More About Anthony Morgan III

There is no supporting documentation for the majority of the genealogical information found online about Anthony Morgan. For that reason I was reluctant to accept the theory that he was the father of our ancestor Charles Morgan who died in Warrick County, Indiana in 1832 primarily because he stated in his Revolutionary War pension statement that he was born in 1757 in Fauquier County, Virginia. There is no question that Charles Morgan (1680-1766) of Fauquier County, Virginia and Anthony Morgan (1686-1749) along with their siblings, Bridgett and Ann were the children of Anthony Morgan and his wife Elizabeth of Old Rappahannock County because their births are recorded in the North Farnham Parish Register. Brother Robert Morgan although not recorded in the births of Old Rappahannock was named, along with Anthony, as a step-son of John Ware in his 1703 Westmoreland County, Virginia will. From that point on with the exception of Charles Morgan whose life and family is well documented in the records of Fauquier County, the family history becomes fragmented and murky.

1679 POA by
Anthony & Elizabeth Morgan

The other principal theory of Charles Morgan of Warrick, Indiana was that he was the son of Benjamin Morgan and Phoebe Settle of Fauquier. Benjamin was the documented son of Charles Morgan (born 1680), but in depth research of Benjamin's family after they relocated to Wilkes County, North Carolina around 1775 and before migrating to Tennessee where Benjamin died, proved that our Charles Morgan could not have been Benjamin's son. Apparently all of the children of Benjamin and Phoebe Settle Morgan had been incorrectly attributed to his brother John Morgan and Phoebe's sister Martha Settle. There are no records that John Morgan married Martha Settle in Fauquier or elsewhere and deed records of Wilkes County establish that Benjamin's son Charles was living in Wilkes County in 1784. Charles Morgan (born 1757) was living in South Carolina from around 1775 according to his RW pension statements so he could not have been the Charles Morgan of Wilkes County. Likewise the only John Morgan found in Wilkes County was a younger John, who would also have been the child of Benjamin and Phoebe Morgan. A Capt. John Morgan referred to in various undocumented Morgan theories was actually living in Surry County during the Revolution in the portion that later became Stokes County. That John Morgan has no known connection to the Morgans of Fauquier County. See blog post Morgan Family Myths with research details and citations.

Once the theory of Benjamin Morgan as Charles' (born 1757) parent had been investigated and proved false, thorough research of Anthony Morgan was the only avenue to pursue. Anthony Morgan II remained in the Rappahannock area and is named as a step-son along with his brother Robert in the 1703 will of John Ware of Westmoreland County whom his widowed mother Elizabeth had married after his father's death. In Richmond County on the first of July 1711, Anthony married Ann Duncan. Autosomal DNA of numerous descendants of Charles Morgan of Warrick County, Indiana has high cM matches to Duncan family members. See the post Identifying our Morgan DNA in this blog which further establishes the connection to Anthony Morgan's family.

In February of 1721, Anthony bought 250 acres in Westmoreland County which he sold to Willoughby Newton on 15 July 1728. In that deed, Anthony Morgan is described as "of Richmond County". In January of 1727, Anthony had purchased 100 acres bounded by the Marshy Swamp in Richmond County from James Thomas. From that point he appears to be located solely in Richmond County. In 1740, Anthony sold the mill, referred to in other documents as "Morgan's Mill", along with forty acres to Willoughby Newton [DB9 p667-669]. It was in Richmond County that he died sometime before the 5th of March 1749 when his estate was inventoried [WB5 p598].

1740 Deed by Anthony Morgan II

Anthony Morgan III appears first as the administrator of the estate of Anthony Morgan II in Richmond County in 1749. On January 30th, 1750, he sold to William McClanahan the 80 acres of land in Richmond County described as the land where Anthony Morgan deceased formerly lived adjoining the mill. In that 1750 deed Anthony Morgan is described as "of Prince William County" and his wife, Mary, signed a release of her dower rights. Countless Ancestry trees and websites espouse a theory that Anthony Morgan III married a Mary Wilson in Brunswick County, Virginia and that their children were born there but primary sources are never provided. Obviously from the evidence found in Richmond County, Anthony had married his wife Mary (for whom there is no documentation of a surname) in one of the counties in Virginia's Northern Neck where Anthony is recorded during this period of time. As documented in another recent blog post Finally Found - our Morgan Family Ancestor, the Dumfries Store ledger proved that Anthony Morgan was a resident of Prince William and Fauquier (formed from Prince William in 1759) counties at least through 1763. At last there was some evidence that the third Anthony Morgan had actually been living in Fauquier at the time our Charles Morgan said he was born there.

