MORGAN EMANUEL is a member of the firm of Emanuel & Lewis, who do a large business in powder and mine drills, and he is also proprietor of the Crystal Hill Dairy, besides making a specialty of breeding fine Holstein cattle. A native of Wales, he possesses the business-like ability and sagacity which are usual characteristics of his countrymen, and has long been considered one of the leading business men of Catasauqua.

Mr. Emanuel was born in Glamorganshire, Wales, March 18, 1831, being a son of Morgan and Mary (Jenkins) Emanuel. Our subject is the only child living, and came to America three years after his father, in 1847. When a lad of twelve years he went into the mines, continuing there until coming to the United States. Leaving Liverpool on the sailing-vessel "Columbia," he landed in Philadelphia at the end of five weeks, and thence proceeded by stage to Catasauqua, where he attended school for a couple of years. Later he obtained employment at the furnace of the Crane Iron Company, and under the instruction of Noah Davis became a practical blacksmith. In March 1854, going to Hokendauqua, he assisted in putting up the first building at that place, the present location of the Thomas Iron Works. He was foreman of the blacksmith department until the completion of that plant, when he went to Carbon County, and for the succeeding year occupied a similar position in the railroad shops of the Lehigh Valley at Weatherly. Subsequently he returned to Catasauqua, engaging in contracting for furnace furnishings, and for a couple of years was agent for the Crane Company's limestone quarries. Mr. Emanuel next opened a quarry of building stone, for the construction of Furnaces Nos. 3 and 4 at Hokendauqua, after which he branched out into the powder business, in the spring of 1861. He had invented and received patents on a blasting powder, the main ingredient of which was Chile saltpetre. The firm of Thomas & Emanuel was organized, and they erected a powder-house in the western part of the city, where they engaged in the manufacture of this article for four years. Many improvments have since been made, and new patents secured by both members of the firm, and for years they have had an extensive trade.

In April 1865, Mr. Emanuel commenced traveling as general agent for the Smith & Rand Powder Company, of New York, and his journeys took him all over the United States. This company was afterward consolidated, becoming the Lafiin & Rand Powder Company, and he is still their representative. In the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad from Cheyenne to Ogden he furnished most of the powder used in blasting. For four years his headquarters and office were in Denver, and he often made long journeys by stage and other means of conveyance to distant western points. He also had the agency for the Rand Drill Company, of New York. Mr. Emanuel was the first to introduce dynamite into the Lehigh Valley, and also the first in the introduction of the Magneto, or Leyden jar and electric batteries, for firing fuses. His partnership with William G. Lewis still continues, and they have a local agency here.

At Mauch Chunk, October 9, 1855, Mr. Emanuel was married to Miss Margaret Lewis, who was born in Tredaga, Wales. Her father, Herbert Lewis, a native of the same country, was a contractor until 1848, when he brought his family to America, and on making a settlement at Beaver Meadow became connected with the coalmines, later removing to Nesquehoning in Carbon County. There occurred the death of his wife, who before her marriage was Elizabeth Herring. Mrs. Emanuel is the second of six children, and was a little maiden of eleven years on coming to Pennsylvania. Of her five children, three grew to mature years. Mary L., who was born November 18, 1856, graduated from the Ladies' Seminary at Pittsfield, Mass., and died about a year later, in 1877, aged only twenty-one years. William H. graduated from the high school of this city, and from the chemistry department of Lafayette College. He is now a resident of Denver, Colo., and the western representative for the Eraser & Chalmers Rand Drill Company, and the Trenton Iron Works. David L., the other surviving child, is engaged in general contracting for furnaces, mines, etc., and is also interested as a partner in the Crystal Hill Dairy.

Mr. Emanuel owns a fine farm of one hundred and four acres in Northampton County, adjoining Catasauqua. This is well improved and is used for the raising of grain and pasture for his sixty-five head of cattle and forty horses and mules. From six hundred to one thousand bushels of wheat, besides hay, feed and fodder, are annually raised on this farm, where may be seen fine grades of Holstein cattle. Mr. Emanuel was one of the first to introduce ensilage, having five large silos, with a capacity of two hundred and fifty tons apiece, for storing corn and fodder. The Crystal Hill Dairy is one of the largest in this locality, and the milk from about forty cows is daily placed in glass jars and delivered to customers by two teams; about a thousand quarts of milk per day are also shipped to New York City. From seventy to eighty pounds of butter are manufactured on the farm each day by machinery, which is connected by electric wires to the city electric plant. Mr. Emanuel contemplates putting in an ice machine and cold storage and in other ways further improving this model dairy farm, which Catasauqua Creek furnishes with a plentiful supply of running water. On one portion of the farm there is a large stone quarry, from which the owner supplied material for the Methodist Episcopal Church. Emanuel & Son now operate the Crystal Hill Creamery, a large plant located on Second Street.

The residence of our subject is situated on Third Street, between Pine and Bridge Streets, and besides this he owns other city property, as well as some mining stock in the West. He has a fine cabinet of mineral specimens, and is a man who is well posted on general subjects. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Masonic society, being a Free and Accepted Mason, a Royal Arch Mason, and a member of Allen Commandery No. 20, K. T, besides belonging to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of this city. He is an official member of the First Presbyterian Church, being a Ruling Elder. In politics he is a strong Republi can, and in matters of public importance is always to be found on the side of progress and advancement. In 1863, at the breaking out of the war, Mr. Emanuel enlisted as a member of Company B, Thirty-eighth Pennsylvania Militia, being sent to Gettysburg. On the expiration of his term of service he was mustered out at Reading