USA > Maine > Maine; a history, Volume IV > Part 22
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of association, irresistably borne back to a far earlier period than that of his active life, and memory recalla the form of his venerable father, for many years the Chief Justice of our highest Court, whom I knew from my first arrival here from my native State. When I first came to Maine, young and without acquaintance, I received words of counsel and advice from the elder Judge Shepley, the following of which exercised a most important and favorable influence upon all the subse- quent years of my life. Neither these nor the author will ever be forgotten. Called upon, therefore, today, to speak of the life and character of the son, the image of the father rises also in the mind. Thus father and son have passed through the period of their temporal labors, duties and trials, and together, as we trust and believe, look out upon that new and nobler life which all humanity has ever, in some form, regarded as one of freedom from trouble, sorrow and pain. Let us cherish their memories and profit by their eminent examples.
CLINTON LEWIS BAXTER, the third child of James Phinney and Sarah K. (Lewis) Baxter, whose biography appears on other pages in these volumes, was born in Portland, Maine, June 29, 1859. His early education was received in the local schools of his native city. From there he went to the high school, and was graduated with honor with the class of 1877. He then attended Bowdoin College and graduated from that institution in 1881. The faculty conferred upon him both the degrees Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts. Immedi- ately after graduation he entered the business world by associating himself with the Portland Packing Company, which had been established by his father
in 1861, and under his able management the busi- ness has continued to grow until it is now one of the most important enterprises in the New England states. Mr. Baxter is a director of the Canal Na- tional Bank. In proof of the confidence imposed in him, and recognizing his mastery of business principles, in 1917 he was elected overseer of Bow- doin College.
In local affairs of import he votes for the men and measures he thinks is to the best interest of all the people. But in national elections he sup- ports the principles of the Republican party. How- cver, he has never sought or desired public office, preferring to devote his time to the extensive bi1-i- ness interests. His life is guided by the tenants of the Masonic fraternity, of which he has attained to the thirty-second degree. He is a member of the Portland, Cumberland and Country clubs, Phi Beta Kappa and Delta Kappa Epsilon societies, and a consistant member of the State Street Congrega- tional Church.
Mr. Baxter married (first) Cora Paulina Dana, born September 1, 1858. Her death occurred April 21. 1888, and on October 14, 1891, he married (sec- ond) Ethcl Fox. One child was born of the first union : Cora Dana, born April 21, 1888; and there
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are two children of the second union: Anna Fox, born November 8, 1892, died August 12, 1894, and Ellen Fessenden, born May 7, 1894.
As a man and citizen Mr. Baxter is of large and liberal views in all matters of business, full of en- terprise, and lends his influence to all that he thinks will advance the interests of his city, State and nation.
MORSE FAMILY-Among the great New England families which have been asosciated with this region since the very earliest Colonial period, one of the most prominent is unquestionably that of Morse, which for many years resided at New- bury, Massachusetts, and later in Maine. The men of this family have all displayed a marked talent for practical affairs, a talent which found its culmination in the persons of Wyman Morse, Benjamin Wyman Morse, his son, and Charles Wyman Morse, his grandson. Even in that early day, when it first came to the New World to seek opportunities which were denied it in the home country, the Morse family was an old one and its representatives in England during the Middle Ages were scarcely, if any, less notable than these capable men who have borne its name here. The origin of the name was a very early one, being derived, according to genealogists, from the ear- lief form of De Mors, the prefix "De" being grad- ually dropped by English usage and the final "E" added. It was known as early as 1200 A. D., in England, and we have a record of one Hugo de Mors in 1358, during the reign of Edward III., while the early New England records gives us the names of Anthony, William, Joseph and Sam- uel Morse as settlers in this country. The home branch of the family with which we are con- cerned is not surely known, but we do know from the records that Anthony Morse sailed from England with his brother William, on the good ship James, from Southampton, in 1635. They ar- rived at Boston, June 3, of that year, and An- thony Morse was made freeman of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, May 25, 1636. It was he who founded the family in Newbury, where his death occurred October 12, 1686. He is spoken of as of Marlborough, England, and it is probable that he resided there, but there is no record as to the place of his birth.
