It’s not named for the Northern California city (which itself honors one Hiram Morgan Hill) but for local realtor Jeremiah James “Jerry” Morgan (1841-1925). Born in Illinois, Morgan grew up in Iowa and Missouri, working on the family farm(s) until enlisting with the Union Army during the Civil War. After the war, he married Alice Jane Lewis (1850-1911) and resettled in Iowa to raise six kids and considerably more cattle. Morgan started buying up Los Angeles land during the 1887 real estate boom but only finally relocated here in 1902. At some point, either before or after the move, he and Alice divorced, and in 1909, at the age of 65, Morgan married 20-year-old Joeanna Wagner. One son was born to them but it was a brief and rocky union: Morgan accused Joeanna of cheating on him with several men and divorced her in 1914. Morgan, who developed a number of subdivisions in this neighborhood, lived on Taft Avenue at the end of his life. Morgan Hill Avenue was named in 1922 on a tract owned by Morgan and his son Alfonso.
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