Brief History of Daniel and Mary Morgan
According to Carolyn Powell Lockhart, the Morgan’s were from Rowan, Surry County North Carolina. They left there in the early 1830’s because of the Indian Removal, going to Decatur County Georgia, where they intermarried with the white people. They fought in the Creek War of 1837 then in the 1850’s began their move westward toward Texas. While some researchers believe Daniel and Mary Morgan were Indians, I don’t share that belief. I do, however agree that Mary was, no doubt, of Indian descent. The Hawthornes, Kelleys and several other families joined them in their westward journey. From what I have been able to gather, they had information that there was land to be had here in Texas and they wanted some of that land. So they were willing to endure hardships on the long trek ahead of them. So they came---mile after weary mile until, at last, they reached the land of their dreams. Here in the softly rolling hills of Jasper County, they discovered the place they were looking for and settled down to establish their homes and become respected members of the East Texas communities in which they lived, where they would die and be buried. Some of them had left children and grand-children in Georgia. I know that Daniel and Mary did because I am a descendant of one of their daughters, Elizabeth Morgan Jones who, along with her children---one of which was my grand-mother Henrietta Jones Boyett, would later come by ship to join her parents in Jasper County.
Notes from Kenneth Morgan are that John Morgan’s two brothers, Daniel, whose wife was Mary and Daniels younger brother Duncan and his wife Elizabeth Kelley came in the exodus from Georgia. About the same time two nephews Reuben and Malichi Morgan also came to Texas and could have traveled with the group. They also brought with them a slave whose name was George Washington Morgan.
Recognition:
Floyd Boyett, my nephew, has just welcomed you to this notable occasion.
Floyd is also the nephew of my husband Alricks Burkett. Floyd’s dad was my brother, his mother, my husband’s sister---making Floyd the nearest to a son we could have, yet not be one. Floyd is the only male member of our family who is interested in Family Genealogy and is also a “take hold and get the job done” man. Thank you, Floyd for pulling all this together. What would we women do without you?
It has taken a long, long time---a time so many years over-due, but we are finally here today to pay tribute to Daniel and Mary Morgan, our grand-parents, who have lain here more than a hundred years with no markers on their graves. This has been a dream of Floyd, Bonnie Jones Smith and I since Bonnie directed us to the cemetery and the three of us along with Alricks and Bobee, Floyd’s wife came for our first visit. Today, that dream is a reality.
We brought this need to the attention of others of you who descend from Daniel and Mary, so you see what a family can do when they work together--- and this is not the end of what we hope to do here. We need a fence and other additions to make this cemetery what it should be. Today, we thank each of you who have helped make today’s event possible, and many of you have been most generous. Together, we say, “thank you Morgan Grand-parents for the heritage you left us and may your souls continue to rest in peace”.
Also we wish to thank Mr. and Mrs. Walker who have so graciously allowed us access to the cemetery and have helped us in our endeavors. Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Walker! Thank you, Verbalee Jones Turner for suggesting that the Friendship Church would be the best place for the reunion and many thanks go to the members of the Church for allowing us that priviledge.
I will now read the poem I wrote for this occasion.
Ruby Ray Boyett Burkett
August 25, 2005
OUR MORGAN ANCESTORS
They were buried here in Jasper County’s softly rolling hills,
So many long years ago,
They’ve since remained in unmarked graves
Which, after today will not be so---
Because---------
We are here today to mark their graves,
The grand-children they would never know.
They were brave and courageous pioneers;
Some of those who dared to dream,
Who left their homes, traveling, to parts---unknown
In, search of a new life and better things.
They were not afraid of hardships;
That was all they ever knew,
And they knew that on this journey,
There’d be more than just a few.
When they reached the State of Texas,
On their trek from East to West
They must have been sorely tired and worn,
And perhaps just stopped to rest---
But when they began to look around,
And were pleased with what they saw;
They decided to go no further,
Knowing this was the end of their quest.
So they settled down here in Texas,
Acquired land and built their homes.
