123:, and overseer of highways. He was also appointed to sit in the balcony of the church during services and maintain order among the young men in the congregation. ("...up in ye gallery, to give a check to disorders in youth and young men in tyme of God's worship"). Given the piety of the early settlers this was a position of some honor and also attests to his force of personality. Not all their time was spent in church, however. According to the records, in 1673 Hannah Merrick, unmarried daughter of Thomas Merrick, accused Miles's son Jonathan with the paternity of her child. Miles provided his son's bail and Jonathan fought the charge. The court found him guilty, however, and ordered him to pay two shillings, six pence towards the child's support for four years. Jonathan's second wife eventually got a full confession from Hannah (the records do not indicate how) and Hannah was condemned to pay a fine of seven Pounds or receive twenty lashes as punishment for her perjury. Jonathan, not letting matters lie, then filed a suit charging slander against Hannah's father, but lost. Eight years later Miles was again in trouble over a child. His daughter Lydia worked in the household of the family of Samuel Gaines, who became the father of her child. Miles filed charges and won his suit and Mr. Gaines was ordered to pay child support.
85:. Legend has it that he arrived with his older brothers, James and John, sailing from Bristol on the ship "Mary" and arriving at Boston in April, 1636. They lived in Roxbury, MA for a time. James subsequently moved to Plymouth Colony and later settled in New Haven, CT, where he became a member of the Colonial Assembly of Connecticut and fought in the Pequot War. John grew disgusted with the bigotry, superstition, and the persecutions (including the witch trials) then taking place in New England and moved to Virginia. Miles joined the company of Sir William Pynchon in the colonization of western Massachusetts and was one of the founders of the city of Springfield, originally named Agawam after the Indian tribes that lived in the area.
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from Boston. in addition to establishing the farms that meant survival to the colonists he was also the butcher in the community and, in later years, operated a boat on the
Connecticut River, trading with other colonists and with the Indians. He was subsequently known as "Captain Morgan." Unable to read or write, his mark on the town records was the sign of an anchor.
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One of the company of colonists, Miles, though he was only 21 years of age, quickly became the second-in-command. He was one of the leading citizens of the new town and was regarded as an intrepid Indian fighter, farmer, and town leader. He had been given the title of "Sergeant Morgan" on the journey
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On the voyage from
Bristol he had made the acquaintance of Miss Prudence Gilbert, who was emigrating to the New World with her family. Once settled in Agawam he had a letter written to Prudence, who had settled in Beverly, north of Boston, and proposed marriage. She accepted and in 1642, accompanied
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by an Indian guide, a pack horse, and two companions, Miles set out for
Beverly, where the couple were married. Prudence, her possessions piled on the horse, walked the 120 miles back to Springfield with her new husband.
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A bronze statue of
Captain Miles Morgan in Court Square in Springfield shows him in huntsman's dress and cocked hat, with a rifle over his shoulder. This statue, completed in 1882, was the first important work of
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Morgan's sons were also famous Indian fighters in the territory and one of them, Peletiah, was killed by the
Indians in battle in 1675. Miles appears in the records as a
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in 1675 for providing shelter and successfully contacting troops in Hadley. Today, a statue of Miles Morgan stands in the city's
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33:(1616 – 28 May 1699) was a Welsh colonist of America, a pioneer settler of what was to become
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Miles Morgan died on 28 May 1699 in
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in the local militia. On 5 October 1675, Springfield was attacked by the
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Morgan built one of the few fortified houses in town, (on a bank of the
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Captain Morgan was a seventh generation ancestor of financier
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
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Additional information: By 1658, Morgan is listed as a
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142:), marched to Springfield and raised the siege.
53:. He is the great ancestor of well known banker
337:English emigrants to Massachusetts Bay Colony
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255:(11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
299:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography
232:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography
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327:History of Springfield, Massachusetts
302:. Vol. 4. New York: D. Appleton.
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332:People from colonial Massachusetts
73:Of Welsh ancestry, he was born in
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41:, Morgan was lauded as a hero of
260:Starr, Frank Farnsworth (1904).
246:"Hartley, Jonathan Scott"
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69:Coat of Arms of Miles Morgan
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102:Connecticut River Railroad
35:Springfield, Massachusetts
23:Statue of Miles Morgan by
83:William Morgan (of Dderw)
16:Welsh colonist of America
235:. New York: D. Appleton.
140:Massachusetts Bay Colony
252:Encyclopædia Britannica
156:Jonathan Scott Hartley
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25:Jonathan Scott Hartley
293:"Morgan, Miles"
226:"Morgan, Miles"
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39:Attack on Springfield
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163:John Pierpont Morgan
132:native inhabitants
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175:King Philip's War
98:Connecticut River
43:King Philip's War
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51:Metro Center
47:Court Square
31:Miles Morgan
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322:1699 deaths
317:1616 births
272:Attribution
81:, Wales to
55:J.P. Morgan
311:Categories
210:References
288:Fiske, J.
221:Fiske, J.
113:Constable
109:Selectman
61:Biography
169:See also
149:Memorial
128:sergeant
117:Surveyor
75:Llandaff
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136:Hadley
181:Notes
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