Several hamlets, one township
Marlboro Township was established on February 17, 1848. The municipal anniversary proclamation explains that its creation joined existing hamlets, including Morganville and Robertsville. The date is a milestone in local government, rather than the beginning of settlement. Earlier families, farms and village businesses were already giving the area its character before a separate township was organized.
A countryside of mills and villages
Franklin Ellis's 1885 county history describes Marlborough, the historical spelling used in the book, through its villages, churches, mills and agricultural life. Water-powered businesses and stores served people living on the surrounding farms. Communities such as Morganville developed their own local centers instead of forming a single continuous town. That pattern helps explain why several familiar place names survive within the same township.
Morganville in the larger story
Ellis records a store at Morganville in the 1850s, a post office established in 1868 and a Methodist church built in 1869. These are village milestones within Marlboro, not evidence that Morganville was independently incorporated. The township's history is best understood as the development of linked communities whose individual identities continued after the 1848 municipal formation.