We believe her name was either Susan Emily, or Emily Susan, as she was listed by the name of "Susan" on the 1860 Christian Co., MO federal census.

Emily may have been born in the Wood/Hancock Cos., Ohio area. She was born about 1824/25, at which time her parents resided in that part of the state. Her father was William MORLAN, Jr., born September 15, 1805, in Kentucky. He died May 19, 1882, in Barry County, Missouri, and is buried in the Arnhart Cemetery at Purdy, MO. The name of Emily's mother is unknown.

Emily had one full sibling, a brother, Jobe William Morlan. Jobe was born circa 1826 in Hancock Co., OH. In 1850, at Ozark, Christian Co., MO, Jobe married Jane Anne GARDNER, believed to be the daughter of Joseph Gardner. Jobe and Jane had at least seven children: Charlie, Arch, William, Martha Susan, Jobe Calvin, another daughter (name unknown), and Emma. The Jobe Morlan household resided in Christian County for 20+ years. Then sometime after 1870 -- about the time his father moved to Barry Co., MO -- Jobe & Jane moved their family to Galena, Cherokee Co., Kansas. It was there at Galena, on June 15, 1880, that Jobe died. Jane lived several years longer, eventually dying on February 10, 1908. She is buried in Fairland, Oklahoma.

As for William Morlan, Jr.'s father, his name was William Moreland, Sr. (a/k/a Morlan), who was born about 1775, probably in Virginia. The name of William Jr.'s mother is yet unknown.

William Morlan, Sr., also resided in the Wood/Hancock Cos., OH area during the 1820s, as did another son, Jacob J. Morlan, b. 9-11-1797 VA. On May 4, 1826, in Wood Co., OH, Jacob married Sarah POE. Jacob & Sarah's tombstone states "came to Volinia 25 May 1828." Volinia was in Cass Co., MI, and that is where William Morlan, Sr., and Jacob & Sarah moved to from Ohio.

Jacob's mini-bio in the Cass County, MI history book, page 260, states: "Jacob Morelan was born in Virginia September 11th, 1797, his wife, Sarah Poe, was born in Greene County, Ohio, August 15th, 1805; they were married May 4th, 1826; came to Michigan in the fall of 1829, staying the first winter on the farm of Joseph Gardner, in Pokagon; removing to Volinia in the spring of 1830, settling on the south side of Little Prairie Ronde, where he lived until the time of his death, which occurred February 16th, 1854, at the age of fifty-seven. His vocation through life was that of a farmer . . .."

(With regard to the identity of Joseph Gardner, there is apparently a November 1, 1827, Wood Co., OH marriage record showing two sisters, Elizabeth and Susan Morelan, marrying two brothers, John and Joseph Gardner, respectively. (Source: Ed Urban.) If this was the same Joseph Gardner who later resided at Pokagon in Cass Co., MI, and if his wife was a daughter of William Morlan, Sr., it would explain why William Morlan, Sr. & son Jacob moved in with the Gardner family during that first cold Michigan winter.)

Both William Morlan, Sr. -- who married 2nd to Julia Chamberlain -- and Jacob J. Morlan are buried in the Charleston Cemetery in Cass Co., MI.

As for our William Morlan, Jr., his whereabouts are unknown between 1830 and 1851, but it is apparent that his daughter, Emily, was in Cass Co., MI, on September 3, 1845 -- the day she married Benjamin B. Butler. Whether William Morlan, Jr. moved to Cass County, it is currently unknown.

Nonetheless, a theory is that he eventually moved into Tennessee and took a wagon train into Missouri. Some family members have inferred a connection to Jackson Co., TN. Additionally, part of this migration theory has been confirmed by a family relative who remembered that "Grandpap" (William Morlan, Jr.) had taken a wagon train "from back East," and that when the group arrived at Lamar, MO, the travelers parted company. William Morlan, Jr., as well as the Butler and Gardner families, eventually settled in the community known as Linden in Christian Co., MO.

By 1851/52, William Morlan, Jr., was married to Sarah Ann STONE. (The Stone family is another group who left TN by wagon train and ended up at Linden, MO.) Their known children were: Ellen, Mary "Molly," Seigle Marion, Louisa, Laura Alice "Laurie" and Thomas.

PREPARED BY MARGARET BUTLER