HARFORD LIVING TREASURES - MR. C. CURTIS MORGAN
Interviewer: Vonnie Winslow Crist (VC) Interviewee: Mr. C. Curtis Morgan (CM) Attendee: Mrs. Dorothy Cord Morgan (DM) Date: Tuesday July 18, 2000, 9:30 a.m.
Interview is taking place in the family or living room of C. Curtis Morgan on Bel Air Avenue in Aberdeen, Maryland, a Harlord County Living Treasure. In addition to Mr. Morgan, his wife Dorothy Cord Morgan will be with us this morning.
SIDE ONE
VC: Mr. Morgan where were you born?
CM: Rocks, Maryland.
VC: OK. Close to the Rocks itself, or?
CM: Right in that area.
VC: Wow, all right. What did your parents do there?
CM: What did they do or what did
VC: What did they do then?
CM: Well, my father was uh he worked for a wheel manufacturing company up on Wheel Road in
Bel Air. They made wheels back in those days. And that is one thing he did. And then I was being raised on a farm. And but... other then that I am not sure what he did next.
VC: And your Mom?
CM: My mother was .... you want her name?
VC: Sure.
CM: Claire Mahan.
VC: How do you spell Mahan?
CM: M.A.H.A.N.
VC: OK. And did she.... was she employed outside the home, or?
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
CM: No.
VC: She worked on the farm? So you also you were bred and raised on the farm there, or?
CM: Well, uh, you want me to give a little of my history?
VC: Sure, Yes, I do.
CM: Well, my mother died when I was B years old and I went to live with a cousin up.... I went to live
with Mr. and Mrs. Dick, who was a cousin, Mr. Dick was a cousin of my mother. And I was raised on the farm there in Carson's Run.
VC: Carson's Run?
CM: Uhuh.
VC: Uh, so I assume you did all the farm things? Where did you go
CM: Well, I worked on the ... I worked on the farm as a kid and after I grew up did, after a while I went
to local, little local school right there at Carson's Run. Jefferson's School.
VC: Jefferson's School?
CM: Uhuh.
VC: How did
CM: Two room... Two room school.
VC: Two room, how many grades where there?
CM: Seven.
VC: Seven. Did you go to school after that?
CM: No, I didn't.
VC: You went to seventh grade at Carson's Run?
CM: Seventh grade.
VC: Wow.
CM: But the reason I did not go was there was no way to get to school. To Aberdeen or Bel Air, there
was no busses. Now this was back in 1912 or 13, we're talking about. And there was no way to get to Aberdeen or to Bel Air. Now I guess it is probably about 1917 they put busses on to carry the kids. All County schools.
VC: So you went as far as you could go without having to travel really far then?
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
CM: That's right.
VC: OK. Uh, what was your childhood like? What were some of the things... the activities you did as
a child? Do you remember any of them?
CM: Well, I guess I did the usual things. I don't know .... there was not a whole lot to do in Carson's
Run. I have to tell you. We had a swimming hole, they called it. Which was about half a .... 1 guess a mile and a half from the house to which we would go every once in a while in summertime. And there wasn't to much to do in Carson's Run, I can tell you.
VC: OK.
DM: Ice cream on Saturday nights.
CM: Well, yeah, of course, yes, the stores in those days, uh they did not have fresh meats or ice cream
or anything like that. Only they'd go to Baltimore on Saturday or Friday evening. And uh over the weekend of course they would fresh meats and ice cream. And that sort of thing.
VC: OK. I thought maybe you were going to say you made your ice cream, with an ice cream maker.
CM: Of course people did make a lot of ice cream
VC: Right, right. Do you remember what the community was like when you were growing up in that
area?
CM: Well, in what respect?
VC: Well, was there a little store and what store was it?
CM: Well, we had two stores in Carson's Run.
VC: Did you?
CM: And uh, of course church, Methodist Church was rather dose. The Chapel was two, three miles
and uh Bush Chapel of another Methodist Church. And uh, and we had at the time, we walked
all the way to church.? " Of course we had the horse and the buggy most of the time, but
I had walked most of the time
VC: Wow, was it a family horse? Did you have your own horse to ride that?
CM: Oh yeah, yeah.
VC: You had your own horses to ride that. OK. Uh, how did you decide what to do, when you were
ready After the 7th grade and you had to be employed, how did you make your choices in
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
jobs?
CM: Well, we lived on the farm and so I worked on the farm and then Mr. Dick was in the hauling
business with horses.
VC: OK
CM: Four and a six head of horses. At one time with one wagon with it. ?.and the horses with the
line the dirt line ? And he hauled piling from the area into Aberdeen. ?...from or
something
VC: So it would be like logs, or..?
CM: Long, long very long piling.
VC: Very long, OK. Did you drive some of the wagons?
CM: No, no.? 7 And then in 19..., in fact, I guess, 22. Mr. Dick bought a truck and of course
I was getting? I on that. Not old enough to drive the truck. And then we progressed with
the trucking and had I guess up to six trucks that we operated. VC: Wow.
CM: And then in 1933, I decided to go in business for myself, in the coal business. And of course, we
were hauling then canned goods into Pennsylvania up around by? burg? and then I'd bring
coal back.
VC: Wow.
CM: And then as time went on and the business grew, I shipped it in by train. Went in the coal
business, full-fledged. And then in 19..., well, I guess 33, I put in small tanks and went in the oil business and I tried to go with Sinclair refining company at that time and because they had most of the fuel business in the area but I was unable to get one because they had a market here in Havre de Grace. And uh, so I went to Sherwood and we could haul, take one little truck to Baltimore and haul up one little tank I had there for one year and then Sinclair came back and asked me and the tank was available in Havre de Grace.
VC: Nice.
CM: So, it was quite a opportunity for me because it was a good size plant and they uh, we worked on
a commission basis, they filled the warehouse with products and the tanks with fuel and I was in
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
business and I really went to town, oh yeah, I started out I think the first two months I did about 12,000 gallons and in 2 years well, I think it was about 12 years I was up to 1 million gallons. Well I guess it was more than 12 years, but I had a good business, oh yeah. I think when I took over Sherwood Brothers in Baltimore and they were the Richfield Sherwood Brothers and I think they owned Richfield, so when they..1 this changeover came, they gave me part of Sherwood's business in Harford County, so I had all of Flarford County and part of Cecil County.
VC: Oh my.
CM: So I had.... I really had a good business. And then at the time ?when I had...? I built my own
service stations leased them back to Sinclair, had my own transport ?hauled into carried and? I guess took me 8 to 10 years to do this, but I had a big business.
VC: WOW, you said you hauled, you sent your stuff on rail, what rail line were you using? Do you
remember?
CM: Well, it came in on Pennsylvania in Havre de Grace. I am talking about Havre de Grace.
VC: So it came in Havre de Grace from Pennsylvania?
CM: Well, I had ... that is where my tank was in Havre de Grace.
VC: Right. Right.
CM: And it came from?
VC: Ok, ok I was wondering that Uh, I also noticed that you were Aberdeen commissioner during
WWII?
CM: Uhuh.
VC: What did that entail. Aberdeen Commissioner, what was that like?
CM: Well, the town.... town commissioner. It was not a city then, Aberdeen, it wasn't a city then, it was
a town.
VC: It was a town. What kind of responsibilities were there about that time?
CM: Well, you would... you ran the business, what business there was at the time. Of course,
Aberdeen is grown, cause it.... do the right thing ? ? Of course, the Proving Ground
started in 1918. So this was in 30 something, 34, 35. I guess later than that when I .... Well,
about 35, 36.
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
VC: OK. Also said you chaired a local selected service board?
CM: Uhuh, that was Bel Air.
