EDWIN DENNISON MORGAN.

GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK, 1858-1862.*

JAMES MORGAN, the first American ancestor, was born in Wales 1607; came to Boston with two younger brothers, 1636; removed to Pequot, now New London, Conn.; seven years later removed to Groton, Mass., where he died in 1685.

. Edwin D. Morgan, in the eighth generation of this descent, was born in Washington, Berkshire County, Mass., February, 1811; died in New York, February 14, 1883.

In 1822 the father, Jasper Morgan, removed with his family to Windsor, Conn. Edwin in his early years worked at farming, and in winter attended the village school. At the age of seventeen he became a clerk for his uncle, Nathan Morgan, a wholesale grocer in Hartford, with fifty dollars compensation the first year, seventy-five dollars the second, and one hundred dollars the third. His excellent habits, energy and ability, won favor with his employer. Before the expiration of his third year of service he made his first visit to New York, and was directed to make purchases of tea, sugar and other articles, and a fair amount of corn. On his return he showed his uncle samples of the corn he had bought, and mentioned that as it was selling low, he had purchased three cargoes. In those days in Hartford that was considered an enormous investment, and the uncle declared that he was ruined. "Very well," said the clerk, "you needn't father the transaction if you don't want to, for I have already sold two cargoes of it at a handsome profit." The next morning young Edwin was called into the counting-room and informed that thereafter he should have an interest in the business as a partner. In 1836 he removed to New York, where he established *New York Tribune; New York Evangelist; Rev. H. J. Van Dyke.

with partners a grocery and commission business, at No. 63 Front Street.

In 1849 Mr. Morgan was chosen an Alderman of New York; in the same year was elected to the State Senate; in 1858 he was elected Governor of New York, re-elected in 1860, and was a Senator in Congress from 1863 to 1869.

He served as director of the Western Union Telegraph Company, the National Bank of Commerce, and the United States Trust Company.

Mr. Morgan was a member of the Brick Presbyterian Church, Fifth Avenue and Thirty-seventh Street, New York. Said his pastor, Rev. Henry J. Van Dyke, "His faith was the deepest source of his strength, the sure pillar of his integrity, the fountain of his kindness and beneficence, the light and comfort of his declining day."

Among the gifts of this individual was $88,000 for the building of a hall at Williams College, and in 1880 $200,000 toward the erection of a building for the library of Union Theological Seminary.

He bequeathed $3,000 to the American Bible Society, $3,000 to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, $3000 to the American Home Missionary Society, $2000 to the American Sunday School Union, $1000 to the American Seamen's Friend Society.

"In appearance Mr. Morgan was tall, dignified and well proportioned, with gray hair and side whiskers, and with a somewhat aristocratic bearing. His features were large and noticeable, and the general expression of his countenance indicated great strength of character."

In 1833 he was united in marriage to Eliza M., daughter of Henry Waterman, a merchant in Hartford. They had one son, Edwin C. Morgan, who died in October, 1881, leaving an only son, Edwin D. Morgan, Jr.

NATHANIEL MORTON.

SECRETARY OF PLYMOUTH COLONY, 1645–1685.*

GEORGE MORTON, father of Nathaniel, was a resident of Austerfield, Northern England, and came to Plymouth, Mass., with his family, in 1623. His wife was Sarah, sister of Governor Bradford, and their children were Nathaniel, John, Patience and Ephraim.

Nathaniel Morton was born in England in 1612; died at Plymouth, Mass., June 23, 1685.

He came to America with his father in July, 1623; in 1645 was elected Clerk or Secretary to the Colony Court, and continued in office until his death, a period of forty years. He published a work in 1669, with title page bearing the following:

"New England's Memorial: or a brief relation of the most memorable and remarkable passages of the Providence of God, manifested to the Planters of New England in America: with special reference to the first Colony thereof, called New Plymouth.

"Deut. viii. 2, 16.-' And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee, this forty years in the wilderness.'"

Six editions of the work were published; the first at Cambridge, 1669; second, Boston, 1721; third, Newport, 1772; fourth, Plymouth; fifth, with notes by John Davis, Boston, 1826; sixth, with notes by the Congregational Board, Boston, 1855.

Mr. Morton held a kind appreciation of worthy ministers of the Gospel. Of Rev. Mr. Lothrop, first pastor of the church in Scituate, he writes: "He was a man of a humble heart, lively in dispensation of the Word of God, studious of peace, furnished with godly contentment." Of Rev. Thomas Shepard, first pastor of the church in Cambridge: "He was a soul-searching minister of * John Davis, in “New England's Memorial"; Sprague's “ Annals of American Pulpit."

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the Gospel." Of Rev. Jonathan Mitchell, who succeeded Mr. Shepard at Cambridge: "He was a person that held very near communion with God; eminent in wisdom, humility, love, selfdenial, of a compassionate and tender heart, a mighty man in prayer."

Mr. Morton was married first to Lydia Cooper, by whom he had eight children, two sons who died in childhood, and six daughters, all of whom were married in Mr. Morton's lifetime; second, to a widow, named Ann Templar, of Charlestown.

FREDERIC NASH.

JUDGE OF SUPREME COURT OF NORTH CAROLINA, 1844-1858.*

ABNER NASH, of Welsh descent, father of Frederic, was Governor of North Carolina in 1779, was member of the Continental Congress from 1782 to 1786.

Frederic Nash was born at Newberne, N. C., February 9, 1781; died at Hillsborough, December 4, 1858.

He graduated at New Jersey College in 1799, and entered the profession of the law. He served several years in the North Carolina Legislature; was a Judge of the Superior Court from 1818 to 1826; and from 1836 to 1844, when he was made Judge of the Supreme Court.

He reveals his interest in matters of religion in a letter which he penned concerning Rev. Robert H. Chapman, and recorded in Sprague's" Annals," as follows:

"RALEIGH, February 17, 1857.

"... I knew Dr. Chapman well and loved him much. When he came to this State to preside over our college he resided with me nearly three months before he went to Chapel Hill. . . . Not specially calculated to shine as a professor, the pulpit was his appropriate place. More highly gifted with power on his knees than any man I ever knew, his public prayers warmed the hearts of all who heard him. I have met with no man, unless perhaps the late Dr. Nettleton was an exception, who seemed to me to exceed Dr. Chapman in a deep and spiritual acquaintance with the Word of God. . .

* Wheeler's "History of North Carolina "; Lanman; Sprague.