Alameda County Biographies

Henry N. Morris

Transcribed by Kathy Sedler

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


 
        Henry N. Morris, of Oakland, California, is vice president of the 
Central National Bank and Central Savings Bank and widely known in financial 
circles of Alameda county as a conservative banker who is ever careful of the 
interests of his depositors and who is yet progressive, giving valuable aid to 
commercial and industrial development. He was born in Columbus, Ohio, April 24, 
1860, and is a son of E. D. and Frances Elizabeth Morris.
        Henry N. Morris attended the public and high schools of Cincinnati, 
Ohio, graduating from the latter at the age of seventeen, when he entered the 
Western Reserve College at Cleveland, from which he was graduated in 1882. He 
then entered the Cincinnati Law School, receiving his degree in 1885, and 
subsequently practiced law in Cincinnati for two years. At the end of that time 
he became connected with the machinery manufacturing business, continuing thus 
until 1896, when he sold out and went to Munising, Michigan, as the 
representative of eastern capitalists who owned large timber tracts there and 
also as financial agent of the Munising Railroad Company. He remained in that 
city for several years and then accepted the position of president of the 
Shreveport Gas, Electric Light & Power Company at Shreveport, Louisiana, also 
becoming president of the Texarkana Gas & Street Railway Company at Texarkana, 
Texas. At the end of eight years he retired, however, and went to San Antonio, 
Texas, being appointed receiver of the Woods National Bank and discharging the 
affairs of that institution until May, 1909, when he came to Oakland, being 
appointed receiver of the Union National Bank. A little later he was appointed 
by the governmental national bank examiner for the San Francisco district. He 
administered these offices until August, 1913, since which time he has been vice 
president of the Central National Bank and Central Savings Bank of Oakland. His 
extensive experience well fits him for the important position which he now holds 
at the head of one of the strongest financial institutions of the state. Mr. 
Morris is an influential man of rare executive ability who thoroughly 
understands banking routine and financial conditions. He has a great capacity 
for detail and considers no matter too unimportant to be worthy of his 
attention, realizing that many seemingly trivial affairs might make a 
combination which is of the greatest moment. He has all the qualities of which a 
banker might be proud and is a man of unerring accuracy in judgment and of 
caution in business transactions. He possesses that intuition as to character 
and that knowledge of humanity so essential in the successful transaction of 
business, and he seldom if ever commits errors as to what and whom to trust.
        In March, 1886, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Mr. Morris married Miss Ella M. 
Blymyer and they have three children: William B., who is now connected with oil 
interests in Geneva, Indiana; Ellis Elizabeth, who is attending Miss Ransome's 
private school in Oakland, and Fearing H., who is attending the Thatcher School 
at Nordhoff, California.
        Politically Mr. Morris is a republican, and his religious faith is that 
of the Congregational church. He is a member of the Athenian and Home Clubs, and 
he stands high in the business and financial life of Oakland and Alameda county, 
enjoying in full measure the confidence which is his due because of his 
honorable principles and his ability.
 
Past & Present of Alameda County, California � Vol II, S. J. Clarke Publ. Co., 
1914, p. 292