VC: Oh that was in Bel Air. What kind of duties were involved there?
CM: Well, we took in all the young men, the names came up and approved their visit for them.
VC: So you had final say whether they went or did not go?
CM: Uhuh. VC: Tough..
CM: Which I did not want
VC: Tough. And I sure you remember the board of Harford Memorial Hospital?
CM: Uhuh.
VC: How did that come about?
CM: A friend asked me to join and I joined and then of course we went from that to later years to what
is it now? Upper Chesapeake, and I was there myself this morning, ulcer. Left the corporation
so that we could? 'other extra business. Of course and then we spread to, went up to
Bel Air or Fallston.
VC: The Memorial Hospital did you see constructed, how long has it been? Were you one of the ones
that saw it built in Havre de Grace?
CM: When what was built?
VC: The Memorial Hospital.
CM: No, Memorial Hospital goes back to 1918 or I guess before that.
VC: It says you are a long time member of Grace United Methodist Church?
CM: Uhuh.
VC: When did you start going there?
CM: Well, that is uh, I was.... went to Bush Chapel Church first when I was a kid and that was Bush
Chapel was the Southern Methodist and of course the Aberdeen Church was the northern Methodist. Of course she was a northern Methodist and I was a southern Methodist so uh, that was after we were married that we . . . .that. ... I guess, you say, when did I start going? I am not sure when we changed from Bush Chapel to up here ... when that happened it as probably in the
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
twenties. It was in the twenties.
VC: Right, well then you said before, how did you meet? How did you meet?
DM: Oh boy, that is a story.
VC: Well I got plenty of tape.
CM: You want her to tell that or you want me?
VC: You can tell it and she can correct you.
CM: Well, we were having a picnic, strawberry picnic, Strawberry Festival, or whatever you call it. Up
near our home in Carson's Run. So I was .. ..This evening I was churning the ice cream and then came the car load of young ladies and she was one of them and that was the first time we met. So that is where did started.
VC: Well, what did you think. Did you start dating then, or...?
CM: Shortly after that, but we had a terrible time with our dates, because they did not allow her she
was not allowed to date and so we would meet when we could and finding that we were not
getting anywhere so she went to Agent Barnett in Baltimore.
DM: I went to business school.
CM: Business school and I'd go down once day uh once a week and see her for an hour or two and
then I got tired of that so I said lets get married. So...
DM: We eloped.
CM: So we eloped.
VC: You eloped? Where were you married then? In Bel Air? In the courthouse?
DM: The Presbyterian Church.
CM: No, no, no, no we got our license.
DM: In the Manse.
VC: In the Manse, the Presbyterian Church?
CM: Uhuh. VC: Ok.
CM: Yeah, yeah.
DM: Did not have a license, did not have a ring.
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
CM: Well, I did not want to go into that but.
VC: I want to hear this all.
CM: All right. So uh... She was supposed to meet I was supposed to meet her in Baltimore on
Monday. So she got a friend to call me and tell me she could not go on Monday. So I called back
and I said well then we'll get married We were going to get married on Monday. I said we get
married today on Sunday. And of course she then asked how are you going to do that without a license? Well I knew Mike Kane who was the clerk of the court. So I called Mike up and said: Mike I want a favor. He said: what is that And I said: I need a marriage license. He said: when and I said: today. He said: this is Sunday. I said: I know but you can get it. Heçsaid: Ok come on up. So I went up and I remember Mrs. Kane said: what are you running of, are you eloping or something? I said: yes we are. And I said: I know it .... I don't.... I can't explain it to you, but I said: it is something we have to do, so that is what we did.
VC: And were you ready, did you have a dress ready?
DM: Oh no, I didn't Of course I I had gone to the people's meeting at church and that is were he
got me.
VC: So your Mom and Dad did not know....?
DM: Grandparents. VC: Grandparents.
CM: Well my people didn't.
VC: Your people did? Your people did not know?
CM: No. But I couldn't... They couldn't know, they would not let us.
DM: And my dad did not know. My dad lived in Baltimore with my mother, with my sister and brother.
Such a time.
VC: So when did you tell everybody? When did you tell them?
CM: Well after we were married. She said: I'll call them up and tell them we were married. So she did
and she told me I can't talk. So I talk to her? 'and I said: Dorothy and I were just married.
He said: you better not be married. And I said: too late, we've already been married. And he said: Where are you? And I told him. And he said: Will you wait there, and I said: Ok come on up. So
8
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
I said to the minister: did you tie a good know? He said: I've never tied a better one. I said: OK we'll try it and he came up. And he us in the car and wanted us to come home with him and all that stuff.
3M: He wanted me to come back to Aberdeen and said: we'll straighten this out and I said: Oh no, I
am in love with Curty and I am going with him.
VC: Ok, so you just .... that was the end of that. Where did you live at first?
CM: Back at Carson's Run with Mr. and Mrs. Dick.
VC: Ok, did you have your own place or lived ?
CM: No, we lived with them.
VC: How long did you live with them before you got a place of your own?
CM: We lived with them until they both died and we took care of them until they passed on and then
we .... Mr. Dick never lived here, Mrs. Dick did, we lived in another house up, right up the street.
3M: Right up the street here on the corner. That big house.
VC: Oh yeah.
CM: And uh, so uh, she moved in with us and we took care of her till she died. We had a wonderful
live with her, she was great.
VC: That is nice, that is nice. And what uh
CM: And we even kept her twin sister.
VC: You took.... kept her sister also?
CM: Yes, her twin sister. For a long time. Several years.
VC: About eight years? What were the Dick's first names?
3M: Excuse me, I'll go in the other room.
CM: Lumdson, Jay Lumdson Dick
VC: Lumdson, how do you spell that?
CM: L.U.M.D.S.O.N Lumsdon Dick.
VC: And Mrs. Lumdson? I mean Mrs. Dick? Was What was her first name?
CM: Mae. VC: Mae?
RARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
CM: Mae Wells Dick.
VC: Ok, I also have a note here that uh, you were involved with the Aberdeen Lyons Club? How did
that start? You were one of the first members, or....?
CM: No, well, I could have been. Probably was and then I .... when we.... when they proposed the
program l?
VC: A charter member. How long were you a member then? Still a member?
CM: I am still a member.
VC: Wow.
CM: We just had a big 50th Anniversary for the club.
VC: What are some of the things that the club has done over the years that you have been involved
with?
CM: Oh my, that is too numerous to mention.
VC: Well, pick a couple.
CM: Well, first one thing we did, we worked very close with the Proving Ground and we for the farm
officers came in here and, they would bring in a group of farm officers every year. And the Rotary club, for one thing we entertained them every year. And oh we did so many things. It has been a great help to Aberdeen. Of course by then the past 5 years we have had the boys and girls club Rotary ?talks? and I think we raised.... what did we raise a year?? I forget, it is a
DM: Around up to about 20,000.
CM: Around 20,000 a year for them to have done that? ? 6th or 7 1h year I think on that So
many things we have done.
VC: I noticed that you are the honorary director of the boys and girls club of Harford County?
CM: Uhuh.
VC: And how did that come about? They just ?
CM: Well, of course I was a member for when it was organized, I helped to organize it. And then
I became retired and that has been two years ago, but I am still active.
VC: I would say, still active. Retired is kind of a word .... He has not ran out of gas stations but....
yeah, Uh also I have the Aberdeen Lodge #187 AF & AM?
RARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
CM: Uhuh.
VC: And what would be that? What would be your involvement there?
CM: Well, I was a member and I am the only 70 year member that they have ever had. That the lodge
has ever had and that just happened we just had a.... They just had a big party for us.
VC: Oh my, Uh, and the Aberdeen MOose Lodge, you are involved with that also?
