Morgan, Daniel (1856-1928), landowner and local politician, was born in 1856, the fourth child of George Morgan (1830-1901) and Anne Gaynor (1834-1898). His grandfather, Edward Morgan (1801-1860) of Glanworth, Cork, was an Irish pioneer who by 1845 had already settled in the county of San Andrés de Giles in the Argentine province of Buenos Aires. There he began acquiring the large tracts of land that became the sites of the estancias 'Los Tocayos' and 'La Margarita' at the borders with the county of San Antonio de Areco.

A member of the Radical Party, Daniel Morgan was a significant political figure. He completed three terms as Town Councillor and was Municipal Intendant of the county of San Andrés de Giles between the years 1893 and 1905. During this period he assumed the role of Intendant six times. According to the San Andrés de Giles historian Secundino García, Morgan governed the county for a total of sixty-two months.

His administrative management of the Intendancy was notable for his undertaking of the beautification of the parks and squares of the city of San Andrés de Giles, including the installation of monuments and the repair of existing stonemasonry. He also improved street lighting by replacing tallow candle streetlamps with a large quantity of kerosene lamps which were lit at night. Morgan took a strong interest in the care and maintenance of rural roads and the construction of bridges, among them a cement bridge over the Sauce stream, close to the rural village of Cucullú in the county of San Andrés de Giles, facilitating the passage of carriages and horse-riders.

During his administration the roofs and the floors of the San Andrés Apóstol parish church of San Andrés de Giles were restored. To this end, Morgan formed a special mission headed by the parish priest Fr. Fidel Mazzei, which had as members many prominent citizens of the town and countryside, among them the young Jorge Morgan, Daniel’s son. Intendant Morgan made a personal contribution to the mission of one thousand pesos.

On relinquishing his post as Federal Auditor of the Province of Buenos Aires in 1894, Lucio Vicente López, grandson of the author of the Argentine national anthem, sent a note of congratulation to Daniel Morgan for his efficient work in the administration of the Giles commune.

Daniel Morgan and his wife María [María Ana] Tormey (1863-1921) had twelve children, among them Jerónimo Morgan (b. 1891) and Jorge José Morgan (b. 1889). The sons were, like their father, prominent politicians of the Radical Party and Municipal Intendants of San Andrés de Giles. According to Secundino García’s research, the Morgan family, including Daniel, Jorge and Jerónimo, governed the county of San Andrés de Giles for a total of over eleven years.

In Villa Ruiz, a district of the county of San Andrés de Giles, a street bears Morgan’s name. This indicates that the Morgan lands are to be found close to this village. The estancia where Daniel Morgan and his family lived was part of a vast rural property known as the 'La Paterna' estancia, founded by the Irish pioneer Darby [Jerónimo] Tormey in the mid-nineteenth century. Together with the section inherited by María Morgan (née Tormey), it formed the 'Las Marías', called such because the first name of many women in the family was María.

Daniel Morgan died on 25 September 1928.

Héctor Raúl Terrén

References

- Coghlan, Eduardo A., 'Linajes argentinos de origen irlandés: Los Tormey' in Boletín del Instituto Argentino de Ciencias Genealógicas (Buenos Aires) 114 (1981).

-  García, Secundino Néstor and Héctor Raúl Terrén, Nomenclatura de las calles del Partido de San Andrés de Giles (San Andrés de Giles: Municipalidad de San Andrés de Giles, 2001).

- Lapeyrette, Víctor Alberto, Historia de San Andrés de Giles (San Andrés de Giles, 1941).