Daniel Johnson Morrell was born in Maine, and moved to Philadelphia at the age of 15 working as a clerk. But he was an entrepreneur, and by 1855 he and Charles Wood purchased a number of charcoal iron firnaces to found the Cambria Iron Company of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The company became one of the nation's largest producers of railroad rails by 1858. Cambria Iron became the hub of the town and owned a great deal of the surrounding land as well as many of the businesses. Daniel Morrell not only ran the Iron Works but was also President of the local gas and water company and the bank. He was elected US Congressman from Pennsylvania 1867-71. The ship Daniel J. Morrell was named after this man, and it famously sank in 1966 in Lake Huron.

[1][Anonymous], Records of the Society of Friends at Berwick ME, NEHGR , 72: 272.

[2]1880 US Census , 2nd Ward Johnstown PA, p. 25C. "D.J. Morrell, President Cambria Works"

[3]Find A Grave Cemetary Records (Electronic Database: FindAGrave.com).

[4]Ann Lisa Pearson, Benjamin Morrell Research Report (May 1985; Unpublished manuscript in the Morrill/Morrell Family archives, Western History Collection, Denver Public Library), 30.