CM: Yeah. VC: Yeah.
CM: I was a charter member.
VC: You were a charter member and what ... was that formed?
CM: That was prob in the forties.
VC: In the forties?
CM: Early forties.
VC: What sort of things did that organization do?
CM: Well they ... we built a new hall for them.., a very nice place here in Aberdeen and it is serves
quite a purpose for a class of people that are not Moose uh... that are not Rotary people or this type but Moose does a great service to them. And they run a nice place and the members have
a place to go. ? ? And they have a schools and grade systems in uh.... Where is it Up
there in Chicago they put up a tremendous school for kids and they don't turn anyone down. DM: Orphans.
CM: Orphans and they also with the elderly Moose Haven.
VC: Moose Haven?
CM: Moose Haven, Moose Hart is the school.
VC: Oh my. That is a nice name for what it means. What is your involvement in the Blood Bank of
Maryland? Will you tell me about that?
CM: Well, that is just a little organization, I supervised the taking of blood and the taking to Harford
Memorial Hospital. And we... They had an organization and ran that for the hospital.
VC: I think more than a little organization, if you needed the blood. It has a real important to it. And
also the Harford Educational Foundation at Harford Community College.
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
CM: Well I was on that ?
VC: You got on well with Harford Community College even though you only went to the 701 grade, I
commend you.
CM: ? ? with the hospital, I've done everything. I don't know how I did it, but I accomplished
it.
VC: Also, did you see Harford Community College then as it began?
CM: No, I wasn't on the board in the beginning. But I was taken in later.
VC: Did you.... but you were around the area so you saw how it began?
CM: Oh yeah, oh yeah.
VC; Ok, do you want to tell me a lithe bit about that?
CM: Well, of course that was the farm, and I did know the people's name that owned on the farm. I
can't think of it right now but it all started as a very small school. Of course Bill James, Willard
James, Bill James who was the treasurer of Harford uh of Maryland State treasurer for years and
that's he got me on and we were great friends of course I got him on the board of the bank and
all that sorta thing. And uh... so he took me in there. And uh... Yeah I did a lot of things without any education.
VC: Well, I guess you were self educated and that
CM: And of course I was with the draft board, I was treasurer. .uh. I mean I was head of that for quite
a few years.
VC: And now you are the honorary director of the Ripken Museum?
CM: Uhuh.
VC: Why don't you tell Everyone is going to know about that. Why don't you tell me a little bit
about that? Did you know the Ripken family well then?
CM: Uh. Oh yes, But not the sons, I new the grandfather.
VC: Oh, what was his name?
CM: They lived here.
VC: Oh. What was his name?
CM: Aaron and that was Cal senior's father and then uh... on the board of the bank we had Billy
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
Ripken and that was young Billy's uncle Billy. That was Cat's uncle. VC: OK.
CM: He was on our board and he played baseball for the Philadelphia Athletics. I guess it was and
uh.... I know one year the branch record came down and they won the Billy uh.... they
wanted.... he didn't make quite the progress that they knew that he was capable of and so they wanted him to stay another year and the bank had let him go of the board until he ... .they'd see he was going to make it and they won the second year.
VC: So you knew Cal senior and urn.. Billy?
CM: Oh the whole family, all the way back.
VC: Do you remember when Cal was younger? Cal Senior? Was he involved in baseball?
CM: Oh yes. All his life, all his life.
VC: Yeah, did you see him play?
CM: Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
VC: Well could you tell from a young age that the Ripken family was going to end up so involved in
baseball?
CM: Oh yeah, of course, un Cal Senior became a catcher for the Orioles in the Minor League and then
he became a manager in the Minor League. And of course in summertime she would take the kids and follow him to where ever he was playing, they were quite a baseball family.
VC: How about Cal Jr., did you see could you tell from a young age the way he was playing ?
CM: Oh yeah, they all knew it in High School?
DM: In the winter they played down in the High School, the old High School gym.
CM: He and our grandson trained with Cal and Junior for one year and Kent went ?away with club?
but and he did not stay. I guess he could have but I think he uh I don't know, he was young. He did not stay.
VC: Talking about your children, when did the first youngster come along? I got you married and living
in at the Carson's Run. Now when did that first youngster arrive?
DM: We were married in '32, uh the first baby was a son was born in July'34. And our daughter Nancy
in '36, and our daughter Linda in '38.
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
VC: Oh my. By then I think the schools had changed and there was new ....?
DM: Of course I went to the old High School right up here on Rte 40.
VC: Here in Aberdeen? Where were you born then?
DM: I was born in the City with my parents, but in 51h grade my mother passed away and I came down
to Aberdeen to live with my grandparents.
VC: What were your grandparents' names?
DM: Godwin. G.W. Godwin VC: OK
DM: And my grandmothers maiden name was Ivans and that is up there a prominent name in this
area. Her nephew was a pharmacist over the drugstore right downtown.
VC: What school did you go to when you got out here?
DM: Pardon?
VC: Did you go to school when you got out here?
DM: Oh yeah.
VC: What school did you go to first?
DM: Right up front on Rte 40 that is part of the old, what is it? The county has it now.
VC: Uhuh.
DM: In the old brick building.
VC: And how many grades did you go to?
DM: Graduated.
VC: Graduated, very good.
DM: And I thought this might be interesting. Our graduation ceremony was at Grove Presbyterian
Church and there were just 11 graduates in '29.
VC: 11 graduates in '29. What sort of . .. .what kind of celebration, what happened that day?
DM: Well, we had a real formal program. Just a? I
CM: I am telling you a lot of changes, isn't it?
VC: Well, that is one of the things I am going to ask you about. What are the biggest changes you
have noticed in Harford County? Everything..., but be specific.
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
CM: OhmyLord.
DM: Well, the progress we have seen shows all over the place, things that we all take for granted now.
We had one of the first TV's, refrigerators, radios. I heard a radio I heard a fight on the radio most not have been probably with the earphones.
CM: I'll tell you a little story about. I went down to a little store in Carson's Run and I went in and that
is one of those deals where the fellow Ozzie Gilbert has a store, the two stores and he went down
farther and so this time we bought a This time I went in the store and here he was with these
things on his ears and I saw this box on the floor and I said: what is going on here. And he said: it is a radio, the first radio I had ever seen.
VC: Did you get to listen to it that day?
CM: Oh yeah sure.
VC: What kind of things were on the radio, you said there was fights? What else was on the radio?
CM: Well they... well they.... music and fights and
DM: And wrestling was on TV. That was first thing on TV....
CM: And wrestling and the station, I never forgot it. It was KDKA, Pittsburgh and I think it is still
operating. KDKA.
VC: Wow, wow, coming over from Pittsburgh, that is quite a signal too. Gosh.
CM: It was a strong station.
VC: It would had to have been.
DM: Fortunately I remember my folks? 7
VC: Oh my.
DM: And they still lived in Baltimore, my mother was in the choir at the church and one of the
gentlemen had a new car and he came by and took us for a ride. I probably, I might have been
eight, I think.
CM: Well, I remember, I remember the same thing
DM: Streetcars.
VC: Oh wow.
CM: My uncle picked us up and I was just a kid and went to old Baltimore down the Proving Ground.
1-IARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
You know if it hadn't been for the Proving Ground, Aberdeen would have been like Annapolis.
Or alike, or some big? ? because of the thousands of acres down there, right on the bay, see
and it would have really been something.
DM: Yet the Proving Ground brought prosperity.
VC: Well, to Harford County and
DM: And to Harford County
CM: And Cecil County and to all of them.
VC: Do you know what kind of automobile you rode in first, or...?
CM: Well this was a Ford that my uncle had. A model T.
VC: A model T Ford.
