My Genealogy Hound

Robert G. Morgan, who is another prominent farmer and stock-raiser of Joachim Township, was born in Marion County, Ill., August 30, 1842, and is the son of Maj. Joseph D. and Elizabeth (Middleton) Morgan, natives of McMinnville, Tenn., born in 1806 and 1807, respectively. They were married in McMinnville, Tenn., and removed from there to Marion County, Ill., where they died, the mother in 1846, and the father in 1862. The father was a farmer and school teacher, and was major of the militia in Tennessee. John Morgan, the great-grandfather of our subject, came from England in the year 1765, settling in Virginia, where, about 1770, the grandfather of Robert G. was born. He was a cousin of Gen. Daniel Morgan of revolutionary fame, and had enlisted to go into the War of 1812, when peace was declared. William Middleton, the maternal grandfather of our subject, in company with his two brothers, Arthur and Watson, came from Wales to the State of Virginia, in 1767. One year later they went to South Carolina, from whence Arthur Middleton was sent as a delegate to the Continental Congress, and was the thirteenth signer of the Declaration of Independence. Grandfather Middleton was in the War of 1812, and took part in the great battle of New Orleans, under Gen. Andrew Jackson. Robert G. attended the public schools six months during the year, until nineteen years of age, but previous to this, at the age of thirteen, he had commenced business for himself as a farm hand at $9 per month for the first year, his wages being increased each year. He remained with one man in Marion County, Ill., until the age of nineteen. April 20, 1862, he married Mary S. Paden, a native of Lancaster, Ohio, and the daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Paden. The father was a native of Pennsylvania, but came to Ohio, and lived a short time at Lancaster, and settled at Dayton, where he died in 1856. Our subject then assumed charge of the farm, on which he had worked since the age of thirteen, and operated the same for one season; spending the winter at Louisiana, Mo., where he clerked in the store for a firm by the name of Marzolf & Seibert. He then returned to Marion County, Ill., and purchased a farm near Iuka, where he lived one season, after which he sold the farm and went as a laborer on the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad. He then removed to Irving, Ill., and was made foreman on a section of the St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Railroad, which position he held for about two and a half years. He then operated a grocery store in Irving, Ill., then removing to Louisiana, Mo., in 1869, where Mrs. Morgan’s mother and step-father, Capt. H. A. Rice, lived. The same year they came to Jefferson County, to the Judge Beckett farm, which he managed for Dr. Hobson. In the meantime he purchased his present farm, on which he settled in 1871, and is situated four miles west of Horine Station. He first purchased eighty acres, but now owns 120 acres. The following children were born to our subject’s marriage: Lola H., Walter A. and Robert D. In 1861 he offered his services in the Union army, but was rejected on account of the loss of one eye. One of his brothers, John C., was killed at Belmont, Mo; another, Andrew Jackson, died in camp at Columbus, Ky., of measles, in 1863, and another brother, Dr. L. L., who was attending said brother, died a short time after reaching home, from exposure there. Capt. James H., commander of an Illinois Company, resigned after about one year, and is now a Presbyterian minister at Oakley, Kas. Albert G., who was living in Arkansas at the time of the rebellion, joined Gen. Sigel’s command, and was at the Pea Ridge fight. Rev. Dr. Joseph D., Jr., a Christian minister, lives at Odin, Ill., is also editor of Ancient Landmarks, a newspaper at that place—in all ten brothers, two sisters and two half-sisters, our subject being the eleventh child. Mr. Morgan, the father of our subject, was twice married, the second time to Mrs. Elizabeth Ruffner, in 1848. To them were born two children: Mary L. now a resident of Los Angeles, Cal., her husband, Aaron Henry, being superintendent of repairs of the public schools of that city; and Sarah L., who died near Mason, Effingham Co., Ill., in 1876. Our subject is an earnest worker for the cause of education, and the public in general; was one that took part in establishing a school in the neighborhood in 1871, and has since been clerk of the board of directors; built the schoolhouse under contract in the year 1876. He has been superintendent of the Zion Sunday-school (with the exception of about one year), also trustee and class-leader since 1870. He has the Jefferson County right of a straw and hay stacker, invented and patented by his brother, Rev. J. D., the patent taken out in 1881. He is a Republican in politics and cast his first vote for Lincoln, in 1864. Mr. Morgan is a member of the I. O. G. T. and of the Agricultural Wheel. He and his wife and daughter and one son are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The daughter has taught eight terms’ of school, and is considered a successful educator of the county.