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Hiram B. Morse |
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Mary Syers |
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No parents conclusively identified |
Hiram B. Morse was the father of William F. Morse, according to William’s 1913
marriage record to Lydia Dietz Dunkellberger, which stated that he was born
about 1851 in New York to Hiram B. Morse and Mary Syers MI23. In the past, it has been claimed that the parents of William F.
Morse were Hiram and Martha J. Morse, but this assertion can be disproved by
the fact that Hiram and Martha’s son, who was named William R. Morse, married a
woman named Carrie Hewlett and resided with his parents at the time of the 1905
census. To begin with, a bit of background on William’s alleged parents, Hiram
and Martha, is in order.
An individual named Hiram Morse (who I am convinced was not
the father of William F. Morse) was born in May 1822 in New York UN14. This Hiram was likely the Hiram Morse who married Miss Martha
Jane Gilmor on May 19, 1844 at the Seventh Presbyterian Church in New York City
US23; census records indicate that Martha’s middle initial was “J”,
and a marriage record for Hiram and Martha’s son, William R. Morse, indicated
that his mother’s name was Martha J. (Gilmore) Morse NE16.
He stated in the
1910 census that his father was born in Massachusetts and his mother was born
in New York, but in the 1880 and 1900 censuses he stated that both of his
parents were born in New York. The fact that Hiram consistently stated that he
was born in New York does conflict with William F. Morse’s reports to census
enumerators that his father was born in Germany. Martha J. Morse, Hiram’s wife, was born in October 1826 UN14, or about 1827 in New York to parents who
were each born in New York UN13, UN15.
Hiram married Martha circa 1844 or 1846 UN14, UN15, and the 1850 census stated that they resided in the 17th Ward, New York County, New York. The
children in the Morse household, who were all born in New York, were Hiram,
born about 1845, Charles, born about 1846, George, born about 1848, William,
born about 1851, Richard, born about 1852, Emma, born about 1854, Louisa, born
about 1855, and Cecelia (or Celia), who was born about 1865 UN10, UN11, UN12, UN13, UN15.
In 1860, Hiram and Martha lived in the 3rd District, 21st Ward, New York County, New York, and then
in 1870 they were in the 14th
Election District, 12th Ward,
New York County. They lived at 52 129th
Street, New York City, in 1880, and at 210 127th Street West, Manhattan, in 1900. Hiram,
Martha J., William R., and Cecilia F. Morse lived together at 165 West 136th Street at the time of the 1905 New York
Census. This census stated that William R. Morse was the son of Hiram, and he
worked as a railroad clerk (“R.R Clerk”). The last census in which Hiram and
Martha J. Morse were enumerated was in 1910, when they and their daughters, Cecelia
Morse and Emma Savage, lived at 165 136th
Street, Manhattan.
Hiram and Martha J.
(Gilmore) Morse’s son, William R. Morse, married an individual named Carrie E.
Hewlett on April 27, 1874 in Manhattan NE16.
They may have relocated to Missouri, for William and Carry Morse, a childless
couple, were enumerated in 1880 in St. Louis; William’s profession was
“engineer”, and this census indicated that he was born about 1852 in New York.
The occupations of engineer and railroad clerk are in the same field, and so it
may be logically supposed that the William Morse of 1880 in St. Louis was also
the William R. Morse of New York City in 1905. William R. Morse can be placed
in New York City in his formative years and until 1874 when he married Carrie
Hewlett, in Missouri with Carry in 1880, and back in New York City with his
parents in 1905. This William R. Morse was a different individual than William
F. Morse, the subject of this biographical sketch, and so the parents of
William F. Morse were not Hiram and Martha Morse of New York City.
Mary Syers was named as the mother of William F. Morse in William’s
marriage record MI23.