Santa Clara County
Biographies
HARVEY CHAPIN MOREY, M. D.
H. C. MOREY, M. D. As
one who has passed beyond the span of years usually allotted to man, and who
has been a resident of the state of California for the past forty-two or three
years, H. C. Morey, a retired physician of Gilroy, Santa Clara county,
deserves special mention. For years a successful practitioner in Gilroy, he
gained an enviable reputation and a position of confidence and esteem in the
opinion of his friends and acquaintances, and is highly respected in the
community where he is now spending his later years. Of Scotch-English descent,
his ancestors being among the early immigrants to America, John Morey,
father of H. C., first saw the light of day on Deer Island at the mouth of
the Penobscot river in Maine. He married Miss Fanny Atkins, a native
of Connecticut, who was born in July, 1804. She died in 1887, at the advanced
age of eighty-three years, her husband surviving her for a period of six years.
When the second of their seven children was four years old, John Morey and
his wife removed to Huron county, Ohio, and eight years afterward to Fulton
county, Ill., where as a circuit rider in the Methodist Episcopal church, he
served for many years. He passed away in San Jose at about seventy-six years of
age.
The second in a family
of four sons and three daughters, H. C. Morey was born
August 15, 1829, in Oneida county, N. Y., near Utica, but as
before stated, his parents moved around a good deal in his younger days, so
that it happened to be in the log schoolhouses of Illinois that his early
education was received. When of a suitable age, Dr. Lance, of La Fayette,
Ill., became his preceptor, and later he entered upon the study of medicine at
Rush Medical College at Chicago, Ill., and upon his graduation from that
institution in 1854, Dr. Morey immediately began practicing at his chosen
profession. His first location was at Rock Island, Ill., but after a few years
there he went to Geneseo and spent the remainder of
his eastern residence, until crossing the plains in 1861.
Like many another man
of that day, Dr. Morey was attracted by the outlook in California, so after a
five months’ journey westward, he stopped at the Sacramento river and began
practice at Knights’ Landing in Yolo county. Remaining there until 1867, he
secured a more favorable location in Gilroy, where he engaged in practicing his
profession until 1888. At that date, being in very poor health, Dr. Morey
wisely bought a fruit ranch adjoining Gilroy and there, while engaged in the
cultivation of various fruits, regained his health. In 1903 he relocated in
Gilroy, where he is today living in peaceful retirement and where he intends to
remain for the rest of his life. Politically he is a Democrat. Dr. Morey is
quite active in fraternal circles, holding membership in the Blue lodge, A. F. & A. M.,
of Gilroy, and in Keith Chapter and Commandery of San Jose. His advanced years
are cheered by the presence of his wife, a native of Maine and before marriage
Miss Melissa A. Hobbs, having been united in marriage with
Dr. Morey at Geneseo, Ill., April 2, 1856.
She was educated in Maine and was a successful teacher in that state and in
Illinois, where she taught in the schools of Geneseo.
In Gilroy Dr. and Mrs. Morey are honored and esteemed for their many splendid
qualities of head and heart.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard 21 April 2015.
Source: History
of the State of California & Biographical Record of Coast Counties,
California by Prof. J. M. Guinn, A. M., Page 467. The Chapman
Publishing Co., Chicago, 1904.
© 2015 Marie
Hassard.