Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/442

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404
MORGAN
MORIARTY

ton, marched to Springfield and raised the siege. A colossal bronze statue of Captain Miles Morgan, which stands in the court-house square of Springfield, shows him in huntsman's dress, jack-boots, and cocked hat, with a rifle over his shoulder.


MORGAN, Philip Hicky, jurist, b. in Baton Rouge, La., 9 Nov., 1825. He studied law, was admitted to the bar in New Orleans in 1847, and. after practising seven years, was elected judge of the New Orleans district court in 1855, continuing in office till 1861. During the administrations of President Johnson and President Grant he was U. S. district attorney for the eastern district of Louisiana until he resigned and was appointed in 1873 a justice of the state supreme court. In 1877 he was appointed U. S. representative on the inter- national tribunal in Egypt. On the expiration of his term he declined re-appointment, but accepted the post of United States minister to Mexico. His commission was issued on 26 Jan., 1880, and he served till his successor was appointed by Presi- dent Cleveland on 23 March, 1885.


MORGAN, William, artist, b. in London, Eng- land, in 1826. After studying in the government •a,rt-school at Havre, France, he came to this coun- try in early life, and received his education in the schools of the National academy, to which he sent his first work in 1851, and of which he became an associate in 1865. He is a member of the American art union and the Artists' fund society. His works include "Emancipation" (1868); "The Legend" (1875) ; " Song without Words " (1876) ; " Mother- hood"; "Reverie"; "In the Hay-Loft" (1882); "Summer" (1883): "The Sortie" (1884); "An- dante" (1885); "Blowing Bubbles" (1886); and " La Mandolinata " (1887).


MORGAN, William, Mason, b. in Culpeper county, Va., about 1775. He served under Gen. Andrew Jackson at the battle of New Orleans. He removed in 1821 to York, Upper Canada, where he became a brewer, and subsequently to Batavia, N. Y. In August, 1826, it was reported that he was -about to publish a volume that would expose the secrets of the order of Freemasons, of which he had been a member, and shortly afterward he suddenly disappeared. This caused great excitement, and committees of safety and vigilance were formed that traced him westward to Fort Niagara, near Lewiston, N. Y., where he had been imprisoned. It was said that he had been conveyed in a carriage from Batavia to Fort Niagara by Freemasons, and it was afterward testified that he was drowned in Lake Ontario : but this story was denied, and it was affirmed that he had been seen alive at Smyrna, in Asia, and in other places. A body was produced, said to have been found near the mouth of Niagara river, but it was denied that it was Morgan's, and Thurlow Weed was said to have remarked that it was " a good enough Morgan till after election." Prosecutions were in due time instituted against those whom investigation showed to have been in -any way concerned in the abduction, and repeated trials resulted in the conviction of some of them on minor charges, but no murder was ever judi- cially established. It was supposed to be shown in the course of these trials that the Masonic oath disqualified Masons in certain of the higher degrees lor serving as jurors in any case where a Mason of like degree was a party and his antagonist was not. The excitement deepened, and resulted in the or- ganization of an Anti-masonic party in western New York, which nominated a candidate for governor, Solomon SouthwicK, in 1828. In 1831 a National Anti-masonic convention was held, wherein most of the free states were represented, which nominated William Wirt, of Maryland, for president of the United States. Although Anti-masonic state and national tickets were supported in many free states, they were successful only in Vermont, which re- mained for several years under Anti-masonic rule, but the party lost its distinctive character, gradu- ally faded out, and ceased to exist after 1835. Morgan's book, " Illustrations of Freemasonry, by One of the Fraternity who has devoted Thirty Years to the Subject," was published in various forms (1826 ; 2d ed., with an account of the kidnap- ping of the author, 1827 ; reprinted as " Free- masonry Exposed and Explained," with the verdict of the jury in relation to the abduction and murder of the author). See also " The Broken Seal, or the Morgan Abduction and Murder," by S. D. Greene (New York, 1870) ; " History of the Morgan Affair," by Robert Morris (New York, 1852) ; and " Ameri- can Political Anti-Masonry," by Henry O'Reilly (printed privately. New York, 1879).


MORGAN, William Ferdinand, clergyman, b. in Hartford, Conn., 21 Dec, 1817; d. in New York city, 19 May, 1888. He was graduated at Union college in 1837, and at the General theological semi- nary, New York city, in 1840. He was made deacon in 1841, and was assistant in Trinity church. New Haven, until 1842, when he was ordained priest. In 1844 he became rector of Christ church, Norwich, Conn. In 1857 he was called to St. Thomas's church, New York city, which was removed from Broadway and Houston street to Fifth avenue and Fifty-third street in 1870. In 1864 Dr. Morgan went abroad to preach the sermon at the consecration of the Church of the Holy Trinity in Paris, the first Protestant Episcopal church on the continent. This sermon, describing the historical basis of the American church and the struggles of reformation in France, was published (Paris, 1864). In April, 1888, he resigned the rectorship of St. Thomas, and was made rector emeritus of that church for life. In 1857 Columbia gave him the degree of S. T. D.


MORIARTY, James Joseph, clergyman, b. in Dingle, County Kerry, Ireland, 8 Jan., 1843: d. in Utica, N. Y., 4 Dec, 1887. He came with his parents to the United States in 1846, was graduated at the College of St. Francis Xavier, New York city, in 1861, and finished his literary studies in St. John's college, Fordham, where he took the degree of A. M. in 1862. He prepared for the priesthood in the Sulpitian seminary, Montreal, and in St. Jo- seph's, Troy, N. Y., and was ordained, 11 Nov., 1865. After holding various pastorates and building sev- eral churches, he was transferred on 13 Dec, 1883, to Syracuse, where he raised the debt of his parish, and founded the Holy name society, a branch of the Catholic benevolent legion and the Catholic mutual benefit association. He was known as an eloquent preacher, and also appeai"ed on the lecture platform. In 1886 he was transferred to Utica. Before this event well-known citizens of Syracuse, both Protestants and Roman Catholics, expressed the intention of waiting on the bishop in a body and asking him to allow Father Moriarty to re- main. The latter, however, declined their inter- ference and at once obeyed the order of his supe- rior. Dr. Moriarty was versed in ecclesiastical doctrines, and learned in literature, science, and arts. His works have a large circulation among his co-religionists, and some of them received the special commendation of Pope Leo XIII. The principal ones are " Wayside Peneillings " (Albany, 1875) ; " Stumbling-Blocks made Stepping-Stones " (New York, 1878); "All for Love, or from the

Manger to the Cross" (1881); and "Keys of the Kingdom" (1885).