Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/13

 Samuel Bascom, of whom further. 4. Mary Catharine, of whom further. 5. James Abner, born February 20, 1848 ; married Sadie Norfleet. and has Lida, Samuel R., Augusta, Charles. Eliza, Norfleet, Peyton, Julia, Abner and Hattie. 6. Charles Noah, born May 23, 1854, died February 26, 1894. 7. Edward Everett, of whom further. 8. Claude W., born February 20, 1857 ; married (first) in 1884, Emily G. Catling, born in 1866, died in 1894, and has Elizabeth Commander, born July 25, 1886. Claude Williard, born December II, 1889, married Margaret Dey, and has a son, Claude W'. (3), born in May, 1914, and Emily Catling, born August 11, 1891 ; Claude W. Harrell married (second) in 1896, Lena G. Southall, and has Lucille Marks, born in 1898, Charles Morgan, born in 1900, and Margaret Southall, born in 1909. 9. Emmette Eugene, of whom further. 10. Estelle, married Rev. T. O. Ed- wards, and had Elizabeth and Mary Etta, the latter dying in infancy. 11. Octavius Claiborne, born May 6, 1863, died July 31, 1906; married Susie Williams, born October 5, 1869, and had Mary Vaughan, born February 29, 1892, died in October, 1903, and Kate Thelma, born March 3, 1897.

(III) Sarah Augusta Harrell, eldest of the eleven children of Samuel Riddick and Mary Elizabeth (Vaughan) Harrell, was born March 4, 1841, died December 21, 1912. She married. February 21, 1861, Dr. Henry Augustus Morgan, son of Seth Riddick Mor- gan. Seth Riddick Morgan was the owner of a large plantation and many slaves in Gates county, North Carolina, where he was an important and influential figure in pub- lic affairs. He married Sarah Willey, of that county, and had children : Margaret Ann, Henry Augustus, of whom further ; George, Seth, John W., James E., and Sarah Virginia.

Henry Augustus Morgan, M. D., was born in Gates county. North Carolina, September 9, 1829, and died November 10, 1901. As a youth he attended the public schools and the private school maintained by Professor Henry Riddick. This excellent teacher, with a scholar's passion for the classics, never advanced a pupil without the most thorough grounding in elementary subjects, and under his tutelage Henry Augustus Morgan gained a preparatory education that was an enduring foundation for his future wide studies. For a time he taught school, during part of this period associated with Martin Kellogg, and through his pedagogical labors supplied the funds to defray his college expenses. Entering the Richmond College of Medicine, he was thence graduated with the degree M. D., and then returned to Gates county. North Carolina, to establish in practice. Here he was well-known and liked, his family connections of the best, and from the beginning of his professional activity his clientele increased with steady rapidity, and he gained professional prestige of a most enviable character. His judgment in matters of business and finance were of the best, and he invested the fruits of his professional success carefully and wisely, accumulating a large fortune. He was chairman of the board of commissioners of Gates county. North Carolina, for many years, until moving to Virginia. At the time of the civil war his services were so much in demand as a physician, there being no other physician in an area of fifteen miles, that he remained at home, laboring ceaselessly for the cause, offering his professional talents and in every conceiveable manner rendering loyal and patriotic support to the Confederacy. However, he later passed the examination as a surgeon and was ready to go when called, but soon after peace was declared. In 1890 Dr. Morgan retired from private practice and moved to Suffolk, Virginia, although in the case of the illness of a friend he gladly forsook his personal comfort and for the sake of other days attended at the sickbed.

Dr. Morgan was secretary and treasurer of the Central Land Company, retaining his interest in this company after he had severed many of his other business connections. He administered estates for many people. He was a lifelong Democrat, and was a steward of the Methodist Episcopal church. South, Sunbury, North Carolina, and chairman of the board of stewards ; he was also a steward of the Main Street Methodist Church, Suffolk, Virginia.

He was a gentleman of pronounced and cultivated literary tastes and his reading covered a wide field, ranging from the English classics to history and metaphysical treatises. He was essentially the student, and from his deep delving into the works of the best of writers acquired a literary