Background
Lewis H. Morgan was born on November 21, 1818, near Aurora, New York, ninth of thirteen children of Jedediah Morgan and Harriet Steele. On his father's side he was descended from James Morgan, who came to New England in 1636, settling first at Roxbury, Massachusetts, and in 1650 moved to New London, Connecticut.
Thence Lewis' grandfather, Thomas, migrated to Cayuga County, New York, becoming a farmer near Aurora, then surrounded by Iroquois Indians.
On his mother's side Lewis was descended from John Steele, who settled in Newtown, now Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1641.