CM: A model T. Brass, head lamps.? 7 on the fender.
VC: You must have thought you were something, right?
CM: Oh yeah. And our first car think, was a 1918 Buick.
DM: Yellow?
CM: No, no, that was way
DM: That was the one I saw.
VC: You had a yellow car?
DM: A yellow Buick. I thought of one thing, maybe for the town.
VC: Right.
DM: In the twenties the Eastern Star lights that was at Christmas, Christmas Eve.
CM: That was a branch of Masons.
DM: Uh?
CM: That was a branch of Masons.
DM: Yeah. Would gather at the Christmas tree down at the little square down at Bel Air Avenue and
we would all sing Christmas songs, carols.
VC: So you remember the Eastern Star?
DM: Pardon?
VC: You remember the Eastern Star?
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
DM: Oh yeah. Well my
CM: You were not a member.
DM: I was not a member, my '2? and he was whatever they called the one gentleman.
VC: The Mason? Or the...?
DM: In the Eastern Star. Something
VC: OK. Well uh.. How about.... do yo remember anything about the social life? When you were
growing up, any dances or?
CM: Oh yeah. We had the.., of course the ARC was part of Proving Ground. The ARC which, I mean
they opened here, it was a big building for the troops and of course uh the ladies of the town that ran it and it was wonderful for them and they had dances for the girls uh for the boys in the weekends and so.
DM: Well, before that the dances over at Havre de Grace at the Bayou.
VC: Ok.
DM: Which is on the water and now that was before we were married. I went and danced a couple.
VC: In Havre de Grace, at the dance club?
DM: At the Bayou, yeah.
VC: At the Bayou.
CM: At the Bayou (singing).
VC: It is right on the water, isn't it?
CM: It is right on the water and they have walk there now. Have you ever....?
VC: I haven't done the whole walk no.
CM It is really nice, a lot of people go there.
DM: Oh you must go.
VC: Actually, my husband and I planned to go one day and it got rained out and I wasn't game for
walking in the rain, though uh, and how about uh, the Fire Department, did they have any up here, when did they start?
CM: Oh yes, oh yes. Well, now I uh.... I wasn't.. I did not join that, because that just never worked into
my business.
HARFORD LIVING TRFASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
VC: Your schedule. Do you remember them being built?
CM: Oh yeah.
VC: Growing and things.
CM: We had a good Fire Department. And Havre de Grace always had a good Fire Department.
VC: Uh, also uh, sports, do you remeriiber when they first started in theory? I guess there was a lot
of ice skating or maybe.
CM: Of course, baseball and every Saturday. And of course uh
DM: The Susquehanna League.
CM: Her .... The Susquehanna League was a good league, pretty good baseball. And her uncle
played.
VC: Your uncle played. What was your uncle's name?
DM: Claude Brown.
VC: Claude Brown played on the...
DM: Susquehanna League team. My father played now I do not remember that
VC: But you remember going to see your uncle play?
OM: Uhuh.
VC: How about the railroads, do you remember anything about those in the area?
CM: Oh yeah. I know all about them.
VC: Ok, so tell us a little bit about the railroads.
CM: Well, there isn't too much to tell, I guess. Only .... Of course they were the main track, main
railroad, the Maryland and Pennsylvania and of course Aberdeen was were canning more or less started, in Maryland and maybe I don't know, tomato canning, it might have been, I don't know, I am not sure and corn may have originated, I am not sure. But at one time there was just under a hundred canning houses in RarlQrd County.
VC: Oh my.
CM: Little can houses, just farmers that had one and maybe employed 30 people or 35 people. Just
very small. And we had a canniri& house.
VC: What was the name of your canning house? Did you haq vr own label?
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
CM: No. VC: No.
CM: No, you used your brokers label.
VC: Oh, What broker....?
CM: Of course we had three brokers fri Aberdeen, so you can imagine. It was, let's see C.W. Baker
and Son, uh, Silvers and A.W. ?Siskles? and Son. Cause ?Siskles? was big. And Bel Air also had Robinson, I forget who was another name and it was Robinson in Bel Air but that was a big, big deal.
DM: Going back to the railroad. We rode the Royal Blue, that was a ? ... ? train from Baltimore to New
York.
VC: The Royal Blue.
DM: The Royal Blue.
CM: And her father, her grandfather worked the switches and worked them by hand for years, mind
you. For years. He had night shift.
VC: Wow. Where did he work the switches at?
CM: Right here in Aberdeen.
VC: Right in Aberdeen.
CM: Uhuh, that was for the crossing here. And
DM: He had levers, big levers, and through telegraphy he would get the message that the train was
coming like through Aberdeen and he would have to release the
CM: This was all done by hand, mind you. Back in those days.
VC: Wow. Wow.
DM: Never missed a day.
VC: Never missed a day, wow. How many years did he work for the railroad?
DM: Forever.
CM: Almost seems that way.
DM: He retired at 75, I suppose. Forty years at least, never missed from 3 to 11.
VC: Wow, evening shift, that is a tough shift. And what railroad went trough Aberdeen?
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
CM: That would have been the B&O.
VC: B&O, cause the Pennsylvania would have been over
DM: I remember coming up to see General Purshing.
VC: General Purshing.
DM: From the first WWI. We all cam& up came out on the back of the car.
VC: Do you remember any other famous people coming through town?
CN: Oh, all the presidents used to stop in.
VC: Did you get to see some of them?
CM: Oh yeah.
VC: Well, who did you see?
CM: Well Truman, gosh, a lot of them stopped. It got so you did not pay any attention to them.
DM: I could not have been very old when I remember about Purshing, but I do remember.
VC: You do remember
DM: Standing at the You know they had that car that had the brass railing on the back.
VC: That would be the last car?
CM: The last car.
VC: The last car, and you saw when the president came through, was it the same brass railing or did
they do extra decorations?
CM: Oh, of course they were special trains. And I don't remember
DM: They probably or maybe I don't remember.
VC; You don't remember. Uh, how about some of our noted Harford County, do you .... Millard
Tydings, or....?
CM: Oh I sat on the board with Millard. We went back for years.
VC: Did you, what was he like?
CM: Wonderful.
VC: Wonderful. Any special stories with him, or?
CM: oh, yeah, too numerous to mention.
VC: Well, pick a couple for me.
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
CM: What was he always saying? What a hell of a way to run a railroad.
VC: Hell of a way to run a railroad. Ok. I guess we will put that one in.
CM: He was a great fellow, wonderful. Of course we have been all of these places. ?....? so many
times.
VC: How about Mary Risteau? Did y6know?
CM: I knew of Mary, I don't recall seeing her many times. I know where she lived. Just out of Bel Air.
You know where she lived right there on the road. Where you get to Cooptown.
VC: Cooptown. Actually, I don't live to far from there.
CM: Is that right. I ... my mother died, my aunt I know on one or two occasions that they took me to
the town.
VC: Cooptown.
CM: Cooptown On the day, during the day, big day that they had. It was quite a meeting place.
VC: What were the meetings like, do you remember?
CM: I don't remember too much, no.
VC: You were too young? Too young.
DM: Well, there was a lot of music and of course there was of ceremony and
CM: Well, this is on Sunday. The big day when I went.
DM: I went to many camp meetings.
VC: Ok, well, tell me about the ones you went to?
DM: Well, that was when I was just, probably 4 or 5. My mother took us to church all the time. And
they had camp meetings in a .... ? grove with trees and they had ministers.
CM: They had cottages then to go out in the summer.
VC: Oh.
CM: Then they stay most of the?
VC: Pardon.
CM: They stayed in those cottages. In the summertime. It was an outing.
