Henry County Genealogy Trails
JOHN T. MORGAN, wagon manufacturer at Morgan's Crossing, was born in Henry County, Ky., July 25, 1829, and is a son of Preston and Rhoda Morgan, both natives of Kentucky. When the parents came to Indiana there were two sons, the subject of this sketch and William, who assisted in surveying the Vandalia line from Indianapolis to Terre Haute, afterward serving as engineer on the same road until killed in a collision at Terre Haute in November, 1881. Mr. Morgan spent his early youth upon a farm, and at the age of eighteen years commenced working at the blacksmith and wagonmakers trade, which he has followed most of his life. In 1850, Mr. Morgan drove a team through to Council Bluffs, soon returning to Indiana, and resuming his trade, in which he was very successful, acquiring a handsome property. At one time he owned eighty acres of the city of Brazil, for which he realized over $100 an acre, but the panic of 1872-73 found him a heavy endorser for parties who failed, and the savings of years were swept away. In spite of these reverses and other misfortunes, he having been totally blind four years, he makes a comfortable living. Mr. Morgan's marriage occurred September 29, 1851, to Phoebe Eaglesfield, of Indianapolis. Three children were born to this union, viz., William (who was killed in a railroad collision near St. Louis, March 4, 1879), Mary, and Charles (deceased). Mrs. Morgan died in May, 1865, and in 1869 Mr. Morgan married Margaret Bolin, who has borne him seven children, viz., Freddie, Kittie, Flora, Eugene and Nellie, the others dying in infancy. [Source: Counties of Clay & Owen Indiana Historical & Biographical; Illustrated by Charles Blanchard, Editor; 1884; Transcribed by Charlotte Slater; May 2011]
Copyright © Genealogy Trails