Upshur County, West Virginia Biography of FRENCH MORGAN This file was submitted by Valerie Crook, E-mail address: The submitter does not have a connection to the subject of this sketch. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. All other rights reserved. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the WVGenWeb Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://www.usgwarchives.net/wv/wvfiles.htm The History of West Virginia, Old and New Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, Volume III, pg. 610 FRENCH MORGAN. This member of the historic Morgan family of West Virginia has been a resident of Washington for some years, being in the Government service during the war period. He spent the early part of his life at Buck- hannon, where he was in business with his father. French Morgan has been an interested student of West Virginia history, particularly of the Morgan family. His ancestral line, beginning with the first American, the famous Col. Morgan Morgan, is as follows: Col. Morgan Morgan, born November 1, 1688, and died November 17, 1766, married Catherine Garretson; emigrated from Wales, and settled near Winchester, Virginia, about 1726. His son, David Morgan, the noted Indian fighter, was born May 12, 1721, died May 19, 1813, married Sarah Stephens. The old- est son of David was Morgan or "Mod" Morgan, born December 20, 1746, and died in 1820, married a Prickett. Capt. James Morgan, born December 12, 1778, died Febru- ary 2, 1860; married Rachel Bunner. Stephen Morgan, born June 10, 1820, died August 28, 1893; married Salome Van- gilder. Hezekiah Boyers Morgan, born June 13, 1851, married Minerva Jane Bunner, daughter of Joseph and Eliza (Moran) Bunner, who were born in Marion County, West Virginia, and moved to Randolph County, just prior to the Civil war. Of the children of Hezekiah B. Morgan, the oldest son is French Morgan and the other children are Sylvia, Joseph Jefferson, Nellie, Levi and Mary. Recent investigation has revealed from official records that substantiate the claim long made that Col. Morgan Morgan was the first white settler to make his home in what is now West Virginia. It was about 1726 that he crossed the Blue Ridge and built his house at Bunker Hill in Berkeley County. Recently there has been located the original patent for 1,000 acres of land granted by King George II to Colonel Morgan in 1735. From certain language used in this document it. is evident that Morgan was on the ground prior to 1735, so that the date 1726 is not very, if at all, incorrect. The Morgans are a long lived and a sturdy people, the energy and vitality of the stock being apparently undimin- ished in later generations. As a whole they have led clean moral lives and have engaged in wholesome outdoor labors, a fact no doubt contributing to their longevity. From the above record it. is noted that Col. Morgan Morgan died at. the age of seventy-eight, his son David, at ninety-two, the latter's son Morgan, at seventy-five, Capt. James, at eighty- five, Stephen, at seventy-three, and Hezekiah Boyers is now in his seventy-first year and in rugged health. Hezekiah Boyers Morgan was born in Marion County, about six miles east of Fairmont, and moved to Palace Valley in Upshur County with his father, Stephen, just after the close of the Civil war. This entire trip was made by wagon, taking six days. Hezekiah Boyers Morgan was assessor of Upshur County four years, deputy sheriff under his brother, Dr. J. J. Morgan, for one term of four years, and deputy county clerk twelve years. Mr. French Morgan was born at Palace Valley on Buck- hannon River, near Buckhannon, August 31, 1880. He graduated from the Buckhannon High School in 1898, then taught school a year, and in 1901 entered West Virginia Conference Seminary at Buckhannon, graduating in the classical course in 1903, and completing the business course the following year. In 1906 Mr. Morgan married Mary G., daughter of George W. and Hatie (Townsend) Pick, of Buckhannon, and to this union have been born two sons, Norman D., born De- cember 1, 1907, and Arthur Raymond, born April 17, 1913. For about twelve years after leaving school he was asso- ciated with his father and brothers in operating a planing mill at Buckhannon. At the beginning of the World war he disposed of his interest in this enterprise, and, going to Washington, worked one year for the auditor of station ac- counts for the Southern Railroad. Since then he has been in the Government service as an employe of the general accounting office, Navy Department Division. His home in Washington is 2601 Brentwood Road, N. E.