The most famous John Hunt Morgan was a general for the confederate army during the American Civil War.  He is best known for Morgan's Raid which occurred in 1863, when he and his men rode over 1,000 miles covering a region from Tennessee, up through Kentucky, into Indiana and on to southern Ohio. This would be the farthest north any uniformed Confederate troops penetrated during the war. [1]

A different John Hunt Morgan is the father and common ancestor of the Morgan families contained in this website.  The earliest confirmed information regarding his families is found in U. S. Census records for Marshall County in Northern Indiana beginning in 1870. [2]

1 John Hunt Morgan: 4 Mar 1857 - 5 Mar 1940
  +Ida Viola Keyser: Sep 1864 - Apr 1962
  2 Emory Otis Morgan: 1882 - 1968
  +Sarah Jane Dreibelbis: 20 Feb 1865 - 24 Sep 1945
  2 Oscar Eugene Morgan: 1889 - 1980
  2 Mary Lucille Morgan: 1901 - 1992

John Hunt Morgan was born in 1857 in Ohio and lived most of his life in Marshall County, Indiana.  According to his Indiana death certificate his parents were Levi and Elizabeth (Conard) Morgan of Ohio, however, no U. S. Census records have been located for them as of this time.  The 1870 census shows a John and Susan Morgan, ages 15 and 12 respectively, living in Indiana with Daniel and Sarah Seltonright.  No other records for Daniel and Sarah Seltonright have been located at this time.  In the 1880 census, a 27-year old John Morgan is listed as "Other" in the household of Robert, H. Cox in North township, Marshall County, Indiana.  On August 24, 1880, John married Ida Viola Keyser in Marshall County.  Their son, Emory Otis Morgan, was born in Wyatt, Indiana on August 25, 1882.  Per the Marshall County Divorce index, John and Ida were divorced on October 28, 1886.  Because that wedding date occurred after the data gathering for the 1880 census there are no census entries showing John and Ida Morgan together as a family.

On May 5, 1889 John Hunt Morgan and Sarah Jane Dreibelbis were married in Marshall County. They had a son, Oscar, and a daughter, Mary.  After farming in Marshall County for thirty-three years John Hunt Morgan died at his home near Plymouth on March 5, 1940.  He was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Plymouth. [3]

Ida Viola Keyser was born in September of 1864 in Indiana to Susannah (Way) Keyser.  She never knew her father, Peter Keyser, as he died from wounds received in battle at Nashville, Tennessee during the civil war nearly six months before her birth.  Peter Keyser's family has been traced back to Pennsylvania in 1764.  Ida grew up with her mother, her mother's father, Elijah Way, and his family.  About two weeks after her sixteenth birthday, Ida married John Morgan (patriarch of the Morgan family). In August of 1882 she gave birth to Emory Otis Morgan in Wyatt, Indiana.  After she and John divorced in 1886, Ida married Noah Rudloff in South Bend, Indiana in 1897.  Their marriage lasted until Noah died in 1905.  Ida died in April of 1962 and was buried with her second husband, Noah, in Bowman Cemetery, in South Bend, Indiana. [4]

Sarah Jane Dreibelbis was born on February 20, 1865 in Saint Joseph County, Indiana to Isaac and Mary (Corlis) Dreibelbis.  The Dreibelbis family has ancestry traced back to Pennsylvania in 1776.  On May 5, 1889 she became the wife of John Hunt Morgan in a wedding ceremony performed in Marshall County by the Rev. Daniel Showley of the Riverside United Methodist Church.  She would later be the mother of Oscar Eugene, and Mary Lucille Morgan.  In the 1920 census, Iris Drivibes (Dreibelbis) is listed as an orphan living with the family.  Other records indicate that Iris was the only surviving daughter of Sarah's brother, Lewis.  Iris's mother died in 1907 shortly after childbirth.  Iris lost her baby sister shortly after that, and her older sister a couple of years later.  Iris married in 1922 in Michigan and lived in Indiana until her death in 1978.  Sarah Jane was also noted as being a family historian.

Sarah died in her home near Plymouth at 2:30 p. m. on Monday, September 24, 1945.  Visitation was held at the Danielson and VanGilder funeral home on wednesday.  Funeral services were conducted by Rev. Cecil Sloan at the funeral home on Thursday at 2:00 p. m.  Sarah was buried next to John in Oak Hill Cemetery. [5]