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Ella Mary (Barkmeier) Morgan
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The Morgan Family
William and Rose (Smith) Morgan were both born in Ireland. They immigrated to the United States and settled in Bloomington, Illinois. William served in the Civil War from the state of Illinois. They came to York County in Nebraska in 1873. They couple homesteaded on a farm three miles north and two miles east of Exeter, Nebraska in 1876. The farm was located in the west Blue Township. The farm was purchased from the United States government on April 10, 1882. The purchase agreement was signed by President Chester Arthur. William and Rose had 11 children. One of their children passed sway in infancy and another at age five. The other children were John, Bridget, Rose, Ann, Elizabeth, William Nell, Marie and Kate. Rose died in August of 1886. William died on the farm in 1894.
William “Colonel” Morgan, the son of William and Rose (Smith) Morgan, was united in marriage to Eva Tous on January 17, 1900. They lived on the same farm north of Exeter on the York/Fillmore County line that William’s parents homesteaded in 1876. William and Eva were the parents of eight children: John (married Ella Barkmeier), Frank, William “Bill”, Rose, James “Pat” (married Elizabeth Classen), Mary, Ann and Kathryn (Michl). Colonel was on the Board of Director when the co-op elevator in Cordova, Nebraska was organized. He also was on the Exeter Co-op Elevator Board. Eva’s father, John Tous, was the first blacksmith in Cordova in 1888. He was one of the petitioners who incorporated Cordova. William and Eva are buried in the Exeter Cemetery.
John Joseph Morgan, the son of William and Eva (Tous) Morgan, was born on September 2, 1901. He married Ella Mary Barkmeier on June 9, 1926. To this union were born four children, John Raymond, born May 26, 1928; Anna Leah "Lea Ann", born January 18, 1930; William "Bill" Eugene, born July 3, 1932; and Mary Catharine, born May 6, 1934. John Raymond and Mary Catharine died in infancy. Lea Ann married Thomas Dean Votipka on November 10, 1947. Bill did not marry. John and Ella lived on the same farm that John’s grandfather and grandmother homesteaded in 1976. John died on July 17, 1970 and Ella died on August 30, 1980. Interment was in the Exeter Cemetery in Exeter, Nebraska.
William “Bill” Morgan, the son of John and Ella (Barkmeier) Morgan was born on July 3, 1932. Bill lived on the farm his entire life. He died on February 3, 2011. The Morgan family received the Nebraska Pioneer Farm Award from the Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben Foundation for having the farm in the family for 100 years in 1986. Since the farm was homesteaded in 1876, there was always a “William Morgan” living on the farm, until Bill's death in 2011. Bill
was a
veteran of the Koran War and active in the American Legion Post
No. 218 in Exeter, Nebraska for many years.
John Morgan and son Bill Morgan in front of combine
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