SIGRIST:

Good morning. This is Paul Sigrist for the National Park Service. Today is Wednesday, April 24 th , 1996. I'm at the South Windsor Nursing Center in South Windsor, Connecticut. And I'm here with Mary Morgan.

MORGAN:

Yes.

SIGRIST:

Mrs. Morgan was born in Ireland —

MORGAN:

Yes.

SIGRIST:

— and went to England and lived in England for about seven years or so.

MORGAN:

Yes.

SIGRIST:

And came to the United States in 1920. She thinks she was about 16 at that time. Mrs. Morgan, when is your birth date?

MORGAN:

July the 11 th , 1903.

SIGRIST:

And what was your name before you were Morgan — before you were —

MORGAN:

Shea.

SIGRIST:

Can you spell that?

MORGAN:

That was my maiden name. S-H-E-A.

SIGRIST:

And where in Ireland were you born?

MORGAN:

Mallow.

SIGRIST:

Can you spell that please?

MORGAN:

County Clark.

SIGRIST:

It's in County Clark.

MORGAN:

[unclear].

SIGRIST:

And what was the name of the town?

MORGAN:

Mallow.

SIGRIST:

Mallow.

MORGAN:

I was born in Mallow.

SIGRIST:

Do you know how to spell Mallow?

MORGAN:

Mallow?

SIGRIST:

The name of the town.

MORGAN:

It — it — that was the name of the town.

SIGRIST:

Right. How do you spell it? Do you know?

MORGAN:

M-A-L-L-O-W, I think it is.

SIGRIST:

Uh-huh. What do you remember about the town?

MORGAN:

Not very much. I remember that we were — the Malition [PH], the soldiers were across the street from us. I have a picture of my mother holding me over there. [chuckles] And — and not much was going on then. I was only a little — when I left there.

SIGRIST:

Do —

MORGAN:

My mother passed away.

SIGRIST:

Do you remember — do you remember the house that you lived in in Mallow?

MORGAN:

No.

SIGRIST:

No.

MORGAN:

I don't. I was too young. I couldn't —

SIGRIST:

How old were you when your mother died?

MORGAN:

Ten.

SIGRIST:

You were 10.

MORGAN:

And I was the oldest of four.

SIGRIST:

What were the names of your brothers and sisters?

MORGAN:

My sister next to me, Anna, and the other sister, Christine, and my brother, James.

SIGRIST:

Was James the youngest?

MORGAN:

James was the youngest, yes.

SIGRIST:

James was the youngest.

MORGAN:

Yes. My mother passed away after he was born.

SIGRIST:

I see.

MORGAN:

And then I was mother. That's why I hate to think of that time; it wasn't a happy one.

SIGRIST:

Is that when you went to England?

MORGAN:

No.

SIGRIST:

No.

MORGAN:

We weren't over here yet. For years, we stayed.

SIGRIST:

Where did you — after you [unclear] —

MORGAN:

I went to school in Ireland.

SIGRIST:

I see. Tell me about going to school.

MORGAN:

Oh, I went to the convent there, to the sister school. We were in — boys and girls weren't together. The boys went to the monastery. And they had built a new convent before I left there and I was — used to love to go to school. It was so pretty.

SIGRIST:

What were your favorite subjects in school?

MORGAN:

Geography, I used to like, I think. I wasn't a very happy person at that time so I had to stay out of school quite awhile. I missed my mother.

SIGRIST:

Did — do any of the nuns stick out in your mind that you remember? Do you remember any of the nuns?

MORGAN:

No, I don't. I remember one nun. Oh, she was very tall and rough looking. That's the way I can remember. And if you were five minutes late you hold your hands out and she slapped them both with a pointer. And I used to hate her. I walked four miles to school and four miles back every day. And then I had two more to take care of when I went home — three more. Somebody used to take care of — stay with them when I was in school and my father had to work.

SIGRIST:

What was your father's name?

MORGAN:

Michael Shea.

SIGRIST:

Michael Shea. And what did your father do for a living?

MORGAN:

He was head gardener, landscape gardener.

SIGRIST:

For somebody or —

MORGAN:

For the gentry.

SIGRIST:

The gentry.

MORGAN:

The wealthy people, yeah.

SIGRIST:

Can you talk a little bit —

MORGAN:

The Lord and Lady Hennich [PH], he worked.

SIGRIST:

For Lord and Lady Hennich.

MORGAN:

Yes.

SIGRIST:

Do you know how to spell Hennich?

MORGAN:

[chuckles] I don't. I don't think I —

SIGRIST:

Hennich, hmm.

MORGAN:

Hennich.

SIGRIST:

Well, can you tell me what some of his duties were —

MORGAN:

My father's?

SIGRIST:

— as the head gardener?

MORGAN:

Oh, yes. They had hundreds of — what would you say? [chuckles] I forget the name. Well, anyways, a great big farm. And he had — he only had 12, 14 girls under him, and — and the men, coachmen and all the — the other head gardeners. He had quite a job. [chuckles]

SIGRIST:

Did you ever go and visit this estate where he worked?

MORGAN:

Well, no. You weren't allowed to. When they'd go away in the summer, we used to go sometimes, my father and mother and the cat and the dog. We'd go down in the evening and take a walk down the avenue to the summerhouse. I loved it.

SIGRIST:

What — what did it look like?

MORGAN:

Huh? Oh, the summer house was built out of wood. You know, great big hunks of wood. And there was a stream there. I — I never think of that — what would you call it? A lake or something. I can't think of that. And there was one near a house where I lived with my husband for 22 years.

SIGRIST:

Like a pond?

MORGAN:

No, it come down from the mountains.

SIGRIST:

Boy, a waterfall?

MORGAN:

Yeah, well, something like that.

SIGRIST:

Something like that, yeah.

MORGAN:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SIGRIST:

Oh, so that was — that was something that your family enjoyed doing in the summer was to go —

MORGAN:

Oh, yes. Yeah.

SIGRIST:

— wander on the grounds. Yeah. What did your father look like?

MORGAN:

My father was a short man. He had blue eyes, the coldest eyes I think I ever saw in anybody, very cold. He was very strict and I didn't like him. I used to tell him I'd run away when I got big enough; I'd run away. I wouldn't stay with him. And I'm the oldest of the family and there was four of us.

SIGRIST:

Do you know anything about his family background?

MORGAN:

I don't know too much about it. I know he had four brothers and they're — none of them married. And I think he had three sisters and they didn't — married. I guess he was the only one.

SIGRIST:

Do you know how he became a gardener?

MORGAN:

Oh, he had to learn his trade. He — my mother had to learn her trade too. You know, he went to work after school, I guess, and learned and he liked that. He was very good at it. Very. He used to make animals out of the — I don't know what kind of wood they called it. But they were beautiful. I can see them. [chuckles]

SIGRIST:

You mean he would carve these animals?

