Roscoe veteran follows loan suit with keen interest
Part 1 of 2
He isn't expecting a windfall anytime soon, but James W. “Bill” Morgan Jr. of Roscoe has more than just a passing interest in one of the most controversial legal issues in American history.
It is a court matter involving billions of dollars and traces its genesis to the Revolutionary War.
“The money doesn't really matter as much as the history of a colonial family that evolved around Philadelphia and Valley Forge, the loan in question and the manufacture of muskets and Pennsylvania long rifles and the movement through Virginia to here in the Mon Valley towns of California and Roscoe,” said Morgan, a 1957 graduate of California Community High School.
Morgan, 75, is one of myriad direct descendants of Jacob DeHaven, a wealthy merchant who lent $450,000 to the Continental Congress to help American troops at Valley Forge survive the ravages of a harsh winter in 1777-78. The loan, according to various sources, was never repaid.
“The DeHaven family made many contributions to winning the war in general and the relief of troops at Valley Forge in particular,” said Morgan, a veteran of the U.S. Navy. “The unpaid debt owed to them has reached astronomical proportions.”
This story, Morgan recalled, was reported in The New York Times and many other national publications due to a lawsuit filed in another to a long line of attempts to seek repayment of the original loan by DeHaven.
“Jacob DeHaven died, in testate, without any family of his own, and as was conventional at the time all his assets including reimbursement of the loan acceded to his siblings or their heirs, one of whom was my seventh great-grandfather, Peter DeHaven III,” Morgan said. “At 75, I am one of the older living heirs to the debt, which was determined to be $141.6 billion in 1990 with interest accruing at $190 per second. That was 24 years ago, so imagine what the figures are today.”
At that rate, the debt would be in the neighborhood of $142.5 billion today.
The math notwithstanding, Morgan is realistic enough to know that he will probably never see a penny of a possible settlement.
“The matter has been tied up in the courts for so long, and there's really no end in sight,” he said. “No, I'm not expecting to get rich quick and move to some hideaway island in the Pacific.”
Morgan's father, James William “Bill” Morgan Sr., was born in Belle Vernon, a son of Charles DeHaven Morgan and Agnes McDaniels Morgan.
“Charles was the son of James W. Morgan, my father's namesake and my great-grandfather,” Bill Morgan said. “James' wife was Sarah Catherine DeHaven, and Charles' middle name was from his mother Catherine's maiden name. That's the initial step back in time to the DeHaven legacy. Bloodlines are often confusing to read.”
Bill Morgan Jr.'s father, a veteran of World War II, was 70 when he died Saturday, Sept. 1, 1990. His grandfather Charles was a World War I veteran.
Morgan said that while all members of the large DeHaven family know their side of the loan story, many have found difficulty establishing an authentic lineage to that claim. That is not his case.
“My lineage has been documented through official archives,” he said.
Attesting to that status is a Dec. 15, 2011, notice of Morgan's membership in the Sons of the American Revolution.
“Membership in the SAR can only be accomplished with proper and verified evidence,” Morgan said. “Members of my family have served in the military during every conflict in which our country has been involved including today. Like our forefathers, we all meant it when we pledged our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor to this country, which was the first union formed in the United States. Too many have forgotten or don't recognize that we as a country are a union and that it is not a disparaging organization in which to hold membership.”
Expanding on his links to the DeHaven family, Morgan pointed out that during the 1600s Philadelphia was one of the busiest ports of entry for immigrants to the Americas. It was there and the surrounding area that many who had purchased land grants from William Penn had come to colonize the new land.
“It was here that the German family of DeHavens (French spelling) or DenHovens (German spelling) who were merchants, farmers, craftsmen and businessmen set up shop,” Morgan said. “Also nearby were colonists from Wales, mostly Morgans, who were miners, farmers and adventurers. Other close neighbors were some English named Boone, also farmers and adventurers. Although many other families were represented, I mention only those closest to my own line and historical curiosity.”
The DeHavens became successful in their chosen fields and their land grants were gradually divided and subdivided among sons and grandsons of the original settlers.
“They operated tanneries, farms (including one adjacent to Valley Forge itself, owned by Jacob) as well as gun powder mills and small arms manufacturing by Peter DeHaven, himself an accomplished gunsmith,” Morgan said. “When the Revolution began, all of the DeHaven brothers contributed to the war effort, each in his own way. Some served in the Continental Army — Edward, Samuel, and Peter III — while both Isaac and James served within Valley Forge itself, and others with farm goods, clothing, and money, especially the large loan of $50,000 in gold specie and $400,000 in weapons and supplies by Jacob DeHaven. His younger brother, Peter became the director of the armory and head of the largest gunpowder mill, the Continental Powder Mill at French Creek, which was blown up by the British but moved to another location.”
Ron Paglia is a contributing writer to Trib Total Media.
