Tag Archives: Indiana

Random Ancestors: Annie Morgan, The Traveler

This ancestor caught my eye because of the passport application. Annie Morgan,lived life her own way, traveled to Europe when many of my ancestors never traveled out-of-state.

The Traveling Cousin

Anna Isabel Annie Morgan (1856-1948), second cousin two times removed.

Anna Isabel Morgan

Annie Morgan in her 1922 passport photo. A nice looking lady at 65.

This is the Morgan line of my traveling great-grandfather Jesse Morgan. Anna/Annie Morgan ‘s grandfather was George Morgan, brother of my 2x great-grandfather, Jesse Morgan. If you haven’t read Jesse’s  story and his letters, I encourage you to put Jesse’s  name in the search bar. He is the most interesting character by far of all my relatives. His letters to my great-great-grandmother were written while he was trading horses around the Midwest. Yep, that would be the one who left my 2x great grandmother behind when he went on the California gold rush without telling her, and got himself shot and killed on the streets in California.

But the inclination to wander perhaps spread throughout the Morgan family.  I found a DNA match with a Morgan, and in trying to figure out if it was Jesse’s family, I checked out Jesse’s nieces and nephews.  That led me to the interesting Anna or Annie as she was called.

Born in Indiana, she died in Los Angeles. And she may have never married. However her life was well documented, including a passport application in February 1922 when she was 65 years old.

I know from census records, a Morgan history, and the passport application that her father was Abel Leeds Morgan, son of George Morgan. Anna Isabel Morgan was born in Lexington Indiana and living there with her family in 1860 and 1870. Her brothers and sisters were Rosalie (Manasse) (  1844- After 1915), Melvin (b. 1847), Fairfield (1849-1916), Adeline (Woods) (1851-bef. 1915), and Ada (Smith) (1856- bef. 1915)

The family’s father died in March 1880 and later that year when the census taker arrived, Annie Morgan, now 23 and once again listed as single, was living with her mother and grand-mother in Lexington.

Of course the 1890 census is not available. I also have not located her on the 1910 and 1920 census records. So at first I thought that the next time she surfaces, she is living in Chicago and preparing to take a tour of Europe in 1922.

I want to say thanks to a fellow user of Genealogy, Just Ask! on Facebook for explaining to me that looking at passport records can be confusing, because Ancestry shows the front page of the application on the right hand side of the page, and a picture of the previous person listed shows up on the left.  I spent some time trying to understand how Annie could be a male before I got the hint that I needed to go to the next page’s image for the back of Annie’s application and her picture.

passport application

Annie Morgan passport, 1st image. Front of her passport application on right, another application on left.

passport application

2nd image. Back of Annie’s passport application is on the left.

Confused yet?  I surely was until someone straightened me out.

This definitely is the right Annie, because it has her father’s name, exact date of birth that corresponds with a death record, and the fact that she now lived in Chicago.  (At this point I still didn’t know why she lived in Chicago anyhow.

So what did I learn besides the fact that by 1922 she had moved to Chicago? At 65 years old, she is still single, stands 5’8″ tall and has blue eyes and gray hair and fair complexion.

Two other important things stand out that are more puzzles than information.

  1. In her reasons for travel Annie Morgan listed going to France to visit family. Additionally she would be traveling to Switzerland, British Isles, Italy and Gibraltar–a wonderful Grand Tour.

Since the Morgans come from Wales, I am still curious as to what family was in France in 1922.  And sadly, she seemed to have no close friends or relatives in Chicago.  Her witness was her optometrist and she put down his address for her passport to be sent to.  (Perhaps she was traveling to see family in the U.S. before leaving on her European tour and would not be in Chicago to receive the passport.) And incidentally, how could she afford a trip to Europe? Did she travel alone?  It seems unlikely.

2.  Why does she have the name of an optometrist in the witness section and an optometrist’ address for return of the passport? Did she have no friends?

Then in 1948, a death notice appears in California.  According to the California record, Anna Isabel Morgan, daughter of Abel Leeds Morgan, died in Los Angles. Another puzzle. Why did she move to L.A.?

After I thought I was finished with this report on Annie Morgan, I decided to scan a couple of her siblings to see if I could pick up any more information.  I hit gold.

Her brother Fairfield, an optometrist (AHA! that explains the witness and address for her passport), had moved to Chicago in 1868 according to the Cook County voter records. Because of his occupation, he was easy to find in city directories, and his listings helped me locate his sister Annie . Following this additional source–city directories–It turns out Annie Morgan did have an occupation after all. She was an elocutionist at the Chicago Conservatory as early as 1888. (An elocutionist teaches proper speech to public speakers and actors) And she did have family living in Chicago.

