New Donations: Cooksville‘s Morgan Family Music & School Books

Joe and Bobbie Bradley of Evansville recently donated a number of music and school books to the Cooksville Archives and Collections. The books date from the 1840s to the 1890s and had been owned and used by Thomas Morgan (1824-1905} and his four children in Cooksville. The Morgan family lived across the street from the Cooksville Schoolhouse.

Morgan House (1848)

 Morgan, a native of Wales, a carpenter, came to Cooksville about 1847, married Mary Jane Hoxie, and then built his home across from the Schoolhouse. His wife’s brothers, Benjamin and Isaac Hoxie, were also both talented carpenters and may have helped Morgan to build the simple Greek Revival style house.

Tom Morgan, true to his Welsh tradition, considered himself quite a musician, performing and directing the Village Choir, according to a local villager at the time. He was well-known for bringing his small foot-pumped melodeon to the Schoolhouse for the musical portion of church services and for other events in the school, which at the time was the only public venue for social events and entertainments for adults and children.  (A little old melodeon, which may have belonged to Morgan, is also a part of the Cooksville collections.)

Thanks to Joe and Bobbie Bradley for their generous donation to the Historic Cooksville Trust and for helping to preserve and conserve Cooksville's history. Here are images of some of the books.

The Fourth Reader - 1883- title page

Prayerful Praises - 1892 - song book cover

The School Bell - 1857- title page

Morgan lived in his house until his death in 1905. Later, in 1932, the house was owned by the Naysmith family. Eventually, Helen Naysmith Toigo (1906-1989) married Frank Bradley (1914-1992). Frank’s son and daughter-in-law, Joe and Bobbie Bradley, had received the music and school books from Joe’s father.

An Elementary Grammar - 1869 - cover

The Song-Book of the School-Room - 1856 - title page

Progressive Exercises in English Composition - 1842 - title page

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