Morgan, Emily Malbone

(Dec. 10, 1862-Feb. 27, 1937). Founder of the Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross. She was born in Hartford, Connecticut, the youngest child of a wealthy family. As early as 1889 she established a number of summer vacation homes for urban working women in rural Connecticut and Massachusetts. She financed these homes by lectures and children's books which she wrote and published. Morgan founded the Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross in 1884 in response to a request for a group of friends to gather regularly for prayer. This request was made by Adelyn Howard, a childhood friend of Morgan's. Howard was stricken with an incurable disease. The Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross had simple rules calling for communal intercessory prayer and thanksgiving. Eventually Morgan established Adelynrood, near Byfield, Massachusetts, as a meeting place and summer respite for the Companions. By 1920 the Companionship had spread all over the world. It includes women who hold a wide range of positions on the relationship between Christian faith and social activism. Morgan died in Boston, Massachusetts.