A Cozy Quilt and A Very Vain Uncle
I am incredibly boring, and getting boring-er. Most people get stressed and have fun vices to get them over the hump. Me? I turn off my hearing aids to the outside noise and play with my dead people.
So my grandmother Esther Virginia Morgan’s father was John Wareham Morgan. I believe I have discovered his family before him. Right now I am getting all the documents in order to back it all up.
But here’s the mystery. I believe his parents were John Morgan and Marie Virginia Moore. Papa John sometimes had a middle initial of S. or W. depending on what document. Papa John died in 1881. I found a guardianship case in Harford County where in 1883 Robert Seneca was named guardian over John W. and Esther R. Morgan. By 1900, Marie Virginia was now Mary Simmons, living with John W. Morgan, son, aged 24 and a new daughter, Carrie N. Simmons, aged 13..
These are pretty common names but I found an Esther Morgan, sometimes middle initial R, sometimes M, living in PA with a William Umbenhauer as a servant in 1900, I believe this to be John W.’s sister. By 1910 they were married. In 1915, her brother John Morgan came to visit her in Reading. And I know that my John Wareham Morgan married my great grandmother Marie Augusta Sallmann in Philadelphia, in 1914. So maybe… maybe this is the right track.
In the fall of 2022, my father Larry asked me if I wanted a blanket his Aunt Annie made. My grandmother Esther Virginia kept it all those years and he has done the same. It matches nothing in my house but I said sure… I can mix it up with some fluffy blankets and furry pillows and it can be a winter bed in the guest room. Dry cleaners first…
BUT… the treasure? 
Look at the inscription!!!!!!!! *Presented 1897 by Mother W A Umbenhuer!!!!!!
So I know for sure that I was on the right path with Esther Umbenhauer! Was the mother W A Umbenhuer? Or is that the name of her son? I know Esther married William, maybe middle initial “A” maybe “R” or maybe “W”. But from a momma’s hand- it’s A!
Moral of the story? If it looks old, make sure there is not a clue as to who or when it came from. At least digitize it for future reference.
Uncle William is fascinating to me. This tea set belonged to my Grandmother Esther, which had belonged to her Aunt Esther and her husband William W. Umbenhauer. Get a load of that! Who does that? Uncle William was a man of importance and it showed. I later located a photo of him in a directory under his business listing.
Thanks for all the clues Aunt Esther R. Morgan and Uncle William W. Umbenhauer! I’ll continue unravelling your story.
~ Mary
