Ephraim W. Morse Papers
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
Copyright 2005
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
spcoll@ucsd.edu
Descriptive Summary
Contributing Institution:
Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
9500 Gilman Drive
La Jolla 92093-0175
Title: Ephraim W. Morse Papers
Identifier/Call Number: MSS 0079
Physical Description:
2 Linear feet
(5 archives boxes and 2 oversize folders)
Date (inclusive): 1839-1884
Abstract: Papers of Ephraim W. Morse (1823-1906), a San Diego merchant, real estate broker, insurance agent, and city promoter. Materials
date from 1861 to 1884 and include storebooks and account books for Morse's Old Town and New Town stores; correspondence;
cased daguerreotypes and ambrotypes of unidentified subjects; and scrapbooks.
Languages:
English
.
Scope and Content of Collection
Papers of Ephraim W. Morse, a San Diego merchant, real estate broker, insurance agent, and city promoter. Materials include
storebooks and account books for Morse's Old Town and New Town stores; correspondence; cased daguerreotypes and ambrotypes
of unidentified subjects; and scrapbooks.
Arranged in four series: 1) FINANCIAL RECORDS, 2) SCRAPBOOKS, 3) PHOTOGRAPHS, and 4) CORRESPONDENCE.
Historical Background
[The following information was taken from Earl Samuel McGhee's thesis 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.
He attended Newburyport High School from 1838 to 1841, where he learned bookkeeping. Leaving New England at age twenty-six,
Morse joined the Gold Rush to northern California. In April of 1850, he ventured to the tiny settlement of San Diego, population
approximately 800. Morse opened a general store, located in Davis' Addition. Shortly after this, he entered into a partnership
with Thomas Whaley and relocated to 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.
During the early decades of the city, Morse 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. 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. Morse continued to live in San Diego until he was eighty-three years of age. Having
finally witnessed substantial city growth, Ephraim W. Morse died on January 17, 1906,
Preferred Citation
Ephraim W. Morse Papers, MSS 79. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Acquisition Information
Acquired 1976
Related Materials
Ephraim W. Morse Family Papers, MSS 689. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Processing Information
This collection was digitized in 2016 for inclusion in the Adam Matthew subscription database Frontier Life: borderlands,
settlement & colonial encounters.
Digital Content
This collection has been digitized.
Publication Rights
Digital copies of this material are intended to support research, teaching, and private study. This work may be used without
prior permission. The original manuscripts for this collection are held by Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego Library.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
San Diego (Calif.) -- Pictorial works
Businessmen -- California -- San Diego -- Correspondence
Photographic prints -- 19th century
San Diego (Calif.) -- History
San Diego (Calif.) -- History -- Sources
San Diego (Calif.) -- History -- Pictorial works
Daguerreotypes
FINANCIAL RECORDS
Scope and Content of Series
Series 1) FINANCIAL RECORDS: Contains business records from Morse's mercantile store in Old Town, San Diego, between 1861
and 1869, and his general entrepreneurial activities in New Town between February 1869 and 1884.
Morse kept two types of business records for his Old Town store. He recorded each transaction serially in a storebook each
day and also kept an account book for individuals with running credits and debits. For each transaction in the storebook,
Morse assigned a unique number to each individual based upon the page number assigned in one of the several account books.
The account books summarize transactions by person. Missing from the storebooks for Old Town are records from November 1,
1863 to December 31, 1865. Missing from the account books are records from 1861 to 1864. Morse's activities in New Town, beginning
in February 1869, are also represented by storebooks, February 6, 1869 to June 30, 1879, and account books, 1869-1884.
