Morse, George M.

The following data is extracted from Windham County, Connecticut History.

George M. Morse, the second son of Milton S. and Susanna Blake Morse, spent his youth in and about the city of Providence. His early years were devoted to study at the schools of Providence, where he remained until the age of eighteen, when on removing to Putnam he interested himself for a year in the store belonging to the company with which his father was connected. Again making Providence his home, he spent several years in that city, and at Putnam, ultimately locating in the spring of 1856 in the latter place, where he was made the superintendent of the Morse mills. This responsible position he filled for many years and finally assumed the entire management of the property. In 1869 the company was granted a charter, and the year following Mr. Morse became one of the corporate owners. The Nightingale mills under the firm name of M. S. Morse & Son, were from 1858 to 1568 operated by the yard. In 1872 the Powhatan mills were erected under the personal supervision of Mr. Morse, who superintended every detail of their construction, placed the machinery, and successfully started them. Of the three corporations located at Putnam, Milton S. horse and his son were the managers, the entire responsibility devolving upon the subject of this sketch on the death of his father. He still continues the competent head of this extensive manufacturing interest, of which his eldest son, Augustus I., is the superintendent. Mr. Morse is president of both the Morse and Powhatan companies, president of the Abbott Run mills at Cumberland, R. I., and a third owner and manager of the Holden cotton mills at Holden, Mass.

Mr. Morse is much absorbed in the varied duties pertaining to his business, and has neither taste nor leisure for matters of a political character. He is a firm advocate of the principles of the republican party, and in full sympathy with the protective tariff views which it endorses. He has done much to promote the cause of education in his town, is a member of the managing committee, and was one of the building committee of the high school recently erected in Putnam. Mr. Morse may, with great propriety, be spoken of in connection with his sympathy and interest in all forms of Christian work. He became a member of the Baptist church of Putnam in April, 1358, in which he is a deacon, and among its most liberal supporters. His Christianity finds expression in earnest Christian labor, in a broad sympathy for his fellow-men of whatever class or condition, and in a cheerful and spontaneous giving. Not restricted by rules or tenets, he gives with a firm belief that he is simply the custodian of means which should be devoted to the glory of God and the welfare of others.

Mr. Morse was married April 13th, 1851, to Melora, daughter of Whitford Whitney of Killingly, Conn. Their children are. five sons and five daughters, as follows: Frances S., deceased; Ida A., wife of Charles M. Fenner; Augustus I., married to Anne G. Dyer; Stillman F., married to Emma L. Leonard; Milton S., married to Eloise H. Busiel; George Byron, married to Maud L. Alden; Hattie M., wife of Charles Albert Luke; Alice M., wife of James Eugene Taylor; Walter N. and Blanche P.

Source: Windham County, Connecticut History

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