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 A board of supervisors is a governmental body that oversees the operation of county government in the U.S. states of Arizona, California, Iowa, Mississippi, Virginia, and Wisconsin, as well as 16 counties in New York. There are equivalent agenc ...

in 1861–63Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, with sources as cited there
/ref> and city treasurer in 1863–64;''Sixty Years in Southern California, 1853–1913''

Harris Newmark Harris Newmark (July 5, 1834 – 1916) was a Jewish American businessman, philanthropist, and historian who was born in the West Prussian city of Löbau (now Lubawa, Poland). Newmark immigrated to the United States in 1853. He sailed from Europe t ...

Morritz was a member of the

Los Angeles Common Council The Los Angeles Common Council was the predecessor of the Los Angeles, California, City Council. It was formed in 1850 under state law, when the city had only 1,610 residents, and it existed until 1889, when the city had about 50,400 residents and ...

, the governing body of the city, in 1866 for a partial term and in 1868 and 1869 for two one-year terms. 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. He then settled in Los Angeles in the early 1850s. They had a brother, Herman Morris, a newspaper reporter. One report said that Morritz had once been "secretary of the

Vigilance Committee A vigilance committee was a group formed of private citizens to administer law and order or exercise power through violence in places where they considered governmental structures or actions inadequate. A form of vigilantism and often a more stru ...

of San Francisco." Morritz died on July 10, 1903, in his home at 903 South Broadway and was survived by two sons, Hugo and Lee Morris, and two daughters. He had earlier lived "for many years" in an adobe house which he built in 1859 in the midst of a

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vineyards ...

at Carr and Main streets."Morritz Morris Who Resided in Los Angeles for Forty Years Receives His Last Summons," ''Los Angeles Times,'' July 11, 1903, page A-3
/ref> He was predeceased in 1899 by another son, Sigmund, who was a journalist. Julius died on August 29, 1909, in Germany.Newmark misidentified Julius as "Jacob," so this information might be wrong. Both were Masons and among the founders of Temple B'nai B'rith (later the

Wilshire Boulevard Temple Wilshire Boulevard Temple, known from 1862 to 1933 as Congregation B'nai B'rith, is the oldest Jewish congregation in Los Angeles, California. Wilshire Boulevard Temple's main building, with a sanctuary topped by a large Byzantine revival dome an ...

References

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External links

Information on the Morris Adobe.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moritz, Julius L. and Morris Businesspeople from Los Angeles 1830 births 1836 births 1909 deaths 1903 deaths Los Angeles City Council members Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors German emigrants to the United States Business duos Sibling duos 19th-century American politicians 19th-century American businesspeople