Varley Graves wrote about the Looney family in 1977 in Fayetteville, GA paper. The following is what I read: Morgan Harbin Looney was written up by Varley Graves in VIGNETTES OF HISTORY on December 15, 1977 in the Fayette GA newspaper. Mr and Mrs Hal Daniell of East Point have asked about Morgan Harbin Looney. Morgan Harbin Looney, the oldest child of Noah and Frances Cleveland McNiel was born in Fair Play, SC near the east banks of the Tugaloo River and only a few miles from Hartwell, Carnesville and Parkertown where he would spend his childhood and receive his early education. He was named Morgan in honor of the celebrated Nancy Hart of Revolutionary War fame. Nancy Morgan married Captain Benjamin Hart from near "Abbs Valley. They named their oldest son Morgan to perpetuate her maiden name and the name Morgan was quickly picked up by natives of Hart County, also named in her honor. About three miles southwest of Hartwell is a marker of granite with the inscription "Ah-yeh-li A-lo'hee" which in Cherokee Language means "center of the world" and so it seemed to the Cherokee Indians who had inhabited his area for centuries, since from this verdant plateau numerous streams flowed and they used it for their council meetings. Centuries before the Cherokees came the "Mound Builders" who had left their artifacts. Also near was a pigeon-roost where the migration of the passenger pigeon took place in the autumn of each year. At one time about 150 years ago this bird was the most numerous of any in all of North America. The birds came for the nuts and acorns, but when the forest were cut, the nuts disappeared and so the birds became extinct. The last one died in the Cincinnati Zoo Sept. 1, 1914. The "Mound Builders" left only traces of their existence, the Cherokee Indians wee replaced by descendants of the hardy pioneers and members of the Army of the Revolution the passenger pigeon is gone, but not so the influence and dedication of those who came from near the "center of the world" to teach and to preach in the New World. After teaching at Parkerstown on the banks of Shoal Creek, Morgan Harbin Looney went to Palmetto and then to Fayetteville to open the Fayette Seminary in 1857. Here he wrote "Southern Arithmetic," became a polished orator and writer and in 1861 went to Gilmer, Texas, where he opened "The Looney School." For ten years it was the most popular school in northeast Texas. From Gilmer, Texas, he went to Fayetteville and Bentonville in Arkansas, then back to Texas until 1881 when he came back to Hartwell, Clarksville, Franklin and Palmetto, Georgia. But in 1884 he went back to Denton, Texas to a school with 406 pupils. In the fall of 1895, Morgan Harbin Looney came to Royston, GA, and while there built a modern brick school which was the envy of the entire area. He remained there for several years. He went to Ila, Ga and here his wife, Cora Edwards Looney, who had taught music in the various schools, died in 1899, Morgan then went back to Hartwell where he was living with his daughter, Myrtice Looney Walters, when he died June 20, 1901. He was buried in the Hartwell Cemetery. The inscription on his brave there reads "To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die."