Sacramento County
Biographies
ALEXANDER W. MORRISON
ALEXANDER
W. MORRISON. A member of the firm of
Morrison & Burns, proprietors of the Western hotel, of Sacramento,
Alexander W. Morrison is one of the enterprising citizens of this place. He is a native of Canada,
having been born in the vicinity of Ottawa
December 16, 1846. He is a descendant of
Scotch-Irish ancestry, his mother having been born in Lisburn,
County Down, while the father was a native of Enniskillen,
County Fermanagh.
Alexander W. Morrison received his education in the common schools of Canada,
after which he attended Mosgrove and Wright’s British-American
College in Toronto,
receiving his diploma from the latter institution in 1867. During the same year he left Canada
and came to California, locating in San
Francisco, where he was employed as clerk in the
American Exchange hotel. One year later
he came to Sacramento and entered
the employ of N. D. Thayer, at that time the proprietor of the Western
hotel. Among the other employes of the hotel was one William Land, and as clerks
their relation were of the most pleasant character. Some years later the hotel was purchased by
Mr. Land, and for thirty-seven years Mr. Morrison’s services were retained as
assistant. A large business was built up
and a steady patronage continued under this ownership until January 1, 1905,
when Messrs. Morrison and Burns purchased the hotel from Mr. Land, and as both
men are practical in hotel work they have continued to carry on the large and
successful business. No hotel is better
known than the Western hotel, which has three hundred rooms well furnished, is
provided with elevator service, a large, airy dining room, and in every detail
is thoroughly and modernly equipped.
Mr.
Morrison is a member of Capital Lodge No. 87, I.O.O.F, having become a member
of this organization in 1870, and also belongs to the Benevolent Protective
Order of Elks.
Transcribed
by Kathy Porter.
Source: “History of
the State of California and Biographical Record of the Sacramento Valley,
California” by J. M. Guinn. Page 638. Chapman Publishing Co., Chicago 1906.
© 2007 Kathy Porter.