Note:  Looking through newspaper articles with Anna Morgan in them, I found a bridal notice in a 1928 Chicago Newspaper saying the bride attended the Anna Morgan Studio of Dramatic Art.  This surely is Annie Morgan, elocutionist.  But then look what I found.  The address matches that in the 1905 Chicago city directory–The Fine Arts Building, Chicago.

Ad for Anna Morgan Studio

Daily Northwestern, Oshkosh Wisconsin, September 17, 1902.

I found Fairfield Morgan’s will, filed in 1916. (He died on August 11, 1916).  He had no wife, and outlived most of his siblings. His surviving older sister Rosalie Morgan Manasse, lived in Chicago in 1916, and he leaves her just $50.  He did, however have two nieces, daughters of his deceased sisters Adeline and Ada. Both of them lived in Los Angeles when he wrote the will, and he left each of them a hefty $6,000. He also designated to “My sister Annie I. Morgan, now residing in Rockford Illinois all the rest and residue of my estate both real and personal.” Additionally, Annie was entrusted with the task of being executrix of the will.

Another Aha!  So the aging Annie, European adventures behind her, moved to Los Angeles to be near her nieces, perhaps the only close relatives she had. Or perhaps, like my great-great grandfather, Jesse, her great-uncle, she just wanted one more adventure and set off for California..

As with Jesse Morgan, I have not answered all the questions about Annie Morgan, but I have found enough evidence to suggest she was a very interesting lady. I probably will return again and again to the Abel Leeds Morgan family because I am still intrigued with those questions. Perhaps more DNA matches will help put a broader picture in focus.

52 Ancestors: -#44 Jacob Manbeck and Eva Manbeck Out of PA.

Jacob Manbeck 1773-1853 and Eva Haslet (?) 1777- 1854

When I was researching my father’s German ancestors, I learned that many of them setttled in Pennsylvania before moving farther west.  This is true of the parents of Elizabeth Manbeck Bair, Ken’s 2nd Great Grandmother. I am fascinated (on the edge of obsessed) with the movements of people across the country, and this family did move.

Jacob was born just eight years after his parents arrived in North America in Pennsylvania, and Eva was also born during Revolutionary times in Pennsylvania, in what was to become the United States of America.

They were married in 1800 and had nine children by 1815 and two more by July 1921.They started in eastern Berks County, where Jacob was born, but their third child, Benjamin was born in Cumberland County, closer to central Pennsylvania.

Children of Jacob and Eva Manbeck

  • 1801: John Manbeck (named for Jacob’s oldest brother)
  • 1803: Peter Brown Manbeck
  • 1805: Benjamin Manbeck
  • 1806: Eva A. Manbeck (Gutshall) (named for her mother)
  • 1809 Susann Manbeck (Heidy)
  • *1812: Elizabeth Manbeck (Bair)
  • 1814: Michael Manbeck
  • 1815: Maragret Manbeck (Roser)
  • 1817: George Manbeck (named for the 2nd oldest brother of Jacob)
  • 1818: William Manbeck
  • 1821: David Manbeck

Perhaps thinking that their child bearing years were over in 1817, after their ninth child, George was born in March, they moved over the Ohio River from Pennsylvania,  to Harrison County, Ohio. ( The county east of Tuscarawas County, which is circled on this map of Ken’s relatives in Ohio). Jacob and Eva’s tenth child, William was born in 1818, and their eleventh and last child, David, was born in 1821 in the Manbeck’s  new home in Harrison County, Ohio.

Ohio Counties

Ohio Counties Labeled, from Wikimedia Commons

The middle daughter, Elizabeth, from whom Ken is descended, may have been the first to separate from the family.  About 1831 she marries Daniel Bair and settles in York Township, Tuscarawas County–not far away, but not clustered with the others in the family, either.

By 1837, their son Michael is living in Montgomery County, Indiana, hugging the Ohio River. By 1844, the youngest, David has moved to Harrison County, Indiana, where he marries Sophia.

I do not know whose idea it was to move to Ohio, or what motivated the move–perhaps Pennsylvania was getting to crowded and the near wilderness of the fairly new state of Ohio seemed to hold more promise.  At any rate, by 1850, besides the parents,  sons John, George, William, Benjamin, and daughters Eva, now married to Joseph Gutshall, Susan, married to Thomas Heidy, and Margaret–whose husbamd Eli Roser died that year– have settled in Harrison County Ohio, where they had moved as children.

George (33) and William (32) still live with their parents in Rumley Township, Harrison County in 1850.  William has married and his wife and 10-month-old son are also listed as part of the Jacob Manbeck household.

