In September, the Dwight Historical Society Museum welcomed Dan and Abbey Evans who toured the museum and visited Oak Lawn Cemetery. Dan’s 2nd great grandfather was Richard Price Morgan Jr., who is credited with founding Dwight in 1854. Although Dan, who now resides in Florida, grew up in Bloomington, prior to this visit, he had never seen his ancestors’ graves, including Richard Price Morgan, Jr. (1828-1910), his wife, two of their children, and his father, Richard Price Morgan, Sr. (1790-1882).

Morgan, Jr. like his father, was a civil engineer. He was hired to oversee the location and construction of what became the Chicago and Alton Railroad. He invented and patented his design for an elevated rail system. Morgan farmed in Dwight, served as Chairman of the Republican State Convention which nominated Abraham Lincoln for President, donated land for the Presbyterian Church (now the Gothic Church) and the first Catholic Church as well as strips of land along the railroad tracks.