Julius L. and Morris Moritz

Julius L. Morris (1830–1909) and Morritz Morris (about 1836–1903) were two German-born brothers who settled in Los Angeles, California, in 1853 and became prominent retail merchants in the newly incorporated American city as well as community leaders. Julius was a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in 1861–63^[1] and city treasurer in 1863–64;^[2] Morritz was a member of the Los Angeles Common Council, the governing body of the city, in 1866 for a partial term and in 1868 and 1869 for two one-year terms.^[3]

Their original family name was Oberzinsky; they adopted the name Morris upon their arrival in the United States. After Morritz first arrived in 1843, he spent "a few years" in Mississippi, working as a peddler in Yazoo County and becoming a naturalized citizen in nearby Claiborne County, before returning to Germany for a while.^[4] He then settled in Los Angeles in the early 1850s. They had a brother, Herman Morris, a newspaper reporter.^[1]^[2]^[5]

One report said that Morritz had once been "secretary of the Vigilance Committee of San Francisco."^[6]

Morritz died on July 10, 1903, in his home at 903 South Broadway. He had earlier lived "for many years" in an adobe house which he built in 1859 in the midst of a vineyard at Carr and Main streets.^[5]^[7] He was predeceased in 1899 by another son, Sigmund, who was a journalist.^[8]

Julius died on August 29, 1909,^[1] in Germany.^[2]^[9]

Both were Masons and among the founders of Temple B'nai B'rith (later the Wilshire Boulevard Temple).^[1]^[5]

References

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^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, with sources as cited there
^ ^a ^b ^c Sixty Years in Southern California, 1853–1913, Harris Newmark
^ Chronological Record of Los Angeles City Officials,1850-1938, compiled under direction of Municipal Reference Library, City Hall, Los Angeles (March 1938, reprinted 1966). "Prepared ... as a report on Project No. SA 3123-5703-6077-8121-9900 conducted under the auspices of the Works Progress Administration."
^ 1850 U.S. census, Yazoo County, Mississippi, population schedule, [No Township], page 523v, dwelling 822, family 854, Levi "Lavenburg" household, for M. Morris (age twenty-four); National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) microfilm M432, roll 382. For his naturalization, see "California, Voter Registers, 1866–1898," database and digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 5 January 2015), Los Angeles, 1888, "City Electors," page 80, voting no. 7360, Moritz Morris, age sixty-two, [born in] Prussia, registered 23 June 1888; citing Great Registers, 1866–1898, collection no. 42A, microfilm roll no. 20; California State Library, Sacramento, California.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Morritz Morris Who Resided in Los Angeles for Forty Years Receives His Last Summons," Los Angeles Times, July 11, 1903, page A-3
^ "Sig. Morris Dead: Well-Known Los Angeles Boy Dies in New York," Los Angeles Times, May 31, 1899, page 2
^ [1] George Garrigues, "Los Angeles in the 1900s: Streets of a Hundred Years Ago." Carr Street today is West 14th Place. See the location of the Morritz Morris vineyard on Mapping L.A.[2]
^ "Son of a Pioneer," Los Angeles Times, May 31, 1899, page 2
^ Newmark misidentified Julius as "Jacob," so this information might be wrong.