HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY                      345

dren of their happy union, who are all alive, are as follows: Clifford,
living at home and in charge of the old farm; Della, now Mrs. Arthur
Kattman, of Poland, Indiana; Mearl, who married Fred Kaiser, a resident
of Washington township; and Alice, Otis, Dora, Hallie, Roy and Esther,
who are all living with their widowed mother as her solace and pride.

    PERRY ALLEN MORGAN.—Classed among the leading agriculturists of
Clay county is Perry Allen Morgan, who owns a good farm in Perry
township and is prosperously engaged in its management. Active, intel-
ligent and honest, he well deserves the good fortune which has come to
him in tilling his fertile acres and reaping his abundant harvests. He is
a native and to the manner born, his birth having occurred in Posey town-
ship April 15, 1859. His father, John Newton Morgan, was born in
Henry county, Kentucky, October 29, 1827, and his grandfather, Russell
Morgan, was, it is thought, born in Virginia.
    Spending his earlier life in Kentucky, Russell Morgan there married
Harriet Bryan, and in 1834 came with his family to Indiana, and was one
of the earliest settlers of Posey township. Returning to Kentucky a few
years later, he bought a farm in Henry county, and there he and his
good wife spent their remaining days.
    A boy of seven years when he came with his parents to Posey town-
ship, John Newton Morgan returned with them to his native state. Not
being contented, however, with life in his Kentucky home, he soon came
back to Indiana, purchased a tract of land in Posey township, married,
and set up housekeeping in the small log house which stood upon the
place when he purchased it. The country roundabout was then but
sparsely populated, and bears, deer, wolves and other wild beasts of the
forest were plentiful. His faithful wife performed her full share of the
pioneer labor, with her own hands carding, spinning and weaving the
homespun with which she clothed her family, and for many years doing
all of her cooking by the fireplace. Thrift both indoors and out, coupled
with good judgment, brought satisfactory results, and in course of time
he bought more land, some in each of Posey, Perry, Sugar River and
Harrison townships, a total of one thousand two hundred acres in Clay
county, and the humble log cabin gave way to a commodious frame house.
He also erected a business block in Brazil. On the farm which he so well
improved he was actively engaged in agricultural pursuits for many years.
Having acquired a competency, he bought a pleasant home in Brazil, and
there he spent his remaining days in peace and plenty, his death occurring
October 28, 1899. His wife still occupies the old home in Brazil, the com-
forts and luxuries of her present life contrasting strangely with her former
primitive surroundings.
    The maiden name of the wife of John Newton Morgan was Eliza-
beth Wright. She was born one mile east of Bowling Green, Clay county,
Indiana, December 14, 1828, and is now the oldest native-born resident of
this county. Her father, Elijah Willis Wright, was born in Tennessee,
being the posthumous child of Elijah Wright, who died three months
before the birth of this son. Elijah Wright married Jane Wright, a
daughter of George Wright, who was born in Ireland, came to America in
Colonial times, and served under General Washington in the Revolution.
After the close of the war George Wright settled in South Carolina, and a
few years later removed to Tennessee, from there coming to Harrison
county, Indiana, as a pioneer. He was a weaver, and followed his trade