MORGAN:

Out of wood and they'd be covered with ivy.

SIGRIST:

Oh.

MORGAN:

They were very nice. And he had quite — he had 14 — they only had the war. He had the 14 girls under him working. And then there was the coachman there and the ladies who milked the cows. I can —

SIGRIST:

This was a big estate.

MORGAN:

I can never forget her. There was — a man was supposed to come in the afternoon, milk the cows. And he didn't come. He was — got drunk. And my father called me down and, just as I got in the yard, [laughs] the lady was milking the cows and the milk was [unclear] the yard. I never forgot that. [laughs] I was scared to death. [unclear].

SIGRIST:

When your father wasn't working, what did he like to do for fun? Your father?

MORGAN:

Well, he couldn't have much fun. We had four of us. Wherever he went, we'd have to go with him. We [unclear] up around the mountains and — and the fields and recreation was very simple. There were really no place to go but the woods. [laughs]

SIGRIST:

And your father enjoyed nature, it sounds like.

MORGAN:

Oh, yes.

SIGRIST:

Yeah.

MORGAN:

Yes, he did. When — when my mother lived, I used to go with him. We traveled way up in the mountains. And one time we — we got to a quarry and my father wanted to go there and the two of us went. [laughs] You should have seen us. Oh.

SIGRIST:

What was your mother's name?

MORGAN:

Annie.

SIGRIST:

And do you remember her maiden name be —

MORGAN:

Fox.

SIGRIST:

F-O-X.

MORGAN:

Yes.

SIGRIST:

Fox.

MORGAN:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

Do you know how she met your father?

MORGAN:

I don't know that.

SIGRIST:

Do you know what year they got married?

MORGAN:

1902.

SIGRIST:

1902. You were born the next year.

MORGAN:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

Yeah. What do you know about her family background?

MORGAN:

My mother's?

SIGRIST:

Yeah.

MORGAN:

Why, we went there sometimes in the summer for a vacation, a week, at Kilmali [PH], we went to. That was the name of the place where we used to go.

SIGRIST:

Kilmell?

MORGAN:

Kilmali.

SIGRIST:

Kilmali.

MORGAN:

And we stayed with her sister. She had a big farm there and we'd stay there. I always enjoyed that. My father'd take us to the train in the morning for a week every year. We never missed that and I loved it. That aunt had eight children [chuckles] so we used to have a good time. And my mother was gone soon after that and did I miss all those things. I did. Oh.

SIGRIST:

When you were at the farm with your aunt, what were some of the things you enjoyed doing on — on her farm?

MORGAN:

I enjoyed helping them pick the fruit, and I liked to watch them milk the cows and save the hay and thrash the wheat. I loved all those things.

SIGRIST:

How did they thrash the wheat?

MORGAN:

They had a great big machine and then they put it four or five — what would you call them? Well, anyway, when you pick them up from the ground — plants together. And they'd tie them with string and then put them in the machine.

SIGRIST:

Uh-huh, I see.

MORGAN:

And they used to make their own flour too. I don't know what you'd call that machine. But I know before we left Ireland where we were working, they got a machine where it separated the cream and made the butter. And that was a big thing.

SIGRIST:

How did they do it before?

MORGAN:

By hand.

SIGRIST:

How did you make butter back then?

MORGAN:

Oh, I'd make it at home but I'd have to beat it, you know.

SIGRIST:

Can you describe what the process was?

MORGAN:

Nothing. You just put it in that little — it's something like you'd whip the cream in today and keep turning it till it's — the butter was — and the buttermilk. I loved the butter but I never — my father said, "Drink that milk. It's good for you." No, I wouldn't drink it. [unclear] — he said, "I'll give you a good pet." I'd take the pet but I wouldn't drink the milk. [chuckles]

SIGRIST:

Tell me what other kinds of food you ate as a child in Ireland.

MORGAN:

We had the best of everything. Everything — all kinds of vegetables and fruits.

SIGRIST:

What kind of fruit?

MORGAN:

Oh, I wish I had some — everything. Apples. We had their pears and we — and I loved the black currant jam. My mother used to make that for me. But we had all kinds of vegetables that you could think of. We were well fed while we were growing up. [chuckles]

SIGRIST:

What — what would — what would a — a typical breakfast be like when you were a child?

MORGAN:

A what?

SIGRIST:

A breakfast. What would you eat for breakfast?

MORGAN:

For breakfast?

SIGRIST:

For breakfast.

MORGAN:

Oh, there was always a fight with me to eat oatmeal and I wouldn't eat it to this day. We n — I never drank coffee till I got to Ellis Island.

SIGRIST:

Oh, good. Well, we'll get to that when we get you to Ellis Island. So — so you didn't like oatmeal?

MORGAN:

No, I didn't like oatmeal.

SIGRIST:

But was that what was typically served —

MORGAN:

But —

SIGRIST:

— for breakfast?

MORGAN:

Ah, well, it wasn't the — like the oatmeal you'd have here. It was the — the wheat. But it wasn't thrashed. You know, it was real wheated. And I used to like that. I'd eat that. My mother'd put it on the hob [PH] at night. It would be all ready in the morning.

SIGRIST:

What — put it on the hob?

MORGAN:

Yeah, we didn't —

SIGRIST:

What is — what is a hob?

MORGAN:

I didn't have — we didn't have a fireplace or stoves or any of those things, although they — the fire — they made the fire on the floor and put the bastible [PH], they called it, on there and leave it there with lots of wood. And it would cook during the night because it was hard. It wasn't — it's the same oatmeal as you'd have now but it was whole, little kernels.

SIGRIST:

Crunchy, I'll bet.

MORGAN:

Yes, I loved it.

SIGRIST:

[chuckles] What time in the morning would you eat breakfast?

MORGAN:

We'd be up at six o'clock after my mother passed away. But before that, we'd have to get up and get ready for school around seven. I walked four miles to school and back every day, eight miles a day.

SIGRIST:

What time would you eat lunch?

MORGAN:

We'd eat lunch at the convent.

SIGRIST:

But what time was that?

MORGAN:

At home. Twelve.

SIGRIST:

At twelve. And what would be a typical lunch that you would eat?

MORGAN:

Oh, I don't know. My mother split up sandwiches for me and some fruit and milk. And I — and I hate milk. I hate it to this day. [chuckles]

SIGRIST:

I don't like it either. [chuckles] And then what time would you eat dinner at night?

MORGAN:

When my father would come home at six o'clock.

SIGRIST:

Six o'clock. And who would eat dinner? Who would eat dinner at that time?

