eight more children.
Capt.
John and Rachel’s son Samuel Morgan, born 9 September 1669 in New London,
CT. Samuel married on 30 December 1709 Hannah Avery. They had eight children.
Hannah
and Samuel’s son Abijah was born 6 July 1715 at New London. The name of
his spouse remains unknown. He had a namesake son, Abijah, Jr., born in
1749 at New London.
The
younger Abijah wed Anna Cone, born ca. 1745 at East Haddam, CT. She was
the daughter of David Cone and Mary Spencer. Anna had eight children. Abijah
and Anna were enumerated in the 1790 census for East Haddam.
By
1800 the family was included in the Hamilton, Madison Co., NY census. The
county history by James H. Smith stated Abijah arrived in 1802, but the
census would set the date earlier. Abijah and Anna brought with them sons
Chapman and Abijah, born 1772, plus a daughter Polly. The other five children
did not appear to have lived in Hamilton.
Polly
Morgan, believed born 1788, wed Abel Butler. This couple resided in Otto,
NY. Abijah (1772) lived in Hamilton through the 1840 census. His daughter
Olive Morgan in 1815 wed David Barto. This couple lived in Ulysses, NY.
The
elder Abijah went with his son Chapman to settle at Scriba, Oswego Co.,
NY. Chapman lived on lot 43. Chapman wed during 1805 at Hamilton Betsey
Nash, daughter of Elijah Nash and Hannah Thayer. She was born 2 August
1781 in Plainfield, MA. She apparently became the mother of seven children
according to the 1820 and 1830 Scriba censuses. The names of all the children
are not known. In 1820 there were five daughters and no sons recorded.
By 1830 there were two sons and five daughters noted. Five names were located
in family records: Orissa, Mary, Nancy, Betsey and Percival. Mary, born
ca. 1815, died young on 18 January 1846. No records have been found about
Percival.
Chapman
arrived in Scriba in time to join the local militia under Jonathan Parkhurst.
Attacks by the British were anticipated. He helped to defend Henderson
and Sackett’s Harbor in the fall of 1814 after the British did invade Fort
Ontario at Oswego, very close to Scriba where the shots of the guns could
be clearly heard. Afterwards he placed two claims against the State of
New York for losses he suffered in the War of 1812. One claim was for $21;
the other, $24.60.
In
1815 the older Abijah died at Scriba, according to family records. His
grave has not yet been located.
On
11 May 1828 daughter Orissa Morgan wed Joseph Earle Vincent, born 16 December
1803 in Stephentown, NY. She became the mother of eleven children.
Daughter
Betsey Morgan, born ca. 1808, married in 1836 Samuel Peck, born 8 March
1811 in Lennox, MA. She had four children.
Daughter
Nancy Morgan, born 18 July 1821, wed 22 January 1846 Charles P. Jones,
born 25 August 1821. It is likely Nancy died ca. 1849 after childbirth.
The 1850 Scriba census enumerated the widower Charles P. Jones thusly:
Jones,
Charles P. -28-farmer-NY-$500
Jones,
Charles E -1-son-NY
Jones,
Eunice -65-mother?-NY
Jones,
Eunice K.-sister?-NY
Charles
E., the son of Nancy, probably died young as this census citation is the
only notation about him.
In
the 1850 Scriba census the parents, Chapman, age 67, a farmer, and Betsey,
age 68, were enumerated living alone. Betsey died 26 June 1859.
By
the 1860 Scriba census no Morgan families were counted. But next door to
each other were the following:
Vincent,
Joseph -56-farmer-NY-$5505
Vincent,
Orissa -52-wife-NY
Vincent,
Joseph E -24-son-NY
Vincent,
Henry -23-son-NY
Vincent,
Mary -16-daughter-NY
Vincent,
Susan -63-sister-NY
Vincent,
John Earl -14-son-NY
Next
door***
Vincent,
Milton -26-sailor-NY
Vincent,
Ann -26-wife-NY
Vincent,
Frances -2-daughter-NY
Morgan,
Chapman -73-grandfather-CT
Milton’s
full name was James Milton Vincent, born 24 April 1834, who wed on 22 January
1857 in Palermo, NY Ann Amelia Shattuck, born 31 August 1837. They had
eight children. Milton, the son of Orissa and Joseph Earl, died on 28 March
1916 in Chicago, IL.
