Lake County Ohio GenWeb

Timothy William Morgan 1863-1954

Contributed by Pamela Greenwood, great-granddaughter of Timothy W. and Nellie Cashel Morgan 18 July 2004.Obituary in the Painesville Telegraph December 21, 1954:

" Timothy Morgan (1863-1954) died at Age of 91: Timothy W. Morgan, the genial former blacksmith and Painesville fire chief who was known affectionately by hundreds of acquaintances as Tim Morgan died at he age of 91 years . He died Monday afternoon at 521 Mentor Avenue where he and his wife made their home with their son in law and daughter Dr. and Mrs. Ross A. Greenwood.

" To the end of his life Mr. Morgan kept a forge, an implement which became endeared to him when he was one of the area's early blacksmiths.

" Born July 11, 1863 in Shropshire, England he was one of 10 children of Arthur and Katherine Morgan. In his youth (age 2) he came to America with his family and attended school in Geneva, Ohio. He spent four and one-half years learning blacksmithing, and on Friday Dec. 13, 1886 he came to Painesville to operate a blacksmithing shop on State Street while the owner, Mark Saborn was in California. Later he bought a lot back of the present Gail G. Grant store and built a wooden shop. When this frame building was destroyed by fire in 1893 he replaced it with a brick one.

" An interest he had acquired in fire fighting through three years with the Geneva department, was continued here and he served on the Painesville fire department 27 years, spending six years of this time as assistant chief and 18 as chief.

" In 1916 ill health forced his retirement from blacksmithing, and at the same time, he severed connections with the fire department. He lived in Cleveland, but returned to resume his trade for a short time. Later the shop space was rented by the Diamond Alkali Company to house trucks which hauled men back and forth from the plant during World War I.

" Mr. Morgan worked for a short time at the Diamond Alkali Company and later at a gasoline station at the corner of Mentor Avenue and Grant Street for 15 years where he was a great reconteur telling stories in an Irish accent. Also he spent three years night-watching for the road department at its garage on Mentor Avenue west of the city. During World War II he served as a guard at vital points in the city. (He was particularly proud of this service).

" He was a charter member of Painesville Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and had been active in the Masonic Blue Lodge, chapter and council.

" His wife is the former Nellie Cashel who was born and reared on St. Clair Street. Their home has been filled with hand-wrought iron articles Mr. Morgan made in a small shop and forge set up in a building at the rear of the Greenwood house at 521 Mentor Avenue.

" Surviving Mr. Morgan besides his wife and daughter, Mrs. Katherine Greenwood, are a granddaughter, Mrs. Charles M. Coles of Cleveland, two grandsons Morgan A. Greenwood of Huntingdon Valley, Pa., and Douglas E. Greenwood of Pittsburgh; a brother, Edward E. of Belvedere, Pa. and eight great grandchildren.

" Friends may call until 10 tonight and Tuesday night at the Nixon Funeral Home, where last rites will be held at 2 PM Thursday. Burial will be in Evergreen Cemetery. Rev. Dayton B. Wright, rector of St. James' Episcopal Church will officiate.

" Services will be conducted at 7 PM Wednesday by Temple Lodge, No. 28, Free and Accepted Masons, and at 9 PM Wednesday by the Painesville Elks. Borth services to be held at the funeral home, will be open to the public."

He won the great fight at Harper's Corners at the turn of the century. He "got up" an early pickup football team in Painesville that played the team in Geneva, Ohio. This was before uniforms or rules -- it was pretty much a free for all. His grandson Douglas says he was kind of the town character in later years. He resigned as Fire Chief because he could not convince the town to use automobiles instead of horses on the fire wagons. (Tim Morgan had an early Model A Ford.) TW was known for telling great stories, especially down at the Elks club, in an Irish accent. It is also noted that his brother Ed who appeared for TW's funeral was eerily similar to TW in appearance and told similar stories in a Swedish accent.

Census information on the Morgan family shows they came from Denbighshire, Wales. Denbigshire Wales became Shropshire, England at some point in history. So on some censuses in the US Tim Morgan claimed he came from Wales and other years he claimed he came from England. It probably depended on which stories he wanted to tell the census taker at the time.

See Morgan and Greenwood family photos here.