Los Angeles County, CA, Biographies

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


COLONEL W. E. MORFORD, 
 
Superintendent of Streets, 240 South Hill street, Los Angeles, is a native of 
Sussex County, New Jersey, born October 23, 1827. At the age of fifteen years he 
left school and entered a bank in the city of New York, where he remained six 
years. At that time he started on a tour around the world, for the benefit of 
his health. Upon reaching California, the genial climate of the Golden State 
induced him to remain for a time. In 1848 he was secretary for Captain Sutter 
and held that position until he was obliged to resign, in November, 1848, on 
account of ill health. He returned to the States, via Cape Horn, leaving San 
Francisco, March 14, 1849, and carried with him the first gold taken from the 
diggings and mines discovered during the mining excitement of 1848. It was sent 
by Frank Lemon, of Stevenson's Regiment, to his brother, William Lemon, a 
partner of John Anderson, the famous tobacco merchant of New York, and was 
delivered to him August 22, 1849, and this gold was exhibited in Benedict's 
jewelry store, No. 7 Wall street, New York, attracting great attention. Colonel 
Morford was engaged in business in New York until the breaking out of the 
Rebellion. He enlisted April 19, 1861, and served five years and seven months, 
on staff duty the most of the time. He served on the staffs of General Phil 
Kearny, General George Stoneman, General John Newton, General J. Q. A. Gilmore 
and General Phil Sheridan. After the war he received an appointment in the New 
York Custom House and remained there during the administration of Grant. In 1875 
he came to the Pacific Coast and engaged in the real-estate business in Los 
Angeles, and was prominently identified with the business until the present 
year, when he was elected to the office he now holds by a plurality of 1,789 
votes. Colonel Morford married Miss Jane M. Cochran, a native of Sussex County, 
New Jersey. This estimable lady died March 6, 1889, leaving three children: 
Kate, Hattie E., and William E., Jr.
 
An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California �  Chicago, The Lewis 
Publishing Company, 1889   Page 567
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler