Ernest Morphy, Paul's uncle, had moved from New Orleans to Cincinnati in 1854. In 1856 he moved to Quincy, Illinois.

He must have joined the Quincy Chess Club.

The game below is a cutting-edge telegraph consultation game played on January 19,1860 between the St. Louis Chess Club (white) and the Quincy Chess Club (black) and was published in the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, January 28th, 1860.

The St Louis Chess Club team comprised of:. Skinner, Brown, Daenzer, Mysenberg and Jenks

The Quincy Chess Club team comprised of  E. Morphy, Tillson, Roland and Richardson

When Ernest Morphy died (March 7, 1874), The Chess Record of Philadelphia ran an obituary note that read:

No player has left a better record of good games - of at all times strong, accurate, even high play. Rarely what is called brilliant, he could dare, if he chose, and when he did he most admirably, in play, adhered to the favourite maxim, "Never dodge your own errors." If you find a line of play defective, generally far better to stick to it than to attempt correction. It is like changing front in the heat of battle....

It is a pleasure to speak of him as the finished, courteous, considerate gentleman. Never ruffled, never weary, it was as great satisfaction to be beaten by him as to win. And in the more important bearings of life he carried the same graceful and admitted claim to the title of a true and honest gentleman.