• General Notes

  [1279-louise_burns.FTW]
  
  In 1636, in March, James Morgan and two younger brothers, John and Miles, sailed from Bristol on a ship named "Mary"  and arrived in Boston in April following.  James Morgan settled first in Plymouth, then moved to Roxbury before 1640; lands
  were granted to him at Pequot in 1650.
  
  
  
  John Morgan was a high churchman and disliked the austerity of the Puritans.  He moved to Virginia.
  
  
  
  Miles Morgan moved to Springfield, MA, and became the progenitor of the Morgan family represented by J. P. Morgan of Morgan and Company, International Bankers.
  
  
  
  The eldest brother, and our lineal ancestor, may have settled first at Plymouth.  He is found at Roxbury near Boston, before 1640.  That year, August 6, 1640, he married there Margery Hill of Roxbury.  He was made a freeman there May 10, 1643.
  He is named as a resident therein the inventory of John Graves, 1646, and was a freeholder there as late as 1650, the same year that he removed to Pequot (now New London) and had a houselot assigned him there.
  
  
  
  Early in 1650 he had land granted to him at Pequot which was occupied by him as a homestead "On the path of New Street" (now Ashcraft Street) and a further entry upon the records shows that " James Morgan hath given him about
  
  six acres of upland, where the wigwams were, in the path that goes from his house towards Culvers' among the rocky hills."  These tracts were located near the present third burial ground, in the western suburbs of the city of New London: a
  location sterile and dreary and which in a few years was abandoned by its ocupants for homes and broader lands of fairer promise on the east side of the River Thames.
  
  
  
  He continued to occupy this homestead on the path to New Street or "Cape Ann Lane" as it was called in honor of the Cape Ann Company who settled there until about March 1657.
  
  
  
  On the 25th day of December 1656 he sold his homestead and removed soon after, with several others, across the river on large tracts of land previously granted them by the town, upon the east side, now the south part of Groton.
  
  
  
  James Avery, William Meades and Nehemiah and John Smith, who also had grants of land adjoining to him, were among the first settlers, and the earliest resident farmers upon the east side, now Groton.  Grants of land had been made from time to
  time after 1652-53 by the colony of  Pequot, with a liberal hand, upon the east side of the river, comprising the fertile regions of what is now the southern part of Groton, and these lands were soon after occupied generally by the several
  proprietors.
  
  
  
  It was upon the east side of the River Thames that James Morgan settled, and in a rude log cabin with his family consisting of wife and three sons and a daughter;  and this territory, made the separate town of Groton May 1705, and again divided
  by setting off the town of Ledyard in 1836, has been and still remains the prolific hive of our name and family.
  
  
  
  He was a large proprietor and dealer in lands;  distinguished in public enterprises;  often employed by the public in land surveys, establishing highways, determining boundaries, adjusting civil difficulties, as a good neighbor and a Christian
  man, in whom all appear to have reposed a marked degree of confidence and trust.
  
  
  
  He was one of the "townsmen" or selectmen of New London for several years, and was one of the first "Deputies" sent from New London Plantations to the
  
  General Court at Hartford, May session 1657 (at which date he deposed his age to be about 50 years)  and was nine times afterwards chosen a member of that grave and important assembly,  the last time in1670.  His associates and compeers
  composing the General Court or Colonial Assembly in May 1657, when he was first chosen, were Governor John Winthrop, John Mason, Jonathan Brewster, Thomas Welles, etc.
  
  
  
  To this carefully selected body of men was intrusted the whole sovereign power of the colony, and the administration of its government, in original jurisprudence and the most trifling as well as most henious offenses and causes of action, and
  the minutest details in every department.
  
  
  
  James Morgan seems to have impressed this grave body of men with a high sense of his sterling honesty and integrity of character, and it appears that in a controversy between the General Court and the New London Plantation about boundaries and
  jurisdiction, it was ordered that the matter that shoud be submitted to three arbiters, mutually agreed upon, New London at once named their own townsman, James Morgan, really party in their own interest, but nevertheless the General Court as
  promptly accepted him, and without naming another, agreed to submit to his sole decision, which when made, seems to have satisfied all parties.
  
  
  
  He was an active and useful member of the church under Rev. Richard Blinman's ministry, and his name is prominent in every important movement or proceeding.
  
  
  
  "James Morgan, Mr. Tinker and Obadiah Brown, are chosen to seat the people in the meeting house, which they doing, the inhabitants are to remain silent."  This was considered a difficult task, as the seating determined the social standing of
  all the people.
  
  
  
  (Minutes from the record.)
  
  In 1661 he was one of a committee of the General Court to lay out the bounds of New London "On the east side of the Great River."
  
  
  
  In 1662 he was one of a committee to contract " for building a house for the ministry" at New London.
  
  
  
  From about this time he signs his name "James Morgan, Senior, of New London," his eldest son, afterwards Capt. James Morgan, being then near twenty-one years of age.
  
  
  
  This year, 1662, his list on the the town assessment stands the third highest in amount; and among the tax-payers of that year, about one hundred in number, only seven had a list exceeding 200#.  James Morgan's list was only 250#, but this was
  a large estate in those primitive days.
  
  
  
  The spot where he first built his house in Groton in 1657, and where he ever afterwards resided, and where he died, is a few rods southeast of the present dwelling (1868) of Elijah S. Morgan, about three miles from Groton Ferry, on the road to
  Poquonoc Bridge and this patriarchal  homestead from that day down to the present occupant has descended through an unbroken line of James Morgans, for six generations.  And it is worthy of note, in connection with this fact, that for eight
  generations as they hereinafter
  
  succeed each other, in regular order of individual  precedence, each one is headed by the name of James Morgan.
  
  
  
  He died 1685, aged 78 years and his estate was divided soon after his death among his four surviving children.

Details of James B.'s family with Margery Hill