A Simple Kind of Man

I'm at that point in research again, where I'm waiting on possible records from the State Archives to hopefully bring answers, but the Archives seem to be very busy and understaffed at this time.

Since I can go no further down the road I was on, I will take a path in another direction. 

In August of 1849, in the Albemarle, Stanly County, NC Superior Court, the sitting judge ordered the Sheriff "to bring into court Mark Solomon and Goin Morgan, children of Nancy Morgan."

In May of the following year, 1850, it was again pronounced, "Sheriff to bring to next Court two orphan children, Solomon Morgan and Goin Morgan, to be bound out."

In August of 1850, a third and final reiteration was made and the boys were bound out. Solomon Morgan was bound to Edmund Almond, who was to pay Solomon Morgan $75, "at his arrival at a proper age." 

Goin Morgan was bound to 'Ivan R. Morgan ', whose name was not Ivan, I would come to discover, but Evan. Goin was to recieve a lesser amount, $30, at his arrival to majority.

When reading about the children in these situations, I always wonder what twists and turns their destiny would take, who they were, and who they would become. 

The practice of "bounding out" minors, was an archaeic gesture to ensure the education and training of fatherless children, and to prevent their becoming a burden upon society. The rules applied equally to those children who were completely orphaned, those who had a mother and whose father was deceased, and those who may have had two living parents, but were born outside the bounds of legal matrimony.

In the case of the Morgan boys, they were legitimate children with a living mother, Nancy, but whose father had passed away before they reached adulthood. 

I would first look for them in the 1850 census, which was taken just weeks before that final term of court in 1850. 

Goin, also seen as Goen, Gowen, or even Going, is found in the home of  Evan and Elvine Morgan, both 22 and their 3 year old daughter, Sarah. Goin is 13 years old.

His brother, Solomon, 14, was found in the home of Edmund "Allman", which is who he was bound to in the August term of court. 

With the same surname, and without a vast difference in age, the question comes to mind, was Evan Morgan a relative of Solomon and Goin Morgan? Could he be a cousin, a brother, or even a young Uncle?

I didn't find Nancy in the 1850 census. She may have passed away between 1849 and then, or perhaps she remarried. 

Evan Riley Morgan was born between 1925 and 1828. In the late 1840's he married Elvina Burris, whose name is also seen as Elmira, Lavina and Dicey E., so may have been a combination of these. She was the daughter of Joshua Burris and Sarah Springer Burris. 

Evan raised his family near the village of Big Lick.  He was said to have operated a corn and lumber mill on Little Cucumber Creek. 

He enlisted in the Civil War in March of 1862 and served in the NC 42nd Infantry. On February 20, 1863, he was captured at Point Lookout, Maryland. Evan was one of the fortunate ones who made it back home. 

In 1877, a flood damaged his Mill. 

On another occasion, his Mills and two houses were burned. It was thought to have been a work of Arson. 

He had large land holdings and at one point, operated a store out of his home. He then built a store in Big Lick. His son, Green, would take it over after E. R. , and operated it a long time after.

Evan Riley and Elvina Burris Morgan would have a family of 8 children: Sarah Lavina, William Green, Nancy R. , Judith E., Joshua, Dicey Elvina and Thomas (who was their adopted son and biological grandson). The eighth was a little boy born between 1860 and 1862, that Evan buried just before he left for the war. A Morgan family history has his name listed as Goen, but I've not seen it.  

Elvina died sometime after 1884, when she was recorded as living on a child's marriage certificate. She was buried, along with their son, in a family plot on the property. 

Luckily, Evan, who had married the first time before parents were listed on the certificate, decided he didn't want to spend his twilight years alone.  At 76, he remarried. This document tells us who his parents were.

E. R. Morgan of Big Lick, 76, son of Goin and Nancy Morgan, both dead, married Mary Ann McIntyre, 65, of Big Lick, daughter of Rowland and Betsy McIntyre, both still living, on the 24th of October, 1904, at the home of the groom. Baptist Minister, P. J. Hartsell performed the ceremony and S.J. Hill, Neatie Hill and Camie Morgan were witnesses.

