Alvin Knight Morse (1794 - 1872)

Born 9 Mar 1794 in Canterbury, Connecticut, United States

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 28 Jul 1872 at age 78 in Rushford, Allegany, New York, United States [uncertain]

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Michael Lewis [send private message]

Biography

This profile is part of the Morse Name Study.

Alvin K. Morse of Rushford New York was a veteran of the war of 1812.^[1][2]

In 1850, Alvin and Sarah, with a few of their children, lived in Rushford, Allegheny, New York.^[3]

Research Notes

Note: Further research is required to locate primary documents to satisfy Wikitree source standards for this info from MyHeritage.

Life Sketch - Alvin K. Morse, Sr.

Alvin K. Morse was born in Connecticut between Hartford and New Haven in 1794.

He learned the hatters' trade in Schoharie, New York. Then he went from city to city making a supply of beaver hats for dealers, earning sixty dollars a week. He used to say that a person must work on fur according to the motion of the animal; that on mink fur one had to work like lightning.

He was in Buffalo when the War of 1812 broke out. After the burning of the city he enlisted, receiving at the close of the war a land warrant for one hundred and sixty acres near Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.

He was married at Penfield, New Jersey, in 1816, to Sally Rolph. In 1818, after traveling four hundred miles in a covered wagon with two children, Squire and Phineas, they reached Perry, N. Y. Mr. Morse bought one hundred acres of hard wood timber in the town of Coving-ton. He cleared a part of it, and put in a piece of winter wheat. When he came to Perry wheat was worth three dollars a bushel. The next year it was worth only two shillings six-pence, and must be drawn to York landing. Calico at this time was worth five shillings a yard, but it was fine, firm and glossy. Louisa, Marcia and James were born in Covington. Thaddeus Elliott, of Centerville, urged Mr.Morse to come to this region to settle; so after his spring's work was done he visited him.

The forests were then in their springtime loveliness, and he thought he had never seen so fine a country. This, together with the low price of wheat, caused him to sell his land in Covington and move to Rushford in 1824. He first bought a farm on the road north of Elmer's cheese factory. Later he bought the farm now owned by William Hallstead. He was then a neighbor of Asa Benjamin.

In the early years people lived in fear of bears and wolves. When they lived on the Thomas farm Mrs. Morse one day, when alone, saw a bear near the house. Elijah Freeman, an exhorter, was passing, and she called to him to come and shoot the bear through the window. He said he had never fired off a gun in his life.

"Then load it and I will fire it off." He said he had never loaded one. " Then call John Johnson." The bear heard the man's voice and disappeared, going through the woods to Eneas Gary's tavern on the Centerville road. Two men were their chopping wood. They saw the bear struggling to get through the hedge and threw their axes at him, but he escaped.

Mr. Asa G. Morse says that when he was a boy they used to come four miles with an ox-team and sled to revival meetings in the old Methodist Church. The meeting were full of life.

Alvin K., Jr., Lewis, Asa G., Amos, Ellen, Cynthia and Sarah were born in Rushford. Only three are now living, Mrs. Sarah Meade, Mrs. Cynthia Hallstead and Asa G. Morse. ^[4]

Alvin Knight Morse 1794 - 1872

Birth: Mar 9 1794 Canterbury, Windham, Ct ^[5]

Marriage: Amy Allen Rolf Mar 16 1816 Penfield, Nj

Death: July 28 1872 Podonoue, Ny

Parents: James Morse 1760 - 1845 Doris Lovisa Brewster 1762 - 1842

Wife: Amy Allen Morse (born Rolf) 1794 - 1883

Siblings:

1. Cynthia Lasell (born Morse) 1781 - 1858WikiTree profile Morse-1535
2. Amos Morse 1782 - ? WikiTree profile Morse-1539
3. Jerusha Morse 1784 - 1861WikiTree profile Morse-1540
4. Eleanor Safford (born Morse) 1787 - 1869
5. Sally Lasell (born Morse) 1789 - 1851 WikiTree profile Morse-1520
6. Phineas Knight Morse 1792 - ?WikiTree profile Morse-1542
7. Harding Morse 1796 - 1853 WikiTree profile Morse-1544
8. Marcia Morse 1798 - ? WikiTree profile Morse-1545
9. Sidney Morse 1801 - ? WikiTree profile Morse-1546
10. Lucia Morse 1804 - ?WikiTree profile Morse-1547
11. Adaline Morse 1806 - ?WikiTree profile Morse-1548
12. Francis Morse 1810 - ? WikiTree profile Morse-1549

Sources

1. ↑ "Rushford and its People" "Rushford Centennial" 495 496 Getrude H. Jones DAR Lineage Book vol. 149 p. 67
2. ↑ Rushford and Rushford People, Helen Josephine White Gilbert, Historical Committee of Rushford's Centennial, Chautauqua Print Shop, 1910, Alvin K. Morse, pp.133-134
3. ↑ "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-6QQQ-51N?cc=1401638&wc=95R7-Y4S%3A1031313801%2C1031350502%2C1032532301 : 9 April 2016), New York > Allegany > Rushford > image 3 of 45; citing NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
4. ↑ “The Rushford centennial, August 16-21, 1908 : with other data and reminiscences. [database on-line, Ancestry.com , (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/12496/images/dvm_LocHist003007-00324-1?ssrc=&backlabel=Return&pId=552), Orig data: The Rushford centennial, August 16-21, 1908 : with other data and reminiscences.. New York: The Evening Post Job Print. Office, 1908?. Also available at Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/cu31924005449503
5. ↑ https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-1-452863-1-15907/alvin-knight-morse-in-myheritage-family-trees?s=216760841

See also:

• Emma C. Brewster Jones The Brewster Genealogy (The Grafton Press New York; 1908) pp 92, 93