The Morgans from Milton of Montreal

by John Crane

A phone call from Ronnie Watt, chair of the Dunfermline Local History Study Group, started me off on the trail of Henry Morgan.

"Have you any information on the Morgan family connected with Saline?" asked Ronnie. I remembered that Bill Wilson had some papers on the "Morgans" that he had inherited from the Rev. Downie.

A visit to Bill and Agnes was rewarded with copies of the said papers, which were subsequently copied on to Ronnie. Keeping a copy of the papers myself, I started to read through them and quickly discovered an interesting story well worth the telling...

Henry Morgan, the son of a ploughman, was born in the parish of Saline on 14th November 1819.

When he died on 12th December 1893, the Montreal Gazette wrote of him, “Henry Morgan was one of the best-known and most universally-respected men in the Dominion of Canada.

His character was marked by many of those traits which have made men of Scottish birth so prominent a factor in the upbuilding of Montreal's commercial prosperity.”

Here is another example of a Saline man of humble origins going forth into the world to become famous and to create a fine reputation for himself. This is his story.....

The first official record of the Morgan family in the Saline area is dated 8th November 1653. On this date Sir John Colquhoun of Luss “...granted one honest man James Morgan and his heirs the outfield land of two eighths parts of the East quarters of Borland and all the mill land lying to the east of the said mill...”

It is, however, highly likely that members of the Morgan family had been tenant farmers or “husbandmen” in the parish of Saline for generations prior to being granted their own land.

From becoming owners of the farm that became known as Milton farm, the Morgan family continued to maintain and earn a living on their land for at least the next six generations.

Henry's father, Colin Morgan, was born on the farm in 1766, the second son of James Morgan. In 1805 Colin married Mary Kidd from Borelandhill near Cleish, a few miles away. Colin's father died in 1783 and when the oldest son; (also called James); married, he inherited the farm and the principal house by right of primogeniture.

As a consequence, and as victims of the Industrial Revolution that was progressively enclosing fields and consolidating rig lands, Colin and his young wife were forced to leave Milton farm. Colin found employment as a ploughman at Graycraigs, the Bruce farm just down the road. Henry was born in 1819, the fourth son of the union.

In common with virtually all of the children of the parish Henry attended school, in his case until the age of 14. This was because their father could not afford to send any of his children for further education.

Henry was sent to Glasgow as an apprentice in the rapidly-growing wholesale dry goods stores in the city.

This was an ideal trade for a boy with no other prospects. Intelligence, sheer hard work and a willingness to do a good job were the requirements. Henry's older brothers, James and William, had also gone to work as apprentices; and by 1837 both brothers had opened their own small dry goods businesses.

In 1844, after gaining a sound knowledge of the textile business and having saved a small amount of money from ten years of hard work, an ambitious Henry Morgan decided to emigrate to Canada.

On arrival in Montreal Henry joined forces with David Smith, a friend and fellow Scot. The young men set up a retail dry goods business under the name of Smith and Morgan, their shop being located on the Rue Notre Dame.

A business link with the old country was provided by Henry's brother James, who was their buyer in Glasgow and London.

In the first year of trading an excellent profit of £800 was achieved and the business employed nine sales clerks and a number of apprentices. The association with David Smith ended in 1850 when Smith moved on to Chicago.

A new partnership between Henry and his brother James was formed. The new business was named Henry Morgan and Company, and new premises on Rue McGill were acquired. By 1853, the Company employed at least 20 clerks and was known as the largest dry-goods store in Montreal.

In 1866, the business again moved to even larger premises, a four-storey building at 255 St.James Street. The family nature of the enterprise was strengthened when Henry's two nephews, James and William, joined the company.

Always eager to keep up to date, Henry himself travelled annually to Europe to see the latest fashions and to make selections. It was in Paris that he visited Le Bon Marche, that country's first department store, where the departmental manager was made responsible for purchases, sales and supervision of his own department.

Henry brought this concept back and successfully introduced it for the first time in Canada. Henry also pioneered the display of goods in the store windows. Hitherto, shopkeepers had tinted their windows to prevent competitors from knowing what new items the store had to offer.

In 1877, Henry's nephews were made partners and took over a lot of the responsibility for the operation of the business, which continued to prosper. In 1891, the Morgans decided to move their business out of lower Montreal and build a new ultra-modern department store in St. Catherine Street at the top of Beaver Hill in a residential area.

Their belief that urban development would move northwards was to be proved correct, as the area soon became the new centre for retail merchandisers.

Henry died on 12th December 1893, and nine months later his brother James passed away.

The company continued to expand into the 20th century, when branches were opened in Ottawa, Toronto, and Hamilton. It remained a family enterprise until it was sold to the Hudson Bay Company in 1960. Henry was interred in the Mount Royal Cemetery, Montreal. He never married.

Note: - Some of the information contained in this article has been obtained from papers written by David Morgan in 1983. Henry was David's great-great uncle. These papers were discovered with the pack of documents left by Mr. Downie, and are obviously the draft of the first chapter of a book. I understand that the book was eventually published privately therefore obtaining a copy is proving difficult. Other information has been obtained from various Canadian web sites.