{"id":1974,"date":"2020-03-26T06:29:36","date_gmt":"2020-03-26T06:29:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/?page_id=1974"},"modified":"2020-07-02T06:07:24","modified_gmt":"2020-07-02T06:07:24","slug":"dr-morgan-i-presume","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.morgan-nj.org\/blog\/sample-page\/morgan-family\/dr-morgan-i-presume\/","title":{"rendered":"Dr. Morgan, I Presume?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Morgan Memories \u2013 Dr. Morgan, I Presume?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This author lives in California but writes about a niche topic located some three thousand miles away.  On those occasional times when I am able to get back to Morgan, I will almost always stop outside the gate of the Morgan Family Cemetery to see how it is doing.  It was a big part of the childhood lives of those of us who grew up there before the fence was put up.  It was the shortcut to get to Little Suey and the pathway on the side of the cliff to get to Big Suey (known to previous generations as \u201cForty Horses<\/a>\u201d).  Big Suey and Little Suey were big cliffs overlooking Raritan Bay and the railroad tracks.  The cemetery was also the starting point for some great sled riding.  As a kid, I don\u2019t think I thought much about the diverse array of gravestones we would walk past and between except to notice that some of them seemed to be pretty old and some were broken.  The two tall ones marked \u201cTanner<\/a>\u201d stood out as did the little one next to them surrounded by the ancient metal gate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a trip in 2018, I stopped by the cemetery to look in and, as is usual and very welcomed by me, was challenged by a cemetery neighbor as to why I was hanging around the site.  Fortunately \u2013 again \u2013 the neighbor was a reader of this web site so instead of being treated as someone looking to do something nefarious, I was again treated as a micro-celebrity author.  Because of the various research done for this web site over the already 10+ years it has been in existence, I am now able to point to a number of the headstones and give a little story about the life of the people buried underneath them.  To my challenger, I pointed to the stones over Captain James Morgan, Sr. and his wife Margaret Roetus Evertson Morgan, then pointed right next to the Captain to the final resting place of their son, Major General James Morgan, Jr.  I was then able to point to a row of the General\u2019s grandchildren and to the headstone of the person this is all about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I remember always being struck by the sparse headstone of \u201cLawrence\nO Morgan, M.D.\u201d  He seemed to be the only\ndoctor buried in the cemetery but mostly I would wonder what the \u201cO\u201d stood for.\n In the early years of this web site, a member\nof the Morgan Family told me that Lawrence O. Morgan was a doctor who had served\nin the Civil War.  From this equally\nsparse information, I was able to do some research on Dr. Morgan and, I was\nsurprised to find, actually came up with some information.  It isn\u2019t a lot thus far but it\u2019s a start.  Maybe someday, someone will be able to\npresent additional information which can be added to this page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawrence Osmar Morgan was born the third of five children of Charles and Elizabeth Blackwell Rockwell Morgan (James Rutus, Charles, Lawrence Osmar, Ann Elizabeth, and Theodore Blackwell).\u00a0 He would have been the fifth generation Morgan to have lived on the property originally acquired in 1710<\/a>.\u00a0 His fraternal grandparents were Major General James Morgan, Jr. and James\u2019 second wife, Ann J. Van Wickle.\u00a0 Most likely Lawrence would have been born in the Morgan Family homestead \u2013 believed recently by this author to have likely been on the site of the house owned by Dr. Robinson (namesake of Robinson Drive) and subsequently Mr. Henderson (a.k.a., \u201cThe Chicken Farmer<\/a>\u201d). I don’t think it was there anymore at this time, however!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the time of Lawrence\u2019s birth on July 20, 1838, the estate was composed of, \u201c\u2026 a large tract of valuable farming land, valuable clay-banks, and valuable timber lands, in all over 600 acres, \u2026\u201d<\/em>  Because of these physical property assets, the family was well off enough to allow for, \u201cThe brothers and sister [to be] educated at Freehold, Princeton or in Brooklyn.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Lawrence was only 14, tragedy hit the family by the early death of Lawrence\u2019s father, Charles, on September 1, 1852.  This lead to Lawrence\u2019s oldest brother, the then 19-year-old James Rutus Morgan (November 12, 1833 \u2013 August 26, 1898), assuming management of the family\u2019s farm, clay mines and timber lands until, as the will states, \u201cmy son Charles Morgan arrives to the age of twenty-one years.\u201d  That specified date would have been in 1857 \u2013 some five years after the death of the father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

