Charles Copeland Morse was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 businessman known as the "American Seed King". He co-founded the Ferry-Morse Seed Company

Ferry-Morse Seed Company

The Ferry-Morse Seed Company is a supplier of seeds, and was at one time the largest such company in the world. It is currently part of Jiffy International.-D.M. Ferry & Co.:...

, which became the world's leading flower

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...

 and vegetable

Vegetable

The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....

 seed

Seed

A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...

 producer.

Born in Thomaston, Maine

Thomaston, Maine

Thomaston, Maine is a town on the coast of Maine the United States. The name may also refer to:*Thomaston , Maine, a census-designated place comprising the center of the town*South Thomaston, Maine, an adjacent town...

, Morse came to California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 originally in 1859, lured by the California Gold Rush

California Gold Rush

The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...

. After mining for a couple of years, he found his way to Santa Clara

Santa Clara, California

Santa Clara , founded in 1777 and incorporated in 1852, is a city in Santa Clara County, in the U.S. state of California. The city is the site of the eighth of 21 California missions, Mission Santa Clara de Asís, and was named after the mission. The Mission and Mission Gardens are located on the...

 in 1862. Santa Clara was then a small town

Town

A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...

 with an agricultural

Agriculture

Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...

 setting. Morse engaged in several occupations, among them that of a house painter.

Charles Copeland Morse married Maria Josephine Victoria Langford in 1868. In 1877, he and A.L. Kellogg, a Methodist minister, pooled their money to buy a seed-growing enterprise, which became the leading seed producer on the West Coast

West Coast of the United States

West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...

. In 1930, the C.C. Morse and Co. merged with D.M. Ferry Co., another seed-producing business, and became the Ferry-Morse Seed Co.

In addition to being active in his business, he was one of the founders of the Bank of Santa Clara and the Advent Christian Church

Advent Christian Church

The Advent Christian Church is a "first-day" body of Adventist Christians founded on the teachings of William Miller.- William Miller :Though the first Advent Christian Association was founded in Salem, Massachusetts in 1860, the church's formation is rooted in the adventist teachings began by...

 of Santa Clara. Charles and Maria had five children who grew up in the mansion

Mansion

A mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. real estate brokers define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...

 that a local newspaper

Newspaper

A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

 dubbed "the house that seed built."

The Charles Copeland Morse House

Charles Copeland Morse House

The Charles Copeland Morse House was the home of Charles Copeland Morse, founder of the Ferry-Morse Seed Company. It is located in Santa Clara, California, and is a California Historical Landmark , as well as listed on the National Register of Historic Places.This house is a classic Queen Anne...

 is listed on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

.