Chapman
died 3 February 1864. He was buried in Peck’s Cemetery at Scriba.
Orissa died on 5 September 1873.
She was also buried in Peck’s Cemetery.
Oswego
County Historian John C. Churchill wrote about Samuel Peck whose wife Betsey
Morgan died in 1886. Only two of their children survived: Shubel Peck and
Evaline Peck. Shubel was enumerated in the 1880 Scriba census.
Peck,
Shubel P -43-farmer-NY
Peck,
Emily E. -43-wife-NY
Peck,
Alfred J. -22-son-NY
Peck,
Ellen A. -8-daughter-NY
Shubel
had married Emily Christman before 1860. In the Scriba 1860 census the
young couple lived with Samuel and Betsey Peck next door to Milton Vincent,
Betsey’s great nephew, the house where her aged father Chapman lived. In
the 1890's Shubel worked as a salesman in the area. Son Alfred, later called
Fred, wed Alice Coon and had two children according to Churchill.
Evaline
Peck married Almon C. Tiffany whose father O.B. was the local blacksmith.
By 1910 the census in Forest Home, Antrim Co., MI recorded the couple there.
They had been married for 34 years. Almon, age 63, worked as a school janitor.
While Evaline, age 61, ran a boarding house for two female school teachers.
Churchill
stated a third daughter Ella Peck married W. Marshall and had one child
before her demise. This statement was not verified.
Orissa’s
oldest son Joseph Evander Vincent, born 18 March 1836, and his wife Sarah
Ann Hill, had among their children a son Willet Vincent. Willet wed Rose
Belle Fogg, born 16 May 1876 in Pulaski, NY. They had three sons: Etheridge,
Sherman M. and Tracey L. All lived most of their lives in Oswego County.
Etheridge married Marian Coster. They had one son Donald C. Vincent, born
6 April 1925 in Oswego. Donald was thus the great-great-great grandson
of Chapman Morgan, the War of 1812 vet.
The
Vincents lived at 342 Duer Street, Oswego. They worshipped at St. Paul’s
Lutheran Church. On 7 August 1944 Donald was drafted into the U.S. Army.
At Christmas 1944 he had a 13 day furlough which he spent at home with
his parents, old classmates from Oswego High School and work buddies from
Shell Oil where he had been a truck driver. He had trained at Camp Blanding,
FL as a heavy weapons man with an infantry outfit, but was transferred
to the Tank Corps just before he went into combat.
The
first week of January 1945 to serve with the 8th Armoured Division of Simpson’s
9th Army. He saw action in France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany. On March
29 eight days before his 19th birthday, he was killed in action in Germany.
Special
thanks are due to Elizabeth Knauss <[email protected]> for making
her excellent research available to all. Additions or corrections can be
directed to her.
SOURCES:
Benson,
Richard H. The Nash Family of Weymouth, Massachusetts. Boston: Newbury
Street, 1998.
Churchill,
John C. Landmarks of Oswego County, New York. Syracuse: Mason, 1895.
Cone,
William Whitney. Some Account of the Cone Family in America. Topeka: Crane,
1903.
Descendants
of James B. Morgan. Available. [online] http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/s/h/e/Phillip-H-Sherod/GENE4-0003.html
[20
April 2005].
Morgan,
Freeman E. Updated Morgan Genealogy: A History of James Morgan, 1607-1685
of New London, Connecticut and His Decendants from 1607-1997. Spokane:
Coombs, 1981.
Morgan,
Nathaniel H. A History of James Morgan of New London, Connecticut and His
Descendants. Hartford: 1869.
N.Y.
Adjutant General Office. Index of Awards on Claims of Soldiers of the War
of 1812. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1909.
Smith,
James H. History of Chenango & Madison Counties, NY. Syracuse: Mason,
1880.
Thomas,
Lulu Jarvis Crittenden. The Descendants of Thomas Vincent of Amesbury,
Wiltshire, England. Spokane: 1981.
U.S.
Census East Haddam, Middlesex Co., CT 1790.
U.S. Census Hamilton, Madison Co.,
NY 1800 & 1840.
U.S.
Census Forest Home Township, Antrim Co., MI 1910.
U.S.
Census Scriba, Oswego Co., NY 1820, 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870 &
1880.
Vincent,
Donald C. Obituary from Oswego Palladium-Times newspaper, 1945.
WorldConnect
Project. Available [online] http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com
[19 April 2005].