At some point before 1850, David and Sophia have moved from Indiana to Iowa, where their children are born. Benjamin, David’s older brother, also lives in Iowa by 1856. No doubt one of them went to the new state at the recommendation of his brother. David and Sophia live for a time with their daughter Mary Vida and her family in Iowa. When Sophia dies and Mary’s family moves to Oregon, David  goes with them. His cross country journey completes in 1911, when he dies in Oregon, his fourth state.

When Jacob and Eva die in 1853 and 1854, their son George marries late in life, but is still living in Harrison County in 1860,now listed as a Laborer rather than a farmer.  George seems to have trouble getting settled and he moves to Perry Township of Carroll County, Ohio  by 1880–just north of Harrison County where his parents died and he is back to farming. His move to Carroll County puts him close to his older brother Peter, who moved to that township and county before 1850 when the rest of the family was settling in Harrison County.

This map summarizes their moves.

Jacob Manbeck migration

Pattern of migration of Jacob Manbeck and family.

  • 1773-4: Jacob is born and grows up in Berks County, Pennsylvania
  • 1805: Jacob and Eva have moved to central Pennsylvania.
  • 1818: Jacob and Eva move their family to Harrison County, Ohio
  • 1837: Michael is in Harrison County, in southern Indiana, where he dies in 1858.
  • 1844: David is also in Harrison County,  Indiana
  • 1850: David has moved to Montgomery County in northern Indiana
  • 1856: David is living in Polk County Iowa, and his brother Benjamin has moved from Ohio to Iowa, where he dies in 1857
  • 1900: David is living in Warren County Iowa
  • 1910: David is living in Douglas County, Oregon, where he dies in 1911.

David made a step-by-step move completely across the country, one brother lived and died in Iowa and one in Indiana. The rest stayed in adjacent counties in Ohio. This family does not seem to have lived very far apart. But it is important to remember that their parents came from Germany, and they were raised in a close-knit German community in Pennsylvania. Ohio was certainly not very civilized by 1817, so even though they stayed in counties that hugged the Pennsylvania-Ohio border, that was an adventurous move.

And when daughters or sons married and moved to a different township–even a neighboring township–they were still getting around with horses and carriages, so a visit would take a day of travel. The sons who moved further west, may have had trouble even getting home for their parents funerals. Once they moved, they were pretty much isolated from family. It is interesting to see David moving to states where another brother lives (or persuading them to join him), and then going to Oregon because his daughter’s family moves there. Even he seems closely tied to at least some family.

Their adventures, however, were nothing compared to what their parents went through, and next we’ll take a look at the immigrants of the Manbeck family.

How Ken is Related

  • Kenneth Ross Badertscher is the son of
  • Agnes Bair Badertscher, who is the daughter of
  • Daniel Manbeck Bair, who is the son of
  • Elizabeth Manbeck Bair, who is the daughter of
  • Jacob and Eva Manbeck

Notes on Research

United States Federal Census ReportsOhio

1850 (Rumley, Harrison, Ohio) Eva and Jacob Manbeck, Margaret Manbeck Roser;

1850,1860, 1870 (Rumley, Harrison, Ohio) John Manbeck, Susan Manbeck Heidy, George Manbeck;

1850, 1860, 1870  (York Township, Tuscarawas County, Ohio) Daniel Bair and Elizabeth Manbeck Bair;

1880 (Stow, Summit County, Ohio) Elizabeth Manbeck Bair.

1850, 1860, Eva Manbeck Gutshall,( Rumley, Harrison, Ohio)

1850, 1860, 1870,1880 (Perry, Carroll, Ohio) Peter Brown Manbeck, William Manbeck. (Also 1880- George Manbeck)

1850 (North, Harrison, Ohio) Benjamin Manbeck

Other States:

1850 Harrison County, Indiana, Michael Manbeck

1850, Franklin, Montgomery, Indiana, David Manbeck

1860, Allen, Polk,Iowa, David Manbeck

1900, Warren, Polk, Iowa, David Manbeck
West Roseburg, Douglas, Oregon,.

Indiana, Index to Select Marriages, 1780-1992, November 1837, Michael Manbeck, Ancestry.com

Indiana, Marriage Index, 1800-1941, March 1844, David Manbeck, Ancestry.com

Iowa, State Census Collection, 1836-1925, Benjamin Manbeck, David Manbeck 1856, (Allen, Polk Iowa)

Selected U.S. Federal Census Non-Population Schedules, 1850-1880, Census Year: 1870; Census Place: York, Tuscarawas, Ohio, Elizabeth Manbeck Bair.

Find a Grave, Jacob Manbeck,  Eva Manbeck. Benjamin Manbeck (Iowa),  Michael Manbeck (Indiana) David Manbeck, (Oregon)

U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970, Volume: 278, membership for William Manbeck Peeler, descendant of Jacob and Manbeck and Rudolph and Christina Manbeck.