BIOGRAPHY: Morgan L. WILLIAMS, Cambria County, PA 

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From Wiley, Samuel T., ed. Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Cambria 
County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Union Publishing Co., 1896, p. 469-70
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MORGAN L. WILLIAMS, of the firm of Morgan L. Williams & Co., manufacturers of 
fire-brick and steel-work specialties at Coopersdale, a suburb of Johnstown, 
Pennsylvania, is a son of Richard and Mrs. (Lewis) Williams, and was born in 
Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, March 26, 1852. His grandfather, Daniel Williams, was a 
native and life-long resident of Wales. He was a contractor and builder, and was 
employed in building docks and railways the greater part of his life. He was a 
man of remarkable vitality, and lived to be ninety-seven years old. His son 
Richard, the father of our subject, was born in Ebevale, Wales, May 31, 1799, 
and received a meagre education in the common schools of his native land. He 
worked for his father until after he had grown to manhood and had married; then 
he emigrated to America, and located first at Pottsville, Pennsylvania, and 
worked in the coal mines. For the remainder of his life he was employed as a 
miner and operator of coal mines. He remained but a short time at Pottsville, 
then began a series of removals from place to place, until, when he finally 
located in Coopersdale, in 1865, he had mined in thirteen different States of 
the Union, working throughout both the anthracite and bituminous coal regions. 
In 1850 he constructed a tunnel for the Pennsylvania railroad, between Pittsburg 
and Carnegie. Soon after his arrival in Coopersdale he opened and operated the 
coal mine from which his son now obtains fuel for his brick-works. He also made 
some coke for blast-furnace use, burning it in the old style, before the 
improved coke ovens were introduced here. He remained in the vicinity of 
Coopersdale until his death, May 31, 1876. He was a skillful and industrious 
workman, and respected citizen. In politics he was first a whig, then a 
republican, and took an active interest in local affairs. He was a member of the 
Welsh Congregational church, and an active church worker.
     Richard Williams' family consisted of the following children, viz.: Mary, 
Elizabeth, Anna, Richard, Rachel, Margaret, Daniel, Morgan L., and Ellen. All of 
these except Daniel, who died in infancy, grew up and married.
     Morgan L. Williams was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, March 21, 1852, and 
received some advantage from the public schools at that place, but he had little 
opportunity to attend school, as he went to work in the mines at the age of nine 
years. He began working with his father in the mines in 1861, and they worked in 
various parts of the State until 1865, when they began working for the Cambria 
Iron company. He was employed hauling coal for the Cambria Iron company the day 
the news of Lincoln's assassination was received; this made a deep impression on 
his mind. He was employed as teamster for three or four years, then found 
employment in the Cambria Iron company's rolling mill, and became a roller. He 
was also employed in constructing the new Bessemer mill, and helped blow the 
first heat of steel ever made in Johnstown; this was in 1873. He was employed in 
this mill from that time until the great flood of 1889, and had successfully 
filled every position in the mill, from that of laborer to "steelblower," and 
was for many years a foreman. After resigning his position in the steel mill, 
May 12, 1889, he began his present business on a small scale, making "sleeves" 
and "nozzles" used in Bessemer steel plants. These were covered by patents taken 
out by himself. He has since invented and patented several useful devices for 
use in both Bessemer and open-hearth steel-works. His long experience as a 
practical steel-maker, with his native ingenuity, has enabled him to 
successfully meet the growing wants of the steel-works supply trade, and his 
business has had a rapid growth. He now employs, at his works at Coopersdale, 
about eighty men and boys. He does business under the firm name of M. L. 
Williams & Co., manufacturers of steelwork specialties and firebrick.