Benjamin Franklin Morgan, M. D.—As a successful physician of Clay county, known to the medical profession of Kansas as an authority on anesthesia, and as one of the most progressive and public-spirited citizens of Clay Center, Dr. Morgan merits distinctive recognition in this publication.

Benjamin M. Morgan is a native of Pella, Marion county, Iowa, and was born on Aug. 3, 1857, a son of Elijah Dodson and Kerrila A. D. (Wilhite) Morgan. The father was a native of Kentucky, the family home being in Sardis, where he was born, April 26, 1821. His parents were also natives of the state and descended from pioneer settlers. Kerrila A. D. Wilhite, the mother of Dr. Morgan, was born in Crawfordsville, Ind., Jan. 16, 1819. Her parents were natives of Indiana, and her ancestors were among its pioneer settlers. She is a lineal descendant of Andreas Garr, a noted patriot of Bavaria. Elijah D. Morgan was a successful farmer and shortly after his marriage, in 1841, removed to Iowa and located in Marion county. He retired from active labor in 1888, and became a resident of Clay Center, Kan., where two of his sons, Horace W. and Curtis C., had previously located for the practice of medicine. Mrs. Morgan passed away in 1892 and her husband in 1894. They were the parents of the following children—four of whom survive: Henry J., born in 1844, a prominent ranchman of Penryn, Cal.; Mattie M., born in 1846, the widow of J. W. Paschal, residing in Colorado Springs; Teda M., born in 1852, the wife of I. M. Earle, an attorney of Des Moines, Iowa; and Benjamin F. Horace W., born in 1849, died in April, 1898; and Curtis C., vorn in 1860, died April 9, 1899. Both were graduates in medicine and located for practice in Clay Center, Kan., where they resided at the times of their deaths. They built up the most successful practice in Clay county and were men of influence in the commercial, political and social life of their section.

Benjamin F. Morgan received his early education in the public schools of Marion county, Iowa, which was supplemented by a course in the Iowa Central University at Pella. In 1880 he came to Kansas and secured a position as clerk in the United States land office at Wakeeney, where he remained five years. His inclinations led to the profession of medicine and he began its study under Dr. A. B. Jones of Wakeeney, in 1883, while still a clerk in the land office. He entered Drake Medical College at Des Moines and graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, in 1888. He located for practice at Riley, Kan., where he remained until 1898. The following year he spent in Denver, Col. In 1899 he returued to Kansas and located in Clay Center, succeeding to the practice of his brother, Curtis C., recently deceased. Dr. Morgan is a consistent and tireless student, a broad reader and recognized as one of the most scholarly men of his profession in the state. He has devoted considerable time to post-graduate work in the Chicago Post-Graduate School and Hospital, the New York Post-Graduate Hospital and the Rush Medical College of Chicago. He has made an exhaustive study of anesthesia and is considered by his fellow practitioners an authority on this subject. For several years he has lectured on this subject in the Kansas University. He has acquired one of the large practices of Kansas and has served for many years on the board of United States Pension Examining Physicians. He is local medical examiner for eighteen of the leading life insurance companies. Dr. Morgan has attained the Knights Templar degree in Masonry and is affiliated with Isis Temple Shrine at SaUna.

He married on May 22, 1882, Miss Lucy M. Hanna, a daughter of Benjamin J. F. Hanna, at one time register of the United States land office at Wakeeney. They are parents of two children: Edwin C., born March 29, 1885, a graduate of the literary department of Kansas University and in the medical department of Northwestern University, Chicago, with the class of 1910, and who is associated with his father in practice; Margaret, born Jan. 19, 1891, a student in the liberal arts department of Kansas University, where she is specializing in art and music.