Genealogy links county man to Daniel Boone

Submitted photos Shown is the Morgan Log Cabin in Kulpsville, Pa., which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The cabin was built by Edward and Elizabeth Morgan who were the grandparents of Daniel Boone. Paul Morgan from near Puxico, believed to be a descendant of the original owners, paid a recent visit to the home. Shown below at the cabin with Morgan are cousins, Margaret Kumar and Barbara Wratchford. [Click to enlarge]

When Paul Morgan of rural Puxico began looking up his family tree, he never expected to find a link to one of the most famous American frontiersman in U.S. history, Daniel Boone. But a little legwork and about a thousand miles revealed to Morgan that in all likelihood, he is a direct descendant of one of the most famous early American explorers.

"There's no 100 percent guarantee," Morgan attests, "but it looks like my family can be traced back to Boone's grandparents, Edward and Elizabeth Morgan."

A recent trip by Morgan served to both educate and inform him of his heritage and the link between the Morgans and the pioneer who is most famous for his exploration and settlement of what is now the state of Kentucky.

Lita Counts Woolard, a relative of Morgan's from Mill Springs, has compiled a complete genealogy on the descendants of John Lair Morgan and Lucinda Caroline Harty. The spiral notebook, about an inch thick, traces the history of the Morgan family from as far back as the mid-1800s.

It was actually a Puxico friend and fellow history enthusiast, Cletis Ellinghouse, who stumbled upon some information that led to the discovery of the Boone link.

"Cletis came across information that confirmed the first of the Morgan clan came to America because of religious persecution in Wales."

While Morgan says he was impressed with the finding, he recalls that Ellinghouse told him at the time, "Oh, wait, it gets better!"

Ellinghouse, a local history author, then told Morgan about a cabin in Kulpsville, Pa. that was the original home of Edward and Elizabeth Morgan and that the couple were Boone's grandparents. Edward Morgan was a Welsh Quaker and history tells that he built the cabin around 1708, residing there until about 1723. He was an early settler of Towamencin Township in Pennsylvania.

Over the years the log cabin changed hands and in 1775 the property was purchased by the Cassel family, a Pennsylvania German farming family who kept the home in the family for nearly 100 years. The property continued as a farm into the 1960s, but the cabin itself fell into disrepair.

In 1968 an enthusiastic group of historians and township officials decided to restore the property to its original form. The job was completed in 1976 and the cabin is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

When Paul Morgan realized the connection with the cabin and the possible link to Daniel Boone, he decided to pay a visit to the Pennsylvania property. He called a relative in Maryland who, like Morgan, had not known of the link with Boone, and soon that cousin and a third relative met in Pennsylvania and toured the cabin and the nearby historic area. They also visited the Quaker Meeting House where Daniel Boone's father, Squire Boone, was an active member in the 1700s.

"The cabin," Morgan explains, "is about 90 percent original as it stands today."

The building is a two story structure, remarkable for its day, and is built of finely squared log and chinked with stones set in a decorative pattern. The rooms have been furnished with period furniture and equipment in keeping with the 1700s.

For Paul Morgan, whose family originally came out of Pennsylvania, the visit to The Morgan Log Cabin was a memorable one. The tour guide was informed in advance that he and his cousins had a possible link with Daniel Boone and were provided with plenty of photo opportunities and special treatment as they toured the cabin in which once dwelled their link to the past.