Search billions of records on Ancestry.com
   

Miles Morgan - Romance In The Morgan Family

Since Captain Samuel Terry was first married to Miles Morgan's daug. Hannah Morgan, I thought I would add this great little story for all the distant 1/2 cousins out there. All the text below is from Abby Memorial.

In King Philip's war I found Nathaniel Hayward, son of Thomas Hayward, of Bridgewater, already mentioned; John Shaw, son of Abraham Shaw, of Dedham, 1637; John Whitmarsh, son of John Whitmarsh, who arrived with Hall's party from Weymouth, England, in 1635, and also Thomas Abbey and Miles Morgan, the hero of Springfield.

The story that John Alden fell in love with Priscilla Molines while the "Mayflower" lay at Southampton finds its duplicate in the tale of young Miles Morgan, who, wandering in January, 1636, on the wharves at Bristol, beheld the fair Prudence Gilbert, about to sail with her parents for America, and thereupon hastily determined to embark in the same ship.
On landing in Boston Miles joined the exploring party of Colonel William Pynchon, which located the town of Springfield. Although the only pioneer admitted who, was less than twenty-one years of age, he soon became second in command. No sooner had the youth received his allotment of land than he started back on foot with an Indian guide to Beverly, where the, Gilbert family had settled. There he and Prudence were married. He brought her back, also on foot, with the Indian and a horse purchased in Beverly, both laden with the bride's household goods, and going before, while Captain Morgan, following with his matchlock and with his bride by his side, made his way through the trackless forest to their new home in the wilderness. Here are a courtship and marriage as romantic as those of John Alden and Priscilla, waiting for a Longfellow to enshrine them in verse.
This story is gleaned from "The Family of Morgan," by the eminent Shakespearean scholar, Dr. Appleton Morgan.

Another Reference in the Abby Fam. Mem. you may find Useful:

ALLEN'S UNIQUE "HISTORY OF ENFIELD
Through the generosity of Francis Olcott Allen, Enfield possesses the most complete historic record of any town in this country, published in three volumes of a thousand pages each, in which I have been able to see how my maternal ancestors lived and moved and had their being, as in a looking-glass.
Here I read of Samuel Terry, third captain of the town's militia and deputy to the general court of Massachusetts before the boundaries were so altered in 1750 that Enfield became a part of Connecticut; and of the long line of warlike Abbeys, beginning with John, who came in the "Bonaventure" and settled in Salem in 1636; his son Thomas, who settled in Enfield after King Philip's War.

Statue is located in a little park in the center of Springfield MA. The quality of the image is not the best, it was taken very near dark.
I have also made a larger 150 dpi image for anyone wishing to make a copy for their family records.