James Worden Morgan (1920 - 1980)

Born 27 Jun 1920 in Vancouver, Clark County, Washington

Ancestors

Husband of Ida M (Williamson) Morgan — married 14 Jun 1941 in Hynes, California

Descendants

Died 14 Dec 1980 at age 60 in Grants Pass, Jackson County, Oregon

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Heather Brown [send private message] and Helen Brown [send private message]

Biography

James Morgan was the fifth child, and only son, of James Arthur Morgan and Arnettie Ann Mayes.^[1][2]

As a child he was known by his middle name of Ward. After serving with the Civilian Conservation Corp in his late teens he obtained the nickname of "Smoky" (from his work in helping to fight forest fires). Later in life his friends and family mostly called him either "Morgan" or "Smoky"--rarely did he go by the name "Jim".^[3]

On June 14, 1941, in an outdoor wedding he married Ida M. Williamson in Hynes, California. They had two children. They also raised one of their nieces from the time she was about 3 until she was 8. ^[4]

He was in the Army during World War II (February 4, 1944-March 1, 1946) -- serving in the European Theater of Operations. He served in the 4th Armored Division APU 254 as a mechanic and driver.^[5]

He was offered the chance to be promoted to Sargent while still in Germany after the war ended. The only problem was that he would have to remain in Germany until the Army decided to send him somewhere else. He turned down the promotion, knowing that his wife would not leave the United States.^[6]

After his discharge he found work at the tile factory in Hollydale, Los Angeles County, CA. Two of his sisters were already working there. He met Charles Williamson and two of his sons that were working there also. He already knew the youngest Williamson, Roy, from CCC camp. He became fast friends with Charles, Gerald and John and was soon invited to their home for dinner. It was there that he met Ida. At first he didn't thing much about her. She was tiny and he thought that she was only about 12 years old. John and Roy soon put him straight...he was amazed that she was only 11 months younger than he was. That was all it took for love to bloom for the youngest Williamson daughter. ^[7]

My father was offered a job at the Downey County Water District by Ida's Uncle Edward Williamson. It paid more that the tile factory and he would no longer be exposed to the lead that was used in the paint that was glazed on the tiles. He worked there for about 4 yrs. and then quit due to the stress. He went to work for Hood Corporation, driving very large 10 wheel dump trucks and putting in large pipelines. After about 3 years "Uncle Ed" convinced him to come back to work at the water company in the position of Superintendent. We moved into a house owned by the water company that had a huge alarm bell next to the master bedroom. Whenever one of the pumps stopped working the alarm would go off and he would have to go to the office to find out which pump was causing the problem. He would then have to go to the site and fix the pump. It didn't matter what time of day or night. We all came to hate that horrible alarm!

The stress had started to build up again and he started to break out in hives. The doctor told him that if he stayed with the water company he would probably have a heart attack because his blood pressure was way too high. He called his friends (the two men who started the company) at Hood Construction to see if he could go back to work for them. They were thrilled. He then went into "Uncle Ed's" office and told him that he quit and to never call him again.

Heavy Pipeline Construction is hard work, but he loved it. He also loved driving the big 10-wheel dump trucks. Hood would send him on jobs all over California, Arizona, Nevada, and even once to North Dakota (a three week job that turned into 3 months). He was one of the first men to take a travel trailer to a job site and live in it during the week, only coming home on weekends, if the site was too far from home. It was terribly lonely for my mother. It was especially hard because she didn't know how to drive a car. On weekends Mom would want to get out of the house and Dad just wanted to stay home. They compromised and we'd take short day trips on Saturday and stay home on Sunday.

My father started breaking out with new hives. They were like huge blisters all over his body and when they broke the liquid in them was like glue...it wouldn't wash out. In January of 1966 I started breaking out with hives--not like my father's, just red and itchy. By March they had gotten larger and my parents took me to see Dad's doctor. He took one look and told the three of us to come with him to his office. We sat down and the doctor shut the door. He then told us that my parents that they had two choices. They could sell their house and move out of the LA Basin and away from the smog or go out and buy two cemetary plots because both my father and I would need them in less than a year. Hood Construction had another location at Eureka, CA and the company was more than glad to transfer him there. My parents sold their house and when school was out off we went. Mother had a cold when we left and by the time we reached the Eureka/Arcada area she had full-blown pneumonia. We found a motel and a doctor. Dad checked in the the Hood office and then the two of us tried to find a house for rent. The places that were advertised in the paper were horrible. One of them was a tar-paper shack out on the jetty. You would have thought it was a mansion by the amount of rent the owner was asking. It was cold and windy. Dad put Mom in the car, checked out of the motel and we headed to Rogue River, OR where two of Mom's brothers lived. I don't think Dad ever officially quit Hood. We just settled in Grants Pass, Jackson County,OR once Mom got well.^[8]

Sources

1. ↑ Helen Brown, firsthand knowledge
2. ↑ 1930 US Census
3. ↑ Helen Brown, firsthand knowledge
4. ↑ Helen Brown, firsthand knowledge
5. ↑ US Army Discharge Papers
6. ↑ Helen Brown, firsthand knowledge
7. ↑ Helen Brown, firsthand knowledge
8. ↑ Helen Brown, firsthand knowledge

• 1930 US Census, Pomona, Los Angeles County, California (enum. as Ward Morgan)

• WWII Enlistment Records on Familysearch

• California County Marriages on Familysearch (an image of the marriage certificate is viewable and available for download, but was terribly transcribed by the volunteer)

• Find-A-Grave

• Social Security Death Index