My Welsh relatives as 19th century American Settlers: The Horse Doctor (Prof. David Benjamin Morgan)
By Dr. Wendy Williams M.D (Wales) ~ 18th Dec 2020
The Morgans left Pensnsylvania in 1876 for Superior Township Osage County, Kansas where Daniel worked as a miner. David worked on a farm but returned to Wales to begin his studies as a veterinarian in the early 1880s accompanied by his mother who visited her family. Hannah returned to her husband back in Kansas and lived there until she died, aged 51 in March 1892. Her funeral held at the Welsh Congregational Church and she was buried at Osage City Cemetery. Daniel remarried within the year to a widowed Welsh lady with two small children. He became a naturalised US citizen that same year and continued alternating between farming and mining to support his family.
Daniel died at home on 15th March 1916, aged 80 years. His obituary in the Osage City Free Press, dated 23rd March 1916, mentions his birthplace, Brynhynydd and noted the following: Daniel was "one of the earliest pioneers of this city...His funeral taking place on the 19th of March at the Welsh Congregational Church. Only his son, Dr. David B. Morgan of Neosho, Missouri and daughter, Mrs Sarah Edsell of San Francisco were unable to attend. At his funeral a choir composed of Welsh singers rendered several appropriate selections".
David meanwhile travelled widely in Europe and America. Studying much to establish his expertise and reputation as a veterinary practitioner. He graduated from the Veterinary College of Toronto and McKillip Veterinary College, Chicago.
By 1891 he felt sufficiently proficient to write a book with the long title of "New system for educating the horse; Giving causes and symptoms of diseases, with valuable receipts, medical treatment, etc., together with chapters on ... dogs and sheep, giving diseases and remedies" (sic) which was published by the Democrat Steam Print House. This was followed in 1902 by another book titled "The Twentieth Century Horse Book. Method of Handling and Education (sic) the Horse" published by Fayetteville, Arkansas (Copy Library of Congress).
David is recorded as having practised in Greene county before relocating to Neosho by 1905. After a few years he set up a permanent Veterinary practice at 121 West Spring St. In a 1914 he married a local woman Maggie Wright and they became a devoted couple. On 28th 1930 following a call to a sick animal David B. Morgan died suddenly of a Heart attack aged 66. Hundreds attended his funeral. An orbituary in the local newspaper noted
“They were very philanthropic to the community and well-known throughout Southwestern Missouri for their support of social causes. They were instrumental in public enterprises and in building the community. Dr. Morgan held various public positions and was president of the Newton-McDonald County Harvest Show Association for many years. Once the automobile became popular, Morgan became more involved in care of livestock and domestic animals”.
Unfortunately the grief was all too much for his wife to bear and a few days later (aged 55) she travelled to Joplin where she committed suicide at the grand Connor Hotel by slitting her wrists and throat before jumping out of the window to the street 90 ft below. She was buried next to her husband at Osage City Cemetery. (see: 1/15/20 Article in Herald Leader Siloam Springs by Dr Devin Houston).
Both of Daniel’s sons (David and Henry) maintained links with the family's Welsh farming origins by becoming veterinary surgeons and despite immigration to a new land, the family apparently remained part of a strong Welsh community.
Acknowledgements:
Kansas State Historical
Rina Callingham, UK
Ref: Rev R. D. Thomas's Hanes Cymry America (A History of the Welsh in America) pub 1872
Futher Reading:
Please check out my website about my great grandfather Prof James Williams (Ap Valant), uncle to David B. Morgan.
He was a published Welsh Bard and a Phrenologist.
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The above article is due to be published in NINNAU: The North American Welsh Newspaper Vol 46, No. 1 Jan 2021
My first cousin twice removed was David Benjamin Morgan (1864-1930), son of Daniel and Hannah Morgan of Bettws in Carmarthenshire, South Wales. The Morgan family emigrated to America in 1871 with David going on to become an eminent American veterinarian known as ‘The Horse Doctor’.
Initially he did this work whilst travelleing around the country in a large wagon with two white horses at the front. In later years he mounted on the front of the wagon the skeleton of his beloved horse Prince after its death. His aim was to travel widely and educate settlers and cowboys about one of their greatest assets, the horse; treating these noble beasts when sick; prolonging their fitness and improving their lives.
David settled in Neosho becoming a respected member of his local community and associated with the Freemasons and had membership of the IOOF (Independent Order Of Fellows). He became a member of the State Veterinary Board.
David Benjamin’s father Daniel Thomas Morgan (my great grandmother’s brother) was born in 1835 at Brynhynydd farm, Camarthenshire. In 19th century South Wales, the coal and metal industries became the major employers in areas of once mainly agricultural communities. By the 1870s many local men were permanently making the change from farming to mining. Many advertisements in the press about the benefits to Welshmen of exploiting their industrial or farming expertise in America lured many ro make the drastic move. Mining hardship was often at the centre of working-class discontent in South Wales and many men wanted better for themselves and their families.
The Morgan family decided to emigrate and set sail from Liverpool, on the ship Batavia, to Queenstown and then New York, arriving on 13th November 1871 during the second wave of Welsh emigration. Pennsylvania beckoned and the word spread that “lands were cheap, taxes light, clear from oppression as to Tythes and church rates, and most settlers were religious men of good report in their own country. Supplies of food could be secured from settlers in adjoining townships, notably the old countrymen...could give liberal aid, without money and without price. To have failed in this would have made them unworthy of the name of Welshmen”.
The Welsh were among the thousands of immigrants who crossed the Mississippi to settle in Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas. Ohio cities and towns being particularly popular destinations. As of 2010, more than 126,000 Ohioans are of Welsh descent.