DAVID "The Great Indian Fighter" MORGAN
b. 12 May 1721
Christiana, New Castle Co., Delaware
d. 19 May 1813
Marion Co., WVA
m: 1745 to SARAH STEVENS a PA Quaker
David Morgan stood six feet, one inch tall, weighed about
190 pounds, powerfully built, and had black hair and
black eyes.
He had a large scar on his cheek that he had gotten when he
was soldiering with Braddock's army. His contemporaries say
that he was one of the kindest people and the best neighbor
that you could ever have. He was fearless when it came to
Indians or wild beasts, and the only time he was ever
out-shot was by his young friend, also our ancestor,
JOHN BUNNER. David was not a man to suffer cowards gladly.
He liked to talk like the frontiersman that he was, and
threw off the genteel speech that characterized both his
brothers, Col. Zackwell, and the young Reverend Morgan
Morgan. But when the time came for his "company manners
and speech" he was more than up for the task.
His son said that he was a bit overindulgent with his
children.
When he died, at 93, he was still pretty robust, and most of
his hair was still black. He only lost his teeth in extreme
old age.
When he died, his body was held for five days to allow time
for his friends and family from all over to get there.
"Slow River Charlie" Nourse went around telling everone that
"If ever things get so bad they can't be fixed, he (David)
would put his bones and meat back together and come back and
set things to rights." He carved the headstones for both
himself and his wife.
"He was honest and a first-rate surveyor who's surveys were
so good that they are entered in the deed books."
He was appointed by the colonial gov. of VA to assist Steven
Holsten in making surveys & explorations of the SW part of
the state.
Later, he was appointed one of the commisioners on the part
of the colony of VA to assist George Washington, in 1748, in
discovering and establishing the North boundry of Lord
Fairfax's estate, which constituted the boundry between
Maryland and Virginia. (Mason / Dixon)
The monument known as the Fairfax stone, at the mouth of the
Potomac River, commerates their labors.
He fought under Capt. Chas. Lewis during the French and
Indian War.
JACOB PRICKETT SR., & DAVID MORGAN, were both among the
defenders of Washington's Fort Necessity. (1757) They also
fought under Gen. Edward Braddock in the disastrous march on
Fort Duquesne {dew-cane}, (9 July 1755) and other important
battles of this war.
"In 1833, George Cox, while sick in bed and remembering the
past, told his cousin Abraham Cox, of West Liberty, who was
then twenty-four years old, that in May, 1757, his father,
Reuben Cox; Garret and Tobias Decker, brothers; DAVID MORGAN,
Nathaniel Springer, John Ice, Henry Falls, Samuel Bingaman,
and others, trailed about twenty Indians and two Frenchmen
from the South Branch of the Potomac River--where these
Indians had murdered six white men and carried off another,
George Delay--across the Allegheny Mountains and onto
Cheat River, where they overtook and skirmished with them,
killing seven Indians and one Frenchman."
This happened about five or six miles above where the Ice
family kept a ferry. Delay was wounded and died of his
injuries while being carried across the mountains.
Cox goes on to say that his father and DAVID MORGAN, among
others, pursued the fleeing French and Indians, to
Bingaman Creek, on the West Fork River. Here they lost
the enemy's trail. DAVID MORGAN, Nathaniel Springer, Cox
and others, then returned home to the South Branch, where
they camped for about two weeks at the mouth of Deckers
Creek. During this time, they hunted, gathered ginsing,
and explored the Deckers Creek valley. (pp. 81; NOW AND LONG
AGO)
He moved to the mouth of Red Stone Creek, PA, in 1769;
staying 2 yrs.
(Fayette or Washington Co PA? "Redstone now Brownsville"
Then he moved to Marion Co., WVA in 1771.
He served as a Private in Wm. Haymonds Co., during the
Revolution, where they saw action in PA. (Joined 1777)
In 1777, called the "Bloody year of the three sevens",
there were many British sponsored Indian depredations.
Two invasions were made into the Monongahela Valley.
According to the "Morgan Bible" David Morgan killed
7 Indians total; earning the title: "The Great Indian
Fighter".
In 1778, aged 57, he arose from a sickbed, where it is
said he had dreamed he saw his children running around
the fort scalped, and killed 2 Braves who were stalking
Stephen, 16, & Sarah, 14. In the violent confrontation,
David lost a finger of his left hand and had another one
severed when a Brave threw his tomahawk at David's head.
There are affidavits of people who claim to have seen a
shot pouch made from a Brave's tanned skin.
Some claim David skinned one of the Indians.
(Which is doubtful as he was ill and injured.) Others
claim that refugees at Prickett's Fort tanned the Brave,
making 2 shot pouches and one girth from the leather;
then presented them to David.
David was one of the builders of Fort Paw Paw.
(Rivesville, WV)
In the book `Now and Long Ago' written in 1969, by
Glenn D. Lough, {pronounced Low} there are a lot of stories
about David. In 1785, in one of the few natural clearings
in the "Big Shade", Thomas Stone was surprised, killed
and scalped by Indians. JACOB PRICKETT SR., found the body.
He got together with DAVID MORGAN, JOHN BUNNER and
Nathaniel Springer, and "they trailed the savages for
two days and nights, to Middle Island Creek, where the
trail was lost in a rain-storm." (pp. 39)
Another story is told of a woman known as `Aunt Sukey Nourse',
who, in 1786, was drowned in Paw Paw Creek for being a witch.
The story goes that some people's cattle had strangled to
death on hair-balls. It was decided that it was of Aunt Sukey's
doing, so they tied her up and threw her into the creek,
where she drowned. The relater, Keziah Batten Shearer
(1776-1872), continued:
"David Morgan and some others were mad about it. Most people
was glad and said she deserved it because she was a witch."
(pps 9-10)
There was a painting of David as a young man. Where it is or
even if it still exists, I don't know. HOWEVER, people who
had seen this painting said that Francis H. Pierpoint, a
great-nephew of David's, and Gov. of VA in 1861-1868,
was "the spittin' image of his great-uncle Dave."
(Sans scar of course.) The representative painting was based
on this.
His son MORGAN was a slave owner. One wonders if the Great
One was also?
On 12 Oct 1889, a 14 foot tall monument was dedicated to him.
It stands on the spot where one of the Indians died. The place
had been marked by a dogwood tree that had sprung up there,
by it's own accord, but after many years it had died leaving
only a stump. The family was concerned that future
generations would not know the spot where the event occurred,
and desired a more permanent marker.
SARAH STEVENS a PA Quaker
b. 17 Oct 1726
Near mouth of Red Stone Creek? (Pennsylvania)
d. 15 May 1799
Rivesville, Marion Co., WVA
m: DAVID MORGAN in 1745
Called `Aunt Sally' by her younger kinfolk.
ISSUE:
MORGAN "MOD" MORGAN b. 20 Dec 1746 d. 1829
James b. 6 Apr 1748 d. 3 Mar 1840 m: Margaret Jolliffe in 1786
Evan T. Morgan b. 1 Mar 1753 d. 18 Mar 1850
Elizabeth b. 1755 m: Abraham Lowe
Zackquill Morgan b. 8 Sep 1758 d. 27 Feb 1834 m: Sina West
Stephen Morgan b. 14 Oct 1761 d. 30 Nov 1850 m: Sarah Summerville
Sarah b. 1765 d. 1791 m: Elijah Burris (Burrows)
Catherine Morgan b. 16 Jan 1769 d. 30 Apr 1848 m: Maj. John West