According to the Morse Genealogy Memorial, Dr. Alpheus Morse was born 22 July 1773, and was the son of James Morse and Zerviah (Cady) Morse.
James Morse, father of Alpheus, was born in Killingly, CT on 22 Sept. 1746. On November 1774, his father, Cyprian Morse, then registering as of Stafford, CT, gave a deed of his own rights in the Estate of his deceased father, Noah Morse, which had been laid out to him in the town of Douglas, Massachusetts, in 1715, to this son, James; and to this deed James and his wife, Hannah Morse, were witnesses; James Morse signed as of Stafford up to 1795.
Their children:
Alpheus b 22 July 1773 married Lydia Thompson; and second, Malinda Thompson. Alpheus died 18 Sept. 1828 in Jefferson Co., NY and is buried in the Thompson Cemetery in that county. The grave has a DAR marker. Malinda was b 29 Dec. 1777 and died 27 Aug. 1848, daughter of Cyrus and Keziah (Parkhurst) Thompson.*See Malinda's family below.
Willard b 27 December 1774
Hannah b 7 January 1777
Cyprian Morse, father of James Morse, married Zeruiah/Zerviah Cady on 27 April 1737 in Thompson, Windham Co., CT. (Source: Early CT Marriages) Cyprian Morse was born 15 June1712 in Sherborne, Middlesex Co., MA and died on 19 August 1795 in Stafford, Tolland Co., CT. Zerviah was born in Thompson, Windham, CT on 9 Sept. 1711, the daughter of Daniel Cady and Abigail Philbrick. Zerviah died on 23 March 1777 in Stafford, Tolland Co., CT.
Children of Cyprian Morse and Zerviah Cady:
James Barbour Morse 1746 - 1809; married in 1769 to Hannah Lee 1743-1832
dau. Hannah Morse 1777-1876 m 14 Oct. 1797 to Benjamin Barber 1776-1826
Children of James B. Morse and Hannah Lee:
Asa Morse 1770-1856
Alpheus Morse (Doctor) 1773 - 1828; married 1)Lydia Thompson 2)Melinda Thompson
Willard Morse 1774-1857
Hannah Morse 1777-1826
Diadama Lovina Morse 1778-1866
Margaret (Moore) Morse 1780-1815
Sarah Morse 1783-1861
Lita Morse 1785-1859
Salina Morse 1788-1870
Dr. Alpheus Morse and wife, Malinda (Thomson)Morse's children:
1. Triphosa Morse b 2 October 1797 Harmon, NY; married Henry Van Wormer 1794-1850 They were residents of Ellisburg, Jeff. Co., in 1850. Henry was a resident of Ellisburg as early as 1820. Apparently, Triphosa died, and Henry married Betsey____, b Vermont 1804
VanWormer Children: (1850 census of Ellisburg, Jeff. Co.)
Hannah 11 b 1839
Amelia 9 b 1841
William 6 b 1844
Julia 4 b 1846 married 1)Ritterbuck and 2)William Harker on 24 Dec. 1879 in Milwaukee, WI
2. Melinda Morse b 17 June 1799 at Adams Center, Jeff. Co., NY and d 31 Oct. 1889 at Lower Town Landing in Jefferson. She is buried in the Green Settlement Cemetery Melinda married Henry Felt (1791-1872), on 20 April 1820 at Ellisburgh, NY as noted in Henry's War of 1812 application for a pension.
Felt children:
Amos Felt 1821-1893
Horatio Osgood Felt b 1822 d 9 Feb. 1901 in Hartford Van Buren, MI at 79
Henry Thomson Felt b 23 June 1823; went to California in 1847
Evelina M. Felt Silsby b 17 May 1826-1884; married Erving W. Bovee
Melvina b 26 Sept. 1830; m Almanzo Reeves
Jesse Smith Felt b 16 Feb. 1833
Charles Wright Felt b 30 March 1825
Walter Felt 1844-1862
3. Phebe Morse b 5 May 1801 NY and died 3 Nov. 1880. She married on 28 March 1819 John J. Hawn b 1792/3 in Johnstown, Montgomery Co., NY; lived in Clayton, Jeff. Co., NY. John died 25 April 1882 and is buried in Grove Cemetery, Jeff. Co. John was the son of Rev. George Hawn, a native of Poland who served in the Revolutionary War. John served in the War of 1812.
Hawn children: (Source: 1850 census of Orleans, Jeff. Co.)
Rowena S. Hawn b 1820; married Abial/Ashbel Cook; she d 3 March 1899 at 78 years, 7 months, 13 days at Ellisburg. (VIR Jeff. Co.)
Mary Ann Hurd b 1822 m Norman Q. Hurd of Orleans, Jeff. Co. Norman d 19 March 1893 in Clayton, b 1818.
Hurd children:
Mary L. Hurd b 1845
George M. Hurd b 1850
Cyrus G. Hawn b 22 July1833 in Ellisburg. He m Sarah Griswold, b 1835 in Clayton,
daughter of Joseph Griswold, pioneer of Depauville. Sarah died in Clayton at
age 52 in 1887. Cyrus died in 1913 and both are buried in Depauville. They were
the parents of 8 children.
Elisabeth F. Hawn b 1837; in the 1860 census, she was Elizabeth Wakefield and living in
the Hawn household; she died in 1901
A land deed dated 9 August 1820, between John H. Hawn and Phebe his wife of the Town of Ellisburgh, Jeff. Co., sold to Alpheus Morse of Ellisburg the same property as listed in the deed following. (V. O, p. 514, Jeff. Co. deeds)
In the Jefferson Co., NY property deeds, there is an entry in Vol. U, p. 396 in which Alpheus Morse and Melinda, his wife, of Rossie, St. Lawrence Co., NY, sold land to John H. Hawn, land in Ellisburg, Jeff. Co. The deed was dated 11 August 1823. On the 13th of August, 1823, Alpheus and Melinda appeared to acknowledge their signatures on the deed. It was noted that John Hawn was living on the land at the time that the deed was written.
4. Mary Morse b 1805 d 1880
5. Sophia b 1807
6. Nathan Thompson Morse b 1808 d 1890; married Hannah Larabee 1796-1890.
Children of Nathan and Hannah Morse:
Elizabeth 1835
Mary 1837
James B. 1839
Beulah 1840
Belinda 1840
Eliza 1842
7. Alpheus Morse b 5 June 1811 NY; died 1854/5; marriage 1831.
Married Electa Priest b 13 Dec. 1812 Clarendon, Rutland Co., Vermont; d 15 Oct. 1898 as Electa Priest Morse Bailey; buried Lakeview Cem., Essex Co., Ontario. Her second husband was William Bailey who was bc 1799 in Northamptonshire, England and died in September 1870 at Mersea Township, Essex Co., Ontario. By his first wife, Alice Bailey, he had several children. (source: Ontario Canada records and tombstones)
Morse Children: (from the 1850 census of Orleans, Jeff. Co., NY)
George Almanson Morse b 26 June 1833 NY d 21 Sept. 1913 Leamington, Essex, Ontario, Canada; m Sarah J. Malott, 5 Jan. 1833 d 5 Feb. 1905.
Wesley Giles Morse b 1835 NY, d 14 May 1919 at Leamington, Canada; married Isabella
Robson
Albert Delos Morse b 1837
Lucien Goodson Morse b 1842; married Huldah Ann Malott (1832-1879)
Electa Aurila/Arvilla Morse b 14 August 1847 d 19 March 1930 at Leamington, Essex, Ontario, Canada she was a widow at death and married John McRobie Selkirk on 24 Oct. 1865
at Kent, Ontario Canada. John was age 25 at marriage, son of Robert and
Catherine Selkirk. Electa named her parents on the marriage record as
Alpheus and Electa.
