312 



HISTORY OF BUCKS COUNTY. 



marrying a worldly man, and a certifi- 

 cate to that effect was given her. What 

 effect all this had upon her parents is 

 unknown. Her father died a few years 

 later, and left the greater part of his 

 wealth to Elizabeth and her mother. 

 Hugh made a good husband and main- 

 tained a fine house on the fashionable 

 street. After a marriage of three years 

 he unfortunately died, leaving only one 

 child, Anna. Elizabeth remained a 

 widow six years, when, on September 2, 

 1790, she became the wife of Dr. Abel 

 Morgan, a prominent physician of Phila- 

 delphia, and formerly a surgeon in the 

 revolutionary army, and a brother of 

 General Daniel Morgan. Two months later 

 her mother died. With the exception of 

 the birth of another daughter, nothing 

 eventful transpired until 1793 when the 

 great epidemic broke out in Philadelphia, 

 when Dr. Morgan took precautionary 

 measures and removed his family from 

 Philadelphia to the Lehigh Hills, leav- 

 ing his home in charge of the colored 

 servants. Dr. Morgan selected for his 

 retreat a hotel on the top of the hill 

 overlooking the "Forks of the Dela- 

 ware." This delightful locality was a 

 favorite of Dr. Morgan's when he was 

 surgeon in the revolutionary army and 

 encamped with his regiment at Colonel 

 Proctor's headquarters along the ravine 

 to 'the south of what is now Kleinhan's 

 green houses, which was then along the 

 main road to Easton from the south. 

 Dr. Morgan, after seeing his family com- 

 fortably settled, returned to Philadel- 

 phia to help stamp out the epidemic. 

 Elizabeth, not receiving any cominunica- 

 tion from him for upwards of two 

 months, .and quarantine being removed 

 from Philadelphia, concluded to make a 

 trip there. On her arrival at her Phila- 

 delphia home she found that the servants 

 had decamped, the house had been ran- 

 sacked from garret to cellar, and every- 

 thing of value confiscated. At a loss to 

 know what had become of her husband, 

 she made inquiry of the health officers 

 and found that her husband had con- 

 tracted the malady and died within a 

 few days after his arrival, and was 

 buried in the trench along with the rest. 

 This double afBiction required consid- 

 erable fortitude to withstand. Finding 

 herself the second time a widow, she 

 disposed of her fine home and all her 

 interests in Philadelphia and returned 

 to the "Hills," with the purpose of liv- 

 ing in quiet retirement with her two 

 daughters. She never returned to Phil- 

 adelphia, but purchased the hotel prop- 

 erty in which she had taken up her 

 abode, and lived there for upwards of 

 fifty years. Mrs. Morgan made good 

 use of her excellent education. She 

 possessed a fine library, and her favorite 

 pastime was reading law books, of which 

 she had a complete set. These were 

 kept on a bench in the public room. 



where she would dispense law when oc- 

 casion required. This room, in time, 

 became the popular retreat for those 

 of her neighbors who could not settle 

 their differences themselves. They 

 would invariably refer their case to this 

 improvised court. A request for her de- 

 cision was never refused; both old and 

 young respected her judgment, and sel- 

 dom was there an appeal to a higher 

 tribunal. This condition of aft'airs 

 brought forth a protest from the legal 

 fraternity of Easton, who endeavored 

 by various methods to break up the 

 practice. Reflections as to her char- 

 acter and the character of the place 

 were made, bringing her name into ridi- 

 cule with the unthinking. All this un- 

 kindness toward the "Widow" Morgan 

 only increased her popularity. Few of 

 these gentry of the bar could boast of a 

 better legal education than Elizabeth 

 Morgan, and none of a better univer- 

 sity training. Her last will and testa- 

 ment (written by herself) for scholarly 

 composition and legal construction is 

 the peer of any instrument of any mem- 

 ber of the legal fraternity of her day. 

 Steeled to adversity, never showing re- 

 sentment toward her traducers, living a 

 good and true life, a kind and generous 

 neighbor, ministering to the afflicted, ad- 

 justing neighborly disputes for many 

 years, she died October 16, 1839, aged 

 eighty years, and was buried in the Re- 

 formed cemetery on Mount Jefferson 

 (now the site of the new library). Her 

 obsequies were attended by people from 

 far and near, her funeral cortege being 

 nearly two miles long, reaching from 

 the cemetery gates to a point along the 

 Philadelphia road bej'ond Lachenour 

 Heights, South Side. Her second daugh- 

 ter, Hannah Morgan, died at the age of 

 twenty years. Her first daughter, Ann 

 Bay, was married to James Heinlein, a 

 son of Captain George Heinlein, of Dur- 

 ham township. Bucks County, a prom- 

 inent figure in the revolution. Their 

 children were: George, born 1799; Hugh, 

 born 1802; Abel Morgan, born 1804; Ed- 

 ward, born 1806; Morgan, born 1808; 

 Jacob, born 1811; John, born 1813; 

 Henry, born 1814; Hannah Eliza, born 

 1815, became the wife of William 

 Raub. Of the many descendants of thesa 

 grandsons of Elizabeth Morgan living 

 in the Lehigh Valley and the regions 

 round about, there are very few bearing 

 the name of Heinlein. Mrs. Morgan 

 took great pride in her grandsons and 

 gave all of them an advanced education. 

 Three of these grandsons emigrated in 

 company with several of the families of 

 Hays from Lehigh county to Ohio, set- 

 tling in and around Fremont. Mrs. 

 Heinlein, the mother, married for the 

 second time a Mr. Schultz. She was 

 buried to the right of her mother, Mrs. 

 Morgan, and Hannah, the other daugh- 

 ter, was buried on the left side. Their 



