Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Morgan, William 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com October 4, 2007, 10:32 pm

Author: Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County 

WILLIAM MORGAN, who is one of the large farmers and stock-raisers of Jackson 
Township, was born in St. Lawrence County, N. Y., June 24, 1844, a son of Moses
and Eliza A. (Storrs) Morgan. He was one of five children, of whom, besides 
himself, two survive, viz.: Sidney and Emily, wife of Cornelius McClure, of 
Manhattan Township, this county. His father, who was born in Vermont August 15,
1815, settled in New York state when a young man and engaged in farming in St. 
Lawrence County, but in 1849 he came west to Illinois, settling in Kendall 
County twelve miles west of Joliet. His means were small; in fact, he had but 
$68 at the time of his arrival in Kendall County. Not having sufficient means  
to buy a farm he operated rented land for four years. Next he settled in 
Joliet Township, this county, three and one-half miles southeast of Joliet,
where he remained for a year. In March, 1855, he came to the place where his 
son, our subject, still resides. Here he purchased one hundred and twenty-
eight acres of land and devoted his energies to stock-raising and farming.   
More than usual success rewarded his exertions. Constantly he added to his 
possessions, investing the products of one farm in the purchase of another.
He was so successful that at the time of his death he owned thirteen farms.  
Personally he was a man of fine qualities, possessing the hospitality of the 
typical pioneer and showing in every act that his code of honor was the 
highest. His personal friends were many, and he won the regard of every 
associate. Politically he was an ardent Republican, but always refused to 
accept nomination for any office. While he was not identified with any 
denomination he attended and supported the Methodist Episcopal Church. On the
homestead where he had so successfully labored for more than thirty years he 
died, August 20, 1878. His name well deserves perpetuation in the list of 
pioneers of the county; for while he was not one of the earliest settlers, 
there were comparatively few here at the time of his arrival, and he 
experienced all the hardships of life in a new country. It is but justice to 
him to say that his success was not due to outside help, nor was it the result 
of what we call "luck." It came to him through the exercise of determination, 
good judgment, perseverance and energy. He never entered the alluring field of 
speculation, but worked only in his chosen occupation of agriculture, and the 
result proved that he made no mistake in his life-work. His wife, who was a
daughter of William and Catherine (Thew) Storrs, was born in Clinton County, 
N. Y., July 13, 1817, and died in Will County, Ill., December 5, 1885.

Since he was eleven years of age our subject has made his home in Jackson 
Township. Growing up on a farm he acquired a thorough knowledge of agriculture 
and, as the occupation suited his tastes, he has always continued farm 
pursuits. He and his brother Sidney, whose farming and stock interests are in 
conjunction, pay taxes on fifteen hundred acres of land, and are among the
most prosperous men in their section of the county. In political views he is a 
stanch Republican but not a partisan. He is not connected with any 
denomination, but contributes to the support of the Methodist Church, toward 
the doctrines of which he inclines. In 1877 Mr. Morgan married Maria E. Ellen 
wood, who was born in St. Lawrence County, N. Y. In 1870 she came to this 
county with her parents, Alfred and Lydia (Morgan) Ellenwood, and settled in
Florence Township, where her father died eleven years afterward. Her mother 
now makes her home with her son George. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Morgan 
consists of seven children, namely: Eliza A., Oscar, Lydia, Lloyd L., Ernest 
A., Amber L., and infant daughter.

Additional Comments:
Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing 
Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical 
Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900

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