So, Evan Riley Morgan was the brother of the young Goin and Solomon Morgan, despite every online tree having him as the son of Mark and Mary Green Morgan, neglecting the decade and a half age gap between their actual youngest, Gideon and E. R. and the fact that Mark was probably dead a decade before his birth.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. 

Evan and Mary Ann, pictured above, were not able to enjoy but a mere 4 years of wedded bliss. 

On June 29, 1908, Evan Riley Morgan was no more, and was buried in the family graveyard with his first wife and son. 

It was said in the family records of the Morgans, compiled by a Mrs. Juanita Morris, that Evan R. Morgan had a large tract of land, even before he began acquiring more. The author had questioned where that land had came from. The most logical explanation, in the absence of a grant, is that he had inherited it from family, perhaps after the death of his parents, neither who are to be found in 1850. 

I realized while searching through land records that I had encountered E. R. Morgan before, while writing a post on the story of Lynn Bird, whose entire name was Malinda Pless Coble Bird or Byrd, an unfortunate character whose reputation had traveled down through history to us as "The Witch of Big Lick". Lynn was the widow of James A. Coble, a Civil War casualty, and who is mentioned in the following deed.

"Irvin Morgan to James A. Coble"

"This Indenture made this 4th day of December AD 1850 by and between Irvin Morgan of the County of Stanly and State of North Carolina of the one part and James A. Coble (of the same)." 

For $38.00 Evan sold to James Coble 70 acres along a "public road" that met the properties of Jesse Morton  and George Teeter, and was situatied along Cucumber Creek, where Evan's mills were located. Jesse Morton witnessed the deed. An interesting fact of this deed was the date, 1850.

In the 1850 census,  James Coble is living with the Bird family and is only 15 years old. Another record gives James' birth year as 1837, which means he could have been as young as 13. Evan, himself, was only 22, not enough time to have acquired a large amount of land himself, unless through inheritance. The question remains, why had he sold 70 acres to such a young boy? Who was James A. Coble? Have any descendants of James A. Coble, who would have had to come through his daughter Hester with Malinda Pless, DNA tested? Preferably a descendant of her son, Everette Anderson, as her daughter, Ivey, turned around and married a Coble.

George Teeter, mentioned in the above deed, was a son-in-law of Andrew Bird, the 78 year old man James Coble was living with in the above census record. He had married his daughter, Elizabeth. In 1853, three years later, when James A. Coble would have been 18, if the 1850 census was accurate, he bought a tract of land, probably adjoining the first, from George Teeter.

This Bird family will come into play more in just a little while. If you want more information on the story of James Coble and his wife, Melinda Pless, you can read it here: Facts and Fariy Tales: The Real Story of Lynn Bird .

There's another deed involving Evan R. Morgan that may be where people may have gotten confused on his heritage. In Book 7, Page 330 in the Stanly County Register of Deeds, is found the following transaction;

"Joseph Marshall Shff to Solomon Hathcock and Drury Morgan"

The date was the 30th March in 1870. A court action called a vencitoni exponas, which directed Sheriff Joseph Marshall to sell property of Gideon Morgan and Evan Morgan to satisfy a debt that they had together with the company of Misenheimer and Cox for the sum of $87.38. As there was insufficient personal property between the two men to satisfy the debt, the Sheriff confiscated 535 acres of land, which seems like a very large amount for such a small amount of money, even in 1870. The property he took was described as crossing Cedar Branch, and the new road leading from Big Lick to G. D. Whitleys (Green Deberry Whitley), then crossing Austin Road, then crossing an old road to a rock in a field by an old pine and then up the west bank of Sides Branch, then crossing Cedar Branch, then crossing Austin Road again, then to a stake in the line of Charles Cagle. Solomon Hathcock and Drury Morgan became the highest bidders.

This helps give a good location of where the family lived, even after the sale of property. Now, Gideon Morgan was the son of Mark Morgan and his wife, Mary Green. They are my ancestors, as I descend from a daughter, and that would make Gideon my several Great Uncle. Drury Morgan, who had a reknowned Mill on Rocky River and was quite wealthy at this time, was a relative of Gideon and E.R. Morgan, a cousin, I believe.

In Thru-Lines, a number of people have Evan R. Morgan as a son of Mark and Mary, but as you now know, he was not. He named his parents as Goin and Nancy. Still, Thrulines has me sharing DNA with 57 descendants of Evan R. Morgan, so he was a relative of mine. I'm forming a theory as I work through the lives of the two boys, Goin and Mark Solomon Morgan, sons of Nancy, who were bound out in 1850. I believe Evan was their older brother and that they were all Grandsons of Mark and Mary Green Morgan. If true, that would make Gideon Morgan the uncle of Evan Riley Morgan.

When we last saw Mark Solomon Morgan, he was 14 years old and had been bound out to Edmund Almond. 

In the February, 1854 Term of Court, Pleas and Quarters, Stanly County, it was ordered that the Indenture of Edmund Almond for Solomon Morgan be cancelled. He was now 21.

On February 22, 1857, at the age of 24, Solomon married Martha Louise Kizer or Kiser, a very young girl from Cabarrus County. She was the daughter of George and Polly Crayton Kiser, and her family has quite a story of their own, but don't they all? The marriage took place in Stanly County by M. Furr.

By 1860, they had moved to Gold Hill, as a number of Stanly County people would. Although the big early Gold Rush was over, Gold Hill was still a prosperous and bustliing town in 1860. His occupation was that of a farmer and he was now the father of a 5 month old daughter named Mary Jane.

Then comes War.  

Solomon enlisted on February 21, 1862. His military records suggests he was living in Cabarrus County, NC at that time. He served as a Private in Company C, 33rd NC Infantry. He was discharged at Lynchberg, Virginia.

Solomon died on December 19, 1862, of Typhoid Fever.

Below are s few records regarding his military service, and his wife, Martha's request for a Widow's pension.

In 1870, Martha is found in Cabarrus County, living with her mother, Mary Crayton Kaiser. Before Solomon went to War, another child was born. He and Martha were the parents of two children, Mary Jane and James Franklin. As this family has their own story to tell, we'll stop here. Solomon Morgan died of Typhoid Fever, at the age of 26, during the Civil War. He left a widow and two children.

Solomon was buried in the Old City Cemetery at Lynchburg, Virginia.

Name Solomon Morgan Birth Date 1836 Birth Place Stanly County, North Carolina, United States of America Death Date 19 Dec 1862 Death Place Lynchburg City, Virginia, United States of America Cemetery Old City Cemetery Burial or Cremation Place Lynchburg, Lynchburg City, Virginia, United States of America Has Bio? Y Photo by Darrell Landrum 1860 - Goin In 1852, Goin Morgan was ordered again to be brought into court to be bound out. In 1860, he is found living with 25 year old Martin Morgan. Was Martin another brother? Name Goin Morgan Age 22 Birth Year abt 1838 Gender Male Race White Home in 1860 Stanly, North Carolina Post Office Albemarle Dwelling Number 401 Family Number 403 Occupation Farm Laborer Cannot Read, Write Y Household members Name Age Edy Morgan 25 Martin Morgan 25 Goin Morgan 22 Henrietta Morgan 4 Rosanna Morgan 2

In 1853, a list of unpaid taxes were presented by the Sheriff, and accepted into the record. 

Among those listed in the record for 1849, were Gowen Morgan, for 200 acres, no location given at a tax of $1.17. Also in the same record near his name was Margaret Bird, who owned 97 acres on Austin Rd, Judith Burris for property on Stony Run and Andrew Bird for 67 acres on Cucumber Creek.

Later in the record, another list for the year 1851 lists Gowen Morgan with 132 acres on Stony Run Creek, taxed at $1.70. His name was sandwiched between Lee Lower and Solomon Robbins on the same Creek. 

Where has young Goin acquired this property? Had the deed been lost or not recorded, or had this property belonged to an older Goin who had been dead for awhile?

