San Francisco County
Biographies
ALEXANDER FRANCIS MORRISON
MORRISON, ALEXANDER FRANCIS, Attorney-at-Law, San Francisco, Cal., was born in Weymouth, Mass., Feb. 22, 1856, the son of Archibald Morrison and Ellen (Hart) Morrison. As he came to San Francisco in 1864, when he was eight years old, and has grown up with the city, he is generally regarded as a true San Franciscan. On April 27, 1893, he was married, at Turner, Oregon, to Miss May B. Treat.
After a course in the public schools of San Francisco he attended the Boys’ High School, from 1872 to 1874, and then entered the University of California, from which he
was graduated A. B. with the Class of ’78. In 1881 he took the degree of LL. B. from the Hastings College of the Law and began the active practice of his profession.
While he was a student at Hastings he supplemented his studies with some practical experience in the law office of Cope & Boyd, and not long after his admission to the bar, in 1881, he formed a partnership with Thomas V. O’Brien, under the name of O’Brien & Morrison. In 1889 this was changed to O’Brian, Morrison & Daingerfield.
Two years later Mr. Morrison withdrew from this firm and formed an alliance with the late C. E. A. Foerster, which continued until the latter’s death, in 1898.
Hon. W. B. Cope having joined the firm in 1896, the title remained Morrison & Cope until 1906, when it became Morrison, Cope & Brobeck, and on the death of Judge Cope, in 1908, Morrison & Brobeck. The present firm of Morrison, Dunne & Brobeck was formed 1910.
During these years Mr. Morrison’s practice has been of a general nature, but chiefly in corporation law, wherein his skill and character have won him an unusual degree of respect and confidence. Almost from the start he has had charge of cases involving important questions and interests. Conspicuous among these was his attorneyship for the settlement of the George Crocker Trust, and also for the estate of Col. Charles F. Crocker.
His identification with the Crocker interests, especially as they relate to the public, was still more prominent in the part he played in the proceedings whereby the debt of the Central Pacific Railroad Company was readjusted and the property of that company acquired by the Southern Pacific.
In fact, his success in bringing about settlements and relations as harmonious and satisfactory as the conditions will permit has been as pronounced as is his reputation for diffidence and trustworthiness.
Mr. Morrison’s special hobby is historical reading, and in the pursuit thereof he has collected what is probably the largest private library of historical works to be found in the State. It comprises more than ten thousand well selected volumes.
Among the various corporations of which he is a director are the Crocker Estate Company, the Crocker, Huffman Land and Water Company, the Crocker National Bank of San Francisco, the Western Sugar Refining Company, the Spreckels Sugar Company, the National Ice and Cold Storage Company, the Parrafine Paint Company and others.
Mr. Morrison is a member of the American Historical Association, the Pacific Coast Historical Society, the California Academy of Sciences, the National Geographical Society, the American Academy of Political and Social Science and the American Economic Society. In each of these organizations, which have for the objects modern accomplishment, Mr. Morrison is an enthusiastic worker and takes an active part.
He is a member of the Pacific-Union Club, the University Club, the Commercial Club and the University of California.
Transcribed by Joyce Rugeroni.
Source: Press Reference
Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page
230, International News
Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Atlanta. 1913.
© 2007 Joyce Rugeroni.