Alameda County Biographies

LEWIS CASS MOREHOUSE

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


 
        A man's position in public regard is established by the consensus of 
opinion on the part of his fellows. Judged in this way, Lewis Cass Morehouse 
can, without invidious distinction, be termed the most prominent resident of San 
Leandro, and it can be said of him, and it cannot always be said of capitalists, 
that he is well liked and esteemed by all with whom business or social relations 
have brought him in contact. His judgment of others is founded upon individual 
worth and not upon wealth, and in the attainment of his own success he has 
followed methods so straightforward and honorable that the most envious cannot 
grudge him his prosperity.
        Mr. Morehouse is a native of Onondaga county, New York, born December 
29, 1833, and is a son of Oliver Morehouse, who, in 1843, removed from the 
Empire state to Lake county, Illinois, where he owned and cultivated a farm only 
eighty rods south of the Wisconsin border. There the family lived until 1852, 
when Oliver Morehouse and his son Lewis, leaving the family in the east, crossed 
the plains in a prairie schooner with Sacramento as their destination. For a few 
months both were employed on a ranch near Davisville, after which they went to 
the mines at Sonora, Tuolumne county. In February, 1853, they went to Stockton, 
where the father died. Later in that year Lewis Morehouse drove a five team 
train of oxen to Mariposa, and in December, of the same year, he came to San 
Leandro, where he was employed on a ranch bordering the creek on the east side 
of the road that is now known as East Fourteenth street. After six months there 
passed he gave up his position and went across the road to the San Antonio 
ranch, where he remained for two years. During the succeeding summer he engaged 
in farming on his own account and in the spring of 1858 he returned to Illinois, 
where he remained until the spring of 1866. During his residence there he 
married and in the spring of that year he secured several teams and organized a 
party to come west. The start was made from Kenosha, Wisconsin, and they 
traveled straight through to San Leandro, where Mr. Morehouse has since made his 
home. Here he engaged in teaming and after a few years was elected constable. He 
was later appointed deputy under Sheriff Morse, and he also engaged in the 
collection agency business for several years. In 1882 he was a candidate for 
membership on the state board of equalization, which was then comprised of men 
from eleven counties. He was elected to the office and represented the south 
district. The state was at that time entirely under democratic rule and Mr. 
Morehouse was the only republican elected to the board. In that capacity he 
served for four terms of four years each, remaining therefore sixteen years in 
this one position, his reelections coming to him in recognition of the ability, 
fidelity and fairness with which he discharged the duties of his office. He made 
a careful study of all the questions which came up for consideration and a 
spirit of equity guided him in all of his decisions.
        On retiring from office, Mr. Morehouse, accompanied by his wife, made a 
tour of Europe, which lasted for fourteen months. He was one of the directors of 
the Central Bank of Oakland and for a quarter of a century has been a director 
of the First National Bank of that city. He is likewise vice president of the 
First National and has continued in that position for many years. Upon the 
organization of the Bank of San Leandro, in May, 1893, he was chosen one of its 
directors and has so continued. Upon the death of Socrates Huff he succeeded to 
the presidency and still remains at the head of the institution. Some years 
after the Bank of San Leandro was established and had proven itself a successful 
and well managed institution, Mr. Morehouse organized the First National Bank of 
San Leandro, of which he is also president. A branch of this bank is now 
maintained at Elmhurst. Mr. Morehouse has thus entered into active and prominent 
relations with financial interests of the county and has done much to uphold the 
financial stability of this section of the state. He has likewise had other 
business connections of importance. For twelve years he was owner and manager of 
the Junior Monarch Hay Press Company, one of the pioneer manufacturing concerns 
of San Leandro, which is now operated by Toffelmier Brothers. He was likewise 
for several years a director in the original Best Manufacturing Company of San 
Leandro. It is a widely recognized fact that his business judgment is sound and 
his enterprise unfaltering. Moreover, he has the power to quickly discriminate 
between the essential and nonessential in business affairs, together with the 
ability to coordinate seemingly diverse interests into a harmonious and unified 
whole.
        On the 28th of June, 1861, at Racine, Wisconsin, Mr. Morehouse was 
married to Miss Marion Jewett, a native of the Western Reserve of Ohio. Her 
death occurred in March, 1907, and thus was terminated a happy married life of 
more than forty-five years. In politics Mr. Morehouse has always been a stanch 
republican where national issues are involved, and he cast his first 
presidential vote in Alameda county for Fremont in 1856. In local politics he 
usually gives his support to the candidate whom he thinks best fitted for office 
regardless of party affiliations. He is a broad-minded man, liberal in thought 
and honorable in purpose. His life has been fruitful of good results, not only 
in the attainment of success, but in his support of progressive public measures 
which are of benefit to the community.
 
Past & Present of Alameda County, California � Vol II, S. J. Clarke Publ. Co., 
1914, p. 508