Mark Morgan was born in approximately 1715, likely in Essex County, Virginia. He was one of the first white settlers in the Chapel Hill area and was one of the biggest landowners, ultimately owning many thousands of acres of land in early Orange and Chatham counties. He is the namesake of Morgan Creek, where, according to local legend, he first lived in the hollow trunk of a sycamore tree, before building a cabin on the banks of the creek. Legal records show he was an enslaver.
Morgan was involved with local politics; he was a militia officer and a justice of the peace, and was elected as a member of the General Assembly for the 1753-54 session. He was also involved in the Revolutionary War, taking the side of the colonists. He is generally accepted to have died in 1777. A portion of his land (107 acres) was later donated to the creation of the University of North Carolina, likely by his son, Mark Morgan Jr.