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AMBERT D. MORGAN. Among the newer residents in Herrin is one who has made for himself a warm place in the hearts of the citizens of this town. This is the young lawyer, Ambert D. Morgan. Having equipped himself with the best preparation possible, he has put this training to such good use that he is fast becoming known as one of the most dependable men in the legal profession in his county. A convincing tongue and a clear brain ready to grasp the salient points of an argument, together with a large fund of legal knowledge stored away in his brain, make him a formidable opponent for even the best of his fraternity.
Ambert D. Morgan is a native of the state to whose service he has chosen to give his young manhood, being born in Kane county, Illinois, on the 29th of October, 1886. His father, Lyman D. Morgan, owns a beautiful country home near Hampshire, and here it was that the lad grew up. Small wonder that men find the young lawyer a master of persuasive diction. Eloquence is born and bred in open fields and under fresh skies, not in smoky cities with all their glowing picture galleries and theatres.
Lyman D. Morgan was born in McHenry county, Illinois, in 1844, and spent his boyhood near Marengo, acquiring as much of an education as could be obtained from the primitive district schools of his day. When his country called for men he gave an eager service, enlisting in Company G, of the Seventeenth Illinois Cavalry, to fight the misguided "Johnny Rebs." His service was such that the opinions with which he began his term of enlistment, anent the general depravity of the enemy, were not likely to be changed as were those of his brethren in the Army of the Potomac, for his work was chasing marauding Indians and fighting bushwhackers, who were disturbing the peace out on the borders of Kansas and the Indian Territory. He was a corporal in his company, while the regiment was commanded by Colonel Breckinridge. During the latter part of the war his command was ordered to southern Missouri, where a sort of intermittent warfare was going on, momentarily exciting and a necessary duty, but how often must the heart of the boy corporal have longed to be over in the blood-stained Virginian valleys where the destinies of a people were being hewn out with fire and sword. With the restoration of peace Mr. Morgan returned to his deserted farm, from whence he eventually moved to Kane county, Illinois. After the stirring scenes of his youth he has been content to devote himself to quiet agricultural pursuits during the rest of his life, but when the annual encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic rolls around he is usually present to exchange reminiscences with his old comrades in arms. He has been in command of the local post of the above organization, and takes considerable interest in local political affairs, his sympathies and support being with the Republican party.
Lyman D. Morgan married Miss Elizabeth A. Helmer, at Platte, Michigan, on the 9th day of May, 1870. She was of Scotch parentage,
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born at Overton, Ohio. Her father, Erastus Helmer, was also a native of Ohio. Ambert D. is the fourth of several children, including Professor Ora S., principal of the college of agriculture of Columbia University, in New York city; Mabel L., of Lansing, Michigan; Izo, wife of Earl Crandall, of Kane county; Eugenia, now teaching in the public schools of Hampshire; and Judd, a student at the University of Illinois.
This branch of the Morgan family was founded in Illinois by Lyman Morgan, father of Lyman D. When a young man he came into this part of the country from New York state, the year being 1835. In McHenry county he met and married Polly Thomas, and four children were born to them, Leroy R., who served in the Eighth Illinois Infantry during the Civil war and now resides in Platte, Michigan; Lyman D.; Calvin, who died unmarried; and Lucretia, who became the wife of D. Bowen and died in Denver, Colorado.
Ambert D. Morgan prepared himself for college in the high schools of Hampshire and Elgin. He was graduated from the former, but spent two years in Elgin before entering the State University at Champaign. It had always been his purpose to fit himself for the profession of medicine, and he entered on his collegiate work with that intent, but after two years in the University he was forced to leave his books and go to work. The position which he took was under the civil service, as postal clerk, running on the Illinois Central Railroad between Chicago and Carbondale. In addition to his duties in this capacity he had the ambition, at the beginning of his four years as postal clerk, to take up the study of law in the Illinois College of Law, having abandoned the idea of becoming a physician, and he had the grit to stick to it until he received his degree in 1909. Being now ready for active work in his chosen profession, he resigned from the government service and located in Herrin, as an attorney at law. During the same year he passed his examinations for the bar before the supreme court of the state at Springfield, and was admitted to the right to practice in all the state and federal courts of Illinois.
On the 25th of December, 1910, Ambert D. Morgan was married to Alberta Eubank, the ceremony taking place in Centralia, Illinois. His wife is the daughter of James S. Eubank, a representative of one of the oldest families of the county. He is a well known blacksmith, and his wife is Olive Whitehead. Mrs. Morgan was born in Williamson county, in 1890. A daughter was born of this marriage on December 16, 1911, Lillian Eugenia.
Mr. Morgan is a faithful member of the Republican party and is interested in the fraternal orders to the extent of belonging to the Modern Woodmen. He is also an enthusiastic member of Alpha Kappa Phi, one of the legal group of college fraternities.
Mr. Morgan is a man of much promise, one whom his town will be proud to own. He now possesses that trait in which the members of his profession are supposed to be notoriously lacking, that is, honesty. The record of his past life tells of too true and fine a nature for one not to believe that he will keep his honesty and uprightness of purpose in the face of the temptations that will come to him. At present his cleverness has won him much admiration and his personal charm has brought to him many friends, so that his fellow citizens of the older generation look upon him as one of those who will be ready to lift the burden from their shoulders when they are ready to lay it down.