Vernon Dwight Morgan --Yarmouth Postmaster 1946-1967 -- A True Son of Yarmouth

          

Vernon Dwight Morgan was born 22 April 1906, delivered by Dr. Parker, at Yarmouth Farms -- by the railroad bridge across from Bass River. He was the only child of William and Violet Estelle Vernon (Chase) Morgan.  A sister, Pearl Vernon, had been born on 7 November 1904 but died the same day. By his own words, Vernon acknowledged an indigenous ancestry, an ancestry which has indeed been confirmed by vital and public records. Vern Morgan was also a Mayflower descendant many times over, as well as a descendant of Yarmouth's first settlers including Chase, Howes, Hawes, Nickerson, Hopkins, Crowell, Ryder, Gorham, and Baker.  He died in 1991 at the age of 85 and is buried at the Pine Grove Cemetery in South Yarmouth with his wife and parents.

Vernon Morgan gave much of himself to his town, wearing many hats over the years.  He was involved in multiple civic and social organizations and served as Yarmouth Postmaster from 1946 to 1967; he was elected and served as president of the Cape Cod Postmasters Association.  Vern was a fireman, policeman, public officer, cranberry farmer, mason, lineman, builder, sailor, husband, father, grandfather, and neighbor.  He moved through Yarmouth and its villages in steady transactions, crossing through social circles with ease, confidence and respect.  Both he and his wife Harriet had many friends and everyone was welcome in their home in Yarmouth, as well as in Maine, where in retirement, Vern and Harriet spent summers farming at their 90 acre antique farmhouse. “Harvern Hill,” as it was called, was Vern and Harriet’s escape from the hectic place that summer had become on the Cape in the late 1950’s and 1960’s.  A guest book in my possession contains the notes of many visitors from Yarmouth.

                                     

Vern's parents, William Franklin, trainman, and Violet Estelle Vernon (Chase) Morgan were married in Hyannis on 28 April1904.  Their daughter Pearl was born and died on 7 November 1904.  Vernon was born two years later.

In 1910 the Morgan family is enumerated on Summer Street at Yarmouth Port. Grandparents Patrick and Mary Morgan, and great grandparents Anthony and Ann Howard, all immigrants from Ireland, had lived on Summer Street for many years.  1920 finds the Morgans off Summer on "Garage Lane."  In school, Vern was athletic, playing basketball and serving as captain of the baseball team. He was active in the Yarmouth Grange (as was his father) and in 1922 at age 16, Vern was elected “gatekeeper.”  He graduated from the Yarmouth High School on 27 June 1924, one of 14 students, and was a reader of the class “will” in a ceremony held at Lyceum Hall. 

          

Two years later on 17 August 1926 Vern Morgan married Harriett Leah Nelson of Cummaquid. Harriet was the 18 year old daughter of William J. Nelson and Mary T. (Doyle) Nelson.  Harriet was a nursing student at the time, and it appears Vern was attending or may have attended shortly thereafter the Agricultural College at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. 

 

Vern and Harriet's first child, Verna Marie, was born in March of 1928.  At this time Vern began working for the Cape and Vineyard Electric Company as a lineman in the transformer department. Records show he was working and staying at locations such as Falmouth and Oak Bluffs, away from family during the week which perhaps proved too difficult for the young family.  Two years later in 1930, Vern left the electric company and turned to building and masonry work in Yarmouth.  The 1930 Federal Census shows the Morgans renting their home on Station Avenue; his parents owned a home on Hallet Street in Yarmouth Port.  At this time in 1930, Vern Morgan was building his own new home in the Pawkannawkut Village development near Long Pond (part of the former "reservation land"). By 1931 Vern and his family were moving into this home on Pond Street. Son Richard was welcomed in February of that same year.  

                                          

Vern's civic involvement at this time took off, mirroring that of his busy parents who were also very involved in local organizations and church (his father even serving as president of the Owl Club in Yarmouth). He was part of a new fire crew and the police association entrusted with authority for arrest, etc.  Vern worked as a mason on many buildings across the villages of Yarmouth including homes on Thacher Shore Road and a new fire station.  

