MORRILL,

Posted by Carolyn Schwab on Sunday, October 15, 2006 at 08:10:26 :

San Rafael Indendent
Friday, June 30, 1944
page 6

WILLIAM L. MORRILL

An old time railroad man, sportsman, and American Legion past commander, William Louis Morrill, died yesterday at Guerneville, at home, after a lingering illness.

Before his death, which he anticipated, the pioneer railroadman jotted down some notes on his early start with the railroad of the area.

He wrote "My time as a railroad man was spent mostly on the old North Shore Line and the N.W. Pacific. I started as a freight brakeman on the North Shore out of Occidental on May 9, 1899".

His memoirs then recounted how he worked in that position for some years both as a brakeman and conductor and then went "switching" in Tiburon in 1903. He served as brakeman and conductor, mostly in service between Petaluma, Boonville, Willits, and Santa Rosa until 1916.

He served in the AEF in World War I from 1917 to 1919, coming out with the rank of Sergeant. He then worked as a conductor at the Mare Island Navy yard until he retired in 1937.