Family:James Morgan and Sarah Carter (3)

J. M. Morgan - 27 - b. GA

S. J. Morgan - 22 - b. GA

M. H. Morgan - 6 - b. AL

F. P. Morgan - 5 - b. AL

J. T. Morgan - 4 - b. AL

F. E. Morgan - 2 - b. AL

J. W. Morgan - 6/12 - b. AL

These initials correspond to the following names as recorded from the Morgan Family Bible by the only daughter of James Thomas Morgan, Sallie (Sarah) Eugenia Morgan.

James Milton Morgan

Sarah Jane Carter

Millie H. Morgan

Franklin Pierce Morgan

James Thomas Morgan

Fannie E. Morgan

John William Morgan

1. This daughter of James Thomas faithfully recorded the marriages, birthdates, one to two generations of their descendants and their locations up to about 1960 and distributed them to as many family members as she could locate before her death in 1966. 2. She, or her parents, (Sallie cared for her parents in their old age, living next door to them until their death in 1933 and 1935) as near as I can tell, corresponded with many of these descendants during Sallie's lifetime, and in particular seemed to know a good deal about John William and his family of 10 children. 3. Of all of James Milton's and Sarah Jane's children, I know of the existence of no photos except for James Thomas (my great grandfather) and John William. These came into my father's possession by way of Sallie Eugenia.

I give this detail in order to authenticate my information and identify myself as a descendant of James Milton and Sarah Jane Carter Morgan, of Coosa County, Alabama.

It is Sallie who tells in her recollections that James Milton died one spring in Alabama of a "fever", and that Sarah Jane "married the overseer". However, she did not recollect where her grandparents lived other than in Alabama and that Sarah Jane sent the older boys on ahead to Texas, after the "Chaos in Alabama" was over. Her memory of the family's migration to Texas does not always correspond to what I have learned from studying Texas census records, however, and I have to date, found no record of the date or locations of James Milton's or Sarah Jane's death. The fact that they had another child, Eugene Hilliard Morgan in 1866, born in AL (according to Sallie and the 1900 Census of Hood County, TX,) gives evidence that they were still in Alabama at least until then. However, I have yet to find an 1870 census indicating this family's whereabouts, which tends to lend credence to Sallie's story that Sarah remarried. None of us who are researching this family have been able to learn the name of her new husband and I, for one, believe if we could ever learn that we would find the family in the 1870 census, somewhere in TX.

The first census record of any of their children in Texas is in the Collin County, TX, 1880 census, two years after James Thomas married. He was living there with his wife and their first child, Sallie Eugenia. However, I have found an old school record for Franklin Pierce Morgan showing he was attending Grandbury College (actually it was a high school) in 1874 in Grandbury, Hood County, TX. Also an old Texas Law Journal record shows him working in the courthouse there later and then the 1880 census lists him as a lawyer.

I've gone into this detail to indicate to you how diligently I have searched for the location of Sarah Jane Carter Morgan after the death of James Milton Morgan, supposedly in Coosa County, AL. I have not been able, as you can see, to find her whereabouts either in Alabama or Texas, or anywhere in between from 1866 (when Eugene Hilliard was born) to 1874 (when Franklin Pierce is in college in Hood County, TX, with no mention of having a parent responsible for him by 1880, when he is shown in the census as living in an unrelated family's home).

To summarize, I am searching for any information about the Sarah Jane Carter who married James Milton Morgan, 17 Dec 1851, at age 16, according to early records of Coosa County, Alabama, 1832-1860, p. 61 and recorded on p. 182 of Marriage Records B: Coosa County, and whose male children (at least) moved to Texas sometime between 1866 and 1874.

I've learned that there were Carters also in Coosa County at least until 1880, and that our Sarah Jane may be connected. This Carter family seems to pertain to another Sarah who married a Carter, and who had a daughter, Sarah, born more than 20 years before our Sarah Jane was born in 1837. I may be on the right track, but I need to look further to see if the first Sarah is the mother or our Sarah.

Let me know if this is of any interest to you or if you can help any further in finding "our Sarah."

