10/24/2025
We are pleased to announce that Henry Clay Morgan was inducted into the Prattsburgh Hall of Fame. Morgan (August 2, 1883-January 23, 1968) was a man of many talents and accomplishments which were shared with us by his granddaughter Shirley Kovatch Axelson.
His early education consisted of correspondence classes in math. He later received his mechanical and electrical engineering education in Pittsburgh, PA. Upon returning to Prattsburgh in 1909, he opened a bicycle repair shop. His many interests also led him to include the first automobile paint shop in the area, as well as the first Zenith radio dealership in Prattsburgh. From 1925-1943 he was the local gas and oil distributor for Socony Oil Company. He was very proud to have kept his business running during the depression, and was especially pleased to have employed many local men as oil deliverymen. In 1917 he successfully brought the first Ford automobiles to Prattsburgh and opened the H.C. Morgan Ford Agency and Machine Shop which he operated until WWII. At that time he converted to building defense materials for the U.S. Government. In 1944 he sold the Ford Agency and devoted his time to machinist work for many local businesses. For more than 50 years, Clay was a vital part of the business community of Prattsburgh.
But the real love of his life was that of being a machinist. His tidy machine shop boasted of his many inventions, including gear-cutting machines, indexing heads, electrical stops, and lake-trout fishing reels. After retiring in 1966, he continued to keep busy repairing corking machines for local wineries. He was known as a man that could fix anything!
Clay was an avid outdoorsman, and his love of hunting brought him to design his own shotgun slug. In 1959, after 5 years of working on the design mold, he built and patented an accurate rifled shotgun slug. Unlike the commercial brands, his design proved to be more accurate. At 76 years old he shot the heart out of a deer at 210 yards, using of course his own slug!
H. Clay was married to Grace Belle Pulver(1889-1983) and they had one daughter, Gladys Mae Morgan Kovatch born June 3, 1919.
