San Francisco County
Biographies
MARGARET
MARY MORGAN
One of the most successful business women of California is Margaret Mary Morgan, founder and owner of The Margaret Mary Morgan Printing Company at 619 California street in San Francisco, and participant in numerous civic and organization affairs of importance. She is a native of Portland, Maine, and was reared and educated in that city. Her first employment was in a clerical capacity, and later, in partnership with her sister, she operated a children’s garment shop in Monument square in Portland. After a period, she closed out her business there, and started west alone, selling specially written advertisements to merchants in the leading cities along her route. She gradually worked her way westward, and arrived in San Francisco in 1903.
Miss Morgan had very little money when she came to this city, and she walked the streets for many days searching for employment. Courage was required to combat the disappointments, but she persisted in her efforts and finally, when her funds were almost gone, she secured a position with the Walter N. Brunt Printing Company. Her work was in collections, and she received six dollars per week for her services. She proved efficient from the start, and studied and observed the printing business as she went along, with the result that she was eventually advanced to the position of office manager, and her salary was increased.
In 1923, Miss Morgan established her own business, which is now know as The Margaret Mary Morgan Printing Company, and is one of the truly successful concerns of its kind in San Francisco. She has a modern, fully equipped printing plant, and is prepared to do printing which any assignment might require. Her chief desire is to satisfy her patrons and cater to their tastes; this is one of the many reasons why her business has had a satisfactory growth through the years it has been in existence.
In public affairs of San Francisco, Miss Morgan has been much interested, and she is thoroughly representative of the city’s public-spirited and progressive group of women. In 1919, after her many friends had advised her, she became a candidate for supervisor of San Francisco county, and was successful. She was the first woman to be selected at the polls for this office, and she served from 1921 until 1925 in a highly meritorious manner. She has been active in women’s club work in the city also. She is a member of the California Federation of Business & Professional Women’s Clubs, and past president of the San Francisco Business & Professional Women’s Club. She has likewise been chosen treasurer of the California League of Women Voters. She is a trustee of the San Francisco Nursery for Homeless Children, and in 1918 was commissioned by the national board of the Young Women’s Christian Association to investigate the condition of women and children in China. Miss Morgan has fully justified the faith of her friends, and merits the fine success she has made. That she started without material advantages or influence is all the more to her credit.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Source: Byington, Lewis Francis, “History of San
Francisco 3 Vols”, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.,
Chicago, 1931. Vol. 3 Pages 163-165.
© 2008 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
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