                        

                        

Vern's mother Violet died in April 1939 at 56 years of age; his father died in December 1941. 

Left -Vern Morgan's mother Violet and daughter Verna
off North Main near the Quaker Meeting House (1931) and Right - Vern's father William Morgan (probable)
 and his wife Violet, along with Violet's sisters Lilla Holway and Addie Taylor.

                                            

     

           

In 1940 Vern, Harriet and their two children were living on North Main Street renting close to his father and several relatives in Yarmouth (possibly in an apartment owned by family). Vern was working for the Walsh Construction Company at Camp Edwards as a mason at the time.  According to newspaper accounts, 10,000 men were employed in constructing the facility with an ultimate goal of holding 30,000-50,000 men.  Interestingly, within a few years both he and his daughter's future husband would be stationed there.  The next few years were busy for Vernon Morgan, in 1941 he was part of the Yarmouth Fire Company 1, and an area Air Raid Officer.  He served as a volunteer policeman.  In 1944, Vern was among 80 Yarmouth men, many of them fathers, who entered the service.  Vern enlisted in the Navy and went through training at Sampson, New York and then was transferred to Newport, Rhode Island attending fireman training school.  

Vern Morgan and (probably) Aunt Lilla Holway

   

In January of 1946 Vern Morgan entered the race for Yarmouth Selectman against Philip Curtin and Charles Gill.  He was described at the time as a recently discharged, mason and former member of Board of Registrars.  By May he was serving as acting postmaster, and officially appointed by the end of June.  Vern would serve as postmaster through enormous changes in the Yarmouth Post Office for the next twenty years, while also serving in other roles such as President of Yarmouth's PTA, church groups, and involvement in the planning of a new public high school.  Controversy over the closing of historic postal buildings and unwelcome new plans, plus the probable removal of familiar mailbox and mailing practices, concerned Bass River and Yarmouth residents.  Newspaper accounts describe the anger of citizens over the loss of the informal social meeting spots that the postal locations offered, as well as the fear of new inconveniences. Ultimately, while Vern could not control the government's choice of location, it seems he had much influence on the construction and design of the new post office on Route 28 in South Yarmouth and worked to keep a "cape cod" look and feel.  

U.S., Appointment of Postmasters, Massachusetts, Barnstable, Yarmouth (Ancestry.com)

Vern Morgan was also an avid hunter and was an early part owner with many local Yarmouth men in a "hunting lodge" in Chesterville, Maine which was ultimately called "Firkin Farm."  Newspaper accounts relayed the stories of their group adventures.  Vern so loved this location that a couple years later he bought a family farm along the same remote road where, as stated above, his family and friends spent many wonderful times.

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By 1951 Vern and Harriet and son were moving into their new and final home at the corner of Lambert and Studley Road on Long Pond.  It was the home his grandchildren recall as a happy meeting place, again filled with constant visitors for afternoon tea, skating on the pond in winter, and swimming off the floating dock in summer.  Vern raked the pond floor clean every year creating a spotless beach and shoreline for the crystal clear seasonal pond swimming.  Vern, the only descendant of this branch of the Chase family, inherited land from several aunts, and even tried his hand at cranberry farming for several years before selling to other townspeople.

The use of local newspapers for filling in the blanks of our ancestors' lives is vital.  I had always known my grandfather was an active townsman but never to the degree I discovered in these records.  I found out a lot I never knew about him ... he went to college, he ran for public office, he was an announcer for sporting events held at the Mill Hill Club in West Yarmouth, and he briefly owned a business called the Cape Cod Sports Center in Yarmouth.  There is so much more to learn and record about his life in Yarmouth.  My guess is, there will be more to come on Vernon Dwight Morgan.

                                         

Sources:

Morgan Family Photos, Personal Photo Collections, Bear Family, Massachusetts.

Yarmouth Vital Records and other Records, online databases, Ancestry.com and Familysearch.org.

Barnstable Patriot and Yarmouth Register, online digital archives, Sturgis Library, Barnstable, MA.