1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Morgan, Edwin Dennison

MORGAN, EDWIN DENNISON (1811–1883), American merchant and philanthropist, one of the “war governors” of New York state, was born in Washington, Berkshire county, Massachusetts, on the 8th of February 1811. He was first a clerk and then a partner in his uncle’s store at Hartford, Connecticut, and became head of the New York firm of E. D. Morgan & Co. (formed in 1847). He engaged in politics, first as a Whig and then as a Republican. In 1849 he was elected president of the Board of Assistant Aldermen of New York City; he was a member of the state senate in 1850–1853 and procured the passage of the bill providing for the establishment of Central Park in New York City; in 1855–1858 he was state commissioner of immigration; from 1859 to 1863 he was governor of New York, being the first Republican executive of the state; in 1863–1869 he was United States senator from New York. He died in New York City on the 14th of February 1883. Morgan was one of the founders of the Republican party, and was chairman of the National Republican Committee in 1856–1864 and in 1872. He was one of the most efficient and able of the war governors; even before the outbreak of the Civil War he did much to prepare the state government for it, and from September 1861 to January 1863; he was in command of the military department of New York, with the rank of major-general of volunteers. He was a liberal donor to Union Theological Seminary, Williams College and other institutions. His collection of paintings and sculpture, much of which had long been loaned to the Metropolitan Museum, was sold in January 1886.