THE FIRST 100 YEARS
OF
SACRAMENTO LODGE No.40
JOHN FREDERICK MORSE
John Frederick Morse, an original petitioner of Sacramento Lodge, was born on
December 27, 1815 in the town of Essex, Chittendeden County, Vermont, the son
of Elijah Morgan Morse and Hannah Curtiss Morgan (Morse). On October 14, 1843
he married Rebecca L. Canmore of Norwalk, Connecticut. The marriage took place
in New York. By this marriage they had a daughter, Emma. He graduated in
Medicine from the University of the City of New York in 1844, and soon after
was engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery in Brooklyn. When a young
man, he joined the Independent Order of Oddfellows and was active in charitable
work and was a charter member of the famous old Plymouth Church which he
assisted in establishing in 1846. In 1849, because of ill health he gave up his
practice temporarily and on February 22, 1849, at the age of 33, he sailed from
New York for Panama on the bark, Begota. From Panama he obtained
passage on the ship Alexander von Humboldt and after experiencing many
hardships arrived in Sacramento and thence to Coloma where for a time he tried
mining, but soon returned to Sacramento where he again practiced his
profession. He found plenty to do as sickness was prevalent and he gave generously
of his services to those who could not afford to pay. He was one of the
foremost in establishing the "Oddfellows Relief Association of
Sacramento." Dr. Morse, with Dr. Jacob D. B. Stillman, leased a building
constructed by Priest, Lee & Co. on the corner of 3rd and K Streets, and
there in the Fall of 1849 a hospital was established. In December of 1849 a
hospital was also established by the Oddfellows and Masons in the southeast
corner of Sutter's Fort and Dr. Morse was Secretary of its Board of Trustees.
He was the first to inaugurate a system of health insurance in California. On
October 25, 1850, Dr. Morse entered in partnership with James B. Mitchell in a
business in which Mitchell was a notary public and Morse an auctioneer.
Contemplating the establishment of a daily newspaper, a committee called on Dr.
Morse to persuade him to purchase an interest in the office and to become its
editor. Although Dr. Morse refused to invest in the project, he accepted the
position of Editor on a salary basis and on March 19, 1851, the first copy of
the Sacramento Union was distributed. He edited the paper until May 4,
1852, when he retired to again practice his profession; this time with Dr.
Thomas M. Logan and Dr. Septer Patrick. Patrick, however soon withdrew and Morse
and Logan opened an office in a building at K and 3rd Streets, owned by Logan.
The building was destroyed by the fire of November 2, 1852. During this same
fire, his wife who had joined him in 1851 with their daughter Emma, was removed
to the Steamer, Comanche, enroute to San Francisco. On board the
vessel, on November 4, she gave birth to a son, John Francis and died a few
minutes before the ship's arrival at San Francisco. The son died in Sacramento
four years later. Shortly after the fire, Logan and Morse opened offices at
Hotel de France but on December 11, 1852, each opened his own office, Morse
locating on the second floor of Stanford and Bros. Building on K Street between
2nd and 3rd Streets. In April 1853, Dr. Morse became associated with Dr. J. S.
Trowbridge for a brief period and soon after maintained his own office in
Sacramento. In July, 1863, he entered into partnership with Dr. William R.
Cluness for a short time. Dr. Morse remarried in Sacramento on January 16,
1854, his second wife being Miss Caroline F. Loney, daughter of N. M. Loney of
Belfast, Maine. The ceremony was performed by the Rev. Joseph A. Benton, pastor
of the Congregational Church in Sacramento. At Sacramento, on September 12,
1857, his wife gave birth to John Frederick Morse, Jr., who followed in
his father's footsteps and became a prominent surgeon of San Francisco and a
member of Excelsior Lodge No. 166, F. & A. M. On September 19, 1863, Dr.
Morse and his family moved to San Francisco, where Dr. Morse accepted the chair
of Professor of the Theory and Practice of Medicine in the medical department
of the University of the Pacific, the first medical school in California. Here
he remained until October 1864 when he became a member of the original faculty
of Toland Medical College which was subsequently absorbed by the medical
department of the University of California. He remained as Professor of the
Theory and Practice of Medicine and Clinical Medicine and Diagnosis until 1870.