MORGAN:

Oh, my father and mother and my two sisters. Didn't have my brother yet. [chuckles]

SIGRIST:

So the whole family would--

MORGAN:

Yeah, yeah.

SIGRIST:

— eat together. And what would be a typical dinner that you would eat?

MORGAN:

Oh, we used to have vegetables and I liked the pig's head. [chuckles]

SIGRIST:

How was that prepared?

MORGAN:

I liked the — the snout and the ear. It was — oh, they'd pickle them. They had pigs on the farm. And we'd have that with cabbage and carrots and potatoes. And we had lots of good food.

SIGRIST:

Yeah.

MORGAN:

We never went hungry. [chuckles]

SIGRIST:

What about for a special occasion? What would your mother make —

MORGAN:

Oh.

SIGRIST:

— for a special occasion?

MORGAN:

Oh, and she made all our own bread. I remember that. And she used to make some kind of pastry. I don't know. I think I saw it here once. Oh, it's like — French pastry, is it?

SIGRIST:

Could be.

MORGAN:

No, that isn't the name for it. But anyway, she made it and we have it here too. She used to make that with lots of jam in between it and I loved that.

SIGRIST:

Do you remember any of the games that you played as a child?

MORGAN:

No, we couldn't play very many games. We used to go out around the fields looking for hen's nests and so forth and — and we'd bowl on a Sunday.

SIGRIST:

Bowl?

MORGAN:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

You mean, like, with a ball and pins?

MORGAN:

Yeah, yeah. And I would like my hoop, a great big hoop. I could — and, you know, you bowl it with a stick. I could go for miles with that —

SIGRIST:

Do you —

MORGAN:

— down the mountains. We lived at the bo — on the mountain.

SIGRIST:

What was the hoop made out of?

MORGAN:

Wood.

SIGRIST:

Wood.

MORGAN:

Same as they have here.

SIGRIST:

Yeah.

MORGAN:

I've seen them here.

SIGRIST:

Oh. Do you remember any nursery rhymes that you were taught as a child or little —

MORGAN:

No, I don't.

SIGRIST:

— little game songs or anything?

MORGAN:

No, I don't remember any of that.

SIGRIST:

[chuckles] Do you remember what you wore when you were a little girl?

MORGAN:

What I wore?

SIGRIST:

What kind of clothes did you have?

MORGAN:

I — when I — my mother was a dressmaker. She sewed for all the wealthy people, all the gentry.

SIGRIST:

Was that the trade through mentioned earlier that she had to learn?

MORGAN:

Yeah, that's her trade. She learned that in Tiperary [PH]. And my father learned his trade too before they were married. My dad —

SIGRIST:

So your — your —

MORGAN:

— was a l — landscape gardener.

SIGRIST:

So your mother learned how to be a dressmaker in Tiperary.

MORGAN:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

Yeah. Can you describe for me some of the dresses that she made for you?

MORGAN:

Oh, no. They're so — [laughs] I couldn't but I have a picture of her with one on.

SIGRIST:

What did — what did they look like at that time? How did people dress at that time?

MORGAN:

Oh, the heavy clothes they wear. No, I look at my mother and — and she's got this dress on with a great big apron or something over, and she's holding me. I thought to [chuckles] myself, 'I don't know how you can' — held on to me with that great big, heavy dress on, skirt. She made it — most of our clothes and her own too. And she used to make my father's shirts. She loved to sew.

SIGRIST:

Did she have a sewing machine?

MORGAN:

Oh, yes. Yeah. The — she worked with the [unclear].

SIGRIST:

Uh-huh. Were there any things that your mother taught you how to do when you were growing up?

MORGAN:

Make bread.

SIGRIST:

And how did you do that?

MORGAN:

Cook. We had the — the bread, the pan with the flour and the sugar. And sometimes we'd be — and she'd tell — "Make a — make a cake. I'll cook the meat. You tell me the time on the clock." And I learned quite a few things and it was good. She passed away soon after that. [chuckles]

SIGRIST:

Do you remember any of the toys that you had as a child?

MORGAN:

Any what?

SIGRIST:

Toys.

MORGAN:

Toys?

SIGRIST:

Did you have any?

MORGAN:

Dolls.

SIGRIST:

Yeah.

MORGAN:

I loved dolls. You didn't get many toys in those days.

SIGRIST:

Do you remember one of your dolls?

MORGAN:

Oh, I do.

SIGRIST:

Can you describe it for me?

MORGAN:

I had one doll that was about this high.

SIGRIST:

That's about a foot.

MORGAN:

And it was dressed in white jersey and a white skirt and a hat. I kept that for years. And when I come over here I don't know where it went. [laughter] Oh, I loved that doll. The gentry would have toys and a tree. It wouldn't be a Christmas tree like they'd have here, but laurel, as they called the plant. And they'd decorate that and they'd set the presents on the branches. And that's — that's something I never liked. I never could find mine. [laughs] Oh.

SIGRIST:

Tell me, what religion were you when you were growing up?

MORGAN:

Catholic.

SIGRIST:

Catholic. And was there a church nearby?

MORGAN:

Oh, yes. [unclear]

SIGRIST:

What do you remember about — about going to church as a child?

MORGAN:

Oh, I remembered we — I liked it very much. Then they had the — you know, I'd go up on the stairs and on the platform, look at the sermon. I used to — it was a very nice church there. And all the men and boys were on that side and the women and the girls were on this side.

SIGRIST:

How often did you go to church?

MORGAN:

Every Sunday we'd have to go to church, even after my mother passed away. My father would still take us to church and we'd say the rosary in the evening. And one time I was mad at him. I told him I was going to run away and [laughs] he didn't like that. So when we said the rosary in the evening I tickled his feet, and that was the end of the rosary.

SIGRIST:

You were a little devil when you were a kid.

MORGAN:

He told me I was. But then I had no mother. I was only 10 and there was three others. [chuckles]

SIGRIST:

Who —

MORGAN:

I was quite a responsibility.

SIGRIST:

Who was the most religious person in your family?

MORGAN:

I was. My father and mother were too. The always went to church and communion and — and all the processions and everything. And when we made our first communion and — over there, they're very religious, and [chuckles] not like here.

SIGRIST:

Now, did you have grandparents that lived —

MORGAN:

I — I — I don't remember them. I did. We used to go to Kilmalik [PH] — was the name of the place — Limerick to my mother's people. I remember my Uncle James. I just faintly remember him but that's where we used to go for a week every summer. We used to go there.

SIGRIST:

Now —

MORGAN:

And I liked it.

SIGRIST:

Yeah.

MORGAN:

Because my aunt, she had eight children, and we all had so much fun.

SIGRIST:

[chuckles] Your mother died when you were 10.

