In 1940, Monk married my mother's sister Miriam Elizabeth "Betty" Mylks. They had two children, Gene and Cathy. (photo) Together we sat through rain-delayed double-headers at Yankee Stadium in the 1950's which was too many hot dogs for me. We enjoyed Blue Jay Spring Training in Florida in the 1980's and 90's. Monk was with me when my mother died in 1988, and upon his death, Betty honoured me by asking me to deliver Monk's eulogy.

Monk always declined to discuss his ancestry in any way. He had made a few off-hand remarks that it included a Morden who'd been hanged and one who was a full-blooded Indian. He had heard these tidbits somewhere in his childhood and never knew whether they were true. They were. Here is the story of the hanged man:

"Ralph Morden was born in England in 1742 and probably came to Pennsylvania with his father, George, the following year to settle with his family 40 miles above Philadelphia. Nothing more is known of Ralph until 1761 when he appears as a single man on the tax assessment for Mt. Bethel twp., Northampton Co., Penn. Ann Durham's family came to Mt. Bethel from Bucks Co. Ralph appears on the tax lists in Mt. Bethel from 1765 to 1779. In 1769/70 he was given land beginning at Yeo. Reynell's (James Reynolds) line in Northampton Co.
The tax return of Mt. Bethel in Jan 1775 shows he had 100 acres of land of which 10 were cleared and 5 sowed, plus 2 horses and 3 cattle. He did not seem to prosper because his land tax in 1779 was the same as it was earlier. Perhaps he was too busy as a woodsman than a farmer or laborer and did not take the time to improve his farm. He roamed far and wide in northern Penn. and New York, and perhaps stopped, among other places, to visit his brother, Joseph, in the Mohawk Valley. In the meantime, Robert Land - a friend of Ralph's - had been carrying expresses for the British Army and had even carried express to Niagara from Gen. Sir Henry Clinton in 1779.
After returning home Robert was confined, condemned and released on bail. Land jumped bail and on May 12, 1780, Ralph Morden was caught red-handed in what appeared to be a treasonable enterprise--helping Robert Land, an "old offender", to flee the country. It is improbable, however, that either Morden or his captors expected at the time of his capture that he would be hanged for his offense. All the traditional accounts by either the Mordens or the Lands state that Morden gave himself up voluntarily, although it was late in the day
when they were surprised and he might have escaped as Land did. Unfortunately, Land's long record of service to the British now counted heavily against Morden, who was in greater danger than he realized. His trial began Oct 30, 1780, at Easton, Penn. less than fifty miles and 2-1/2 years from the Wyoming Valley massacre where the Fields had joined Butler's Rangers and the Iroquois. Morden's lawyer was Edward Burd, brother-in-law of Mrs.
Benedict Arnold! Ralph was condemned to death for treason on Nov 9 and the date of execution was set for Nov 25, 1780. It is an interesting point that of the four men who were hanged for treason in Penn. during the Revolution, three, including Ralph, were Quakers. Ordinarily, judges and juries were more lenient with fighters than with people who claimed to be pacifists.
Perhaps that generalization applies in this case. Robert Land made his way to Ft. Niagara as had the Fields in 1778. A few years later his family joined him. When told of the plight of Ann Durham Morden and her family, Land sent for them and they arrived in 1787, with the exception of two who took the Patriot side in the war.

The French pronounced the name of Morden as "Maudant"

Source:Crysler Family by R.M. Crysler
History of Town of Dundas, Ont. by Dundas Historical Society
Death notices of Ontario by Reid
The Loyalists in Ontario p224-230
Morden Genealogy by Aletha Arnold & Pearl Tegerdine"