Edward Morgan

     Edward Morgan was born before 1670 in Wales.¹ He married Elizabeth who was probably a daughter of John Jarmin.² He was living in 1732.²
     
     Edward Morgan was a Quaker, but it is not known if he followed that religion in Wales. It is thought that he immigrated to Pennsylvania about 1683, but proof is lacking. An Edward Morgan appeared in Philadelphia land records as early as 1684, but the writer has seen no proof that he is the same as the subject of this sketch. However, he probably did live there for some period of time before moving north to what is now Towamencin township in Montgomery County, but was then in Philadelphia County. In June 1704, the Court of Quarter Sessions of Philadelphia County answered a petition of the inhabitants of North Wales by ordering a road to be laid out "from Philadelphia through Germantown, and so to the house of Edward Morgan, in North Wales." According to Jenkins, the road was thus laid out about 1704/05, and probably extended to Towamencin, because "The house of Edward Morgan," was probably not "in North Wales," but over the line in Towamencin.³ Perhaps Edward already owned land in Towamencin in 1704, but it was not until 26 February 1708 that he purchased from Griffith Jones, a merchant of Philadelphia, the 309 acres in Towamencin township on which his log house still stands. The house was saved from demolition when it was identified as an historic structure in 1967. Restoration was completed in 1976. The Towamencin Historical Society that researched the history of the house identified the Morgan family as among the first Welsh settlers in the area, and believe that it was built by Edward. The house stayed in the Morgan family until 1741 when Edward's son John deeded the land on which it stands to Evan David.⁴