California Biographies

Transcribed by Peggy Hooper

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

Source:
History of the state of California and biographical record of the San Joaquin 
Valley, California. An historical story of the state's marvelous growth from 
its earliest settlement to the present time.
Prof. James Miller Guinn , A. M.
The Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1905
Notes: Missing Page: 865-866,983-984,1175-1176


YEISER HUGH MORRIS. The rapid development of the rich agricultural resources of Tulare 
county is due to the strenuous efforts of men of brain and enterprise, who bring to their 
calling excellent judgment and superior business methods. Conspicuous among this number 
is Yeiser Hugh Morris, whose finely improved ranch, located about five miles northwest of 
Tulare, is one of the best in its appointments of any in the vicinity, giving ample evidence to 
even the most casual observer of his skill and ability as a practical farmer and rural house- 
holder. A native of old Virginia, he was born, September 23, 1853, near Scottsville, which was 
also the birthplace of his parents, John and Lucy (Cleveland) Morris. His paternal grandfather, 
Lee Morris, a planter, served in the war of 1812, after which he settled near Scottsville, Va., 
where he spent his remaining days. His maternal grandfather, William Cleveland, was also  
engaged in agricultural pursuits in the same place. 

The fifth child in a family of six children, of whom three are living, Yeiser Hugh Morris grew 
to manhood on the home farm, obtaining his knowledge of books in the district school and in 
the graded school of Scottsville, and acquiring a good knowledge of agriculture under his fath- 
er's wise instructions. Beginning life on his own account at the age of twenty-one years, he went 
first to Indiana, and for three years was employed at different kinds of work near New Ross. 
Desirous of seeing more of his native country, Mr. Morris then proceeded westward to Tama 
county, Iowa, locating near Toledo, where he remained for another three years. Not entirely sat- 
isfied with his prospects, he then journeyed to Oregon, and after spending the winter in that 
state came, in the spring of 1884, to Tulare, Cal. The two ensuing years he worked as a farm 
laborer, becoming familiar with the agricultural methods employed on the Pacific coast. In 1886 
he wisely invested his money in land, buying a farm of eighty acres four miles northwest of 
Tulare, which is devoted to grain and alfalfa. Enterprising and thrifty, he at once began the 
improvement of his property by erecting a residence and a set of outbuildings. In the care of 
his land he has met with well-merited success as a general farmer, each season raising bountiful 
crops of grain and alfalfa, and also paying much attention to dairying and stock raising, keeping a 
fine lot of cattle and hogs. In addition to managing this place, Mr. Morris leases the George H. 
Ingham ranch which adjoins his place of residence, and consists of two hundred acres of well- 
improved land owned by his wife. 

In 1898, Mr. Morris married Mrs. Bertha (Ray) Ingham, who was born in Syracuse, N. Y., a 
daughter of Frederick Ray, who migrated from the Empire State to California. Politically 
Mr. Morris is a faithful supporter of the principles of the Republican party. He finds but little 
time to give especially to public matters, but he takes a keen interest in everything pertaining to 
the advancement of the agricultural and industrial prosperity of town and county, and is a mem- 
ber of the Rochdale Association ; of the Co-Operative Creamery Company ; and of the Tulare 
Grange.