Before leaving Fauquier County, Anthony Morgan executed a Bill of Sale to Bennett Price on behalf of Andrew Cochran Esqr. in payment of a debt. Anthony deeded two slaves, a bay mare, several head of cattle and two feather beds to Cochran in payment of the eighty Pound debt on 28th of March, 1763 [DB2 p71]. This was apparently prior to Anthony and his family leaving that area of northern Virginia for he is next found on the tax lists of Surry County, North Carolina in 1771 along with Samuel Morgan and Anthony Morgan, Jr. Again in 1772, Anthony Morgan and Samuel were listed on the tax lists of Surry County but Anthony, Jr. was not. After 1772, Anthony and family apparently moved on to South Carolina where by Charles Morgan's account in his RW pension statement, he was living in 1775. Maybe at a future time, Anthony Morgan will be found living for a few years in some Virginia county along the great wagon road through Virginia's Shenandoah Valley on his way to Surry County, North Carolina.

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Other posts on the blog about this Morgan Family -
Morgan Family Myths
Identifying Our Morgan DNA
Finally Found - our Morgan Family Ancestor

Finally found - our Morgan Family Ancestor

There is a copious amount of undocumented, inaccurate information floating about the internet regarding our ancestor Charles Morgan. After many years of searching Virginia's Northern Neck for some tidbit of documentation to identify the father of this ancestor who stated in his 1832 Revolutionary War pension application that he was born in Fauquier County, Virginia in 1757, I think I've finally found something of consequence.

The Benjamin Morgan and Phoebe Settle lineage which I spent years investigating proved to be incorrect. I shared the details of that research in a blog post five years ago. Benjamin Morgan was the son of Charles Morgan, born 1680 to Anthony Morgan and his wife Elizabeth. Charles' birth is recorded on the 28th of September, 1680 in Farnham Parish, Rappahannock, Virginia. Deed records in Wilkes County, North Carolina proved Benjamin's son Charles to have been incorrectly attributed to his brother John Morgan and couldn't have been our Charles.

The other most frequent theory found in countless sites on the internet is that he was the son of Anthony Morgan and Mary Wilson of Brunswick County, Virginia born 1764. Charles own words in his pension statement disprove Brunswick County as a place of birth and 1764 as a date. Anthony, born circa 1720 to 1730, was the son of Anthony Morgan, brother of Charles Morgan above, and Ann Duncan of Westmoreland County, Virginia. Like Charles, Anthony's birth is recorded in Farnham Parish, Rappahannock, Virginia on the 20th of November, 1686. Over the years I've frequently searched but could find no record of an Anthony Morgan living in Fauquier County, until recently when I happened upon the index of customers recorded in the Dumfries Store Ledgers of Prince William County.

Index of Customers at Daniel Payne's Dumfries' Store

Fauquier County was established on May 1, 1759, from Prince William County which fits exactly the time of our Charles Morgan's birth. At the time he was born it would have technically been Prince William County. The excerpt at right from the index of Daniel Payne's Dumfries Stores Ledger documents that Anthony Morgan was living in the Prince William County area from at least 1758 to around 1763. These records of Anthony Morgan's residence in Prince William County finally make it feasible that he could have been Charles' father. This family connection also coincides with an abundance of fairly large autosomal DNA matches on chromosome 4 to other descendants of Charles Morgan as well as to members of the Duncan family.

Much research of this family is still yet to be done. In reviewing all the sites which list Anthony Morgan as marrying a Mary Wilson in Brunswick County, Virginia and most of his children having been born there, none of them cite any sources. The only Morgan I have been able to find historical records for in Brunswick County is a Robert Morgan 1726 through 1745. It is highly likely that Robert may be another of the children of Anthony and Elizabeth Morgan of Westmoreland County. The widow Elizabeth Morgan married John Ware after Anthony Morgan's death and Robert Morgan was listed along with his brother Anthony as sons-in-law (stepsons) in John Ware's 1704 will.

One of the primary online sites proffering Anthony Morgan's marriage to Mary Wilson and living in Brunswick County, Virginia is the SARRETT/SARRATT/SURRATT Families of America where I found the following citation - "In 1755, Anthony MORGAN III was appointed constable in the room of Lazarus Taylor." This cites the source as Ibid., O.B., 1754-1755, p 221 but makes no reference to the county where this is recorded. Research of Lazarus Taylor in northern Virginia indicates that he was a resident of Northumberland County who settled in 1744/45 on Marrs Run on land believed to be located in Hamilton Parish, Prince William County, which later became part of the newly formed county of Fauquier. If Anthony's appointment as constable was in the Fauquier area, it is further repudiation of the theory suggesting Anthony was living in Brunswick County during this period.

