Abel T Morgan (1753 - 1858)

Born 27 Jan 1753 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Ancestors

Husband of Susannah (Donahue) Morgan — married 1780 in Pennsylvania, United States

Descendants

Died 1858 at about age 104 in Leitchfield, Grayson, Kentucky, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Amy Percefull [send private message]

Biography

Abel was born in 1753. He passed away in 1858. ^[1]

Research Notes

1753 History of the place of birth "Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania " https://www.eriehistory.org/blog/george-washington-slept-here-his-1753-mission-to-northwestern-pennsylvania

The lands we know today as western Pennsylvania were claimed by the British and thought of as part of Virginia. The French, Britain’s main colonial rival, also claimed the region. Hoping to spread control over the Ohio country, meaning the Ohio and Mississippi watershed, the French who then controlled much of Eastern Canada, began building a string of forts and outposts that would link Canada and the Great Lakes to the Mississippi River and New Orleans to the west.

Departing Williamsburg, Virginia in early December 1753, Washington and his traveling companion Christopher Gist, an experienced frontiersman and guide, traversed Western Virginia and Western Maryland before reaching “the forks of the Ohio” at modern-day Pittsburgh. North of Pittsburgh and Ft. Duquesne, the pair added Jacob Van Braam and several Native American tribesmen to the party. The weather was cold and often wet, and Washington wrote of rain, sleet and snow as they traveled north. (For a more detailed account: The Journal of Major George Washington, 1754, is available in reprint.)

The party reached Venango, present day Franklin, Pennsylvania, in early December. The French fort, named Ft. Machault, was under construction there. The cabin of John Frazier served as the French headquarters. Though the French were cordial, Washington was told by French authorities he would have to travel farther north to Ft. LeBoeuf in present day Waterford, Pennsylvania, to meet a French officer with the authority to entertain him and address his requests for the French to leave.

The party traveled on foot, having left their fatigued horses at Venango. After spending the night at a camp located today in the City of Meadville at the modern corner of Terrace and Randolph Streets, the party reached a point North of present-day Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania where French Creek was widely flooded. Forced to go miles to the East, the party encamped near present- day Mill Village, arriving at Ft. LeBoeuf on December 12, 1753.

Sources

1. ↑ Unsourced family tree handed down to Amy Percefull.