DM: Oh yeah, some of the people, My dad
VC: SIDE TWO
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
VC: Ok, You were talking about your dad getting a cottage? For the summer.
DM: They would have the camp meeting grounds. And some of the folks from the city would rent the
whole cottages. And they had services every weekend. And up from the family which day up out
of Baltimore in Glendon. And then we went up Daddy brought one up at New Freedom,
Pennsylvania, which is just over the law. And we... I would take the children our daughters to visit. We attended services.
VC: And then they go back and work during the week?
DM: oh yeah.
VC: Ok, Uh, now I know I asked you about Millard Tydings and Mary Risteau, how about John O'Neill?
Did you know John O'Neill?
CM: Oh yes, yes. I knew John. Not well, but I knew him.
VC: Knew him.
CM: yeah.
VC: Yeah, How about C. Milton Wright?
CM: Oh, he was our, what do they call him, Milton, Mr. Wright?
DM: He was superintendent.
CM: Superintendent of schools and he'd only come around at Jefferson maybe once month. Ortwo
or three times, but he was well liked.
VC: What was the name of your teacher? Do you remember?
CM: Oh, I Mrs. James and Mrs. Guswaller, Mrs. Wright, and Mrs. Harwood and
VC; How about you when you were in Aberdeen High? Do you remember some of your teachers?
DM: Well, uh, Ms. Walker, lived right up there on Paradise Road and 152, I think. Virginia Mullenkisen,
from Bel Air, Ms. Powell from Bel Air. And the principal was Mr. Stevens.
VC: Stevens, ok, and how about William S. James. Did you know him?
CM: Oh, Bill, Bill and I we were close friends.
VC: Were you?
CM: Very close.
VC: Now I know I am gonna get a story.
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
CM: Very close.
VC: Ok, now you have to tell me a good story, since you were so close.
CM: Very close.
VC: Tell me a story, something about him. That would be that you would now. Story.
CM: All right lets see. Of course I got Bill on our bank board
VC: OK.
CM: and it so happened that our President of our board, Mr. Smith Michael and I were very close, me
and my? 12 and it so happened that Bills father, Roy James and Mr. Michael weren't good
friends.
VC: Oh my.
CM: And uh, so Bill when Bill ran for office, I don't know which office it was at that time, but he even
? ? went in at the same time, and Mr. Michael not liking bill's father he worked for ' .... ? and
not for Bill. So years went by and we needed somebody on the board. And there was one fellow,
I won't mention his name,? ? But anyway, I did not care for the fellow and he was trying
hard to get on the bank board so Mr. Michael said something to me and I said: Mr. Michael, let me tell you I said to him: if he gets on the board I won't stay on the board. Because I just don't like the fellow. And I wasn't the only one. So then the time came that we had to get somebody, so I said: Mr. Michael, and he said: do you know ... who do you think.... ... do you have anybody? And I said: Yes, how about Bill James? He said: you like him that well? And I said: Yes I do. So
the next day he came back and said: Why don't you ask Bill?? "did not like me. I
said that I'd be glad, and so I asked Bill and Bill almost fainted. He said: Mr. Michael? Mr.
Michael on the bank? I said: yeah. He said: he asked me? I said: yeah. ? ? When he
came on the bank board, Mr. Michael turned to Bill and they turned out the greatest of friends.
VC: So they found they liked the son even though he did not like his father, the dad?
CM: Yeah.
VC: So, You were just a real good friend of him?
CM: Oh yeah we were good friends and uh, no I can't say.... I think it was Bill who got me on the
school board? I mean, the yeah up at the college. But we were good friends.
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
VC: Well, I got to ask you about the race track here. Do you know anything about that?
CM: Oh yeah. Of course it was big times here when the races were on and it would fill all the space
that they had in the homes here for taking in roomers, both Havre de Grace and Aberbeen. And that was twice a year, spring and fall. And it was a really busy, busy time.
VC: Did you ever take in a roomer? -
CM: No, no.
VC: Did you ever take in a jockey or anybody?
CM: No, no.
DM: We did do during WWII.
VC: You did take people in then?
DM: Oh yes.
VC: Who did you take in?
CM: Everybody did, most everybody did.
VC: Who did you take in?
DM: Contractor, we had a man and a wife who was in the war effort at the Proving Ground,
VC: Aberdeen Proving Ground.
DM: And then we had an elderly gentleman. And then we lived right here on the corner.
VC: On the corner of Be! Air Road?
DM: Yes, so you just used your rooms that were available.
VC: So almost everybody in town then would be
DM: And of course we all visited at the ARC.
VC: Now back to the racetrack. You did spring, fall they had their two meets. And there were regular
races with the jockeys?
CM: Oh yeah, it was a big track. It was a good track. People came from New York regularly on the
trains. It was a very good track.
VC: So they took a train ride from New York into Aberdeen? And Havre de Grace, and?
CM: uhuh.
VC: Wow, and did you ever see the races?
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
CM: No, I never have, I went one time with my daughter.
VC: uhuh.
CM: Of course, Nancy she knew all the horses by blood and line, and all.
DM: Bloodlines, she loved horses.
VC: And how did she get into horses?'
CM: Well, she loved them from kid up, if a horse come down the street and turn she's walk along side
of it, till it got out of away from our property, out there. Every time, she loved horses.
DM: We used to have a little ice cream people that sold the ice cream.
CM: Well, they did not have horses. But that was...
DM: No that is right.
VC: Did other businesses have horses?
CM: Way back they did, delivering milk or uh.... and mail carriers.
VC: Mail carriers had horses?
CM: Oh yeah, out in the country, not in town they did, still they walked, but out in the country they did.
VC: Did they have a wagon?
CM: Regular little, built specifically for mail carriers.
VC: A mail carrier buggy?
CM: A mail carrier buggy.
VC: Oh my God
CM: Made by over in of Havre de Grace.
VC: They were made in Havre de Grace? Was it a special company that made them?
CM: Yeah, yeah, Burns.
VC: Burns Company made them? Did they do just this area or did they make it for the whole.
CM: I don't know how far they shipped them. But they made them for here. I imagine they shipped
them everywhere.
VC: Wow, Yeah with the rail lines, probably. Oh my Gosh, I can't imagine that, but it is fun. And so
your daughter had horses then?
CM: Oh yes, she had good horses.
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
VC: She had good horses.
DM: Well, ponies.
VC: Ponies.
CM: Large ponies.
VC: Large ponies.
CM: ? One pony to in Cleveland and delivered it up there.
VC: How did you get up to Cleveland.
CM: Well, we had our own trailer, lithe trailer. In the back of the car. And I said, well I said that. He
called me up and said: Is this horse as good as you advertised it? I said: Well,.' think so. And I told him to call, and he called me back and he said I would like to have the horse and I said: Gone. He said: I want you to bring it out and I said I am not gonna bring it in. He said: I can't come get it. He said I'll pay you for bringing it out and if I don't keep the horse after your daughter shows it to me, I'll pay you to take it back, bring it there and take it back.
VC: Couldn't lose.
CM: And it was a good horse, but uh.... and they had a paper that they wrote up all.... What do you call
the a paper? That they wrote up all the horse stories and she was advertising it.
DM: Oh, you mean the magazine?
CM: The magazine.
VC: Oh dear.
CM: Well anyway, we got pretty good customers. But I bought all good horses. I had a friend that
knew horses. And..
VC: What was the friends name?
CM: Carol? ?
VC: OK.
CM: He lived in Cockeysville ... and he was real good to us. And? 4'
VC: And you picked your daughter's horse that she rode up in Madison Square Garden?
CM: Uhuh.
VC: Do you know the name of the horse?
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
CM: uh, Moonbeam. VC: Moonbeam.
CM: That was one of them and then High Noon was another I think. We had good fun, we had good
fun.
