Laura J. Morgan was born on July 30, 1845, in Pennsylvania, to John and Mary Morgan. Her father was a “dealer in breadstuff” who owned $5,000 of real estate and $2,000 of personal property by 1860. The family lived in Shamokin, Pennsylvania, until the 1850s, when they moved to Sunbury, Pennsylvania. She supported the Democratic Party. In November 1864, she wrote that "I am very sorry if we do not get Little Mac [as president]. I will then give up all hope for the restoration of our once happy land."
She married William H. Thurston on June 29, 1865, and they had at least seven children: John, born around 1866; Herman, born around 1868; Lillie, born around 1872; May, born around 1875; Roscoe, born around 1879; Edmund, born around 1882; and Richard, born around 1887. They lived in Sunbury, and her husband worked as a blacksmith. By 1870, they owned $1,500 of real estate and $200 of personal property. Her husband died in Sunbury in March 1924, and she died there of chronic myocarditis on February 21, 1928.
Image: Laura J. Morgan (Nau Collection)