Ohio Family Group Sheet for the Emory Bishop MORGAN Family
Copyright © Jodi Magnuson. All rights reserved.
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Submitted by: Jodi Magnuson
Email address: jodimagnuson(AT)earthlink.net
Husband: Emory Bishop MORGAN
Birthdate: 19 February 1835
Birthplace: North Bloomfield, Trumble County, Ohio
Death date: 22 August 1905
Place of death: ; Corning, IA
Burial: Walnut Grove Cemetery (Walnut Grove Cemetery - section 34 of Quincy Twp., at the NW corner of Corning )
Father: Ezra MORGAN (1798-1864)
Mother: Harriet BISHOP (1800-1877)
Other spouses: Elizabeth WOODRUFF
Marriage date: 24 July 1860
Marriage Place: Trumbull County, Ohio
Wife: Sarah Elizabeth "Libbie" CROWELL
Birthdate: 24 July 1840
Birthplace: Bloomfield, Trumbull County, Ohio
Death date: 19 December 1886
Place of death: Corning, IA
Burial:
Father: Henry CROWELL (1802-1881)
Mother: Almena SAUNDERS (1809-1883)
Other spouses:
CHILDREN
Child No. 1: Ida Emmeline MORGAN
Sex: F
Birth: 6 December 1866 Cleveland, Trumbull County, Ohio
Death: 7 May 1947 Minneapolis, Hennepin Co., MN
Burial: 9 May 1947 Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis,MN
Spouses' names: Will Linwood GARDNER
Marriage dates: 2 September 1885 Corning, IA
Child No. 2: Lillian Elizabeth MORGAN
Sex: F
Birth: 6 December 1869 La Crosse, Wisconsin
Death: 12 August 1943 Cleveland, Trumbull County, Ohio
Burial:
Spouses' names: Dr. George F. WOODBURY
Marriage dates: 12 October 1896 Minneapolis, Hennepin Co, MN
Child No. 3: Minnie May MORGAN
Sex: F
Birth: 17 May 1872 Corning, Taylor Farm County, Iowa
Death: 11 March 1947 Minneapolis, Hennepin Co, MN
Burial: 13 March 1947 Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis, MN
Spouses' names: William Ransom POTTER
Marriage dates: 21 December 1892 Minneapolis, Hennepin Co, MN
Child No. 4: Emma (Emily) MORGAN
Sex: F
Birth: 1874 Corning, Adams Co.,IA
Death: 1876 Corning, IA
Burial:
Spouses' names:
Marriage dates:
Child No. 5: Walter Andrew MORGAN
Sex: M
Birth: 30 March 1878 Corning, IA
Death: 27 April 1970 Mason City, Iowa
Burial:
Spouses' names: Nora "Della" MOORE
Marriage dates: 6 June 1905 Oakland, Iowa
Spouses' names: Maybelle LITTLE
Documentation:
* Notes for Emory Bishop MORGAN Emory Bishop Morgan was the youngest of as many as 12 children of Ezra and Harriet
Morgan. Emory grew up in the communities of North Bloomfield and Orwell, Ohio along the Trumbull-Ashtabula County
border, about 50 miles east of Cleveland. As a teenager, the adventurous lad made the dangerous trip to California, via
Panama, to search for a relative (probably his older brother, Lorenzo) who had abandoned his wife and children to join
the Gold Rush of 1849. Emory apparently never overcame his wanderlust. During his lifetime, he lived in at least 16
different houses in five states. At 16, Emory was listed in the 1850 U.S. census as a "laborer" living with his parents
in Orwell. In 1860,, at 25, he married "Libbie" Crowell of North Bloomfield..
* On the death of Ida Morgan Gardner in May 1947 a large Black Walnut Desk made by Emory was acquired by Walter
Gardner (as he had previously had it refinished). this desk has served as our household budget center for almost forty
years. This desk has some nice cabinet work, beautyfull(sic) grain, very old cabinet door catches and knobs. I would
think that as of this year of 1985, it must be 100 or more years old. It is 44 inches wide. Emory would be surprised at
the desk top - attached to the back I have attached a long electrical strip with many elec. outlets; 1=for elec
typewriter, 2=for two nite lites, 3=hi intence desk lamp, 4=calculater transeformer, 5=tpe player & stereo, 6=elec clox,
etc. Also two phone instruments, one with auto/last number redial, one Touch-tone necessary for "Pay by Phone" 90% of
our bills. YES!! EMORY WOULD BE SURPRISED AND PROUD OF HIS CABINET WORK!!.