VC: Well I think....
CM: And we could sell them, we could sell them. We could always sell them.
VC: Good, you must have kept them well then?
CM: Well, they were at enough if she wants them I would?
VC: Do you have anything you would like to add, that you can think off that I have missed. I am trying
to think of things that you guys know. You probably know so many things. I know I already asked you the delivery, uh, the ice, where ... how did you all get ice? I mean...
CM: Well, you go get it yourself at the ice plant,? ? here in town.
VC: What is the name of the ice plant?
CM: Well, one of them is McClellan's ice plant and one is uh I guess went back to Kronen.
VC: Ok.
DM: The Jay Wilbur Kronen family was gorgeous and very prominent in this area.
CM: One of them was a lawyer, and a senator.
DM: There were eight children in that family and they all went to college.
VC: Wow.
CM I don't know how they did it but they did.
VC: Wow.
DM: And Jay Wilbur, the oldest, was the first graduate at Aberdeen High.
VC: Now that is interesting, very interesting.
DM: And the one and only that year.
VC: The only person that graduated from high School?
CM: How many was there in your place?
DM: Eleven.
VC: She had a big class.
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
CM: Yeah, eleven.
VC: At eleven, gosh, you know. And uh, so you would go and get ice and when you had ice I
guess you had an icebox when you got to Aberdeen?
CM: No, we had a refrigerator.
VC: So, you had to go get
CM: That was in33,
VC: Oh.
CM: We were modern then.
VC: Oh gosh, yeah. So when you grew up at the farm, you had to drive in and.. get your ice and bring
it back?
CM: Yeah.
VC: How about the Susquehanna, did you ever see the big ice gorges and ...?
CM: Oh yeah.
VC: Yeah.
CM: And the Towpath, you know about the towpath?
VC: No, what? Tell me about the towpath.
CM: Well, it comes from Cooperstown down to Havre de Grace, you don't know about the towpath?
VC: I don't, no, no.
CM: Uh, well, they called the....
DM: Lockhatch. At Havre de Grace.
CM: The lockhatch, this boat canal comes from Cooperstown, down the Susquehanna right along the
edge of it. And in Havre de Grace. And they would bring ?all sand? and close it down or they would bring cargo on little barges and tow with mules. Along side of the towpath. You will have to go see that.
VC: I will. This... I am I am going to go see it.
CM: They really got it fixed up nice and they keep it open. To show people every..., and you can join,
it would be interesting for you.
VC: Did you ever see the Susquehanna frozen or anything ?
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
CM: Oh yeah.
VC: Yeah? CM: Yeah.
VC: And the ice would get pretty thick then.
CM: Oh, it sure did. That had... an icedams they called it. Down as far as .... ? And I know one of
your ? ... ? that would travel down on them....
DM: We drive down to see it.
VC: I know earlier you were mentioning that you heard an ice story? About the railroad and it
? mentioned ?before ? about they ran a train over the ice?
CM: Yeah, well I can't retake that too much, or but I don't know exactly what that was? But they said
that they done it but I don't know why that would be?
VC: They laid the track and went over it with the train ?
CM: That is what I heard.
DM: We remember the double decker bridge over the Susquehanna.
VC: Hum.
CM: I am the first one that ever went over the double decker. I was selling trucks, Republic trucks out
of Baltimore.
VC: Uhuh.
CM: And then I brought one up to demonstrate to? ? Brothers down in Havre de Grace and they
said: how about taking a load of gravel over to the other side of the bridge for us, you'll be the first one ever to go over the bridge. So I took it over there to the other side.
VC: The double decker, was it driving both ways or was it walking?
CM: One over the other.
VC: One over the other?
CM: Uhuh, well they had.... first they had the one and they used it for double but it was too narrow so
then they put the one on top.
VC: On top of it?
CM: Yeah, to speed up traffic.
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
VC: Hard to imagine there could be that much traffic. So do you remember any of the other special
things? Do you remember Bata Shoe Company? Anything about when that first came?
CM: Oh yeah, oh yeah. That is the year that I founded the Sinclair Company in 19 1936, 1936.
VC: Uhuh.
CM: And that is also the year that Rte 40 I see what did they do. I guess that is the year they built Rte
40 and closed 7. They had 7 and then they opened 40 and that is the year I went to Sinclair.
VC: Wow and how about the war? I knew you talked about you housed people because the Proving
Ground, but any other war efforts that you remember in the town anymore special war efforts?
CM: Well, of course they had the ARC building which they entertained the troops.
DM: We all did
CM: I know
DM: You know we had the plane watch, he went up in the tower of this....
CM: We watched for planes coming over around the clock. And up in the steeple in the school.
VC: So this school you went... Where did you go to watch for the planes?
CM: Up in the school, up in the tower. And reported it, every plane during the war.
VC: Any other war effort that you remember.
CM: No... I don't know anything, there were a lot of things.
DM: This uh Wilbur Kronen, the guy I spoke about was one of the meeting citizens of? ? of
entertaining the soldiers, we had dances, had the May Queen. Several years they brought busses of girls from the city to dance with the boys. Our daughters were flower girls in one of the celebrations.
VC: So in May they had a big celebration?
DM: In May, yes.
VC: The May queen, your girls were the flower girls? Ok.
CM: Did you know what the how they really used to shoot ducks down on the .... You have heard
it, have you ever heard it?
VC: No.
CM: Well, that is why the Bayou Hotel was built for the sportsmen that came down from New York.
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
VC: The sportsmen?
CM: Uhuh, and they had ... they came down there and spent time if they wanted to, could spent for
ducking, duck hunting.
VC: Duck hunting.
CM: Yeah, on the flats.
VC: Were you ever a hunter?
CM: Oh yeah.
VC: Yeah.
CM: I shot ducks out of the sink box which very few people that is living today have done that.
VC: How .... where were the sink boxes?
CM: The sink boxes, right out in the Bay, or in the flats rather, they called it flats. And uh....
DM: Susquehanna.
CM: It was built so that the wings were rather I'd say were the whole thing was probably 20 feet and
then you would have 2 sink boxes with... cut out big enough for you to lay down on your back and then you'd be in down below the water but it was built in, in for you so you'd be able to lay on your back and the ducks would come in and you are in all these decoys. You'd have all these decoys all around you and... raise up to shoot.
VC: Around you. And.... right. I don't believe I ever heard of sink boxes, ok and that is on the
Susquehanna ?
CM: Or it would be uh yeah, of course I am thinking about the Bay and the? on the
Susquehanna.
DM: It is bound to happen all the way down the Eastern Shore.
VC: ?
CM: That is one way, another way is bush wacking. Bush wacking is you take a boat and you built up
so you can sit up and with straw and everything, something to hide you and than you shoot
through the You have enough people through he straw and shoot and you scull down and the
sculler would be in the back with the paddle and he could take you down and that boat would be so flat it would not even move as far as this way.
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
VC: Wow. Would not wobble at all. And did you get your ducks and eat them?
CM: Oh sure.
VC: And did you have to clean the ducks?
CM: Oh yeah.
DM: Oh yes, and were they hard to do:
VC: Really? CM: And geese.
VC: And geese, so Christmas...
DM: We had a Chesapeake Bay dog.
VC: Oh did you?
DM: Which...
CM: We didn't.
DM: We didn't but you had to have Bay to swim out and get the ducks.
VC: So you had the dogs bring them in and you had to clean and cook them.
DM: My uncle did a lot of hunting and he had a Chesapeake Bay Dog.
VC: He had the retriever trained. So he could go out and get the bird. So did that mean at Christmas
time you had a goose or did you have a....?
CM: No, we had a turkey.
