Published February 24, 1972, Bedford County Press. Reprinted with permission.
Perhaps this article isn't really ready to be written yet, there are so many
loose ends, but. . .
In a tiny hilltop family cemetery east of Everett, just off Route 30 on the
road to Graceville, there is a grave of a Revolutionary War soldier.
His wife
lies beside him and many members of their family are buried in this fenced-in
plot on the Bernard Shaw Farm. A marker from the County Commissioners
designates the grave as historical. The original tombstone is still there but a
new stone is also there to make the job of the "tombstone reader" a bit easier
and to mark for at least another hundred years the spot in which Peter Morgert
was buried.
Who was Peter Morgert and why bother?
If you are a Morgart, Morgret or Morgert
of Bedford County, undoubtedly Peter was your ancestor. His father Philip left
Sussex County, N. J., and brought his family with him to settle in Loudon
County, Va., where he died in 1779, a man of some means according to his
inventory, which makes fascinating reading.
REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIER
Peter's obituary which appeared in the Bedford Gazette on Friday, Nov. 27,
1846, under the caption DEATH OF A REVOLUTIONARY SOLDIER, tells of his manhood:
He entered the Patriot Army soon after he arrived at the age of 17 - was a
Lieutenant in one of the Virgina companies and was stationed in Virginia all
the time that he spent in the service -- was in no engagement except that of
Yorktown -- was present at the surrender of Cornwallis and saw him offer his
sword to Gen. LaFayette, thinking it more honorable to surrender to a French
nobleman than to a "Rebel General."
He also saw LaFayette refuse the sword and
turn the attention of Cornwallis to Gen. Washington by saying, "That is the
Commander of the Day -- give your sword to him." Cornwallis politely complied
with the direction.
In 1783 he moved from Virginia to Bethel Township in this county and in 1785 to
Providence Township where he resided until the year 1831, when he moved to
Colerain Township where he resided until the time of his death.
Eight of his
children out of a family of twelve survived him. He has now living more than
sixty grandchildren, and more than forty great-grandchildren. He was respected
and esteemed by his neighbors and was for some years a member of the Baptist
Church and died in the hope of a Blessed Immortality.
A PIONEER
The time between 1783 and 1846 Peter put his mark on Bedford County.
He was a
pioneer. Deeds in the Bedford County Courthouse show he was a man of much
property. He owned numerous plantations; undoubtedly this word is a throwback
to his southern exposure and several had fascinating, even romantic names. One
of the first properties he owned after his war experience was called
CONTENTMENT and was located in Hopewell township. He owned ALBENY in Hopewell
Township and NOSEGAY in Colerain Township as well as numerous unnamed tracts in
"Providence" Township. Peter was listed in the courthouse records as one of the
tavernkeepers who made application for license in 1791, giving the tavern's
location "about 11 miles east of Bedford on the Great Road to Philadelphia." A
later application listed it three miles west of the Juiata Crossings.
The tale of this tavern is interesting, if confused!
All evidence points toward
this tavern having been the present Arthur Woy property just east of Clark's
motel on Route 30. Peter apparently owned the property first and sold it to his
son, Bolser, who willed it to his son, Andrew Jackson Morgart. Andrew's
daughter Arabelle, married E. Scott Hoy and they became proprietors of the
property. They are pictured in the accompanying undated family gouping in front
of "the Morgart Home built early in the 17th century." Pictured are Arabelle
and Scott Hoy and their sons, James, Howard, George and Harry, and an employed
woman. (The picture was given to me by David Morgart of Layton, Utah). It is
thought to have been taken about 1900.
TAVERN HISTORY
The Hoy's son, George, married Daisy Rhodes and they were the next family to
occupy the old tavern.
Mr. Hoy still lives in Chambersburg. His wife, who died
this year, chronicled a bit of the old tavern's history thus:
"In the 1860's and 70's big droves of sheep and cattle were driven over the
highway.
The cattle and sheep were pastured on the fields and the men were
taken care of at the Tavern. One room was the drover's room and there were two
or three beds in it. In summer time it was a common thing every day for drovers
to stop here and have sheep in one field and cattle in another. In the front
there would be walking a man leading a cow for other cows to follow and he
would be calling "come boss--come boss" and his voice would become very
sonorous. A man in the back and one in the middle generally rode in a wagon.
Sometimes the sheep leader would lead the same as the cows and all the rest
would follow. If any of the sheep became lame. They were put into the wagon.
"Flocks of turkeys of probably several hundred would be driven through by a
leader, that generally used a bell, on their way to Baltimore.
Horses were
driven by, probably six tied together and a man would generally manage twelve
horses and there was a number of bunches.
"On one of the barns, which is still standing (at the Tavern), was a sign
stating STABLING FOR FIFTY HORSES -- B. MORGART.
A man more commonly known as
James or Jimmie Strong, a stage coach driver, had in his possession a brass
horn which he blew for men at the barn to get horses ready for a quick change
in the coach. Four horses were generally used in coach."
The stable that held fifty head of horses is still standing and also the old
stone homestead, just across the road.
In the front room is a big fireplace and
the drovers would bring in their blankets and throw them on the floor and roll
up in them and go to sleep for the night. Sometimes the room would be so thick
of drovers, one could move scarcely around. In the old homestead there were
thirteen rooms, four fireplaces downstairs and one upstairs, and all in old
times were in use."
"B. MORGART"
The "B. Morgart" mentioned above was undoubtedly Baltzer or Bolser Morgart, who
was described in the 1884 HISTORY OF BEDFORD, FULTON AND SOMERSET COUNTIES as
being "the son of Peter Morgart born 1785.