MORGAN:

Yes.

SIGRIST:

What did she die of?

MORGAN:

Cancer.

SIGRIST:

She died of cancer. What happened to the family after she died?

MORGAN:

Nothing. My — my — we stayed in the same cottage and I took over as much as I could. And those —

SIGRIST:

What were some of your responsibilities at that time when you had to take over?

MORGAN:

My — I had to go to school. You had to go to school or my father would end up in jail. [chuckles] That, they were very fussy about.

SIGRIST:

But after your mother —

MORGAN:

And I walked four miles to school and four miles back.

SIGRIST:

But after your mother died, what were some of your responsibilities around the house? What —

MORGAN:

Everything.

SIGRIST:

But what, though? Tell me specifically what you had to do.

MORGAN:

I had to try to cook the meals and my father'd leave the clock, set the clock, and tell me when — what time to put it on and take it off. And — and I had a lot of things. James was only a baby.

SIGRIST:

He had just been born.

MORGAN:

Had to — took care of him and washing his diapers and giving him his bath and everything. Was too much for me, I always thought.

SIGRIST:

Do you remember when your brother, James, was born?

MORGAN:

Yes.

SIGRIST:

What do you remember about that?

MORGAN:

He was born at home.

SIGRIST:

What — what do you remember about that experience?

MORGAN:

Well, I had to go for the doctor in the first place, and the nurse. [chuckles] And I went four miles — four miles and more, maybe, in town to get them. I don't remember the nurse's name but I do remember the doctor. We knew him very well, Pat Murphy.

SIGRIST:

Pat Murphy. Dr. Murphy.

MORGAN:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

What else do you remember about your mother giving birth to James?

MORGAN:

Oh, I don't remember anything else. They didn't let me see it. After they bathed him and everything, why, they let me hold him. Mother — and my mother had made all the clothes for him.

SIGRIST:

Ahead of time.

MORGAN:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

Yeah.

MORGAN:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

Huh.

MORGAN:

She did.

SIGRIST:

Can you describe —

MORGAN:

You know, when you have a son over there, it's something. But the girls don't fare that well. [laughs] And no girls go out to work over there till they marry. They don't go out when they — you know, when they leave school and all that. They might — but they never go out before that.

SIGRIST:

Can you describe for me the cottage that you lived in? What did it look like?

MORGAN:

It was attached house and it had —

SIGRIST:

It had a thatched roof.

MORGAN:

In the front it had a little, well, something like a porch. There was a seat on each side and little — what would you call it? Over it. [chuckles]

SIGRIST:

A little roof over it?

MORGAN:

Yeah, I couldn't think of that.

SIGRIST:

How many rooms did the cottage have?

MORGAN:

Four, and what else? We had a place downstairs too. We didn't — we slept up in the loft. You went up with a ladder up there. I didn't like that. [laughs]

SIGRIST:

How did you heat the house? How did you keep it warm?

MORGAN:

Wood, fireplace.

SIGRIST:

Fireplace.

MORGAN:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

And how did you light the inside of the cottage?

MORGAN:

Lamps.

SIGRIST:

What kind of lamps?

MORGAN:

Kerosene.

SIGRIST:

Does anything —

MORGAN:

I had to wash all the chimneys and everything. You know, fill them up before we get them ready for — to light in the evening.

SIGRIST:

Did you have water in the house?

MORGAN:

No.

SIGRIST:

Where did you get your water?

MORGAN:

Well water. We used to have to drag the water in.

SIGRIST:

Whose job was that?

MORGAN:

Mine.

SIGRIST:

You had to do everything.

MORGAN:

I did.

SIGRIST:

Yeah.

MORGAN:

I really did. It was too much for me. I often think — I look back now and I think about it, and I was so lonely without my mother. Oh, I was lost. And I — I grew so I didn't like my father. He was very strict.

SIGRIST:

How did your father take your mother's death? How — how did he cope with it?

MORGAN:

I wouldn't know about that. They don't talk to that. They don't talk to their children. You're not allowed to be there, if there's older people there and they're talking and they're visiting. You can't be in the same room.

SIGRIST:

I see. So — so he never talked about how he was feeling or —

MORGAN:

No, no. My father didn't.

SIGRIST:

Well, who —

MORGAN:

Only once he came home and — and he was taking his shoes off and sitting on the bed, and he was talking to my mother. And I thought she was there. [chuckles] I didn't know any better. And I was so scared and I thought — and [unclear], 'She's not here. Who is he talking to?' [chuckles] I guess he was lonely without her.

SIGRIST:

Tell me whose decision it was to go to England. How did — how did you go to England?

MORGAN:

The people — the gentry that my father worked for during the war, First World War, moved to England and we went with them.

SIGRIST:

Oh.

MORGAN:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

Do you know why they moved to England?

MORGAN:

Well, they did all those things during the war.

SIGRIST:

What do you remember about World War I and — and that whole period?

MORGAN:

I don't remember very much about that. I know, in England, all the German prisoners were there, right across the lane. They — well, not lane. There was walnut trees both sides of the lane all the way. I loved it. It looked so beautiful. And they used to whittle things and throw them but we couldn't touch them. We couldn't take them there. And my father was so strict about that. If anybody whistle or anything, he'd think they were whistling for me. [chuckles]

SIGRIST:

Where in England did you go to?

MORGAN:

Harwell, [PH] England. It's 20 miles outside of Hatfield and that was halfway to London.

SIGRIST:

Hollowwell?

MORGAN:

Hatfield.

SIGRIST:

But the — the fir — the first town that you mentioned. You said —

MORGAN:

I don't know.

SIGRIST:

— Hollowwell?

MORGAN:

Harwell [unclear], we lived in.

SIGRIST:

Oh, okay. And it was near Hatfield?

MORGAN:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

Yeah. Did you live — where did you live when you went to England? Did you live with the — the gentry? The —

MORGAN:

Yes, [unclear] my father had a cottage. We lived there. They had a great big farm. In the summertime, the gentries — whoever lived in the city or didn't have a big place of their own, they'd come down to their — their — our place. And somebody else would go up to theirs. That was how they went on vacations.

SIGRIST:

They sort of would switch.

MORGAN:

Yes.

SIGRIST:

Switch and swap houses.

MORGAN:

Yeah, yeah.

SIGRIST:

What else do you remember about living in England? What — what are some of your pleasant memories about living in England?

MORGAN:

I loved it there. It was so beautiful. I really did. And it was really a little better than what we had at — in our own home in Ireland, because they had every in — everything in the house there, bath and hot water and everything. All the luxuries that we didn't have in our own home.

SIGRIST:

So it was more modern for you.

