Morgan-Knighton Kith 'n Kin

Feriba, Febby, Fereba, Phebby, Febeba... ? ? ?

James W. Morgan married Pheiba Crow 25 February, 1821, according to the marriage records of Jasper County, GA. Note the spelling.

I have been looking at numerous documents lately - census records, family group sheets, pension records, etc. - trying to track down every available piece of information on this couple. Everything I've looked at in the original documentation has the name of James' spouse spelled differently. In fact hardly any two documents spell it alike! And to add to the difficulties early 19th century script isn't always easy to decipher. It's no wonder there is so much confusion in online family trees about her actual name.

Notes on Feriba Crow Morgan

Only four records have been located, so far, that document the wife of James W. Morgan: Feriba Crow. The first is a marriage abstract found on Ancestry.com, under the heading of Georgia Marriages to 1850. It is a bare-bones stat chart, stating only that James and “Pheiba” Crow married on February 25, 1821 in Jasper County, Georgia.

The document trail for Feriba thereafter suffers a 29-year gap. The next record on which she appears is the 1850 Census (the year in which the federal government first attempted to list all members of the household, in addition to...

While documents have not yet been found (and may never be found) that pinpoint the year the family group of James W. Morgan moved to Jasper County, Georgia, it is a safe bet that it didn’t happen before 1805.

The Creek Nation waged war against the state of Georgia on an intermittent basis, it seems, from 1784 through 1811. During that time settlements in Georgia were confined mostly to the coastal region and the Savannah River. The state did not assume its present-day dimensions until Andrew Jackson’s decisive 1814 campaign against Creeks in Alabama.

Knowing that some of our Morgans were affiliated with the Fish Pond Primitive Baptist Church in Coosa Co., AL, led to a search of records for the Concord Primitive Baptist Church of Jasper Co., GA. The church was established in 1809; and it was hoped to find that John Morgan Sr. (of the 1811 will) and wife Betsy were interred there. Their names did not turn up on any of the records offered, but two of their children did: William and Sarah.

Source: "Concord Primitive Baptist Church, Jasper Co, GA, 1812-1829 Minutes and Membership Roll" Microfilm # 687 available through interlibrary loan; Mercer University.

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Bonnie Thurston bon195487@excite.com April 25, 2003, 2:57 pm

Written: November 10 1811
Recorded: 1815

Will of John Morgan
Jasper county Ga
Written November 10th 1811
Proven 1815

Morgan Census Records: Jasper Co., GA., 1820-1840.

According to information taken from later census records, James W. Morgan was born about 1783-84 in North Carolina. The earliest document found thus far for James is a marriage record from Jasper County, Georgia. On February 25, 1821 he married Pheiba (Pheriba/Feriba) Crow. Although it is not stated in the extract, their marriage likely took place in Monticello Township. Because of this record it seems reasonable to assume James was residing in Jasper County when the 1820 census was taken – approximately seven months earlier – even though he is not accounted for on it. However, rules of courtship, as they pertained to the rapidly expanding Southern frontier during the early nineteenth century, allow for the possibility that James moved to Jasper County after the census; courted and married Pheriba Crow all within the span of a few months. Thus, it is not possible at the moment to say precisely when James arrived in Jasper County, Georgia.

In 1820 James W. would have been about 36-37 years of age. Four listings were found for heads-of-household named Morgan in Jasper County, all within Monticello Township. If the information on