Colonel James Morgan (1787-1866) was an early Texas settler, merchant, and land speculator. Having started out in Texas with a mercantile business, in 1835 Morgan became a real estate agent for the New Washington Association and began to purchase large tracts of land for development.
His name is pretty popular in Texas, mostly within the Houston area for his role during both the revolution for independence from Mexico as well as the eventual creation on the Houston Ship Channel, one of the largest commercial ports in the U.S.
During the Texas Revolution, Morgan was the commander at Galveston Island, where he was in charge of the 1836 fortification of the island. President Sam Houston later charged him with mismanaging this project.
After the revolution, Morgan was involved in the sale of the Texas Navy. He then eventually turned his interests to improving what would eventually become the Houston Ship Channel, and experimenting with cattle breeds and crop cultivation.
Colonel James Morgan is buried in Morgan's Point Cemetery, a small plot of land very near the Houston Ship Channel and in the middle of a nearby large shipyard. A Texas Historical marker at the cemetery reads:
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One of the oldest cemeteries in continuous use in Harris County, this cemetery was founded by Colonel James Morgan, Texas revolutionary soldier. Located on land bought by Morgan in 1834, it was part of a family estate called "The Orange Grove."
The earliest marked grave here is that of James Morgan's niece, Sarah P. Morgan Patrick, who died of smallpox on July 13, 1838. Morgan's wife, Celia Gordon Morgan, was buried in October 1840, a victim of tuberculosis. Colonel Morgan was buried here in March 1866. The Morgan family plot was at one time lined with handmade bricks and marked by a large tombstone bearing the names of family members. The stone disappeared and was found by fishermen years later submerged in the bay. Stolen again after its replacement, it was never recovered.
The cemetery, which had originally encompassed a much larger area, is surrounded by an industrial complex. The Morgan's Point Cemetery Association, formed in 1922, cared for the cemetery until the city of Morgan's Point assumed responsibility for maintenance in 1965. A fence was built in 1968, and ordinances regarding care of the cemetery were passed in recent years.
Texas Sesquicentennial 1836 - 1986"
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As for the person in question, here's a good excerpt from the
Texas State Historical Association:
"James Morgan, pioneer Texas settler, merchant, land speculator, and commander at Galveston during the Texas Revolution, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 13, 1787, the son of James and Martha (Prudun) Morgan. As a child he was taken to North Carolina, where he grew to manhood and married Celia Harrell. In 1830 he visited Brazoria and decided to open a mercantile business in Texas. After returning to the United States, he bound his sixteen slaves as indentured servants for ninety-nine years in order to get around the Mexican prohibition on slavery, and set out for Texas with his wife, two daughters, and a son. In New Orleans Morgan formed a partnership with John Reed, and the two of them purchased a schooner, Exert. Morgan went by land to Anahuac, where he opened a store. Reed soon arrived with a cargo of merchandise, upon which George Fisher, collector of customs, levied a tariff. Morgan's defiance of Fisher's evaluation established him as a leader and was possibly the reason for his being chosen to represent the Liberty Municipality in the Convention of 1832. In 1835 Morgan was appointed agent for a company called the New Washington Association, organized in 1834 by Lorenzo de Zavala and a number of New York financiers to develop Texas real estate. He immediately purchased for the company an enormous quantity of real estate in Harrisburg and Liberty municipalities, including the point at the mouth of the San Jacinto River variously called Rightor's, Hunter's, Clopper's, and later Morgan's Point. Here he laid out the town of New Washington. The company brought to Texas a number of Scottish highlanders and free blacks from New York, including Emily D. West, the so-called Yellow Rose of Texas, and planned a colony of free blacks from Bermuda. As agent, Morgan also operated one of two ships belonging to the company.
During the Texas Revolution these ships were often used by the Texas government. Morgan also supplied the civil and military branches with merchandise from his store. From March 20, 1836, to April 1, 1837, with the rank of colonel, he was commandant of Galveston Island and, as such, planned and effected the fortification of the island during the spring campaign of 1836. President Sam Houston later charged him with mismanagement in this work. After the revolution Morgan returned to the site of New Washington, which had been destroyed by the Mexicans, and erected for himself a dwelling named Orange Grove. For some time he continued to act as agent for the New York company and as such projected the town of Swartwout (named for Samuel Swartwout, one of the prime movers of the company) on the Trinity River. Morgan sought election to one of the congresses of the republic, but he lost because his neighbors were suspicious of his wealth. In 1843 he and William Bryan were the commissioners charged with the secret sale of the Texas Navy. During the 1850s Morgan was active in promoting the improvement of what later became the Houston Ship Channel. He owned extensive herds of cattle and reputedly imported the first Durham shorthorns into Texas. He also experimented with the cultivation of oranges, cotton, and sugarcane. At his home he entertained such notable guests as John James Audubon and Ferdinand von Roemer. Though he was completely blind during his last years, he twice saved himself from drowning when squalls overturned the boats in which he was crossing Trinity Bay. He died at his home on March 1, 1866, and was buried on his plantation. The family cemetery is now a public one, and the stones marking the graves of the Morgans have disappeared.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Eugene C. Barker, ed., The Austin Papers (3 vols., Washington: GPO, 1924–28). Feris A. Bass, Jr., and B. R. Brunson, eds., Fragile Empires: The Texas Correspondence of Samuel Swartwout and James Morgan, 1836–1856 (Austin: Shoal Creek, 1978). Charles Adams Gulick, Jr., Harriet Smither, et al., eds., The Papers of Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar (6 vols., Austin: Texas State Library, 1920–27; rpt., Austin: Pemberton Press, 1968). James Morgan Papers, Rosenberg Library, Galveston. Amelia W. Williams and Eugene C. Barker, eds., The Writings of Sam Houston, 1813–1863 (8 vols., Austin: University of Texas Press, 1938–43; rpt., Austin and New York: Pemberton Press, 1970)."