MORGAN:

Yes. And it was well furnished. And I had a can for years; I held onto it. It was very pretty. One of the wealthy ladies [unclear], and it says, "Five O'clock Tea." And I always used to have five o'clock tea. [chuckles] And we weren't — I'd have — my father wasn't home. We weren't allowed to have tea, nor coffee. Had milk or chocolate or something else to drink. And I hated it.

SIGRIST:

Did you go to school in England —

MORGAN:

Oh, yeah.

SIGRIST:

— when you got there?

MORGAN:

Essinton [PH]. We had a school in Essinton, the nearest school to us. It was just a school and the church and a store, grocery store. But they raided that and that was the end of that.

SIGRIST:

They r — who raided it?

MORGAN:

The war.

SIGRIST:

Oh, during the war.

MORGAN:

During the war was raided, or what do we say here? Bombed or something.

SIGRIST:

Bombed, uh-huh.

MORGAN:

Well, that — that.

SIGRIST:

Oh, do you remember seeing that?

MORGAN:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

What — can you describe what that was like to —

MORGAN:

Oh, no. I — I don't want to.

SIGRIST:

But you were there when that happened?

MORGAN:

Yeah, yes.

SIGRIST:

Yeah. The — the prisoners of war — the German prisoners of war, who were sort of across the street from you —

MORGAN:

Over in the woods.

SIGRIST:

Over in the woods.

MORGAN:

Yeah, yeah.

SIGRIST:

Can you describe the — how they were kept? W — how —

MORGAN:

How they were dressed?

SIGRIST:

No, how they were kept. What — what kind of facility were they —

MORGAN:

Oh, I don't know.

SIGRIST:

— living in?

MORGAN:

I don't know because they wouldn't be there at night.

SIGRIST:

Was there a fence?

MORGAN:

A f — yeah. There was woods.

SIGRIST:

Woods.

MORGAN:

[coughs] Yes. No, they were there. They were very nice but you couldn't talk to them or take anything from them or anything. I didn't know that and one come for a drink of water. And my father — I got a lickin'. Well, I didn't know.

SIGRIST:

You were just being friendly or something.

MORGAN:

Yes.

SIGRIST:

Yeah.

MORGAN:

But he didn't want that. [END OF TAPE 1, SIDE A] [BEGIN TAPE 1, SIDE B]

SIGRIST:

Tell me — tell me, who wanted to come to America? Wh — how did that all happen?

MORGAN:

My aunt.

SIGRIST:

This was your mother's sister?

MORGAN:

No.

SIGRIST:

Your father's sister.

MORGAN:

My father's. My father's.

SIGRIST:

Did she live in England?

MORGAN:

No, she lived in Ireland.

SIGRIST:

Oh, she was in Ireland. Of course, fine.

MORGAN:

But she came over here, came — came to America. And when we came to England, we just came alone. That's all, my father and the four of us. [chuckles] And I didn't like it. I was so lonely. Oh!

SIGRIST:

So your father's sister went to America.

MORGAN:

All his family had already gone over, come to America.

SIGRIST:

Now, what — what did you know about America when you were growing up? How did you think about America before you got there?

MORGAN:

I didn't. [chuckles] I didn't, really. I didn't know — know. I — I hear people talking about England but that's all, or America. But it didn't mean, you know, that much to me then.

SIGRIST:

Who — did — where did your father's sister live in America?

MORGAN:

Malden [PH], Mass.

SIGRIST:

Malden, Mass.

MORGAN:

Yeah. Phillips [PH] Street, 27 Phillips Street, Malden, Mass.

SIGRIST:

Had your father ever been to America?

MORGAN:

No.

SIGRIST:

No.

MORGAN:

No, no. Aunt Nell [PH] was the oldest of the family and — and Aunt Mary. And I — I guess one brought the other one over, you know, as they could afford it. But Aunt Nell was a worker. She was a go-getter. [chuckles]

SIGRIST:

Well, now, did you want to come to America?

MORGAN:

Oh, I had to do it. My father wanted to do [chuckles] — I couldn't —

SIGRIST:

I see. He wanted to bring the whole family —

MORGAN:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

— over.

MORGAN:

Yeah. I — I don't know. He wouldn't listen to us. Not that. You — you didn't say anything when he's talking — planning things. I can't — if he was here today, I don't know what he'd think. [chuckles]

SIGRIST:

Do you remember any of the process of getting ready to leave England to come to the United States? What did you have to do to get ready to come to the United States?

MORGAN:

Well, we had friends, a lot of friends, that helped us at that time. And I didn't want to come. My father had asked me, said, "Do you want to go, May?" I said, "No, I don't." I loved it where we were. I was happy there. And [chuckles] — and my fath — there was a young man there and we — he'd come to see me once in awhile. And my father didn't like that. [chuckles] And —

SIGRIST:

Did you —

MORGAN:

And his name was Bill Plum [PH]. I remember his name. [chuckles] He worked with — under my father in the gar — in the garden. They had a big farm there, cows, horses, everything.

SIGRIST:

And it was — it was [unclear] —

MORGAN:

Beautiful carriages with the ladies who'd go out in the afternoon. They'd go out to tea. They'd go in the carriage that had rubber wheels. You could just hear the horse. That was very fashionable. Wasn't that silly?

SIGRIST:

Well, it was a long time ago. [laughter] This man, Bill Plum —

MORGAN:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

Was — was he a —

MORGAN:

He was working under my father in the garden on the farm.

SIGRIST:

And was he a little sweet on you?

MORGAN:

Yes.

SIGRIST:

Uh-huh. Were — were you sweet on him?

MORGAN:

No, we'd sit down and talk. I — I didn't have sense enough to — for any of that. But my father wouldn't let me.

SIGRIST:

Uh-huh. Well, before —

MORGAN:

I really had nobody to tell me anything. That's one thing I missed in my life. Never had anybody, you know, to come and tell me. Now, when I got under the weather, I didn't know what happened to me. I thought I fell — I did fall off a wall but that wasn't what was wrong with me. I didn't know. And one day I was very sick. I had a headache and a toothache and everything. And my father told me. He says, "I'm ashamed, May, but there's nobody else to tell you." So it wasn't fun, not for me. Lot's of — my life was very hard for a young person.

SIGRIST:

Do you remember what you took with you to America?

MORGAN:

Nothing. We left — we gave the things away or sold them, and we just brought our bags and that was it.

SIGRIST:

Do you remember — did you have clothes with you?

MORGAN:

Oh, yes. Yeah.

SIGRIST:

Do you remember the clothes you had with you?

MORGAN:

Yes, I did. I had a — like they have them here now. It's just the — I was — the dress I had was sort of a — oh, I'd call it — I think you'd call it a —

SIGRIST:

A [unclear] —

MORGAN:

And a checkered blouse. They — my mother's friend made them for us. The lady gave her the things to make them.

