52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Worth H. Morgan, Part 2

 

The next question for me became who was Worth's "Indian wife"? The Barr family were clearly not Native American, that much was obvious. Furthermore, the sources that said he was married to a Native woman were his nephews, both of whom had known him and his wife. 

The next clue was the 1930 US Federal Census. Worth, then 30, was renting a farm in Hay Springs, Nebraska, a tiny town close to Chadron and over 275 miles from his family in Plainview. He was married to a woman named Keva Morgan, and there were three sons: Norwood, Duane, and Delmer. Keva and all the children are listed as "Indian," and Keva was listed as being "Sioux-Full" which confirmed that he had indeed married a Native woman. He also listed his first marriage date as 1927, a fact that was clearly not the case; he had married Sadie Barr in 1919. So was this the date of his marriage to Keva? 

Once I had a name, the rest fell into place. The 1934 Tribal Census, listed Keva, Worth, and their family, and, miracle of miracles, gave her maiden name- Merrival. Keva Merrival had married Worth probably sometime around 1926 or 1927, the date fluctuates in the records. In the 1935 South Dakota State Census, the family had moved to the Pine Ridge Reservation in Shannon County, South Dakota, which was where Keva's family lived, but according to 1934 Tribal Census records, Keva and the children were living in Hay Springs, although they were enrolled in the tribe at Pine Ridge; the Hay Springs farm was just a brief interlude of about five years. Keva and Worth would spend the rest of their lives living at Pine Ridge. 

But the 1934 Tribal Census provided something even more interesting: Norwood's last name was Looking Elk, and he had a brother, Lester Looking Elk, and an older sister, Madeline Beuch. Clearly, the 17 year-old Madeline was not Worth's daughter, but what about the other two? 

The 1920 US Federal Census lists a Keva Looking Elk, with her parents, Alex and Susie Merrival, and siblings in Pine Ridge, but no sign of a husband or children, which means very little in the end; census enumerators listed whoever was in the house at the time of visitation, so Keva could have been living with her parents or on a visit to them when the enumerator came around. (Sometimes you will find a person enumerated in more than one place for this very reason.)

So, Keva had probably been married at least once before Worth, to a man named Looking Elk, but what of Madeline? Bad typing gave us the name Beuch, but a quick perusal of the South Dakota birth records shows the 1917 birth of a Madeline Buck, to parents Victor Buck and a Merrival, first name not listed. Madeline's 1995 obituary lists Kenny Morgan, Everett Morgan, and Cleo (Morgan) Porier as siblings, so this is clearly Keva's daughter. Going back to the 1924 Tribal Census, Keva is listed as the wife of Talbert Looking Elk, with son Lester, and daughter Madeline listed as Talbert's ward, confirming she was not the daughter of Talbert. 

 

Keva had three children before she married Worth, who seems to have accepted the children as his, and the children accepted each other as brothers and sisters, with no "step" qualification added. 

After the family moved to Pine Ridge, family relations between Worth's family and his parents seem to have been different. A note in the Gordon (NE) Journal dated 11 Apr 1946 lists the guests at a dinner party as being Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Morgan and family (Worth's younger brother and sister-in-law), and "the children of Worth Morgan, all of Pine Ridge, South Dakota," and Mrs. W.H. Morgan. The connection between Vernon and Worth was always close; when Vernon was widowed in the mid 1930's, he left his son in the care of Worth and Keva for many years. Another notice in the Gordon (NE) Journal, dated 25 Dec 1947 lists the Worth Morgan family as being guests of Leon Morgan's family for Christmas, along with Mrs.

W. H. Morgan. Henry had died in 1939. It begs the question: Was Worth's estrangement from the family really an estrangement from his "difficult" father? Certainly he was in contact with several of his siblings and his mother, and his brother trusted Worth and Keva with the care of his son for several years. 

Keva Merrival Looking Elk Morgan died in 1961 and was buried at Pine Ridge, probably in the Morgan Family Cemetery there. Unfortunately, Worth seems to have developed a problem with alcohol in his later years, as the newspapers report him being fined for public intoxication and drunk driving in the years leading up to his death. He died about two years later, in 1963, also in Pine Ridge:

One thing gives me hope that Worth and his family were not the ghosts they appeared to be on the surface of things: Cleo Ruth, the daughter of Worth and Keva, named her daughter Fawney, after her father's mother.