Martin Morgan is not to be found in the 1850 census. However, on June 16, 1855, he married Edith Pennington, daughter of Nelson and Edith Carter Pennnington. So, the 1860 census, with Goin Morgan living with him, is the only census Martin appears in.

Martin would enlist on May 1, 1862 with the North Carolina 52nd Infantry, Company I. A note in his military file states that he was "Left on the battlefield at Gettysburg".

Martin was injured and taken Prisoner to Point Lookout, Maryland on July 3, 1863.

He died on September 14, 1864 and was buried at the Confederate Cemetery.

Edith Pennington Morgan is living in Stanly County with her 4 children in the Albemarle District.

Widows and orphans abound. Solomon's widow, Martha was living in Cabarrus County with her mother and two children. Evan R. Morgan is back in Big Lick with his family, alive, but not without damage. Goin Morgan is no where to be seen, but he was alive, somewhere.

The 1880 census record carried several additional schedules including The Agricultural Schedule, The Special Schedule for Manufactures, The Mortality  Schedule, and lastly, The Supplememtal Schedule for The Defective, Dependent and Delinquent Classes. Even these were broken down further to 'Insane", 'Idiots', Deaf Mutes, Blind, Homeless Children, Poorhouse and Inhabitants in Prison.

It was time to make a trip to the History Center and revisit (as a Morgan Family descendant, I had traced my own route to Mark years ago). There's quite a bit of information on the Morgans of Western Stanly, due to the character of Drury Morgan, and the writings of one of his descendants, Mrs. G. B. D. Reynolds.

I will give a Readers Digest version here, as I am not wishing to explore the whole family line in one post.

Nathan Morgan was born circa 1710 in Essex County, Virginia. He  brought his genes and body to Onslow County, NC and established a farm called "Batchelors Delight". he left a Will, but witnessed a land slae from David Jones to Lewis Powell on April 10, 1750, so passing away after this date in 1750. He mentions his wife, Sarah, his brother, William and his chidren, William, Goen and Sukee. Sarah was a young woman when Nathan died and some add a fourth child, a son Joseph, whom she may have been expecting when the Will was writtne, as there is no Joseph mentioned in the Will.

*As a note, Nathan Morgan was mentioned in the Will of his own father, John Morgan , Sr. in Essex County, Virginia, He was the son of John Sr. and Hannah Barbee Morgan.

A deed in Deed Book H, (1764-1769) in Onslow County includes the wording "...sold by Johnston to Nathan Morgan.. and from him to this two sons, William and Goen Morgan. It is hereby certified that Sarah Johnston, wife of Benjamin and the mother of William and Goen Morgan relinquishes her dower rights in the above Land."

Another deed dated July 7, 1800 mentions a land transaction"excepting one acre on Bachelor's Delight, where the road crosses and one acre where Nathan Morgan is buried."

Both brothers, Goen and William signed the petition to divide Anson in 1770, in order to form Richmond County on the other side of the Pee Dee River.

Goen served as a Regulator. In 1766, he had a land grant on Clark's Creek. He built a Mill. Later, he living along the Rocky River near Bryant Austin. His wife is supposedly a Thompson.

In Anson County court minutes dated 1768, Book B Page 65. A court order commands a number of men, including Goen Morgan, to open and construct a road the most convenient way from the Salisbury Road near Lawyers Springs and to cross the Pee Dee at Swift Island or "Dairs Ford" (this translation is probably entirely wrong as it matches no place or person in the area) and front there to John Wilson's Ford on Little River where Cross Creek Road crosses Little River and to make s report at the next term of court. Some of these old roads still exist in some form.

An inventory of the estate of Goen Morgan was made on January 31 of 1782, and named the widow Mary Morgan, and Sheriff Jonathan Jackson as those taking and accounting the inventory. So his date of death is accepted as 1782 or 1781.

A memoir from the family of Drury Morgan, a grandson of Goin, recounts that he settled on Clark's Creek and had brought his family down to the Rocky River area, where they remained for generations, after obtaining a license from the state to build a mill on Rocky River.

The mill, a three-story structure, may have looked similar to this old picture of the Bost Grist Mill in Cabarrus County, just a few miles up river from the Morgans, from bostgristmill.com.

