Strong Woman Spotlight #3 Lucinda (Evans) Morgan

Lucinda (Evans) Morgan is the woman I’ve chosen for Strong Woman Spotlight #3. I don’t have a lot of concrete info for her, most is speculation, but I’m in hopes by getting her story out there I might be able to learn more.

Lucinda (Evans) Morgan was my husband Henry’s 2X great grandmother. She was born to Harvey Evans (spelled Ivens in some census) and Rachel Trimble in June 1837, the 2nd of 11 children and the oldest daughter. Here is what I know about her siblings

• Wesley Evans 1835 — he has a infant child buried in Killy cemetery in the family spot in Barton County Mo but that’s all I know.
• Lucinda
• Louisa Evans 1841-1941 married Benjamin Miller and buried in Killy Cemetery 
• George Evans 1843 married Mary Abbott last found in 1920 census in Oklahoma 
• Etta Evans 1845-1892 married a DePew and buried in Killy
• Martha Jane Evans 1847 married George Roberts last found in Colorado in 1910
• Allen Edwards Evans 1850-1921 married Catherine Trout buried in Oregon
•  Sarah A Evans 1854 m John Buzzard buried in Oakton Cemetery in Barton County MO
• Zeruia Adelaide “Dade” Evans 1857-1932 married Lewis Trout buried in Killy Cemetery 
• Silas Sherman Evans 1858 married Rebecca Eckles last found in Crawford Co KS in 1920
• Nancy Evans 1861-1887

Lucinda Evans & William Morgan
Wedding license
Nov 4 1860

On Oct 16 of 1860 Lucinda Ann Evans would marry William Washington Morgan in Andrew County MIssouri. She was 21 years old at the time and William was around 23. They must have immediately left because on Nov 4, 1860 they had their first child Nancy Ella Morgan in Wright County Iowa, meaning she traveled in I assume a covered wagon approximately 240 miles in her last weeks of pregnancy. I don’t know what brought them to Iowa in such a hurry, but one theory would be all the unrest that was going on before the Civil War. Andrew County was on the Kansas/Missouri line which was a very volatile area at that time. I also have to wonder if William was truly the father of her child. I would have thought they would have married earlier than roughly a month before she was due. Maybe she had been married before, though in the 1860 census that was taken in July she is shown living in her father’s house with the last name Evans. In that same census there is a W. W. Evans shown living in the same home and is a farm laborer. Is that her brother Wesley or is it William Washington ??? The age fits both. I will say that Nancy’s (that first child) gravestone shows her birthdate as 1861 but her death certificate lists it as 1860 as do all the census, not to mention that they had another child born in 1861. Their first 3 children were born in Wright Co Iowa and the rest in Missouri.

1. Nancy Ella Morgan 1860 - Iowa
2. William Harvey Morgan 1861 - Iowa
3. George Sherman Morgan 1864 - Iowa — My husband’s great grandfather
4. James H Morgan 1866 - Missouri
5. Danial David Morgan 1868 - Missouri
6. Charles A Morgan 1870 - Missouri
7. Ettie 1871 - Missouri

I’m guessing at the close of the war they moved back to Missouri. The 1870 census shows them in Dade County Missouri which is in SW Missouri. William is shown as a farm laborer and 3 of his brothers are living with them. Lucinda’s family is shown living one county over in Barton County which is where they pretty well stayed the rest of their life.

For the longest time I could find nothing else on Lucinda. I didn’t know when or where she died and no clue where she was buried. I finally figured out she must have passed sometime after 1871-1880 because I never found her on any census. I then found an obituary of William’s that spoke of her and saw where he remarried, but no dates of when Lucinda died or even when he remarried. I was getting quite discouraged and was saddened by her short life. Then one day this past summer I was walking Killy Cemetery which isn’t far from my home. It’s an older rural cemetery and I was taking pictures of gravestones to upload. I knew Lucinda’s parents were buried there as well as some other family members just from Find a Grave but as I was walking along that day I got a huge surprise when I came upon her gravestone. Finally I found her resting place, and while so many find this strange it gave me a sense of peace. I still don’t know much of her story. I don’t have a death certificate and probably won’t since she died in 1874, and I’ve never been able to find any kind of obit or death notice, but at least I found one piece of the puzzle!!

Lucinda Evans & William W Morgan
George Sherman Morgan & Lizzie Mitchell
Freddie Arthur “Art” Morgan & Rosa Alice Pugh
Richard Morgan & Linda Arnold
Henry Morgan & I