* Obituary The death of E.B. Morgan occurred at his home in this city at 10:50 p.m. Tuesday, of scirrhus cancer of
which he had been a sufferer since last January and for several weeks his death had been daily expected, the only relief
for his intense suffering. He was born in Bloomfield, Trumbull county, Ohio, Feb. 19 1835, and at the time of his death
was aged 70 years, 6 months and 4 days. He married Miss Elizabeth Crowell in Ohio, July 16, 1860, who died in Corning
Dec 19, 1866. To this union were born five children, one dying in infancy. The living are Mrs. Geo. (Lillian) Woodburry
of Cleveland, O., Mrs. W.L. (Ida) Gardner of Minneapolis, Minn., Mrs. W.R. (Minnie) Potter of the same place and Rev.
W.A. Morgan of Des Moines (Iowa). Mrs. Potter and Mr. Morgan were here when the end came. After his marriage in 1860,
the deceased went to Cleveland, O., where he engaged in the mercantile business for a number of years and then moved to
Wisconsin and from there to Taylor county in 1872 where he was engaged in farming for a few years when he moved to
Corning about 30 years ago where he worked at the carpenter trade. In recent years he has frequently been engaged in the
grocery business in Corning and always enjoyed a good trade. He was again married in 1892 to Mrs. Elizabeth Woodruff who
survives him. The funeral was held from the residence on Thursday morning at 10 o'clock conducted by Rev. Jay
Kirkendall. Interment in Walnut Grove cemetery. As a mark of esteem in which Mr. Morgan was held by the business men of
Corning the business houses all closed for the funeral and the business and professional men of the city marched to the
house in a body. No man in Corning was held in higher esteem and had more friends that E.B. Morgan. Honor was his text
and he lived by it to the letter and the honorable example he set will be a monument to his memory..
* Notes for Sarah Elizabeth "Libbie" CROWELL This is from the FAMILY RECORD HENRY CROWELL" sent to Jodi Magnuson
from Bob Morrison 29 Nov 2001. It lists birth & death dates of Henry & Almena Crowell and their 7 children: "All were
born at the same old home, one fourth mile north of village of Bloomfield, Ohio. The above record is copied to day
(Sept. 1, 1921) by W.H. Crowell, the sole survivor of all.".
* Libby was a gifted poet and songwriter who, having lived under the influence of God-fearing parents, passed her
love for people and God on through her many songs and poems, some of which remain as published in "Poems" by Libbie S.
Morgan - Standard Publishing Co. 1888. Her career as a poet was cut short by domestic cares in giving birth to three
daughters and a son, all of whom were born and raised during the years they made their way to Cleveland, Ohio and
eventually by covered wagon to Corning Iowa. Her husband E.B. Morgan became a farmer and cabinet maker..
* 25 November 2001, from an e-mail from Ken Morgan to Jodi Magnuson: "I have a book of poems by Libbie S. Morgan,
Walter's mother, and the introduction says Libbie S. Crowell was born July 24, 1840, in Bloomfield, Trumbull Co., Ohio,
where she spent the first twenty years of her life. She was married July 24, 1860 to E.B.Morgan. Several years of her
married life were spent in Cleveland, but the greater part in Corning, Iowa. It doesn't tell why the move to Corning.
Her husband came home one day and said he had bought a hotel, and she asked if it had a bar in it, and he said yes and
she said he could get rid of the bar, or of her, but couldn't have both. He was so embarrassed at having to sell his
hotel because it had a bar that he decided to move to Corning, near some Crowell relatives. Dad was only 8 when his
mother died, and he didn't talk about her to us boys. We knew she was religious, but Aunt Ida probably was the strong
religious influence toward the ministry. No one has ever told us how Libbie's poems happened to be published.".
* Obituary DIED -(from the Adams County Union, Corning, Ia) At her residence in this city on Sunday afternoon Dec.
19th. 1886, Mrs. E.B. Morgan, aged 47 years. She died as she lived- a sincere Christian. The grim summons to relinquish
life and cross the dark valley came unaccompanied by terrors. With the inate and beautiful affection of a wife and
mother, she bade all good-bye and prepared for that enjoyment of rest and happiness which her faith and pure life had
won for her in the land beyond. During her life in Corning she had endeared herself to many friends by her sweet
Christian dispostion and nobility of mind. In fact, she was a lovely woman endowed with all the graces of true
womanhood, and possessed of a soul and heart that always led her to good works in home, social and church circles. The
funeral was held Tuesday afternoon at the M.E. Church and sevices performed in accordance with her wishes as expressed
during life. The loss by death of Mrs. Morgan is a heavy affliction - not only to her immediate family, but to the
church and community of which she was an exemplary member. The following lines composed and written by Mrs. Morgan
previous to her death and upon the death of a favorite child, was read at the funeral services. They are very expressive
and appropriate and evidence the cultivated mind and Christian character of the desceased..
