My Morgan line begins, actually also with an Allen and a brick wall. A Quaker brick wall is a bit odd, I think, since they are so well known for keeping great records.
My grandmother's grandmother was Emily, aka
Emma A. Allen. It is said that Emma was born in Friendville, TN May 16, 1851 to the parents of Thomas Norris Allen and Elizabeth Morgan. I found Emma's name through some records of other researchers and relatives in Kansas who have been keeping records and having an annual family reunion for the Riggs family.
Emma was married to
Joseph Hughes Riggs on December 19, 1872. Another date has been noted as the 12th, and not known which is correct. Emma and Joseph can be seen in a
group photo I had posted previously . Here she is cropped from that photo:
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| Emily "Emma" A. Allen Riggs | | | |
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One source, an obit from the Chase County, Ks paper (noted in the files from the Riggs relatives), says she was born in 1852 and 12 years later came with her parents to KS where she lived the rest of her life with the exception of 8 years when she lived in MO.
Emma is with her family in
1860 in Blount County, TN and she is 9 years old. Her father is Thomas, mother is Elizabeth, and has siblings by the name Amanda, Julia, Edwin, Elizabeth, and Thomas. By the
1870 census they are in Toledo, Chase Co, KS, she is 19, her father is listed as Thomas N. Allen, (farmer) mother Elizabeth, and the only siblings in the home are Julia, Edwin, Elizabeth and Thomas. In the
1880 census she is married to Joseph Riggs, living in Fairplay, Marion Co, KS. Joseph is 31 (farmer) , Emma is 29, and they have 3 children already, including Lester, my gr grandfather, age 5(?). His name was actually Ernest Lester , but went by his middle name most of is life, seems to be a common practice in my family.
1885 has them in Cottonwood, Chase Co,
1895 and 1900 has them in Cedar, Chase Co.
1910 has them in Hazelwood, Webster, MO. Joseph is 61, Emma, 58, and two children ages 25 and 14 living with them there. Then
1920 and 1925 has them back in Toledo, Chase Co, KS. Their two children Lillis and Clifford still living with them, in the 1925 census Lillis and and Clifford are age 40 and 35 respectively.
My dad went to the local library and found Emma's death announcement for me on microfilm (Emporia Gazettte) and sent me a copy. I'm not exactly sure of the date of the paper, it didn't print out with the section, but there is an advertisement on the same page dated December 17, 1928. The notice reads:
Mrs. Emma Riggs Dead
Mrs. Emma Riggs, 77, who lived 7 miles north of Saffordville died at 11:30 o'clock this morning at the St. Mary's hospital. She had been suffering from severe burns received December 9th when she overturned a vessel of boiling water while working at her home. Funeral services will be at 11 o'clock Wednesday morning at the Friend's church in Emporia. (unreadable) Mrs. Carnell, pastor of the Walnut Grove church, will conduct the (unreadable but hyphenated to next line so most likely "services"), assisted by Rev. R. E. Jackson, pastor of the Friends church. Internment will be in the Hillcrest Cemetery in Florence.
She is indeed buried in the Hillcrest Cemetery in Florence, Marion County next to her husband who died before her (May of the same year). Their memorials are on Find A Grave. Her birth on her her tombstone says she was born May 16, 1851, Died December 17, 1928. According to the notes in the files I was given, another researcher had her birth as 1850. The notes also say that her obituary in the Chase County Leader News say she was born in 1852, that they were married in 1872, and that she died of burns received when she overturned a vessel of boiling water while preparing to take a bath in her home on December 9th.
This reference was the first I had seen about Quaker roots. I didn't even know what "Friends church" meant, and had to look it up. But I knew exactly which hospital it was where she died, I was born in the same hospital. I also knew exactly which church her funeral was in, I remember going there as a very young child, and lived near it a couple times while growing up. Here is a photo I took last summer of the church. We didn't get to go in, since it was closed when we went to visit.
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| First Friends Church in Emporia Kansas |
In trying to learn more about Thomas Norris Allen, I came across some articles about his son Thomas G. Allen. Seems he was quite prominent in Chase County, so it was more through him I found more about Thomas N. and his wife.
On Chase County Pages I found the two following pages on
Thomas Norris Allen and his son
Thomas G. Allen .
Then I found
this page on Scribd which lists names of people buried in a small Quaker cemetery in the area which lists Thomas and Elizabeth. I found it through this
Research Page which has a link to
a page with pictures of the cemetery, and Thomas and Elizabeth's graves. It also includes a biographical sketch of the Allens which I find very interesting and fun to read, and have added it to my files.
The main page also has a link for more about the Morgans and it links to the church where earlier family members attended and were buried in Iowa.
Essentially the biographical sketch describes how the Allens and Morgans lived in Eastern TN until the outbreak of the civil war. The Quakers were peaceable people and didn't go to war, so they left Tennessee when the war made it to their area, and they went to Iowa. Some stayed there, and some went on to Kansas. So some of my Morgan ancestors are buried in Ackworth, Iowa.
Elizabeth Morgan Allen was born January 16, 1821 in Lost Creek, Jefferson, TN. She was the daughter of William Morgan and Catherine Peck. Elizabeth (also sometimes spelled Elisabeth) married Thomas N. Allen on April 27, 1839 in Lost Creek, Jefferson, TN. She died June 16, 1890, presumably in Chase County, Ks.
Here are the photos I took of hers and Thomas' graves and the cemetery when I visited them last year:
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| "Our Mother Elizabeth Allen died June 16, 1890 aged 69 yrs & 5mo" "Our Father Thomas N. Allen, died 1, mo. 11, d. 1875, aged 63 yrs, 11 ms, 15 ds." |
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| Old Friends Cemetery as seen from the road, West of the Lyon/Chase County line on Road 180, North side. |
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| Thomas and Elizabeth's graves just south of the big cedar tree in the cemetery. |
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I think I will stop here for this post and start the next one on the ancestors of Elizabeth. In digging through my files for this post I found a clue on Thomas that I had missed before and I want to dig around some more.
I found a Thomas Allen in the 1850 census in Blount County, TN. He is 40 years old then, and listed as a farmer, from TN. His wife Elizabeth is 30, and also listed as from TN, as are all the children (names all match the names in other census which Emily shows up in): Wm age 10, Amanda age 6, Julia age 4, and Edmund age 2 (other census he is listed as Edwin). Also in the household is listed a Sarah, age 74 and in the location column it says "no car" which I'm guessing to be North Carolina.
North Carolina makes sense, it's not far from Blount County, and it's also where the earlier Morgans lived before they show up in Tennessee. I have other Allen names further back connected with the Morgan family, But so far I haven't been able to find any connection for Thomas to them.