VC: I was waiting for you to tell me that you had a goose.
CM: We were not that much for geese. We did not have to many geese, we did not eat to many
geese.
DM: But lots of ducks. Canvasback of course was tops. My grandmother I would not know how many
she must have cooked in her lifetime. And the real sportsman liked them sort of rare but we didn't, we would cook them well.
VC: Did you hunt anything else, or...?
CM: Rabbit and birds and quail. That sort of thing. Cause my uncles all had dogs and.., for hunting.
I had a rabbit dog.
VC: So where did you hunt? Was it on your own property, or?
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
CM: Well, our property or? ? Of course we had, our farm was 110 acres.
VC: What did you raise on your farm?
CM: Oh, tomatoes and corn we and that sort of thing. And we had cows.
DM: And the milk herd.
VC: Did you have cows too? Did you have uh.... Did you milk them all by hand?
CM: Oh yeah.
VC: Oh my.
CM: He did many of milking.
VC: How many did you have?
CM: Thirty. 25 to 30. And I was a kid and Mr. Dick had the farm and all he ever did with it was raise
corn and then he would buy cattle. Steers and fatten them and sell them of when they were ready to butcher. So I was very aggressive I guess when I said this and I said: this does not make sense. Cause he does not make any money of it. I said that the only one way you can stay on this farm is when you put cows on it. Well you want cows? I said well that is the only way you can
stay on the farm. You'll have a check coming in once a month. So he bought He fixed the
barn all up and he got the cows of course the bad part of it was I had to help him out. Well I was in the trucking business, we were... I was in the trucking business. And I also ventured I was gonna learn how to grow mushrooms. I used to go up through the mushroom county and I saw them and thought that is pretty lucrative. And we had it so, so.. So I found out how to raise mushrooms and we had a big house and in the basement I filled it up with mushroom ?vents.? and I learned how to do it and I knew how to do it and I was gonna go in business for myself one way or another, with something. So I went into the coal business and I let the mushrooms go.
But I probably would have been mushroom heavy had I
VC: How.... What was What did you have to do to grow mushrooms?
CM: Well, it is quite a thing, you buy the ?spawn? and you have to compost horse manure. You have
to get the horse manure and let that compost and then you had the put it in the building, and I had it in the basement. But the horse manure had no odor to it.
VC: Right.
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
CM: So after you had that compost and it was amazing having those thing grow. It was very.., real
interesting.
VC: When you were first doing it, did you sell of them or did you just ?
CM: Oh yeah, we sold. We sold them.
VC: Who did you sell to?
CM: Stores.
VC: What stores did you sell mushrooms to?
CM: Well, up in Bet Air, you took..., delivered them, but
DM: I took them to the stores.
CM: But I learned how to do them. I knew how to do it and of course up in Pennsylvania, one after the
other, have you ever seen them? The houses the mushroom houses?
VC: Yeah up by the line.
DM: Near Lancaster
CM: That was what I was heading for, if I hadn't gotten in the oil business.
VC: Or you would have been the mushroom king of Harford County.
CM: Well, that does not sound
VC: What stores did you deliver the mushrooms to?
DM: I don't remember.
VC: I think you don't want to remember.
DM: I guess I don't want to remember.
CM: I think they were restaurants.
DM: Yeah, I guess the restaurants used...., of course not as much as they do in this era.
VC: What were some of the restaurants around at that time?
CM: Well, the ?Lum? was there for three years next to the bank right across from the courthouse.
VC: The Red Fox?
CM: The Red Fox that was there. For a long time. And then of course the well, uh there was
one down on the corner of course they tore that down. That was across from the uh the bank
building, and I forget what that was. I forget the name
34
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
DM: But we moved on to something more profitable.
VC: Left the mushrooms behind. When you had the cows did you deliver milk or such?
CM: No we shipped it to Churchville to a ?greater? place, where the big trucks picked it up for
Baltimore.
VC: Oh, so you shipped it to Churchville and that is where the 2
CM: We hauled it up ourselves.
DM: Tank.
CM: Trucks with tanks picked it up.
VC: Do you remember the name of the business in Churchville where you sent it to?.
CM: Uh, Mrs. Hawkins, Harold Hawkins who was uh
DM: Superintendent of schools.
CM: Superintendent of schools wasn't it? Or at Towson he was at Towson later on or Hawkins. And
Mrs. Hawkins her husband died and she ran the business. So she had a busy big place that truckers.
VC: ?
CM: Big trucks came in and picked it up.
VC: Picked it up. When did you give up your cows and mushrooms? And moved
CM: When we came to Aberdeen.
VC: Veah,yeah.
CM: That place on? 7 We sold the farm, 110 acres and the new house, the big house, you
know the one in Carson's Run, you know.... as you come down the hill in Carson's Run? At the church on the right.
DM: Little Baptist Church.
CM: That big square house, that was all our farm.
VC: Wow
CM: And we built that, the old house burned and we built that. Nice house. How much did we ask for
it? 110 acres with all the cows? $11,500.
VC: Wow.
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
CM: $11,000 mind you.
VC: Probably at the time it seemed like a good price.
CM: That is all you could get. That was the price.
VC: That was the price. You said the old house burned.
CM: The old house did, yeah.
VC: You had a fire there?
CM: If caught on fire.
VC: What in the kitchen or
CM: The wood stove.
VC: The wood stove. Wood stove?
CM: Or the chimney, probably the chimney.
VC: Did the fire department come and all?
CM: Uh I am sure they did.
VC: you don't remember?
CM: Oh, I remember the fire but I probably....
DM: We moved to Aberdeen in June 36. So that is when...
VC: What did Aberdeen look like in 36?
CM: Well, of course Aberdeen, all the old stores on the South Side of Be! Air Avenue burned down in
1918.
VC: Ok.
CM: Wasn't it 18? And in fact Dot's grandmother lived in one of them. That burned up too ?there was
not stop.?
DM: They moved everything out of my grandmother's house. On the other side they were going to
I don't mean What do I want to say... They were going to
CM: They were going to burn or
DM: They were gonna level the house.
CM: Blast it out. They were gonna level to stop the fire.
VC: Right
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
CM: But they did not have to do it
VC: So your family...
DM: And then, that's when? ? then see in that lot there was grocery story, furniture store,
?Ca 9 Furniture and the drugstore. And that was the Ivans family that I mentioned. So my
grandmother put up a little tin building along side of the house. And he opened up a little drugstore.
VC: A drugstore in a little tin building.
CM: Yes.
VC: Now was the first drugstore in Aberdeen called....?
DM: No there was one on ?Cross? Street which was Adele's, yes, on ?Cross? Street.
VC: And the fire basically destroyed everything down to the tin.
OM: Clear to the corner of what is now Rte 40.
VC: Right. And destroyed all that.
DM: I don't remember that .... but they brought in the soldiers from the Proving Ground, so we heard.
VC: Helped fight the fire. When you did come here what did Main Street look like? When you arrived
here at your first house?
DM: Well, very country, you know, of course when you had children you don't really think about that.
It was a country town.
VC: Ok, you said the house you live in now you build?
CM: Uhuh, I had ... I had, we had my architect and a head carpenter, and a good one and a helper,
a good helper and then we furnished our own help. We had the heating department and the oil company and we had a lot of help and the neighbors worked and we put all the heating in ourselves. And uh... so we more or less built it ourselves.
VC: Built your own house,? 'building your own.
CM: And then we bought all of our lumber. And then you could get top lumber.
VC: Where did you buy your lumber from?
CM: Well from the lumber yard. ?Elisabeth Lumber? and on
DM: Hard Road.
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
CM: Kefauver's, VC: Kefauver's.
CM: He and I were good friends.
VC: Were you friends? Kefauver's?
