San Diego County
Biographies
PHILIP MORSE
was born in Fayette, Maine, May 23, 1845. His boyhood days were passed in the village, where he attended the district school. Later on he was a pupil in the Lewiston Falls Academy, where he prepared to enter Bowdoin College in the class of 1865. Failing health, however, compelled him to give up all thought of entering college, and he decided to come to California. Arriving in San Francisco in September of that year, he secured a position as salesman in the lumber yard of Glidden & Colman, pier 20, Stewart street, where he remained until March, 1869, when he accepted a position with McDonald & Co., to come to San Diego to take charge of their lumber business here. He arrived March 9, and has been identified with the interests of the city ever since. In October, 1875, he succeeded Jose G. Estudillo as assistant cashier of the Commercial Bank, which position he held for three years and a half, when he went to Arizona, where he built a mill and manufactured lumber for the mines. Here he remained for four years, being associated in business with Mr. Jacob Gruendike. Upon his return to San Diego in 1883, he went into business with his father-in-law, G. W. B. McDonald, under the firm name of McDonald & Morse. The firm continued in existence for one year, and then, in conjunction with several San Francisco capitalists, Mr. Morse organized the San Diego Lumber Company, of which he was elected general manager. The capital stock of the company was fixed at $75,000. He is also a stockholder in, and was one of the organizers, and first superintendent of the West Coast Redwood Company of San Francisco. He is president of the West San Diego Manufacturing Company, which is engaged in the manufacture of doors, sash, blinds, etc.
He has served two terms as member of the city Board of Education, and is now a director of the Chamber of Commerce and of the Board of Trade of San Diego city.
In giving this brief sketch of Philip Morse, really but one side of his character has been exposed to view. We have seen how he has risen, through the exercise of exceptionally good busiess qualities, from a clerkship to a position of affluence and recognized prominence in the community. We have seen him successful in his business ventures, and honored and trusted by his fellow-citizens. But there is another phase of his character, which is seldom found combined with business men of financial ability.
In the exercise of a wise economy nature but rarely endows the same mind with more than one of what may be called her cardinal gifts. Occasionally, however, when in a lavish mood, she departs from this general rule. The character of Philip Morse is an instance of this. Added to his ability as a business man, he has a fine literary taste, and a talent for poetry, which has borne fruit in the production of some stanzas which will live in the annals of American verse. As a writer of descriptive prose, also, he has been quite successful. His sense of observation is keen and he writes of what he sees in a bright, pleasant style that is both agreeable and instructive to the reader.
Mr. Morse was married May 23, 1870, to Miss Sarah McDonald, daughter of one of San Diego's most prominent citizens, and one of the first supervisors. They have three children, of which only a son is living. Mrs. Morse died in April, 1889.
The residence of Mr. Morse, which is situated at the corner of Twelfth and E streets, is one of the finest in the city. The finish of the interior is especially attractive, being done in the choicest of curly redwood.