* AT LAST
When all is over and I at last, In my calm sweet sleep are lying, The trials and sorrows of earth all
past, the crosses aud self-denying..
When my hands are folded their work all o'er, And my tired feet are resting, And when in death as never before,
Your love and faith I am testing..
Don't look on my quiet face as some Whose hearts with grief seem breaking, Think of the infinite joy of that home,
In whose fadeless light I'm waking..
O think of the weary pathway here, The bitter tears we mortals shed, And say with a faith which knows no fear, We
are glad our loved one is dead..
For death to us means life overt there, With the holy and pure and good, With one who passed from our tender care,
Would you call me back if you could?.
But oh! the loved ones around this hearth, With divided heart I stand, Holding with one the treasures of earth,
Reaching upward the other hand..
But God who knoweth to give or take, and ordereth all our ways, Earth's fondest ties can tenderly break, And
comfort the sadest days..
Then remember sweet friends no tears or sighs, Or tolling of bells over me, But anthems of praise, let your dear
lips raise, for the spirit that's just made free. Libbie S. Morgan.
* Notes for Emory Bishop & Sarah Elizabeth "Libbie" (Family) In 1860, at age 25, Emory married "Libbie" of North
Bloomfield, Ohio. In that same year, Emory and Libbie moved to Cleveland, the first of six moves they would make in the
next 18 years. "Father never continued in both one location and one business very long at a time," explained Emory's
son, Walter. In Cleveland, Emory kept a store for several years, the first of at least 12 businesses he would operate
during his lifetime. Then when Ezra became ill, he took over his father's business of providing horses to the army. Two
daughters, Lillian and Ida, were born to Emory and Libbie in Cleveland. About 1870, Emory and Libbie Morgan moved to
LaCrosse, Wisconsin, near the home of Emory's brother Charles in Sparta. There Emory ran a hotel and bar for a few
years. According to family legends, Libbie forced Emory to give up that business because he was drinking too much. So in
1871, the family moved to a farm in Taylor County, Iowa, adjoining the farm where Libbie's brother, Thomas Crowell,
lived. Emory and Libbie apparently had planned to buy a farm in the area, but in about 1874, Libbie's brother, George
Crowell, persuaded them to join him in northern Michigan "for the purpose of getting rich manufacturing wooden bowls,
rolling pins, etc, etc." according to Walter Morgan. That venture, in Maple City, Michigan, was short-lived, however,
and the family soon found itself back in Corning without enough money left to buy a farm. "Father went to work as a
carpenter and that was his occupation through much of my childhood," explained Walter, "intersperced with periods of
store-keeping - - there were grocery stores, one feed store, one butcher shop and one china store and some other
business ventures in Corning." The family's homes "were like businesses, often changed," noted Walter. "I can think of
at least eight different houses in Corning that were home for a time... my father built several of these houses." After
Libbie died in 1886, Lillian, Ida and Minnie helped Emory raise Walter. But after a few years, all three daughters had
left home for Minneapolis, so Emory decided the rest of the family should follow, He bought a grocery and meat store in
Minneapolis, but after just six months there he and Walter moved back to Corning. In 1892, Emory married a widow,
Elizabeth Woodruff. Except for one year in Minneapolis, they lived together in Corning until Emory's death in 1905.
While his son Walter was sent to serve in the Philippines during the Spanish American War, Emory made no attempt to hide
his opinions about that unpopular war. In an 1899 letter to Walter in Manila he wrote: "we don't like it a bit. There is
a great deal of Dissatisfaction with Otis's management . . . We want you sent home at once. your time is out. They have
no business to keep you." Nor did Emory try to hide his prejudices against people on the other side of the world whose
skin was darker than his own. In another letter, he told Walter: "They no business to keep the Volunteers there to fite
them niggers. . . We don't want them fool Island anyway. Let the niger fite themselves if they want to. I wouldent give
one of our good boys for all the nigers in all the Islands." This letter, written as Walter was lying in a Manila
hospital suffering from malaria and dysentery, expressed Emory's fondness for his only son: "Lillie is very much worried
about you just now. Just begins to think how she used to abuse you + scold me because I wouldent lick you but I am glad
I dident though you did deserve it sometimes but I dident want to lick the little motherless child." Perhaps the last
letter ever written by Emory Bishop Morgan was to Walter and his fiancee, Della Moore, the day before their wedding in
June 1905. Emory, who was then quite ill, lamented his inability to attend their wedding in Oakland, Iowa. He wrote
(with spelling ability apparently inherited from Capt. John Underhill): "I never like to write much about myselfe but
will just a little. As yet I am about the same as when you was here. I got disgusted with my Drs here. I wrote a full
Description of my case to Celia [his niece, a practising M.D. in Chicago]. She immediately Sent me an Elaberate Course
of treat ment -- Sent part of the Medison that I could not get here + Perscription for the rest. I Shall try it all
thoruly. She Said She did not consider it canser but Tumor or Absess + Said if I sent her any money for the medison She
Should consider it a personal Insult -- so guess I wont. Shall comence closing out my Store Monday. I am not able to
atend to it any longer." Emory died about two months later, on 22 August 1905, of "scirrhus cancer," according to an
obituary in a local newspaper..
* Notes for Ida Emmeline (Child 1) Obituary OBIT: GARDNER -Ida M. age 80, res. 3336 Aldrich av. S., on Wed. Survived
by daughter, Miss C. Elizabeth Gardner, Mpls, 2 sons, Walter C., Mpls, & F. William Gardner, Toledo, Ohio; 6
grandchildren, 3 great-grandchildren, brother, Rev. Walter A. Morgan, Ames Ia., member of Bethlehem Presby. church.
Funeral services Fri. afternoon 3:30 o'clock at Welander Quist (West Chapel) 2301 Dupont av S., Interment Lakewood..
* Census 1880 US census, place: Corning, Adams, Iowa -Ida E. Morgan: birth year 1867, age 13 born in OH, occupation:
at home, single, white, parents born in OH. listed with parents E.B. Morgan & Libbie S. Morgan, sister Minnie M.Morgan
and brother Walter Morgan. (info from www.familysearch.org on 22 May 2003).
* Notes for Will Linwood & Ida Emmeline (Family) Will and Ida came to Minneapolis in 1892. from Corning, Iowa..
* Notes for Lillian Elizabeth (Child 2) Lillian taught art at Hiram College, located about 35 miles SE of Cleveland
/ due east of Aurora, Ohio. This was in 1890-1891, before she was married. She may have stayed with her cousin, Wilbur &
Grace Crowell, the son of William & Letticia Crowell in Bresville, Ohio. She had close contact with Wilbur & Grace all
through her life. Lillian was quite a good painter. She enjoyed painting the elm trees and would often go out to sketch
the elms around her home. John & Louise Morrison have at least two of her paintings..
* Lil was the middle girl, between Ida, the oldest and Minnie, the youngest of the daughters. She was teaching
school in Minneapolis and was living with Ida and Will Gardner at 3334 Aldrich Ave (around 1892). Lil was engaged about
this time and soon married George Woodbury. They later moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he practiced dentistry and later
taught it..
* Notes for Minnie May (Child 3) Obituary OBIT: POTTER - M.....? Mae, age 73, res, 5341 15th av S. on Wed. Survived
by 3 daughters, Mrs. Kathryn Morgan, Portland, Ore., Mrs. Florence McAleer, Bakers Field, Calif., Mrs. Dorothy McCullum,
Phoenix, Ariz., 3 sons, John Phillip, Wash. D.C., Willliam R., Detroit, Mich, Morgan H., Mpls., sister Mrs. Ida Gardner
& brother Rev. Walter Morgan, Ames, Iowa. 14 grandchildren, 5 great-grandchildren. Services Fri. afternoon 1 o'clock at
Welander Quist (West Chapel), 2301 Dupont S. Interment Lakewood..
* Census 1880 US census, place: Corning, Adams, Iowa -Minnie M. Morgan: birth year 1872, age 8 born in IA, single,
white, parents born in OH. listed with parents E.B. Moragan & Libbie S. Morgan, sister Ida E. Morgan and brother Walter
Morgan. (info from www.familysearch.org on 22 May 2003).
* marriage/wedding info Notes for William Ransom & Minnie May (Family) Willie met Minnie May while she was visiting
her sister Ida and her brother-in-law Will Lindwood Gardner at his hardware store on Nicollet and Lake St. Willie and
Minnie May were married at Bethlehem Presbyterian Church on Pleasant Ave and 26th Street in Minneapolis..
* Notes for Emma (Emily) (Child 4) Emma L. Daughter of E.B. & L.S. Morgan died 6 Sept 1876 aged 1y 11m 6d.
