Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/441

Rh MORGAN, Lewis Henry, anthropologist, b. in Aurora, N. Y., 21 Nov., 1818; d. in Rochester, N. Y., 17 Dec, 1881. He was graduated at Union college in 1840, and then studied law. After admission to the bar he followed his profession in Rochester, N. Y., where he acquired a lucrative practice, principally in connection with railroads. In 1861 he was sent to the lower house of the legislature and in 1868 chosen to the state senate. He acquired reputation by his researches in anthropology, especially in relation to the history of American Indians, in which he was the pioneer investigator. His acquaintance with this subject began in 1844 by his relations with a secret organization known as the Grand Order of the Iroquois, which was formed on the plan of the ancient confederacy of that tribe. For the purpose of more closely studying their social organization and government Mr. Morgan visited the Indians of New York, and was adopted by a tribe of Senecas. His discoveries were of such importance and interest that he continued his investigations, obtaining a deep insight into the home life and customs of the Indians. As early as 1847 he began the publication of a series of " Letters on the Iroquois " in the "American Review" over the name of "Shenandoah." This he followed with " The League of the Iroquois " (Rochester, 1851), in which the social organization and government of that confederacy were thoroughly explained. It was the first scientific account of an Indian tribe that was published, and in after years gained for him the title of the "Father of American Anthropology." In 1858, while in Marquette, Mich., he found that the society and government of the Ojibway Indians were organized upon a similar plan. This discovery induced him to continue his investigations still further among other Indians. The Smithsonian institution caused the circulation of schedules, which he prepared, among its correspondents in this country and throughout the world. The department of state, through its consuls and other agents, likewise lent aid to this undertaking. From the information that Mr. Morgan acquired during his travels and from the correspondence that was begun by his inquiries, he continued his work until the kinship systems of more than four fifths of the world were recorded, either directly by himself or by others who had become interested in the undertaking. The materials thus collected were systematized by him and published by the Smithsonian institution as " Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family " (Washington, 1869). This book was essentially a volume of facts, and the rich material on tribal society that he had gathered was condensed into one philosophic treatise on "Ancient Society" (New York, 1877). In this work he considered his subject from four standpoints: the growth of intelligence through inventions and discoveries, of the ideas of government, of family, and of property. "Thus," according to Dr. John W. Powell, "was laid the foundation for the science of government as it is finally to be erected by the philosophy of evolution." He received the degree of LL. D. from Union college in 1873, and was elected a member of the National academy of sciences in 1875, and of other scientific societies at home and abroad. In 1879 he was elected president of the American association for the advancement of science. The last years of his life were devoted to the preparation of "Houses and House-Life of the American Aborigines" (Washington, 1881). Besides papers contributed to periodicals, he was the author of "The American Beaver and his Works" (Philadelphia, 1868).

MORGAN, Matthew Somerville, artist, b. in London, 27 April, 1839; d. in New York, 2 June, 1890. His father was an actor and music-teacher; his mother, Mary Somerville, an actress and singer. The son studied scene-painting and followed his profession at Princess's theatre, but became artist and correspondent for the &ldquo;Illustrated London News.&rdquo; He also studied in Paris, Italy, and Spain, and was one of the first artists to penetrate into the interior of Africa, which he did in 1858 by way of French Algeria. In 1859 he reported for the &ldquo;News&rdquo; the Austro-Italian war. He was afterward joint editor and proprietor of the &ldquo;Tomahawk,&rdquo; a comic illustrated London paper, and its artist. The most notable of his cartoons were attacks on the royal family, the first that were ever made. He was associated with Frank C. Burnand, William S. Gilbert, and others, in the establishment of the London &ldquo;Fun,&rdquo; and a volume of his cartoons in this paper has been published under the title &ldquo;American War Cartoons&rdquo; (London, 1874). In 1867-'9 he was principal scene-painter to the Royal Italian opera, Covent garden. He came to the United States in 1870 under an engagement with Frank Leslie, and, after working as caricaturist on the latter's publications, acted as manager of several New York theatres. He went in 1880 to Cincinnati, where he was manager of the Strobridge lithograph company till 1885, and did much to improve the character of theatrical lithography. He also founded there in 1883 the Matt Morgan art pottery company, and the Cincinnati art students' league. He returned in 1887 to New York city. Mr. Morgan contributed to the exhibitions of the Water-color society, and painted a series of large panoramic pictures, representing battles of the civil war, which were exhibited in Cincinnati in 1886 and elsewhere.

MORGAN, Michael Ryan, soldier, b. in Halifax, Nova Scotia, 18 Jan., 1833. He was appointed from Louisiana to the U. S. military academy, where he was graduated in 1854, assigned to the artillery, and served in garrison, and against hostile Indians till the civil war, during which he was in the subsistence department. He was chief of commissariat of the 10th army corps in May and June, 1864, and of the armies operating against Richmond in 1864-'5, receiving all the brevets to brigadier-general in the regular army for his services in the campaigns of those two years. On 17 Nov., 1865, he became commissary of subsistence with the rank of major, and since the war he has been the commissary-general of various departments. He became brigadier-general in 1894, and was retired in 1897.

MORGAN, Miles, soldier, b. in Bristol, England, in 1616; d. in Llandaff, Wales, 28 May, 1699. Being a younger son and of venturesome disposition he conceived the idea of joining one of the many vessels that conveyed emigrants to America from his native town. He arrived on one of these at Boston in April, 1636, and soon afterward penetrated, with an expedition headed by a Col. Pyncheon, into the wilderness, and settled at what is now Springfield, Mass., building for himself a fortified block-house on the bank of Connecticut river on the site that is now occupied by the car-shops of the Connecticut River railroad. Soon after settling in Springfield he married Prudence Gilbert, a fellow-passenger on the voyage from Bristol. At the sack of Springfield, Capt. Morgan's block-house became the fortress of the place, and, after the burning of the settlement, held out until messengers had been despatched to Hadley, and thirty-six men (the standing army of the colony of Massachusetts bay), under command of Capt. Samuel