mong the pioneers of Redlands Mr. and Mrs. David Morey have watched the growth of the city which they have always loved, as fond parents watch the growth of their first-born. Not that David Morey was new in pioneering when he came to Redlands, for, born in Pennsylvania, October 7, 1824, he had been taken to the wilderness of Ohio when ten years of age; had left home when fourteen to go to Indiana, and had made the overland journey to California among the Argonauts of 1850. Here he followed a varied career, as miner, shipbuilder, and agriculturist, until he came to Redlands in 1882. Mrs. Morey was born in Cayuga county, N. Y., and, before her marriage, was Sarah J. DeForrest. Their wedding occurred in May, 1870.

When Mr. and Mrs. Morey came to Redlands there was no store or other business house in Redlands proper. Among the people living here were C. E. Truesdell, and F. P. Morrison, both bachelors, the latter living in his barn. Frank Brown was occupying the Day house, the only plastered dwelling in Redlands. The first building put up by Mr. Morey, who was then working as a carpenter, was the second plastered house built for Mrs. R. W. Brown, opposite the former site of the Episcopal church. For himself Mr. Morey built a cabin, twenty feet square, on the twenty-acre ranch which he had purchased before coming here, located on Brookside avenue, and here they lived for ten years.

The ranch was set to orange trees in 1883, and Mrs. Morey looked after the property while her husband earned their daily bread by following his trade. In 1884 Mrs. Morey planted a small seed bed, putting about two thousand orange seeds in to the ground, having obtained them at the Barton ranch. Encouraged by her success with these she prepared a larger bed the next year, planting about twenty-five thousand seed, and sold the little trees to Judson & Brown for ten acres of land on the opposite side of the street from their ranch and ten shares of water. This property they still own and have grown upon it a fine orange grove. In 1882, Mrs. Morey had a seed bed of thirty thousand seed and from this set out a large nursery. This was reinforced the following year by another of about the same size, and in 1889 Mrs. Morey had twenty-five thousand orange trees ready for planting, to sell in bulk to Matthew Gage, who had just completed the Gage canal system, for $20,000, besides several thousand dollars worth sold in smaller lots. About the same time Charles H. Lineau came to Redlands and purchased the ranch for $20,000 more. Mr. and Mrs. Morey then removed to Terracina and built the handsome residence which the have since occupied. They also have and orange grove at Terracina and one on Cypress avenue, the latter being known as the McKinley ranch, from the fact that its purchase, made only a few months ago, was contingent on the election of William McKinley as president of the United States.

Mr. Morey was the third president of the Redlands Water Company, the directors of which used to meet in the little cabin on Brookside avenue and discuss their numerous plans for the development of the water and the sale of land. At the little prayer meetings, which were part of the early religious services, held at F. E. Brown's residence, Messrs. Morey and Brown used to vary the exercises by discussing the water situation, until J. S. Edwards suggested that the subject of the next meeting be "baptism." Mr. Morey helped lay the foundations of the Bear Valley dam, and brought the first ten shares sold out of the original stock of F. P. Morrison, for $9 a share, paying for the same in day labor, at $4 a day. Mrs. Morey assisted in the circulation of subscription papers to guarantee the interest on $15,000, loaned by S. J. Hayes to David Clark for the building of the Terrace Villa hotel, and a similar guarantee was given when Rev. J. G. Hale built the Bellevue Academy. The first school of any kind in Redlands before the incorporation was a little private school taught by Mrs. A. G. Saunders, and the first church services were held in the little school house subsequently built and still standing near the Redlands grammar school. These services were conducted by Rev. Mr. Donald, a Presbyterian minister then residing at Colton. When the little school house was built Mr. Geer in a burst of patriotic enthusiasm painted the door in fantastic stripes of red, white and blue.

(Source: Illustrated Redlands, 1897, p. 25.)