SOURCE: An Illustrated History of Southern California: Embracing the Counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower California… Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890. p.- 194-195
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
N. H. CONKLIN,
an attorney at law in San Diego, is one of the leading members of the San Diego bar. Although still a comparatively young man, his life has been a very busy one. In turn a soldier, journalist and lawyer, he has achieved prominence in every profession with which his fortunes have been identified. He was born in Wyoming County, Pennsylvania, June, 1839. His father, Lawrence C. Conklin, born in New York city in 1800, was a carpenter and bridge builder. His mother, Sybil (Redfield) Conklin, was born in New York in 1802, the daughter of Russell Redfield and Betsy (Bixby), Redfield. Their ancestors were Connecticut people. His boyhood was passed with his parents in the town of Tunkhannock, on the Susquehanna, where he acquired such an education as was to be had at the public schools. In 1859 he began the study of law in the office of Judge Peckham, judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He was still immersed in his studies at the time of the breaking out of the war. Those who are not yet arrived at middle age have but little idea of the scenes that followed the firing upon Sumter,—the ebullitions of patriotic fervor, the mustering to arms, the hurried march to the field. Throughout the loyal States the response to President Lincoln's proclamation for troops was instantaneous: there was no hesitating then. Young Conklin heard the summons, and, throwing aside his law books, began raising a company of volunteers. Within less than a week from the time of the issuing of the proclamation his company was full, and he made a tender of it to the Governor. But the quota of the State was filled and the offer was declined. The Government and many of the people then believed with Senator Seward that the whole " affair" would be over in ninety days. Suffering under his disappointment, young Conklin went to Cincinnati to visit some friends. He could not, however, resist the impulse to give his services to his country, and within a week after his proffer had been rejected by the Governor of Pennsylvania he enlisted, in Cincinnati, in Company D, Second Kentucky Volunteers. He had been walking along the streets, when the beating of a drum again aroused the fires of patriotism within his breast; he went up stairs where a war meeting was being held, and enlisted as a private, not knowing at the time what the regiment was or where it was going; he only knew that the country needed his services, and right freely he proffered them. He was sent with his regiment to the Kanawha, in Western Virginia, and remained there until the spring of 1862. His regiment was then ordered to Kentucky, and then into Tennessee. He participated in the terrible battle of Shiloh, and was at the siege of Corinth. He then went back to Kentucky, and was in the State at the time of Bragg's raid. At Louisville he was discharged for promotion, having been commissioned Second Lieutenant in the Eighty-third Ohio Regiment. When he reached Cincinnati he found that his regiment had been ordered into the field. This was in November, 1862. He then returned to his home in Pennsylvania, where he remained until the following spring, reading the neglected law books. But he could not be content in such a peaceful avocation, and, having a strong taste for the navy, he applied for and was appointed master's mate. He was immediately ordered to report on board the Kenwood, attached to the Mississippi squadron. He took part in the siege of Vicksburg, and saw much active service while on the Kenwood, which was one of the fastest steamers on the river, and was generally used as a dispatch boat. In the spring of 1865 he was ordered to the Chillicothe, an iron-clad. As soon as he was mustered out of service at the close of the war, he again returned to Pennsylvania and once more renewed his law studies. He had two brothers in the Union army, both of whom are now living, one residing in northern California, and the other in Missouri.
As soon as he had been admitted to the bar he started west and located at Warrensburg, Missouri, where he began the practice of his profession. He remained at Warrensburg until the fall of 1874. During this time he was engaged in publishing the Johnson Democrat, a weekly newspaper. In October, 1874, he started for San Diego. Upon his arrival here he assumed editorial control of the San Diego World, a daily, in connection with Mr. Julian, at present one of the proprietors of the San Diegan. In 1877 he was elected District Attorney of the county, and held the office two years. Since then he has been engaged in the practice of law. Mr. Conklin has the largest general law practice of all attorneys in San Diego. He is the legal adviser of most of the large corporations here; is vice-president of the Pacific Wire Cloth Company, and is one of the principal stockholders of the Mission Valley Water Company and other large corporations. He is a Past Post Commander of Heintzelman Post, G. A. R., and is Past Commander of San Diego Commandery, Knight Templars. He was instrumental in bringing the railroad here, and has been interested in all public improvements. He has a handsome residence lately completed in Florence Heights on the corner of Fifth and Ivy streets.
Mr. Conklin was married in 1867 to Miss Myra I. Reese, born in Hanover, Indiana, October 20, 1847. At the time of their marriage she was a resident of Warrensburg, Missouri. Their union has been blessed with eight children, three of whom survive, viz.: Ralph L. Conklin, born in Warrensburg, Missouri, May 31, 1869; Sybil Conklin, born July 10, 1878, and Claud R. Conklin, born December 14, 1883. Both of the latter are natives of San Diego.
SOURCE: An Illustrated History of Southern California: Embracing the Counties of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower California… Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890. p.- 195-196
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler