William B. Morgan, one of the first settlers of Hopkinton and the first deputy sheriff of Delaware county, is now living in honorable retirement respected by all who know him. He was born in New York  state, October 27, 1830, and came to Iowa in 1844 with his parents, James and Margaret (Boyd) Morgan. He received his early education in the public schools and for three months studied at La Salle Academy, La Salle, Illinois, when a youth of about sixteen years, then living with and working for an uncle, but he later returned home and assisted his father in the cultivation of the home farm. When about twenty-one years of age he built the first house in Hopkinton, as he was by trade a carpenter and joiner. Previous to this he had worked as a millwright for some time. The new town of Hopkinton grew rapidly and as the settlers came in Mr. Morgan was kept busy building stores and residences for them. He has engaged a number of different occupations during his lifetime and at one time was the proprietor of a grocery store. He has owned several farms in Iowa and Nebraska, but has now sold all of these. During one period of his life he moved from place to place a great deal, homesteading in Nebraska, living for two years in California and for six years in Oregon, but he eventually returned to Hopkinton and is now living here retired, enjoying the comforts of life.

        Mr. Morgan was married in 1854, Miss Sarah Douglas becoming his wife, and to them was born two sons: James D., now fifty-eight years of age, who keeps a livery and garage in Hopkinton and is married; and Charles C,. a grocer of Hopkinton, who is married and has one child. The mother passed away in 1885. Mr. Morgan married Miss Mary E. Getchell, a great granddaughter of the first settler of Hopkinton, Thomas Nicholson. Mrs. Morgan was born in Minnesota.

       Mr. Morgan has an honorable military record, as in 1861 he enlisted in Company K, Twelfth Iowa Volunteer Infantry and served for one year in the Union army. He took part in several skirmishes and battles and was slightly wounded on one occasion by a shrapnel shell. After one year he received his honorable discharge and returned home. He is a member of Antietam Post, No. 131, G. A. R., of Bloomington, Nebraska, and is as loyal to the best interests of the nation in time of peace as he was upon the battlefields of the south.