Encyclopedia Dubuque
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MORRISON, John Sr.
MORRISON, John Sr. (Scotland, 1820-1876) John Morrison Sr. took a ferry across the MISSISSIPPI RIVER in 1855 and began boiler making in a brick building he built on the corner of 7th and Main Streets.
When the CIVIL WAR began, he was too old to enlist in the military so he took it upon himself to transport wounded soldiers north from the front lines. Family legend had it that one of the wounded soldiers that accompanied him back from the front was his brother-in-law Andrew Young MCDONALD.
The Morrison Boiler Shop operated until 1872, without great prosperity because of its small production, mainly due to the fact that John, spending time attending to the wounded in the war, was unable to purchase power machinery. It was his five young sons who were responsible for the growth of the MORRISON BROTHERS COMPANY.
John’s two oldest sons John Jr. (October 1846 – August 29, 1910) and Angus, having learned the plumbing and heating trade from their uncle A.Y. McDonald, started a plumbing business in addition to the boiler shop.
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Source:
"John Morrison, Sr." Linwood Legacies. Online: http://www.linwoodlegacies.org/the-morrison-family.html