It was here, some reared their children,
And taught them right from wrong---
They were well-liked and honored citizens;
Our ancestors, who’ve, so long been gone,
So we’ve come today to honor them;
And to pay the debt we owe.
Ruby Boyett Burkett
John Wesley Boyett
And
Henrietta jones Boyett
John Wesley Boyett and Henrietta Jones were married October 24, 1877, in Jasper County Texas. He was 21 years of age and she was 16. He had been born in Erin, Jasper Co., Texas on February 12, 1856 while Henrietta had been born in Decatur Co., Georgia on July 13, 1861. She, her brothers and sisters had come from Georgia to Texas with their mother Elizabeth Morgan Jones after their father Sion Jones had died soon after returning home from the Civil War. It is unknown where John and Henrietta lived when they were first married but is a known fact that they lived in Bon Wier and that their home was located on the site which later became the property of Harrison Davis and his wife Ethel Hughes. Their home was just north of Bon Wier, on the left side of the road going toward Newton.
When I was about eight or nine years of age, we learned that Mr. Harrison would be razing the last of the old Boyett buildings, which, I believe, to have been a portion of a log barn. My aunt Minnie Fuller drove over from Merryville and she, my daddy, mother, brother Earl, sister Minnie Merle and I went up to take pictures before the last remnant of the “Old Boyett Home” was gone. As young as I was, at the time, I remember it as a sad occasion which can be seen on our faces, in the one picture I still have of that day---although our expressions were also those of a family living during the depression years.
I have been told that Grandfather John Wesley was engaged in logging as many men were in those days. Mr. Harrison related a story to Ralph Ramos about John Wesley and his oldest son Noah Jackson “Noan” Boyett floating, or rafting logs down the Sabine River to Orange. The story was published in the Beaumont Enterprise on May 26, 1974. The story, which I consider an interesting part of my family history, is now on my web-site on the short stories page.
In the last year, we have visited the Bon Wier area and the small Dougharty Cemetery on the banks of Caney Creek, where my GG-grandfather George and my great-grandfather Charles Bowman Dougharty are buried, as well as other members of the Dougharty family.
Those visits have brought back memories to my husband, Alricks Burkett, whose family home was near the creek and cemetery. He has said that when his family was building their home, they pulled sinker logs from the creek to use in making shingles to roof their house. They were logs which had jammed and were left behind as they were being floated down the creek to the Sabine and thus on to Orange many years earlier. One might ask, “How, could logs be floated down a creek as small as Caney? It was done during flood stage when seasonal rains had caused the creek to overflow its banks.
Now, I can begin to put two and two together and come up with the rest of the John Boyett “log floating story”. He lived just across the road from Caney Creek so would it be too much to assume that the first leg of his journey to Orange began just across the road from his home, down Caney to the Sabine River and on to Orange? I don’t think so! The tough part of the job would be the long walk back home after the logs were delivered. Our ancestors did not have an easy life! Their work was hard and sometimes dangerous but in East Texas, logging and sawmills were the means of a livelihood and they did what they had to do. That, I know, because my dad was a logger as were his father and brothers. I will never forget seeing my dad, George Boyett come in from the woods after sawing logs all day. He always wore blue overalls and when he got off the train which brought the men in from the woods to Kirby Camp, his overalls and shirt would be white because of the salt from sweating (and I do mean sweating) all day. When the sweaty clothes had dried, there was a, noticeable, white residue which remained. I also remember times when the train would come into the camp during the day. There was a certain whistle signal to alert those living in the Camp that they were bringing someone who had been injured on the job. For the wives and children of the loggers, those were difficult times. I’m not sure whether any man was ever fatally injured. Although I was a young girl, the memories of those times will forever remain with me and I am leaving these stories so that the now, as well as future generations, will know what life was like for their ancestors. In money and worldly goods, they left very little but as we remember their lives through these stories, we realize they left us a rich heritage. What more could we ask?
Ruby Ray Boyett Burkett
July 2, 2005