CM: Uhuh, I sold him all his products and his oil. And push trucks and everything, motor oil.
DM: That was the father.
CM: Yeah, that does not matter, he was a wonderful fellow.
VC: Actually, I do go to church with one of the Kefauver's, I go to Jarretsville.
DM: Ohdoyou?
CM: Of course he still living I am sure.
VC: I believe so. Well, do you remember what this town looked like when you first got here? When
you first got over ?
CM: Oh yeah.
VC: What do you remember from when you first got here?
CM: Well, this house wasn't here. This was a tennis court.
VC: A tennis court?
CM: For that house over there, that was the Baker house. Now did you notice.... Are you familiar here
in Aberdeen?
VC: No, no.
CM: Now this was a tremendous house next door. Next door is the justice of the peace. All Baker's
and then the next one up is Baker's smaller. And then the one up on the other side of the street, on the corner of Paradise Road, tremendous house. They were C.W. Baker and Sons. They were all canned goods people.
VC: Ok.
CM: All can brokers. And then the big brick house was ?that belonged to Landbeck? and then the
next, well the other one down is the Baker's. So uh
VC: And yours is just up on... not too far, your first home?
CM: Your first home yeah right up there.
1-IARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
VC: So when you got to Aberdeen it did not look like it does now then?
CM: Well, Pretty much.
DM: Pretty much.
CM: This hasn't changed.
VC: This hasn't changed that much?
CM: no.
VC: And all the extra?
DM: Where they changed is, is up on 22.
CM: See they opened up that other road into the Proving Ground and everything went up there.
DM: So that is where the big changes are.
VC: When they opened the new road?
CM: Uhuh, yeah,
VC: Ok, well, any other things from Aberdeen that you can remember that you want to add, or?
CM: Aberdeen?
DM: I did have one of the? ? thing written down, cause I remember.
CM: I had a great life.
VC: It sounds like it.
CM: I had good help. And I've been in I don't know in how many businesses and I have been
successful in every one of them.
VC: Exactly. A Jack of all trades.
CM: In every business we had uh.... we had the rental houses we had 600 and some rental houses.
VC: 600 rental houses?
CM: Uhuh. Now that was Baldwin Manor Incorporated which I was one of the corporation, I did not
own them all. In other words, when we sold out after us, there were four of us and so we sold out.
DM: That is KARAN's family.
VC: How do you spell that?
DM: K.A.R.A.N.
CM: And then I had service stations. I build them all over Harford County.
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
VC: What do you think was the key of your success in all the business ventures?
CM: Work.
VC: Work, hard work?
CM: Hard work. And you know I say the smartest thing about me is that I am smart enough to know
that I don't know too much. And I get the best people there are in Lawyers, architects, accountants, I get the best. And I depend on them.
VC: It sounds like it worked real well.
CM: ? 9
VC: Now the mushrooms you had to depend on yourself. Did you remember what you
DM: The one thing I remember is there was not any organized sports in High School.
VC: Ok.
DM: When I graduated. So it would be some off the teachers or even a student who'd run it. But they
would have a meeting, uh a meet up at Bel Air at the Fairgrounds.
VC: OK.
DM: And they.... I am not sure where that was.
CM: At the Fairgrounds.
DM: Yes at the Fairgrounds.
CM: Which is where the mall is.
VC: Ok, that is where the fairgrounds were?
CM: There were two fairgrounds. There was a fairway, way back in 1908 or 9 and that failed and then
they opened another one up in the 20 and that faded out and they opened a racetrack and that faded out and then the mall people bought the racetrack and built the mall.
VC: But you remember going and competing at the fair?
CM: She did.
DM: Yes, so we would The high students... it was for the high school students and we'd go to Bel
Air and they would give out medals.
VC: What kind of events would they have what kind of sports?
DM: Basketball.
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
CM: She was good.
DM: Volley ball, dodge bail, all those games, and running.
VC: Which did you compete in?
DM: I did get a gold medal in running.
VC: Oh my goodness, what distance did you run in?
CM: She ran like a rabbit
VC: What distance did you run? You don't
DM: Oh probably, I don't know, 50 yards or whatever.
VC: And you got a gold medal in it?
DM: Yes.
VC: In running at the fairgrounds Bel Air
DM: And I never said anything about it. My daughter Linda found this in one of our boxes. Mother
what is that and I said that is a gold medal.
VC: Running ... did you ever think of just playing sports....?
CM: She was a good tennis player.
DM: Volleyball, I was, I enjoyed that and basketball.
VC: Where the teams like girls and boys, or was it coed?
DM: No, no, it was separate, girls and boys. It was fun.
VC: So you did not keep up with your sports, decide to go to the Olympic or something?
DM: I didn't, I did tennis.
VC: You did tennis?
DM: Yes, I played till I was in my sixties, I guess.
VC: Where did you play?
DM: Well, I played once on this court.
VC: On the court the house stands today.
DM: I played on the Proving Ground,
VC: On the Proving Ground.
DM: we were members of the Officer's Club and so ... we went down there.
RARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
VC: How about you? Were you ever involved in any...?
CM: I did not have time.
VC: Well, no wonder. Cows and the mushrooms and the oil and the coal and the..
DM: We were very grace full and..
CM: I went to games but I did not have time.
DM: We had seasons tickets many years, but really that was.... He just loved to work.
VC: He certainly achieved much. Anything else guys? Every time I think we are almost done you
come up with this wonderful information.
CM: Did she see some of the.... about the awards that I have.., for the ?
DM: Well, that is recent, too recent.
CM: Recent? For the boys Scouts?
VC: No.
CM: Boys and Girls, not Boy Scouts, the
VC: Boys Club?
CM: Well that and Boys Scouts also.
VC: What kind of awards did you receive?
OM: He was Citizen of the year for the Boys Scouts this year.
VC: Well, that is pretty exciting.
DM: And the Boys and Girls Club he was on their..? ..... ? and of course the Masons. But he received
the ?.Paula ? Arrows fellow. And then I received on this year.
VC: What did you receive one for?
CM: Oh, she rode in on mine. No, just kidding.
DM: It is the foundation and all of the Rotary incidents took every bit to .... so uh I just got the highest.
I said I didn't, I am not a member.
VC: You must have done something important.
DM: Keeping him straight.
VC: And you are married how many?
DM: 68 years.
HARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
VC: 68 years. And when is your anniversary?
DM: May gth•
VC: May ath? And what is the secret of a long marriage?
CM: Getting along.
VC: And that requires?
CM: Work.
DM: Love, really
CM: Well it has to be give and take.
VC: Give and take.
CM: I was always the one that had to take. No, actually we had very few misunderstandings.
DM: Misunderstandings. We just do.
CM: And a lot.
VC: That is good.
CM: Of course we did discuss if we could not get along we would not live together.
VC: When? CM: Early.
VC: Early in the first?
CM: Discussed it we did not want to waste each other's live.
VC: Uhuh.
CM: We done the same thing? ?
VC: But, you just did not listen to your uncle and stuck with it.
CM: It did so far.
DM: It was not supposed to work at all.
VC: Well it sounds like it did very well. I think we'll call this the conclusion this if you can't think of
anything else. I thank you so much for sharing your experiences in your life in this way with the Library and others in Harford. County.
DM: One thing in closings.
VC: OK.
RARFORD LIVING TREASURES Mr. C. Curtis Morgan
DM: I think we have always been devoted to each other, to our children, our grandchildren, our great
grandchildren and our church.
VC: And you still below to the Methodist Church here in town?
CM: Uhuh.
DM: So, I thin that has been our life.
VC: And a gq9Ø one, thank you so much.
Harford County Living Treasures - Harford County Public Library