He married Mary Sparks, who was born
in this township in 1798. They had 11 children, one of whom, Abram. lives upon
the old homestead (1884). The house, a substantial stone structure was built by
Baltzer Mogart as a tavern, and kept by him for many years. He also held some
local offices and was closely identified with the interests of the Prividence
Baptist Church."
Thus the mystery: If Peter was issued licenses as a tavernkeeper in 1791 and
his son, Baltzer, built the present Woy "tavern", then there must have been two
taverns owned by Morgarts in that area and, quite possibly, the other was the
Bernard Shaw residence on which property the Morgart Gravesites are situated.
Since the Old Forbes Road with the "Chain Buttment" ran directly through that
area. It seems logical.
TIED IN WITH AREA
The Morgart Family is tied in with that whole area of the Township, either in
name or through marriage.
The Old Morgart School is situated on the left just
off Route 30 on the Graceville Road, hardly more than a shed today. Andrew
Jackson Morgart (1855-1919) taught there. His daughter, Lena, was also a
teacher and taught for a while at the Rainsburg Seminary.
The lovely Manspeaker Home was owned by Weaverlings and their daughter,
Margaret, married Scott Hoy's son, Harry.
Mrs. Weaverling still lives in
Everett.
Peter was quite active in the Everett community.
His name is coupled to the
Chambersburg-Bedford Turnpike and the aforementioned 1884 History states Peter
Morgart was one of the 124 countains fined for taking part in the Whiskey
Rebellion. This insurgent later became a school director in Colerain Township,
where he spent the last years of his life with his wife Christina Hess. Their
large family reaches into many family trees, the Everett branches including
Barton, Whetstone, Barndollar, Sparks, Conner, Deal, Manspeaker, O'Neal,
Steckman and Foor. Peter's wife was a Hess and it is not recorded who her
parents were or if she was Pennsylvania or Virginia-bred. She was born in 1761
and died in 1839. Peter was born in 1758 and died in 1846. They were wed in
1779 . Their children were:
Philip, who married Margaret Hess
Peter Jr., who married Elizabeth Cessna
Baltzer, who married Mary Sparks
Catherine, who married George Barton
Mary, who married George Deal
Rebecca, who married John Conner
Rachel, who married William M. Cessna
Elizabeth, who married Abraham McClellan
George Washington, who married Catherine Moyerstaisa.
Obituaries make fascinating reading to a family historian.
In 1896 the obituary
of Robert Steckman, who married a daughter of Baltzer Morgart, lists him as an
ex-sheriff of Bedford County, who had panned gold in the California Gold Rush
only to return to Everett and set up in business in the west end of the town.
One of his partners was Captain Philip G. Morgart, whose obituary listed him as
"one of the most prominent citizens of the county" and also a son of Baltzer.
He married Mary States and was County Treasurer.
TRACING FAMILY HISTORY
Tracing a family history is like a snowball that develops into an avalanche of
activity.
You dig for a little. . .then a little more. . .then a little more. .
.and before you know it you are up to your ears in data and you have to
catalogue your relatives just to keep them straight. The really intriguing
thing is the way new pieces to the puzzle keep cropping up in unexpected places
and how you fit them into the picture. For instance:
On a recent family excursion to Gettysberg we discovered the name William
Morgart on the huge Pennsylvania monument with the 184th Cavalry members.
A
subsequent processing of his Civil War record from the National Archives
revealed he survived the Battle of Gettsberg only to die in Andersonville,
after having been captured at Germania Ford. His father, John C. Morgart, son
of Peter Morgart Jr., applied for and received his deceased son's Civil War
pension. John was a school teacher and his home near the Cumberland Dam was a
stopover station for the Underground Railroad during the Civil War. After the
war he moved his family to Missouri.
For years people have been mentioning to this writer that enroute to York, Pa.,
a bulletin board beside the highway advertises Pat Morgart's Bridal Shop and
only recently we discovered that Pat Morgart is also a descendant of Peter Sr.
through marriage.
WEALTH OF INFORMATION
Family Bibles contain a wealth of information and one particular family
"heirloom" is the following "Receipt For Rheumatism" found in a Morgart Family
Bible:
"Take beef brine, strong vinegar and urine, one pint each.
Put them all together
in any suitable vessel and reduce them to one pint. Then strain it and put in a
bottle. Bathe the affected parts before the fire for a quarter of an hour. Then
wrap in flannel. Repeat at least three times."
Unbelievable?
No more than the following tale we received just last week
(source unknown), regarding the naming of the town NEEDMORE: One day Abner
Morgret and Elijah N. Palmer were standing looking at some repairs made to the
school house by Ephraim Lake, when Abner remarked that it needed more and the
village has born the name of Needmore from that day until the present.
DIFFERENT NAME ENDINGS
You will note the switching of the Morgart's name ending.
It's done constantly
throughout the family records seemingly unconsciously. On a page in a family
Bible, a father changed his own son's name from Morgart to Morgert. In
Tennessee they spell it Morgette. . .same family. Presumably English originally
and perhaps derived from Morgan.
A very unusual female member of the Morgart clan resided in Chester Pa., and
keeps the Morgart Cemetery presentable.
She pays for the mowing and has, one by
one, replaced deteriorating stones at this cemetery site behind the Shaw's
barn. Lena Morgart worries, "What will happen to it when I go? A large lilac
bush, nearly a tree, flourishes in the middle of the plot, perhaps planted as a
seedling many years ago when the stone, which it now is crowding out, was new.
Bushes grow to trees and stones crumble -- dust to dust -- but someone
remembers.
A lot of "someones" are trying to record the Morgart Family History
for generations to come. The Revolutionary War was a long time ago. Was one
soldier so important? To the hundreds of Morgarts from here to Utah and
goodness knows where, he certainly was!