Morgans in Louisiana

Here is the story of the Morgan family, told by Mema's first cousin Mattie or "Patty" McCluer, in a memoir kept by the Rogers, Arkansas, Museum. I've corrected a few errors:

...Not long after Papa took over this project, he met and married Elizabeth Morgan, a native of Louisiana. Her father was Dr. Haynes Morgan, and her great grandfather was Col. Haynes Morgan, who was at the Battle of Guilford Court House in North Carolina. He was a Virginia landholder. Mama's father, Haynes III, later moved to Alabama, where Mama was born, at Talladega.

The Texas fever was spreading over the Southeastern states about this time. Our grandfather, Haynes III, decided to go West. He and a large party of immigrants started to Texas. They were delayed at Jackson, Mississippi, where Aunt Ione was born.

By the time they reached Monroe, Louisiana, all their money was gone, so they rented a place near Monroe and put in a cotton crop. They were getting along fine, and had every prospect of moving on to Texas as soon as the cotton was picked, but the Civil War broke out and the Yankee soldiers drove off all the stock; the slaves were scattered; and the big general store grandpa owned was burned. His wife died in childbirth for want of a doctor. Everything except the house they lived in and one old mule (too old for the Yankees to use) was carried off or destroyed.

Grandmother Morgan was Lucinda Johnson before her marriage. She had two brothers, one named Patrick. Her family were directly from Ireland, settling in Virginia not far from the Morgan estate. There is nothing told of why Haynes went to Alabama to live.

After Lucinda's death, grandpa was indeed in a sad state. He was well past middle age, being much older than his wife, and left with four young daughters and an infant son, with no one to care for them. Mama, the eldest, was ten. A negro ex-slave, called Aunt Julie, came to him and said, "Dr. Morgan, (he was a dentist), I'se gwin stay with these chillun." So, from that day, Aunt Julie was the only Mother they ever knew...