Another potentially significant find is an Anthony Morgan recorded in the tax lists of Surry County, North Carolina in 1771 and 1772 along with an Anthony Morgan, Jr. and Samuel Morgan in 1771. Anthony's cousin Benjamin Morgan, son of Charles of Fauquier County, migrated to neighboring Wilkes County, North Carolina around that same time. This may suggest that Anthony left the Fauquier area at the same time as his cousin, settling in North Carolina briefly as he migrated to South Carolina.

Our Morgan mysteries are definitely not resolved yet, but I believe that Anthony Morgan's listing in Daniel Payne's Dumfries ledger is a huge step toward finding Charles Morgan's lineage and ultimately our immigrant ancestor.

Identifying Our Morgan DNA

The search for the origins of our ancestor Charles Morgan who died in Warrick County, Indiana in 1832 has been ongoing for many years. The internet is full of theories of supposed family lineages none of which are verifiable. After participating in an autosomal DNA project several years ago, one of my primary goals has been to identify the location of our Morgan DNA by chromosome and segment. Until recently I had found no matches that appeared to descend from our Charles Morgan but several weeks ago, I found two descendants of his son Anthony who match my DNA and that of my two first cousins from this lineage on Chromosome 4. Once these Morgan descendants were identified, an entire block of matches that had previously been complete mysteries became probable candidates as descendants from either the Morgan family or an allied maternal lineage. This listing shows matches to myself and my cousins with the segments and size of the match as well as a notation of any known ancestral lines.

In a statement given when applying for a Revolutionary War pension, Charles Morgan stated that he was born 1757 in Fauquier County, Virginia and was living in York County, South Carolina by 1775 when first called into service. One of the most common theories is that Charles Morgan who died in Warrick County, Indiana was the son of Benjamin Morgan and Phoebe Settle of Fauquier County, Virginia who migrated to Wilkes County, North Carolina around 1770 and eventually to Tennessee where they died. A thorough search of the records of Wilkes County has produced proof that Benjamin's son Charles was still living in Wilkes County, North Carolina in 1780 when he married Ann Hall on the 21st of January 1780. This Charles Morgan has been identified in countless websites and family pedigrees as the son of Benjamin's brother John Morgan and Martha Settle, however, the deed records of Wilkes prove that to be incorrect. A 1784 deed from Benjamin Morgan to William Johnson for 300 acres includes as part of the legal description of the land that Benjamin Morgan was selling the phrase "along a line between Benjamin Morgan and his son Charles" (Deed Book A-1, p. 504). Various sources had identified all of the younger Morgan individuals in Wilkes County as children of John Morgan and Martha Settle, but there is no record that John Morgan ever lived in that county. The Capt. John Morgan who served in the Revolution from Surry County, North Carolina was a completely different person and never migrated to Tennessee, dying in Stokes County, North Carolina (formed from Surry). See a previous post regarding documented information for Benjamin and John Morgan along with errors in the online family pedigrees for the Morgan family in Sumner County, Tennessee.

Another of the primary theories of Charles' lineage identifies him as a son of Anthony Morgan of Brunswick County, Virginia who was a grandson of the earliest known ancestor of this family, Anthony Morgan of Glamorgan, Wales, who died in Old Rappahannock County, Virginia in 1688. The elder Anthony Morgan's son Charles was the father of Benjamin Morgan and his son Anthony the father of Anthony Morgan of Brunswick County. Numerous sites list Anthony Morgan's son Charles' date of birth as 1764 in Brunswick County which definitely disagrees with our Charles Morgan's stated date and place of birth. I have been unable to find any primary source to document a connection to Anthony Morgan. The theory appears to have been based upon proximity in York, South Carolina and the fact that Charles named a son Anthony.

In reviewing any lineages that could be found for the individuals who are matches on this segment of Chromosome 4, besides the two who descend from Charles Morgan's son Anthony, one appears to descend from Anthony Morgan of Brunswick County, Virginia and four are from Duncan families which may be related to the family of Ann Dunkin or Duncan, wife of Anthony Morgan (II) and mother of Anthony Morgan of Brunswick, Virginia. It has been suggested that Charles Morgan, born 1680, married an Ann Duncan but no reliable sources have been located for that assumption.

I am in hopes that more matches on this segment of Chromosome 4 will be forthcoming and can eventually definitely identify Charles' family. If you're reading this post, are a descendant of this Morgan family and have participated in an autosomal DNA project, drop me a note in the comments. And if you've uploaded your raw DNA data from Ancestry, 23andMe or FtDNA to GEDMatch where we can compare matches that would be excellent.