Background
Morgan, William Mckendree was born on December 2, 1869 in Adams County, Illinois, United States. Son of John Milton and Mary (Gooding) Morgan.
Morgan, William Mckendree was born on December 2, 1869 in Adams County, Illinois, United States. Son of John Milton and Mary (Gooding) Morgan.
Born in Adams County, Illinois to John Milton Morgan and Mary (Gooding) Morgan, Morgan was educated in the country schools of Bourbon County, Kansas, later attending the Kansas Normal College at Fort Scott.
Making his way to Idaho, he located at Moscow in Latah County and secured employment on ranches in that vicinity. During the winter of 1890-1891 he took up the study of law, and was admitted to the bar on October 9, 1894. In the interim, he became a deputy sheriff of Latah County, serving in that position from 1 January, 1893, until 1895, when he began practice.
He served as a Democrat in the state legislature from 1897 to 1899, and in 1897 was also appointed private secretary to Henry Heitfeld, United States senator, and continued in that position for five years or until 1902, spending most of the period in Washington, District of Columbia While there, he pursued a course in the law department of Georgetown University, receiving an Master of Laws in 1899.
Morgan served as mayor of Moscow from 1906-1908, and returned to the state legislature from 1911 to 1913, serving as the minority leader in the House. In 1914 he was elected to the Idaho Supreme Court, and by natural rotation became Chief Justice on January 1, 1919.
Morgan resigned from the Idaho Supreme Court in 1920, returning to private practice. However, he was returned to the Idaho Supreme Court in 1933 and served his death at age 72 in 1942.
Although they were closely associated in their professional and social interests, they had opposite political views, Morgan being a Democrat and his brother being a staunch Republican.
Member Idaho
Married Emma M. Friedline, July 22, 1895.