Mary Thomson or Thompson Morgan outlived Goin. A family history of the John Thomson family gives the year of her death as 1793. The link is here: John Thomson Family

For more information on the Gowen family of Onslow Cunty, NC, or on Goen Morgan the 

first, try this link: Goyengoinggowengoynegone.com Onslow County, NC

Goin Morgan (born On slow, died circa 1782) and Mary Thompson Morgan (b August 18, 1769, died circa 1793)0, were the parents of 5 known children. The dates of birth given in the Thompson histories were:

1) Jonathan b. August 21, 1770

2) Sarah b. April 24, 1772

3) Susan (Sukey) b. April 15, 1774

4) Mark b. November 18, 1776

5) Goen C. b. January 11, 1780

Having encountered Jonathan during research on my Ramsey line, as one of my ancestor Starkey Ramsey's sons married one of Jonathan's daughters and went west and south with them, I knew a little about his family.

Goen C. Morgan was the one who married Catherine Tucker and followed the same path as Joseph Ramsey, first to Tennessee and then to Alabama.

It's my own line, that of Mark Morgan and Mary Green, that this younger Goen Morgan and his children, would have had to have sprung from, not only due to the process of elimination, but from the close associations that his other known sons, like Gideon and Mark Jr., had with the known children of Goen (3/Sr) and Nancy.

The Morgan family history has Mark with a son named Goen, so it was known, they just didn't know much about him.

Mark Morgan born November 18, 1776, died prior to Nov. 8,1833.

He married Mary Green. It is speculated that she was the daughter of Gideon Green and Elizabeth Anderson Green. It makes sense, but there's never been found any proof.

Their children were:

Married Solomon Burris III 6 children 

Married Dicy Morton 9 children. Married 2nd Mary Smith

Married Nancy Morton 10 children

Married Sally Burris, 6 children 

Others add:

Married Edmund P. 'Ed' Honeycutt 15 children.

Married Ambrose Honeycutt (who had one or two other wives). 

Then we have Goen. His family tree seems to be:

5 children:

A) Unknown daughter born between 1825 and 1829.

B) Evan Riley Morgan (1828-1908)

     Married Lavina Elvira Burris. 6 children

     Married Mary Ann McIntyre

C) Leah Sarah Morgan (1831-1896)

     Married Linsey F. Whitley. No children.

D) Martin Morgan (1835 - 1863)

     Married Edith Pennington. 4 children.

E) Mark Solomon Morgan (1836-1862)

     Married Martha J Louise Kizer. 2 children.

F) Goen/Gowen Morgan Jr. born January 18, 1837, died January 20 1919.

Married Eady (Edith) Bird, a widow, maiden name unknown.

Goen Morgan  Jr. avoided detection in the 1900 and 1910 census records. If he had been sent away to a hospital, I've not found him. All signs point toward his  remaining in the West Stanly area for his last decades of life.

In March of 1901, the Stanly County newspaper reported that his support from the County, as a disabled individual, be raised from $2.00 a month to $2.50 a month. So, even though he doesn't appear in the census, he was there.

In a 1970's survey of the Canton Baptist Church Cemetery, compiled by Juanita Rogers Morris in a two volume compilation of the cemetery records of Stanly County, NC, the grave of 'Gowen' Morgan is listed. This is where we get his dates of birth and death.

He had just passed his 82nd birthday. Today, his tombstone can't be found. I tried, and it's not located on Find-a-Grave.

I believe it may be in one of the unmarked spots in the above photo I took, pointing towards the church in the front west corner of the cemetery. That's where other Morgan's are buried. 

Gowen was a simple man, orphaned before becoming an adult, he made his way through a full life as a Farm Laborer, sided by siblings, uncles and the community at large. Halfway through his life, he sustained an unknown injury that handicapped him for the remainder of it. It appears shortly after that, he may have found love, or some form of it, however briefly, with the much older widow, Edith Bird. He certainly hadn't married her for money or property, as it appears neither of them had any. 

At least in his life, his associations and marriages, he sided in the reunification of most of his immediate family in the family tree.