Linda Morgan Clark

J. M. Morgan - 27 - b. GA

S. J. Morgan - 22 - b. GA

M. H. Morgan - 6 - b. AL

F. P. Morgan - 5 - b. AL

J. T. Morgan - 4 - b. AL

F. E. Morgan - 2 - b. AL

J. W. Morgan - 6/12 - b. AL

These initials correspond to the following names as recorded from the Morgan Family Bible by the only daughter of James Thomas Morgan, Sallie (Sarah) Eugenia Morgan.

James Milton Morgan

Sarah Jane Carter

Millie H. Morgan

Franklin Pierce Morgan

James Thomas Morgan

Fannie E. Morgan

John William Morgan

1. This daughter of James Thomas faithfully recorded the marriages, birthdates, one to two generations of their descendants and their locations up to about 1960 and distributed them to as many family members as she could locate before her death in 1966. 2. She, or her parents, (Sallie cared for her parents in their old age, living next door to them until their death in 1933 and 1935) as near as I can tell, corresponded with many of these descendants during Sallie's lifetime, and in particular seemed to know a good deal about John William and his family of 10 children. 3. Of all of James Milton's and Sarah Jane's children, I know of the existence of no photos except for James Thomas (my great grandfather) and John William. These came into my father's possession by way of Sallie Eugenia.

I give this detail in order to authenticate my information and identify myself as a descendant of James Milton and Sarah Jane Carter Morgan, of Coosa County, Alabama.

It is Sallie who tells in her recollections that James Milton died one spring in Alabama of a "fever", and that Sarah Jane "married the overseer". However, she did not recollect where her grandparents lived other than in Alabama and that Sarah Jane sent the older boys on ahead to Texas, after the "Chaos in Alabama" was over. Her memory of the family's migration to Texas does not always correspond to what I have learned from studying Texas census records, however, and I have to date, found no record of the date or locations of James Milton's or Sarah Jane's death. The fact that they had another child, Eugene Hilliard Morgan in 1866, born in AL (according to Sallie and the 1900 Census of Hood County, TX,) gives evidence that they were still in Alabama at least until then. However, I have yet to find an 1870 census indicating this family's whereabouts, which tends to lend credence to Sallie's story that Sarah remarried. None of us who are researching this family have been able to learn the name of her new husband and I, for one, believe if we could ever learn that we would find the family in the 1870 census, somewhere in TX.

The first census record of any of their children in Texas is in the Collin County, TX, 1880 census, two years after James Thomas married. He was living there with his wife and their first child, Sallie Eugenia. However, I have found an old school record for Franklin Pierce Morgan showing he was attending Grandbury College (actually it was a high school) in 1874 in Grandbury, Hood County, TX. Also an old Texas Law Journal record shows him working in the courthouse there later and then the 1880 census lists him as a lawyer.

I've gone into this detail to indicate to you how diligently I have searched for the location of Sarah Jane Carter Morgan after the death of James Milton Morgan, supposedly in Coosa County, AL. I have not been able, as you can see, to find her whereabouts either in Alabama or Texas, or anywhere in between from 1866 (when Eugene Hilliard was born) to 1874 (when Franklin Pierce is in college in Hood County, TX, with no mention of having a parent responsible for him by 1880, when he is shown in the census as living in an unrelated family's home).

To summarize, I am searching for any information about the Sarah Jane Carter who married James Milton Morgan, 17 Dec 1851, at age 16, according to early records of Coosa County, Alabama, 1832-1860, p. 61 and recorded on p. 182 of Marriage Records B: Coosa County, and whose male children (at least) moved to Texas sometime between 1866 and 1874.

I've learned that there were Carters also in Coosa County at least until 1880, and that our Sarah Jane may be connected. This Carter family seems to pertain to another Sarah who married a Carter, and who had a daughter, Sarah, born more than 20 years before our Sarah Jane was born in 1837. I may be on the right track, but I need to look further to see if the first Sarah is the mother or our Sarah.

Let me know if this is of any interest to you or if you can help any further in finding "our Sarah."

1.   Census of Rockford, Southern Division, AL
   1860.