Evan Morgan (abt. 1672 - abt. 1709)

Born about 1672 in Vainor, Nantmell, Radnorshire, Wales

Ancestors

Died about 16 Feb 1709 at about age 37 in Chester Township, Chester, Pennsylvania [uncertain]

Biography

Evan Morgan was born on 29 November 1672 at Radnorshire, Wales.^{[citation needed]} He was the son of James Morgan Sr. (abt.1625-1691) and Jane (Evans) Morgan (abt.1625-1691).^[1]

In 1691 James Morgan and his wife Jane, along with with several of their children, emigrated from Wales aboard the ship, "The Morning Star" to North America. James' wife, Jane, died on 8 Nov 1691 aboard ship and was buried at sea.^[2]

Year 1691, Pennsylvania

Primary Immigrant: Morgan, James

Family Members: Child Margaret, Child John, Child Evan, Child James

Reverand Evan Morgan

The Morgan siblings arrived in the Pennsylvania area around the same time as the furor between George Keith and the Quaker meetings. George Keith believed the church should be more organized. He advocated a profession of faith and a belief in the historic Christ, as well as a need for the atonement. He was argumentative and divisive in his speaking. A young Evan Morgan may have become interested in the preaching of George Keith and left the Quaker congregations to become a member of the Keithian Quakers after George Keith was disowned by the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting in 1692. Keith created four meetings in Southampton, Bucks County; Upper Providence, Chester County; Lower Dublin Twshp, Philadelphia County, and the city of Philadelphia.

Keithian Quakers were also known as Quaker Baptists, because they practiced adult baptism. But Baptists thought of them as Quakers, because they kept many Quaker religious and cultural practices. An Evan Morgan was baptized in 1697 by Thomas Rutter, a Keithian Baptist, in Southampton, Bucks county, Pennsylvania. Shortly thereafter, he renounced his participation in Quakerism and became a member of Pennepeck congregation of the regular Baptist church. (The Pennepek church in Lower Dublin township was started in 1687 by people who had been baptized in the parishes of Llandewi and Nantmell in Radnorshire, Wales, and then immigrated to the colonies.) 

In 1702, the church at Pennepeck elected Rev. Evan Morgan as their pastor, along with Samuel Jones who was also from Radnorshire, Wales. Borth were ordained on October 23, 1706. In 1707, the Keithian group in Pennepek and the regular Baptists joined together and met in the Keithian meeting-house. 

Research

Evan Morgan married Mary Swife, the 29th of July 1705 at Lower Dublin Baptist church (another name for Pennepek church).  A daughter, Frances, was born Jul 9, 1706, as shown on the records of the church. The Rev. Evan Morgan served as a pastor of Pennepek Church from Oct. 23, 1706 to Feb. 16, 1709. He was buried at Pennepek. He was remembered as a man of marked piety, prudence, and intelligence.^[3]

Evan Morgan married Margaret Potts (1680-) on 1 Dec 1709 at Christ P E Church in Philadelphia. If so, he died intestate in 1717, Letters of Administration granted to his widow. Her bondsmen: her brother Thomas Potts (1680-1752) & brother-in-law Mathias Tyson (1686-1727).^[4][5] His estate papers indicate a brother John Morgan. The will of John Morgan dtd 3 Sep 1744, prvd 9 Dec 1744. He m. Sarah Evans whose father John ap Evan (& Delila her mother) was disowned in 1694 for "allowing daughter Sarah to marry her 1st cousin."

There is a Will of Evan Morgan, dtd 11 Dec 1708, proved 5 Apr 1709. He leaves nothing to his Church...just his wife Mary and daughter Francis.

Research Notes

Searched FamilySearch Indexed records 10 Aug 2023; only records found were for marriage of Evan Morgan and Margaret Potts (See Research above).

Sources

1. ↑ "Welsh Founders of PA" p. 195: Evan Morgan, of Vainor, par. of Nantmell, co. Rad. gentleman; b. 1672; s.[son of] James (d. in Bohemia Bay). Rmd.[removed] to Penna, 1691. Lived for a time in Radnor.
2. ↑ "Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1502-1900s": (Publication 2606.12. GLENN, THOMAS ALLEN. Welsh Founders of Pennsylvania. Baltimore: Clearfield Co., 2000. Volume I. 233p. page 132.
3. ↑ Early Baptists of Philadelphia by Rev. David Spencer, Philadelphia, 1877
4. ↑ Marriage of Evan Morgan and Margaret Potts: "Pennsylvania Marriages, 1709-1940", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2WF-PN1G : 7 May 2023), Evan Morgan, 1709.
5. ↑ *“Historical Collections Relating to the Potts Family in Great Britain and America”, William John Potts, 1901, pg. 263 Margaret Potts-Morgan, land deeded by Evan Morgan and wife Margaret to Thomas Potts of Philadelphia (Google E Book).

• Bodies of Belief: Baptist Community in Early America; Janet Lindman, 2011  (Google E Book); information on Thomas Rutter and Keithian Quakers.

• “Welsh Pastors of the Pennepek Baptist Church”, by Hon. Horatio Gates Jones, Cambrian: A Magazine for WelshAmericans, Vol. 2-4 (Google E Book); 1882 ; summary of Rev. Evan Morgan, third pastor of Pennepek; also pg. 19-25.

• Third pastor of Pennypack church from 1706 to 1709; buried in Pennypack graveyard 1709  (http://www.forgottenbooks.org/readbook_text/A_Collection_of_Papers_Read_Before_the_Bucks_County_Hist orical_Society_v3_1000609297/297) (http://articles.philly.com/1986-11-30/news/26093688_1_church-historian-ministers-congregation).

• “Sketches of the History of Byberry in the County of Philadelphia, etc.” by Isaac Comly, 1827; Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Vol. 2; M’Carty & Davis, 1827, pg. 175 Thomas Rutter.

• “The Records of the First “America” Denomination: The Keithians of Pennsylvania, 1694-1700”, John Butler, The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. CXX, Nos. ½ (January/April 1996), pp. 89-105 (https://journals.psu.edu/index.php/pmhb/article/viewFile/45058/44779); pg. 101 congregation choosing between Evan Morgan and Samuel Jones.

• Children of Evan Morgan and Mary: "Records of Christ Church, Philadelphia (https://archive.org/stream/recordsofchristc00phil/recordsofchristc00phil_djvu.txt)

Acknowledgements

• WikiTree profile Morgan-2929 created through the import of Wells Tree.ged on Mar 8, 2012 by Tommy Wells. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Tommy and others.

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