James Rutus Morgan had some, but little, time to learn all he needed to learn from his dying father in order to administer the family\u2019s estate and manage their interests.  To his credit, he stepped up to the task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many years later, in 1891, the decision regarding a significant lawsuit, known as the Morgan vs. Morgan lawsuit<\/a>, was documented.  It provides a little insight into the waning years of the Morgan Family 600-acre estate which ultimately was sold off at an auction in 1893.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Information provided within the document of the Morgan vs.\nMorgan lawsuit shows that Lawrence was mostly attending school at the time of\nhis father\u2019s death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it isn\u2019t clear which children went to which schools, there is a record of Lawrence receiving a degree from Rutgers College in nearby New Brunswick, NJ as one of the 28 students of the class of 1861<\/a>.  Lawrence would have been 22.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawrence\u2019s name also appears in the roster of Rutgers College\u2019s Delta Chapter of the Zeta Psi Fraternity for 1861<\/a>.  Rutgers College\u2019s Delta Chapter, which is still present on College Avenue in New Brunswick, is the third oldest Zeta Psi chapter, having been founded in 1848.  The oldest is New York University in New York City founded in 1847 & the second oldest is Williams College in Williamstown, MA founded in 1848.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It isn\u2019t clear as to why Lawrence\u2019s name is not contained on the Rutgers University Kirkpatrick Chapel plaque<\/a>, located on the Old Queens Campus in New Brunswick, which shows the names of Rutgers graduates and students who served in the Civil War.  Perhaps this was due to his service being relatively short or perhaps it was due to inadequate records or access to records at the time the plaque was created?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Morgan Family member also indicated they saw information in the early 2000s about Dr. Lawrence O. Morgan while visiting the Gettysburg National Military Park.\u00a0 They were in a Ranger area and saw the information in a Rolodex type of display.\u00a0 It indicated Dr. Morgan was a surgeon\u2019s assistant then later on a surgeon.\u00a0 Hopefully, someone in this reading audience will also be able to find this information, take a photo of it, and send it to this web site so we can all see it. \u00a0I\u2019ve not been able to find this info on the internet but there is a lot of information which isn\u2019t available on the internet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Records show that Lawrence O. Morgan was commissioned as an Assistant Surgeon in the 2nd Regiment New Jersey Cavalry F&S (Field & Staff)<\/a> on September 23, 1863, but that same record indicates he was \u201cnot mustered\u201d (i.e., didn\u2019t actually physically get with the regiment).  He would have been 24 at this time.  It isn\u2019t clear whether the 1861 degree from Rutgers College was a medical degree \u2013 that isn\u2019t stated in the Rutgers College information \u2013 so possibly he went to another school for the medical degree.  Here again, which school this was \u2013 if there was one \u2013 isn\u2019t clear yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Less than three months after being commissioned in the 2nd Regiment, the records show that Lawrence was commissioned in a different Field and Staff unit, that of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment New Jersey as an Assistant Surgeon<\/a> on December 18, 1863.  Twelve days later on December 30, 1863, records show he was \u201cMustered In\u201d (i.e., the regiment assembled) at Fort Bayard which was located somewhere in Trenton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Civil War \u2013 3rd Regiment, New Jersey Cavalry \u2013 Battle Unit\nDetails<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Approximate Trail of the 3rd Regiment, New Jersey Cavalry from January to June 1865. Map Courtesy of Google.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The above map shows, using a technology unthinkable in Dr. Morgan\u2019s day, the movements of the 3rd<\/sup> Regiment, New Jersey Cavalry, during the majority of the time Dr. Morgan was part of it.  The exact routes marched from Trenton to Virginia will likely never be known; this map shows the route between locations using the current day US interstate highway system.  There are, however, maps that show the detailed route the 3rd<\/sup> Regiment followed while it was part of the 9th (IX) Army Corps, Army of the Potomac<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below is the chronology of the activities of the 3rd<\/sup> Regiment, New Jersey Cavalry<\/a> referenced in the above map.  This information is provided by the US National Park Service and a number of the locations in the list have links to National Park Service sites containing additional information about the location\u2019s battle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overview<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n