SIGRIST:

And how did you wear your hair back then?

MORGAN:

Oh, I — my hair was long, way down to here.

SIGRIST:

Way down. You're pointing down to your back.

MORGAN:

Yeah. And I used to put it up in braids and we come — and now, I wear a big bow here.

SIGRIST:

Right in the back.

MORGAN:

Yeah, I thought I was the cat's meow. [chuckles]

SIGRIST:

Did you wear hats back then?

MORGAN:

Oh, yes. You wouldn't dare go without your hat!

SIGRIST:

Well, what did the — what did the hats look like?

MORGAN:

I wore a straw hat over here. Navy blue, it was. It went with what — what I had to wear.

SIGRIST:

Yeah. Do you remember —

MORGAN:

My mother used to make all our clothes.

SIGRIST:

Do you remember having to have any physical examinations before you left England?

MORGAN:

I don't think so. That was wartime when we were there.

SIGRIST:

Where did you —

MORGAN:

Well, on the way over, we had to wear those life boats — life belts or whatever you call them. Oh, I hated them.

SIGRIST:

Where did you —

MORGAN:

When we came from Ireland to England we had to do that, and they were so heavy and so clumsy. And you couldn't sleep. You had to stay awake till we got to wherever we were going, to land.

SIGRIST:

When you were leaving to come to America, where did you go to get on the ship?

MORGAN:

Oh, I don't know where we went for that. Must — I haven't any idea.

SIGRIST:

Do you remember being on the ship?

MORGAN:

Oh, yes.

SIGRIST:

Yes. Do you remember the name of the ship?

MORGAN:

The Olympic.

SIGRIST:

The Olympic. And tell me what you thought when you were on the ship. What do you remember about being on the — on the Olympic coming to America?

MORGAN:

Oh, of course, we were third class but there were soldiers and others on there too. And Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks was on there. I met them when I come over. The war was over then. Well, just started, you know, the — and everybody was coming home and all the soldiers were there. No, I — I enjoyed the trip over. And my father was sick and he was in bed most of the time. [laughter]

SIGRIST:

Where did you sleep?

MORGAN:

So I had fun.

SIGRIST:

Where did you sleep on the ship?

MORGAN:

Had beds.

SIGRIST:

Well, what did it look like where — where —

MORGAN:

Just like home. Just — there was everything there. But I think it was when we came from Ireland to England that we couldn't sleep. That wasn't as long a trip and it was wartime.

SIGRIST:

And that's when you had the life vests —

MORGAN:

Oh!

SIGRIST:

The life jackets on. Yeah.

MORGAN:

I never forgot those.

SIGRIST:

Well, now, when you were on the Olympic, coming across the Atlantic Ocean, did you have to have safety drills on that ship too?

MORGAN:

Yes, yes. And you couldn't sleep. [chuckles] If they thought anything was going to happen, you had to put your belt on and stay awake.

SIGRIST:

When you were on the Olympic, where did they feed you?

MORGAN:

In the dining room.

SIGRIST:

Do you remember —

MORGAN:

You know, first, second and third. They all had dining rooms.

SIGRIST:

Do you remember what they fed you on the ship?

MORGAN:

Everything nice I did. I didn't have to cook it, nor anything. [chuckles]

SIGRIST:

That's right. It's nice to —

MORGAN:

The meals were really very good.

SIGRIST:

Uh-huh. What did you do for fun on the ship?

MORGAN:

No fun. [chuckles]

SIGRIST:

When you were on the ship?

MORGAN:

No — yeah, I was on the ship. I couldn't have any fun. My father would be watching me all the time. [chuckles]

SIGRIST:

But when he was sick down in his cabin —

MORGAN:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

— what — what were you doing?

MORGAN:

We just used to walk around; that's all — the decks. And sometimes the soldiers from first class, they would come down. They'd bring some goodies down and we'd had that. I had one friend there. If my father ever knew that, he'd — he'd have drowned me. [chuckles]

SIGRIST:

You mean one of the soldiers was —

MORGAN:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

— was your friend. Yeah.

MORGAN:

Yeah, yeah.

SIGRIST:

When you were up on deck of the ship —

MORGAN:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

When you were on top of the deck, what could you see?

MORGAN:

I couldn't see anything. There was too many on there and — and [chuckles] you had to be on your toes all the time. Just the water all around you. Oh, I was scared of it.

SIGRIST:

Do you remember what time of the year you came to the United States? What month it was?

MORGAN:

I think it was August the 20 th that we landed here. I'm not quite sure that that's —

SIGRIST:

You're not sure.

MORGAN:

— as the date. But I think it was in 1920. Really, I don't — when was the First World War?

SIGRIST:

Well, the First World War ended in 1918.

MORGAN:

'18. Well, we came over soon after that.

SIGRIST:

Yeah.

MORGAN:

I'm not sure about the year or [chuckles] —

SIGRIST:

Hmm.

MORGAN:

But the soldiers were all on the boats coming home so it must — that's when it must have been.

SIGRIST:

Sure, about in 1919 or 1920 —

MORGAN:

Yes, yes.

SIGRIST:

— sometime? Yeah.

MORGAN:

Yes.

SIGRIST:

Do you remember seeing the Statue of Liberty when the ship —

MORGAN:

Yeah, yes. Dirty place. Yeah.

SIGRIST:

And then you — you said earlier that you had to go to Ellis Island.

MORGAN:

Yes.

SIGRIST:

What do you remember about being at Ellis Island?

MORGAN:

Filthy place. When I ever saw that colored man, [chuckles] my sister said, "Why didn't they wash their face and hands?" [laughs] Oh, I don't — when we got to Ellis Island, oh, I thought my — when I saw the colored man, that's the first time I ever saw a colored person. And the place was so dirty. Oh! The chairs, the table. Everything was filthy. My father said, "Did you eat that sandwich?" I said, "No, I'm not going to eat that sandwich. I don't like that man. He's dirty." [laughs] And that's when my sister, Anna, said, "Why didn't they wash his face and hands?"

SIGRIST:

And you mentioned that you had coffee at Ellis Island.

MORGAN:

Yeah, we — I had coffee for the first time. We were never allowed to have coffee. We just had milk and chocolate to drink and tea. I liked the tea.

SIGRIST:

Well, what did you think when you had the coffee at Ellis Island? What —

MORGAN:

I wouldn't drink it. I told my father, "No, I won't — don't want that. I don't like it."

SIGRIST:

How long were you on the island?

MORGAN:

Till — till my aunt could get to pick us up.

SIGRIST:

Do you remember how long that was?

MORGAN:

About a day or two. Two days, I think we were there.