* Notes for Walter Andrew (Child 5) Walter A. Morgan was born in Corning, Iowa in 1878, about two years after the
family's return from Michigan. * He went to 1892 Chicago World's Fair and stayed with Celia Haynes. * Spanish American
War Veteran * Walter Morgan was educated in theology and became a Methodist minister just in time to be ordained and
enlist in the army as a chaplain during the Spanish-American War of 1898. Walter served the Methodist church all over
the state of Iowa (Harlan, Des Moines, Ames, Mason City) and as District Superintendent. 1925 - Walter was the minister
to the largest Methodist church in Des Moines, Iowa. Census 1880 US census, place: Corning, Adams, Iowa -Walter Morgan:
birth year 1878, age 2 born in IA, single, white, parents born in OH. listed with parents E.B. Moragan & Libbie S.
Morgan, sisters Ida E. Morgan and Minnie M.Morgan. (info from www.familysearch.org on 22 May 2003).
* Notes for Walter Andrew & Nora "Della" (Family) June 1924- Morgan Potter and a Swiss "friend" of his father's took
off from Minneapolis on their way to Arizona. Stopping in Harlan, Iowa (to visit Walter & Della Morgan) on a Saturday
night. They had a good dinner and a good breakfast the next morning and without insisting on their attendance at church,
were on their way early Sunday morning..
* Walter's family lived all over -- such was the life of a Methodist minister. Here are the towns I'm aware of:
Lenox Corydon Emerson Indianola Ames Fort Des Moines Belt, MT Fort Benton, MT And he retired in Mason City. Emory's
family moved around a lot, too, before settling in Corning. They had previously lived in: Taylor Co., IA LaCrosse, WI
Maple City, MI Cleveland, OH I recall that they followed some Crowells to SW Iowa from Ohio..
* In 1905 Walter and Della Moore Morgan were living in Fort DesMoines, where he had a circuit of several little
Methodist churches, Harold was born there in 1906..
* Then they moved to Montana (never told us why, but were missionaries) and Ken was born in Great Falls in October
1908. Della's mother came out from Iowa to help Della when Ken was born, and she died on the train in South Dakota and
was buried by the next station..
* They lived in Fort Benton and Belt in Montana and moved back to Emerson, Iowa, around 1912..
* Then to Lenox, where Bob was born, then Corydon where Paul was born. Then Harlan, Des Moines, and I think Ames was
next..
* Then he became a District Superintendent, and lived in Indianola, then Creston. When he retired I think to Ankeny,
then Ames again..
* Della died there then after Walter remarried, Tucson, and Mason City again. He was 92 when he died.
* "These are the towns where Walter and Della lived: They got married in 1905, after he graduated
from Simpson, and Della didn't finish at Simpson. They lived at Fort Des Moines where Walter served several little
Methodist churches, then moved to Fort Benton, Montana. Harold was born there in 1906. They never talked about why they
went there or why they left. They also lived at Belt, Dad had several small churches near enough that he could get
around them with a horse. I was born in Great Falls in 1908. Della's mother had come out from Iowa and stayed a couple
of months, and died on the train on the way home and was buried somewhere in Dakota, Bismark, I think. Then they lived
at Emerson, Lenox, Corydon, Harlan, North Des Moines, Then Dad became a District Superintendant and travelled among
Methodist churches, and they lived in Indianola, then they had several good years at Ames, then he was a DS again living
in Creston, then a short stop in Ankeny and he retired and they lived in Ames. After Della died, a few years later
Walter married again and they lived several years in Tucson, then Mason City. Walter Morgan grew up in Corning. He was
about 8, I think when his mother died. When he was 12 he remembers going to the saloon to bring his father home, which
was the basis for his hatred of alcohol. Then Aunt Ida (Gardner) took him in hand. He went back to Corning and helped in
the grocery-meat market with his father, enlisted in the army in his senior year in High School when he was 18, had a
dull and unpleasant experience in the army, most of the time crowded on a troop ship to and from the Philippines, was
given his diploma from High School, and went to Simpson in spite of his father's opposition, and with no help from
anyone.. Corning is just a pleasnt little southern Iowa town. One summer when Ken Morgan was in college he preached in
the Methodist church there for the summer months, filling in for a sudden vacancy. Cliff Okey, the banker there was a
graduate of Princeton, and a wise and generous and sophisticated gentleman. When Ken Morgan was there in the 1920s
almost no one remembered the Morgans. One day the undeertaker said that the body of a Morgan had been shipped to him for
burial in Corning, so Ken Morgan did a ceremony for him, no one there, or in Ken's family, knew enough about him to
identify him.".
* marriage/wedding info "Married. Rev. Walter A. Mogan, son of E. B. Morgan of Corning, was married to Miss Della
Moore at the home of the bride's parents in Oakland, Iowa, on the sixth of the present month. They will be at home to
their friends after July 1st, at 36, Fortieth street, Des Moines, where the groom is engaged in the ministry. Walter's
Corning friends will be pleased to extend congratulation."