Historical Background
[The following information was taken from Earl Samuel McGhee's thesis entitled E.W. Morse, Pioneer Merchant and Co-Founder of San Diego (1950).]
Ephraim W. Morse was born in West Amesbury, Massachusetts on October 16, 1823 and arrived in San Diego in April of 1850 to pursue a business in general merchandising. His first store was located in Davis' Addition, but he soon entered into a partnership with Thomas Whaley and relocated in the plaza of Old Town. By April 1854, Morse had dissolved his association with Whaley and moved across the street until financial problems forced him out of business in 1859.
In 1861, he opened a new store in Old Town which continued until February 1869 when he sold out to Philip Crosthwaite and Thomas Whaley. Morse then moved to Horton's Addition and opened a real estate and insurance office, serving as an agent for the Phoenix Insurance Company of Hartford, Connecticut; the Home Insurance Company of New York; and the North British and Mercantile Insurance Company of London and Edinburgh. Morse invested heavily in land and actively promoted San Diego. He sought to make San Diego a western terminus of the railroad as director of the San Diego and Gila Railroad Company; helped to organize the Bank of San Diego in 1870; helped develop the San Diego Flume Company; and presided over the San Diego Bee Keepers Association in 1877.
From the guide to the Ephraim W. Morse Papers, 1861 - 1884, (University of California, San Diego. Geisel Library. Mandeville Special Collections Library.)
Biography
Ephraim Weed Morse was born on October 16, 1823, in West Amesbury, Massachusetts, the only son of New England farmers and apple growers, John and Hannah (nee Weed) Morse. He attended Newburyport High School (1838-1841) where he learned bookkeeping. Leaving New England and a teaching position, at age twenty-six, Morse joined the Gold Rush to northern California. He quickly became sick and disenchanted with his prospects so, in April of 1850, he ventured to the tiny settlement of San Diego, population approximately 800.
Morse, with fellow New Englander, Levi Slack, immediately began keeping a general store, first, in a failed "new town" location known as "Davis' Folly." In 1853, he moved the store to Old Town and partnered with Thomas Whaley, and later, conducted business on his own. During the early decades of the city, being an educated and temperate man, he was called upon to hold many important government positions including city trustee (1854-55, 1867), county supervisor (1860), city treasurer (1878), county treasurer (1858-59, 1861-1862), associate justice (1852), secretary of the board of trade (1852-1864), school commissioner and trustee (1853-55), and public administrator (1853, 1875). In 1856, he earned his license to practice law and became a notary public.
In 1860, he experienced financial losses and bankruptcy and for a short time partnered with Joseph Smith on a sheep ranch on Smith Mountain, now known as Palomar. He soon returned to San Diego (1861) as a merchant, real estate speculator, county surveyor, and an agent for Wells Fargo and various insurance companies. With Thomas Darnell, he unprofitably invested in the Jesus María Copper Mine in Baja California.
Morse had returned to Massachusetts in 1851 to marry his first wife, Lydia Gray. Mrs. Morse arrived in San Diego in 1853, gave birth to their son Edward in 1856, and died shortly thereafter. The boy was then taken to Massachusetts by a Mrs. Stevens, where he was raised by his maternal grandparents.
In 1866, Morse married Mary C. Walker, a former San Diego schoolteacher. She was removed from that position when some parents boycotted the school because of comments that she was rumored to have made after negative reactions to her sharing a meal with an African-American woman. Although Miss Walker denied commenting on the interracial marriages of some of her critics, she was dismissed due to the boycott. She then was hired by Rufus Porter, a Spring Valley pioneer, to teach his daughter until her marriage to Morse.
The Morses were happily matched and enjoyed driving their horse and buggy far out into the San Diego county wilderness, visiting the mountains and local hot springs on camping trips. They both gardened and reveled in growing fruits and flowers year-round in the excellent climate. Mary wrote articles that were published in the newspaper. Their marriage lasted for thirty-three years until Mary Morse's death on May 17, 1899.
In 1869, Morse was one of the City trustees who sold Alonzo Horton the land grant that would become "Horton's Addition" or "New Town," the present site of downtown San Diego. He was also instrumental in getting the City trustees to dedicate a large plot of land to be reserved for a city park, now Balboa Park. In 1871, he travelled to Washington, D.C., to fight for the City's title rights to the original "pueblo lands."
Morse was involved in many of the attempts to bring a transcontinental railroad to San Diego. As a real estate speculator, he wanted to make the City easy and affordable for new settlers to reach. In 1854, he was a founder and director of the San Diego and Gila, Southern Pacific and Atlantic Railroad Company, which eventually failed. He was also involved in citizen's committees and in arrangements to reserve private land for railroad right-of-ways. He worked with Col. Thomas A. Scott to bring the Texas & Pacific Railroad to San Diego, a project that garnered Congressional support. However, all these efforts were successfully opposed by the powerful influence and money of the Central Pacific Group that included Leland Stanford, Colis P. Huntington, Charles Crock and Mark Hopkins. San Diego County would not become a terminus for a major transcontinental line until 1885.
Morse's other business interests included being a founder and officer of the Bank of San Diego. He helped develop downtown San Diego, building the Pierce-Morse block located at the northwest corner of Sixth and F Street, and the Morse, Whaley, and Dalton block. With Whaley, Dalton, and Noell, he was involved in various real estate firms, and he invested in both the San Diego Flume Company and the El Cajon Valley Company.
The failure to bring a transcontinental railroad to San Diego, in addition to national financial panics, such as the panic of 1873, caused Morse to lose most of his fortune. Like many San Diegans, he was land-rich but cash-poor, and land prices were not rising. He and Mary retreated to spartan living conditions in a small house in Alpine, a small foothill community twenty-five miles east of San Diego, while renting out their homestead in San Diego. The Bank of San Diego went into receivership and Morse was the subject of lawsuits due to his involvement with it for many years to come.
Morse continued to live in San Diego until he was eighty-three years of age. He died on January 17, 1906, having finally witnessed substantial city growth, just as he had always optimistically predicted it.
From the guide to the Ephraim W. Morse family papers, 1838 - 1907, (University of California, San Diego. Geisel Library. Mandeville Special Collections Library.)