SIGRIST:

Two days? You —

MORGAN:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

So you stayed overnight at Ellis Island?

MORGAN:

Sat in the benches. [laughs]

SIGRIST:

What did it look like on the inside?

MORGAN:

Horror, horror. Dirty everywhere. You know, people milling around all the time. Every time a boat would come in, you can imagine what it would be like. There was a picture of it in the paper one time. I saw it and I — I thought of myself, 'I wonder if we were in that crowd.'

SIGRIST:

You might have been.

MORGAN:

I think so.

SIGRIST:

[chuckles] Did — did you have to undergo any examinations at Ellis Island?

MORGAN:

No. My father might have but we didn't.

SIGRIST:

Did anyone ask you any questions?

MORGAN:

No.

SIGRIST:

No.

MORGAN:

They never questioned us. They were — and there was only that colored man there to wait on everybody. See, Ellis Island, they were all — every day a ship would come in. [chuckles] You can imagine what it was like, hundreds of people milling around there in that place. I didn't — I was kind of nervous when I saw the Statue of Liberty. I didn't know. My father didn't tell me about that, although he wrote out everything for me — everything, the day we landed and the day we left and everything. And then we had family troubles and I lost all my papers.

SIGRIST:

I see. Well, now, you're making this tape for your own children to sort of preserve your history. When your aunt came to meet you, was this the first time you had ever seen this — this aunt?

MORGAN:

Oh, yes.

SIGRIST:

Yeah?

MORGAN:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

Can you tell me what she looks like to you?

MORGAN:

She had the blackest, piercing eyes I think I ever saw. And she was very smart, very quick and very ambitious. She brought her own family over one at a time.

SIGRIST:

What was her name?

MORGAN:

But we never got along with — I never did.

SIGRIST:

What was her name?

MORGAN:

Nell — Nellie Shea.

SIGRIST:

Nellie Shea.

MORGAN:

We lived in 27 Phillips Street. She bought that home.

SIGRIST:

So she met you at Ellis Island and then you went to Malden?

MORGAN:

Yeah, yeah.

SIGRIST:

How did you get from — from Ellis Island to Malden?

MORGAN:

You asking me? [laughter] I don't know. We were on the train, I guess.

SIGRIST:

Does anything stick out in your mind about going through New York City or — or —

MORGAN:

No.

SIGRIST:

— being on that train going to Malden?

MORGAN:

No. It didn't.

SIGRIST:

Do you remember how you spent the first night in Malden at her house?

MORGAN:

I didn't like it. I was scared to death. I thought, 'Why didn't my father stay where we was?' [unclear] and I had no friends or anything. [chuckles] They don't — the people weren't friend there, it seemed to me, like they were in the Old Country.

SIGRIST:

Can you describe the house that she lived in?

MORGAN:

Oh, she lived in a single house. That's the first — she bought that house so she could bring everybody over there; 27 Philip Street was the address.

SIGRIST:

What did it look like? Can you describe the — the outside of it for me?

MORGAN:

Well, it was nice painted red, I think it was. No, she had a very nice home. She was very ambitious and very quick to — she — she always used to say, "Jesus, Mary and Joseph. If you set fire to that girl, she wouldn't move." Me.

SIGRIST:

Meaning you —

MORGAN:

[unclear], meaning me.

SIGRIST:

[chuckles] Was she married?

MORGAN:

No.

SIGRIST:

No.

MORGAN:

My father had — three brothers weren't married and three sisters. He was the only one.

SIGRIST:

Interesting. Was — were any of his other relatives in the United States at — when you came?

MORGAN:

Ah, yeah. H — he had two brothers here. They had all come before my father. My mother wouldn't come over here.

SIGRIST:

Oh, he tried to — he tried to bring you over sooner then and your mother wouldn't come?

MORGAN:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

I see.

MORGAN:

And then when she passed away, he did.

SIGRIST:

Where were his brothers living?

MORGAN:

Oh, I don't know. I think one was living on Madison Street.

SIGRIST:

But they were all —

MORGAN:

Malden.

SIGRIST:

They were all in Malden.

MORGAN:

All in Malden. The whole family was in Malden. They're still there, my relatives.

SIGRIST:

That's interesting. Why — why did they all go to Malden?

MORGAN:

I don't know. That's the way it was years ago. All the families — when anybody would come over, they'd — whoever the rest of the relatives were, they'd go there. [chuckles]

SIGRIST:

Well, tell me what — tell me what your first couple of weeks were like when you first came to — to America, for you. What did you do during those first couple of weeks?

MORGAN:

I didn't do anything. I was sick.

SIGRIST:

How — sick with what?

MORGAN:

I had gland trouble. My sister, Anna, was good though. She — she's smart. [chuckles] She used to — the money bothered us too.

SIGRIST:

Did your father get a job?

MORGAN:

Yes, he did.

SIGRIST:

What — what job did he get?

MORGAN:

Gardening.

SIGRIST:

He got a gardener's job.

MORGAN:

He did. They were all very ambitious.

SIGRIST:

Do you remember how long it took —

MORGAN:

And that's why she'd pick on me all the time. But she didn't understand that I wasn't able to. So she never married.

SIGRIST:

How long did it take your father to get the gardener's job?

MORGAN:

I don't know that.

SIGRIST:

But it was soon after you got here?

MORGAN:

Oh, yeah. The job here? Oh, yeah. Some of the relatives —

SIGRIST:

Oh, I see.

MORGAN:

— get him a job.

SIGRIST:

Uh-huh. Did you go to school when you came to the United States?

MORGAN:

Went to Malden High for a year.

SIGRIST:

Oh, tell me what that like. Tell me what it was like to —

MORGAN:

I loved it. [laughs]

SIGRIST:

Yeah. Tell me how you were treated as a —

MORGAN:

Nicely.

SIGRIST:

Yeah.

MORGAN:

Oh, yeah. The only thing is, my family would be standing there waiting for me when I'd come out of school. [laughs] Oh, he — oh, I didn't like my father. I admit it.

SIGRIST:

He was very strict.

MORGAN:

Very. Oh, very. The — it seemed to be in the whole family. Only one uncle, his brother, Uncle Dan, was always very good to me. And he'd take me places and Sunday afternoon he'd come over and get me. And when Aunt Nell would want me to be working in the house and I'd — she took me to the rubber factory or whatever you call it — shoe factory — to work. And I'd never worked in my life. I'd never gone out to work. Oh, I was so befumbled. I always remember. I think it was only a week after I come over here. And I didn't know one street from the other. I lived in the woods all my life, uh-hmm, on the mountains. It was terrible, I thought.

SIGRIST:

What — what kind of work did you have to do in the shoe factory?