Box 1, Folder 1
Storebook
1861 October 7-1863 September 30
Storebook -1861 October 7 to 1863 September 30
Box 1, Folder 2
Storebook
1866 January 1-1867 March 2
Storebook - January 1, 1866 to March 2, 1867
Box 1, Folder 3
Storebook
1867 March 2-1868 April 13
Storebook - March 2, 1867 to April 13, 1868
Box 2, Folder 1
Storebook
1868 April 13-1869 February 6
Storebook - April 13, 1868 to February 6, 1869
Box 2, Folder 2
E. W. Morse day book
1869 February 6-1870 December 31
E. W. Morse day book
Box 2, Folder 3
Storebook
1871 January 2-1879 June 30
Storebook - January 2, 1871 to June 30, 1879
Box 2, Folder 4
Account Book - Leger G
1864 June 1-1867 December 31
Account Book - Leger G
Box 3, Folder 1
Account Book - Leger H
1868 January 1-1870 July 12
Account Book - Leger H
Box 3, Folder 2
Account Book, no.3
1864-1865
Account Book, no.3
Box 3, Folder 3
Account Book, no.4
1866 October 1-1869 February
Account Book, no.4
Box 3, Folder 4
Account Book, no.9
1869-1884
Account Book, no.9
SCRAPBOOKS
Scope and Content of Series
Series 2) SCRAPBOOKS: Contains a scrapbook of photographs of San Diego taken circa 1874 and a collection of pressed ferns
from the southern California region. Some of the photographs are probably duplicates from the production of the pamphlet entitled
Information relative to the City of San Diego, California. Illustrated with twenty-two photographic views, containing, also
a Business Directory of the city (1874). Morse sat on the production committee of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce for this
publication. Included in the collection of images are commercial buildings in New Town, houses of prominent local citizens,
and landscapes in the county. Also included is a scrapbook of pressed ferns and another scrapbook of pressed seaweed.
Box 4, Folder 1
Scrapbook of San Diego
ca. 1874
Scrapbook of San Diego
General
Includes photographs of San Diego, newspaper clippings, a short extract of prose entitled "Among the Wild Flowers of San Diego",
and several pressings of ferns from the southern California region.
Oversize FB-519-01
Fern Scrapbook
ca. 1861-1884
Fern scrapbook
Oversize FB-519-02
Seaweed Scrapbook
ca. 1861-1884
Seaweed scrapbook
PHOTOGRAPHS
Scope and Content of Series
Series 3) PHOTOGRAPHS: Examples of cased ambrotype and daguerreotype portraits of unidentified subjects.
Box 4, Folder 2
Portrait of man and woman
ca. 1853-1880
Portrait of seated woman and man
General
Ambrotype photograph.
Box 4, Folder 3
Portrait of man
ca. 1839-1869
Portrait of man
General
Daguerreotype photograph.
Box 4, Folder 3
Portrait of man
ca. 1839-1869
Portrait of man
General
Daguerreotype photograph.
Box 4, Folder 4
Portrait of three women
ca. 1839-1869
Portrait of three young women
General
Daguerreotype photograph.
Box 4, Folder 4
Portrait of woman holding flowers
ca. 1839-1869
Portrait of bonneted woman holding flowers
Portrait of young woman
General
Daguerreotype photograph.
Box 5, Folder 1
Portrait of woman in blue velvet case
ca. 1839-1869
Portrait of smiling young woman in blue velvet case
General
Daguerreotype photograph.
Box 5, Folder 1
Portrait of woman
ca. 1839-1869
General
Daguerreotype photograph.
Box 5, Folder 2
Portrait of a woman with feathered bonnet and jewels
ca. 1839-1869
Portrait of a woman with feathered bonnet and earrings
General
Daguerreotype photograph.
CORRESPONDENCE
Scope and Content of Series
Series 4) CORRESPONDENCE: Two folders of letters. In the John Capron materials is a letter from Charles White which discusses
the election of Sheriff McCoy. The E.W. Morse folder contains miscellaneous notes, letters from insurance companies, and materials
related to the Masonic Building Association.
Box 5, Folder 3
Capron, John
1875
John Capron correspondence
General
Correspondence topics range from health of loved ones, to promotion of San Diego as a place to live and visit. Includes a
letter from Charles White which discussing the election of Sheriff McCoy. Some text obscured by plant pressings.
Box 5, Folder 4
Morse, Ephraim W.
1874-1881
Ephraim W. Morse correspondence
General
Includes correspondence with the New Zealand insurance company regarding his employment, miscellaneous notes, and materials
related to the Masonic Building Association.