In 1874 he affiliated with the newly organized medical faculty of the
University of the Pacific, a forerunner of the Stanford Medical School as
Professor Emeritus in Medicine. In addition to his duties as instructor, he
enjoyed an extensive and successful private practice until he was forced by ill
health to retire. In 1874, he took ship for Australia believing that his health
would be benefited by the voyage but at Honolulu, his condition became worse
and he was forced to return to San Francisco, arriving a few days before his
death which occurred there on December 30, 1874, three days before his 59th
birthday. He was survived by his wife, Caroline, and by one son John Frederick
Morse, Jr., and four daughters, Emma, Nellie, Caroline and Henrietta. The
funeral service was conducted on January 3, 1875, under the auspices of the
Masons and Oddfellows and was one of the largest ever witnessed in San
Francisco. His remains were buried in Mt. Olivet Cemetery in San Mateo County.
Dr. Morse was a man of great public spirit and did much to promote the
interests of the communities in which he lived. He assisted in establishing a
Mercantile Library Association in Sacramento. He was one of the original
stockholders of the Central Pacific Railroad Company and in 1862 he was a
member of its board of directors. He was a member of the Society of California
Pioneers, and as a representative of that society delivered a speech in the
ceremony of breaking ground for the railroad in Sacramento, January 8, 1863.
When the Sacramento Medico-Chirurgical Society was formed on May 8, 1850 Dr.
Morse was its first vice president and orator. On April 30, 1855, the
Sacramento Medical Society was organized with Dr. Morse as its 2nd
vice-president. He was associated with James Lloyd Lafayette Warren in
establishing the California Farmer and Journal of Useful Sciences, a
weekly magazine, the first agricultural paper on the Pacific Coast. Its
first number appeared January 5, 1854. Morse served as editor until
February 16, 1854. In March 1854, Dr. Morse with S. Colville issued the first
and only number of a monthly magazine called Illustrative Historical
Sketches of California with a minute history of the Sacramento Valley. No
second issue ever appeared. In October 1853, he did however submit a sketch of
the History of Sacramento, to S. Colville, who published it in his Sacramento
City Directory of that year. It was the first history of Sacramento ever
published and was reprinted in 1945 by the Sacramento Book Collectors Club,
with a Historical Note on the Life of Dr. Morse by Caroline Wenzel, at
the time, Head of the California section of the State Library. Dr. Morse was
instrumental in finding the State Agricultural Society which incorporated on
May 13, 1854, and he was a life member of that Society. He was an active member
of the Sacramento Society of California Pioneers, serving as director in
1854-1855, Vice President 1855-1856 and President 1857-1859. In 1862 he was
appointed by Governor Stanford as one of the trustees of the California State
Library and was elected to that office by the California Legislature on January
27, 1863, serving until the latter part of 1864. He was vice president of the
California Prison Commission organized November 27, 1865, and served as
president during the year 1867. Dr. Morse was very active in both the Independent
Order of Oddfellows and the Masonic Fraternity. As an Oddfellow, he was
initiated in Atlantic Lodge No. 50 at Brooklyn, New York in 1844, passing
through the chairs of that Lodge in 1846, and was returned as representative to
the Grand Lodge of New York in August 1846. In 1851, he withdrew from the
eastern Lodge and joined Sacramento Lodge No. 2. He was one of the petitioners
for a charter for the Grand Lodge I. O. O. F. of California and represented his
Lodge at the organization and first session of that body in 1854. In 1869 he
was commissioned by Grand Sire Farnsworth as Deputy Grand Sire, with authority
to institute the order in Germany and Switzerland and although taken prisoner
in the existing war between France and Prussia, he succeeded in establishing
the order in both of these jurisdictions. Dr. Morse was initiated an
Entered Apprentice Mason in Tehama Lodge No. 3 on January 19, 1852, passed to
the degree of Fellowcraft on February 16, 1852, and was raised to the sublime
degree of Master Mason on March 15, 1852. He was serving as Treasurer of Tehama
Lodge No. 3, when he became one of the original petitioners of Sacramento
Lodge. After assisting in organizing our Lodge, he dimitted on August 4, 1854,
and was Senior Warden of Tehama Lodge No. 3, and Master of that Lodge the
following year. In 1856, he was Grand Orator of the Grand Lodge of Masons in
California. In 1865, he dimitted from Tehama Lodge No. 3 of Sacramento and
affiliated with Excelsior Lodge No. 166 of San Francisco. Just before he started
on his last voyage, he dimitted from Excelsior Lodge No. 166, and died before
he could use his dimit certificate.
Transcribed by Sally
Kaleta.
Proofread by Betty
Vickroy.
© 2007 Sally Kaleta.