Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

try and business ability has made a success
of agriculture. His education was
supplied by the local schools, and very
early in life he engaged in farming upon
the paternal homestead, which had been
cultivated by his ancestors for several
generations. Mr. Smith has not taken a
very active part in public affairs, though
he served two years as selectman, as a
matter of civic duty. Politically, he has
always acted with the Democratic party.
He has never employed a physician, and
is still hale. He married, May 29, 1867,
at New London, Connecticut, Nancy
Clark (Griswold) Morgan, daughter of
Edward and Sarah Margaret (Gibson)
Morgan, granddaughter of Guy and Nancy
Clark (Griswold) Morgan. In 1917 their
golden wedding anniversary was cele-
brated.
The Morgan family is descended from
Richard Rhuys Morgan, son of Guillame
Morgan, son of Philip Morgan. Like all
of the name, the family is Welsh and is of
very ancient lineage in Great Britain.
Richard Rose Morgan (as he wrote the
name") arrived in Boston in 1660, and was
in Charlestown, Massachusetts, soon
after. He married there, October 7, 1664,
Hopestill Mirick, who was born Febru-
ary 20, 1643, m Charlestown, daughter of
John and Hopestill Mirick, pioneers in
that town. About 1679-80 they settled in
that part of New London, Connecticut,
which is now the town of Waterford,
where Richard R. Morgan died in 1698.
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
were the parents of John Morgan, born
1689, married, 1710, Mary Caverly. Their
eldest child, John Morgan, born January
16 171 1, married, October 16, 1735, Grace
Morgan, and was the father of Edward
Morgan, born May 23, 1737. He married,
April 9, 1760, Zuriah Shipman. Their
son, Steven Morgan, born July 19, 1765,
in New London, lived for some years in
Wethersfield, after which he removed to
New London, and died April 19, 1843. He
married Mary Douglass, born November
25, 1766, in Norwich, daughter of Daniel
and Lois (Calkins) Douglass, died in
Wethersfield. Their eldest child, Guy
Morgan, was born September 17, 1786,
in Wethersfield, and resided for a short
time in Berlin, Connecticut, where his
eldest child was born. He removed to
Wyoming county, New York, where he
built a log cabin, the first house in the
town, named Wethersfield from his native
place. In 1833 he removed to Wood
county, Ohio, where he was a very active
and prominent citizen, filling many
county offices, from supervisor to judge
of Court of Common Pleas, and died Oc-
tober 9, 1842. He married, October 19,
1806, Nancy Clark Griswold, born September
10, 1788, in Wethersfield, baptized
four days later, daughter of Ozias and
Anne (Stanley) Griswold, granddaughter
of Thomas and Mary (Francis) Stanley,
of New Britain, the descendant of Michael
Griswold, an early settler of Weth-
His wife survived him about fourteen ersfield, through his son, Jacob, and
years, dying June 1, 1712. For some time
his descendants used the name Rose to
distinguish their family from that of
James Morgan, a very prolific family,
also located in New London. John Mor-
gan, son of Richard Rose and Hopestill
(Mirick) Morgan, born 1666, lived in
New London, where he married Patience
Edwards, also of Welsh extraction. They
329
grandson, Josiah, who was father of
Ozias. Edward Morgan, son of Guy and
Nancy Clark (Griswold) Morgan, was
born August 20, 1818, in Wethersfield,
New York, and married Sarah Margaret
Gibson, of Waterford, of Scotch descent.
They were the parents of Nancy Clark
(Griswold) Morgan, the wife of Edgar
Robbins Smith, as previously noted.