MORGAN:

Made overshoes.

SIGRIST:

How did you do that?

MORGAN:

They had the — the wooden overshoe, you know, that you put it on. You put the leather on and on that. I didn't like it. I always would get sick from the rubber and the cement. I had to give it up.

SIGRIST:

How —

MORGAN:

And — and it was all piecework.

SIGRIST:

Oh, so you weren't being paid a wage. You were being paid by the — by the shoe.

MORGAN:

The — amount of work you could put out.

SIGRIST:

Do you remember how —

MORGAN:

And Aunt Nell was — oh, she was like a machine.

SIGRIST:

Is that where she worked?

MORGAN:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

Oh.

MORGAN:

She does.

SIGRIST:

Do you remember how much you were paid?

MORGAN:

I don't because I never got my envelope. She'd take it. That was a fight when we come over. [laughs]

SIGRIST:

What responsibilities did you have in her house? What did she expect you to do?

MORGAN:

Everything. She'd tell you what to do and if it wasn't done, and you couldn't take a piece of bread or a piece of cake or anything. She'd know if you did. And I wasn't used to that, nor my sisters either.

SIGRIST:

Did she treat your sisters like this too?

MORGAN:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

Yeah.

MORGAN:

You couldn't have — well, she never [unclear] anybody before. And I — when I look back and I get older, I — I can't blame her [chuckles], four of us coming in. But I do — oh, one thing she said. "Well," she said, "I thought you'd be like wild Indians running around and raising the devil." I said, "No." We had good manners. My father was always after us. He used to tell me, "Good manners will take you a long way in this life, May." I said, "I don't care about them." [chuckles] I — every time I could get back at him, I did.

SIGRIST:

[chuckles] Did your father ever remarry?

MORGAN:

What?

SIGRIST:

Did your father ever remarry? Did he get married again?

MORGAN:

No, no.

SIGRIST:

No.

MORGAN:

No.

SIGRIST:

Did — did you ever —

MORGAN:

And I held that against him because he could have married my mother's friend. For years, they were friends. She even came to America. But he wouldn't marry again.

SIGRIST:

Oh, well, tell me a little bit about that, why — why she came to America and —

MORGAN:

She wanted to marry my father. He — she could have married him in the Old Country too. But my father was one to keep his freedom. [chuckles] That's the way I looked at it; I don't know. I couldn't tell you what — those things are all kept secret. You don't stand there and listen like you would here.

SIGRIST:

That's right. That's right. And he may have looked at it differently.

MORGAN:

Ah, yes. I think he did. He never married again and he seemed to like his freedom. But he did keep watch over our — his own gang. He'd — he'd still take care of us.

SIGRIST:

Did you ever — did you ever experience any kind of prejudice because you were an immigrant? Did anyone ever make —

MORGAN:

No, no.

SIGRIST:

— fun of you?

MORGAN:

No.

SIGRIST:

Nothing?

MORGAN:

No.

SIGRIST:

No.

MORGAN:

Never in that way. Everybody was always friendly.

SIGRIST:

Did you get married?

MORGAN:

Oh, I didn't get married for years after. [chuckles]

SIGRIST:

Years, yeah. What was the name of the man that you married?

MORGAN:

I don't want to mention it.

SIGRIST:

Okay. Did you ever go back to Ireland or to England?

MORGAN:

No.

SIGRIST:

No.

MORGAN:

My husband wanted to go back. Morgan — Morgan was my second marriage.

SIGRIST:

Your second marriage.

MORGAN:

He wanted to go back but I didn't want to go back. There was no happy memories there for me. That's the way I looked at it.

SIGRIST:

Yeah. When you look back on your life, what — what are — what are you the most proud of? What did you do in your life that you're the most proud of?

MORGAN:

Taking care of my brothers and sisters — one brother and three sisters — two sisters. There was four of us. I did — I — I worked hard for only 10 years old. I had a lot of responsibility and I was always lonely. And I am to this day. I've still got that lonely feeling. Now, nobody's visited me since Christmas. And a week ago they come. My granddaughter and another friend. And I'm lonely here. I'm very lonely. I don't know whether that — I grew up with this loneliness after my mother was gone or what. I could never explain it. But I am and I — I'm very lonely. When she said the other day, "Do you want to come," you know, talk to you? I said, "No, I don't. I'm — I'm too lonely; I can't think." And I am.

SIGRIST:

Are you glad that you came and talked to me?

MORGAN:

Yes.

SIGRIST:

It wasn't so terrible. [chuckles]

MORGAN:

Yeah, I didn't think I could remember.

SIGRIST:

You have a great memory.

MORGAN:

[laughs]

SIGRIST:

You do. Let me ask you one final question.

MORGAN:

At 93?

SIGRIST:

At 93 — almost 93. Not quite. Right?

MORGAN:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

Not till July. Then you'll be 93. Let me ask you one final question before we end. If you had some advice to give to a young person about how they could live a long, fulfilling life, what kind of advice could you give?

MORGAN:

I couldn't give any [unclear].

SIGRIST:

No?

MORGAN:

No, because everybody is different.

SIGRIST:

Well, what — what worked for you? What did you do? I mean, you're 92 now and — and you look great. And — and you have a good memory. Your mind is sharp. What — what did you do?

MORGAN:

I don't know. [chuckles] I didn't do anything. [laughter] My father was very young. And — and the people in my family live long. My great grandmother was 112.

SIGRIST:

Oh, my goodness, 112!

MORGAN:

Yeah, it's on her cr — headstone.

SIGRIST:

Wow!

MORGAN:

That's in the Old Country.

SIGRIST:

Do you remember your great grandmother?

MORGAN:

Yeah.

SIGRIST:

What do you remember about her?

MORGAN:

I don't remember very much about her because she was ill for awhile. But she was very nice and I liked her. And I liked my grandmother too on my father's side. On my mother's side, we — I — I liked the grandparents

SIGRIST:

Uh-hmm.

MORGAN:

And I liked my mother's sisters. We'd go there — we used to go there for vacations. And she had eight children and I loved to be with everybody.

SIGRIST:

Like to be out on the farm.

MORGAN:

Yes, yes. Oh, I did.

SIGRIST:

All right. Now, look, Mary. Thank you very much for letting me ask you these questions. You did a great job.

MORGAN:

[chuckles]

SIGRIST:

I love your description of being at Ellis Island, was wonderful. Thank you.

MORGAN:

[laughs] I hope so.

SIGRIST:

This is Paul Sigrist signing off with Mary Morgan on Wednesday, April 24 th , 1996 here at the South Windsor Nursing Center in South Windsor, Connecticut. Thank you, Mary.

MORGAN:

Thank you too. [END OF INTERVIEW]