Moorhead, Matthew

Born: 1809 Butler County, Ohio

Died: 1873-12-04 Iowa

Flourished: 1834-1839 Sangamon County, Illinois

Alternate name: Morehead

Moorhead moved from Butler County, Ohio, to Sangamon County, Illinois, in the early 1830s. Moorhead had learned cabinetry in Ohio, and he continued to practice this trade while living in Illinois. In 1834, he married Elizabeth Snodgrass, with whom he would have ten children. In 1837, Moorhead moved his family to what would become Washington County, Iowa (then Iowa Territory), where he kept a well-known inn on a main stage road. From 1860 to 1862, he served as a Republican in the Iowa House of Representatives. A devout Methodist, Moorhead opened his home for public worship for members of Methodist Episcopal denomination.

U.S. Census Office, Fifth Census of the United States (1830), Morgan, Butler, OH, 167; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Sangamon County, 6 February 1834, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; Howard A. Burrell, History of Washington County, Iowa (Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1909), 1:106, 144, 180; Portrait and Biographical Album of Washington County, Iowa (Chicago: Acme, 1887), 621-22; Iowa Legislators Past and Present, Iowa Legislature, https://www.legis.iowa.gov/legislators/legislator?ga=8&personID=5586.