AHGP Transcription Project
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John Sanderson Morgan
Col. John Sanderson Morgan was born in Nicholas County, Kentucky, January 6, 1799, and died of cholera, after 12½ hours illness, in Covington, Kentucky, June 17, 1852, aged 53 years. His father, Garrard (or Jared) Morgan was a native of Goochland County, Virginia, and his mother, Sarah Sanderson, of South Carolina; they emigrated to Kentucky in 1798, or earlier, and settled in Nicholas County. Left at 15, with a widowed mother and a large family, upon a small and poor farm, he struggled so nobly and faithfully that in 1824, as soon as he was eligible, his neighbors manifested a generous confidence by electing him their representative in the general assembly of the state, in the stormy times of the "old court" and "new court." He sided boldly with the former. He was again elected in 1833; was elected to the senate, 1838-42, and re-elected 1842-46, but resigned in 1844, and in 1845 removed to the city of Covington. Several years after, he took a deep interest in securing the charter of the Covington and Lexington (now Ky. Central) railroad, and was chosen its first president, and held the office when he died. He was also the Whig presidential elector for the 9th district, and if he had lived, was sure of success. He was anxious to live to complete the great public work of which he was one of the founders—the railroad; but it was otherwise ordered. He had been an extensive and usually successful operator in Western produce. Col. Morgan was a man of mark—seldom equaled for native sagacity, sound judgment, energy and decision, and purity of purpose. He was the architect of his own fortunes; was brave, generous, and manly, thoroughly honest and thoroughly in earnest, and seldom failed to impress others with his own convictions, that he was right, and ought to and would succeed. In 1829, he married Eleanor, daughter of Henry Bruce, Sen., of Fleming County, who, with a large family, still (1873) survives.
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