Alpheus d 12 Sept. 1847 at Alexandria, NY, bur. Omar Cemetery at 1 month
(Note: Electa and Alpheus were twins, born in Clayton, Jeff. Co., NY; source- VIR of Clayton)
Victoria Morse
8. James Barbour Morse II 23 August 1813 d 26 March 1892; m Sophia Louisa Phelps 1818-1902 Marriage date: 22 Jan. 1838.
9. Ransom Ciprian Morse 1816-1892; m 15 April 1837 Adelia Caroline Phelps 1816-1903
*Malinda Thomson, wife of Alpheus Morse, according to descendant records, was born in Bellingham, Norfolk, MA on 29 Dec. 1777 to Cyrus Thomson and Keziah Parkhurst. Melinda Thomson married Alpheus Morse and was the mother of 12 children. She passed away on 27 August 1848 in Bellingham. No location of marriage found. No death information found for Malinda.
Cyrus Thompson was born 28 May 1751 in Bellingham, MA, and Keziah Parkhurst 10 March 1758 in Lancaster, Worcester Co., MA; Keziah died in 1868. The marriage record of Cyrus and Kezia is 15 March 1774 in Bellingham, MA and she is called "Parkis". Other records in Bellingham of this family: son, Nathan Thomson b 6 Feb. 1775; Melinda b 29 Dec. 1777; Piam b 26 Aug. 1781 and Polly b 13 Nov. 1788.
Cyrus and Keziah Thompson/Thomson, were also the parents of Piam Thomson, who was born 26 Aug. 1781 in Bellingham. Piam became a resident of Rodman, Jefferson Co., NY. In the 1860 census, within Piam's household are: Melinda Green b 1815 and Polly Thomson b 1822. Piam died 25 June 1868 at Adams, Jeff. Co. His wife was Eunice Washburn Thompson (1779-1840), and she was born 1779 in Stafford, Tolland Co., CT. Her death occurred on 1 Oct. 1840. Piam and Eunice are both buried in the same cemetery in Jefferson Co., as Dr. Alpheus Morse. Piam served in the War of 1812. Among Piam's children listed is Melinda Thompson 1813-1870.
In Emerson's work on Jefferson County and it's people, on p. 204, he cites: "In 1818 John M. Burton, Alpheus Morse, W. H. Buchanan, Alfred Ely, Jonathan Sherwood and Benjamin Cushman were admitted members of the society." He is referring to the Jefferson County Medical Society. On p. 789 of the same volume, Emerson recounts those men who purchased land in 1790, and among those in 1801 was James Morse who purchased 68 acres in Rutland. Was this the father of Alpheus, as this James Morse died in 1809. On page 403, Emerson mentions also, Priam Thompson as an early comer to Adams. On page 202 of Hough's history of Jefferson County, there is mention of the malignant fevers in the county in 1828, which may have been the cause of Dr. Alpheus Morse's death, as doctors did not seem to be able to address the causes and cures at that early date.
Sources: Morse Memorial, CT VIR and Stafford, CT records, census records in NY and cemetery records in Ontario, Canada, Jeff. Co., NY Genweb with associated records of individuals. I found no record of military service in either the Revolutionary War or the War of 1812 for Dr. Alpheus Morse. Dr. Alpheus Morse's name does not appear in either database of the SAR (other than his name being submitted in 1961 as a burial) or the DAR. There may be one sibling of Alpheus, who was born in 1773, who submitted for DAR membership; however, the data was too scant to make a specific determination. It is a mystery how or why Dr. Morse has a marker on his grave unless he was a proven true son of James, his father, who was a Revolutionary soldier in MA and an early settler of Jefferson County, who settled in 1801 and died in 1809. In the DAR index, James does not have a date of death and his wife is listed as Hannah Smith.
Marilyn Sapienza, Researcher
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