(II) Joseph Morse, third son of Anthony Morse, also resided in Newbury, although the place of his birth is not known. He died there January 15, 1686, some months before his father. He married Mary -, and they were the parents of the following children: Benjamin, Joseph, Jr., mentioned below; Joshua, Sarah and Mary.
(III) Joseph (2) Morse, son of Joseph (1) and Mary Morse, was born about 1673, at New- bury, and resided in that place during his entire life. He was one of the constituent members of the Third Church of Newbury, in 1726, and was chosen a member of the "Monthly Meeting" of that church, December 7, 1727. He married Elizabeth Poor, a daughter of Henry and Mary (Tipcomb) Poor, and they were the parents of the following children: Joseph, Daniel, mentioned below; John, Mary, Elizabeth, Judith, Edmund, Jonathan, Enoch and Sarah.
(IV) Daniel Morse, second son of Joseph (2) and Elizabeth (Poor) Morse, was born March 8, 1695, at Newbury, where he always resided. He married, in 1727, Sarah Swain, of Reading, and they were the parents of the following children: Joshua, Sarah, Daniel, mentioned below; and Elizabeth.
(V) Daniel (2) Morse, second son of Daniel (1) and Sarah (Swain) Morse, was born at Newbury, and baptized in the Third Church of what is now Newburyport, February 25, 1723. It was he that founded the Morse family of Maine, remov- ing to Georgetown in that State, probably be- fore 1750. He was a carpenter by trade and built the first frame house at Bath. He afterwards made his home at Phippsburg, Maine, where his death occurred about 1790. He married Mrs. Margaret Crane, whose first husband was killed by Indians at Topsham, Maine, and who was the daughter of - McNeill. They were the par- ents of the following children: Daniel, David, Jonathan, mentioned below; and Margaret.
(VI) Jonathan Morse, third son of Daniel (2) and Margaret (McNeill-Crane) Morse, was born July 7, 1755 ,at Phippsburg, Maine, and died July, 1836. He made his home at Phippsburg and there married, about 1778, Sarah Wyman, a member of an old Maine family and daughter of Francis and Sarah (Bliphen or Blethen) Wyman, and they were the parents of : William, Frances, Richard, Jonathan, Esedas, Frank, David and Wyman, mentioned below.
(VII) Wyman Morse, youngest child of Jona- than and Sarah (Wyman) Morse, was born June 8, 1801, at Phippsburg, Maine, and died at Bath, Maine, August 6, 1844. He was a man of unusual ability, and early in manhood removed from his native Phippsburg to Bath, where he became in- terested in the great shipping industry of that city. It was he who founded the first towboat line on the Kennebec river, which afterwards reached such large proportions under the man- agement of his son, and which already in his own life had become an important enterprise. The
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first boat operated in this manner was the steamer Bellingham, which for many years he op- erated most successfully. He was a man of prominence in the community and was well known and highly respected by his fellow citi- zens. At that time the great shipping industry of the State was centered at Bath, as was also that of the building of ships, the city having great ship yards and ways extending for a mile on either side on the banks of the Kennebec. With this early prosperity, which would undoubtedly have
Wyman Morse was united in marriage, Novem- ber 18, 1824, with Eliza Anna Donnell, a daugh- ter of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Todd-Woodwell) Donnell, old and highly respected residents of this place, where her birth occurred November 4, 1805. They were the parents of the following chil- dren: 1. Benjamin Wyman, whose sketch follows. 2. Samuel Thomas, born March 4, 1828, at Bath, Maine, and died in Charlestown, Massachu- setts, March 18, 1831. 3. Charles Henry, born June 17, 1830, at Charlestown, Masaschusetts, and later became captain of a river steamboat and was associated with his brother, Benjamin Wyman, in the great business at Bath; he was a member of the Universalist church; married (first) Febru- ary 5, 1862, Emily A. Boner, of Somerville, Massachusetts, the ceremony being performed by the Rev. Mr. Clark; the first Mrs. Morse's death occurred July 28, 1862, and he married (second) June 27, 1875, Jennie R. Larrabee, of Bath, the ceremony being performed by the Rev. Mr. Dyke. 4. Eliza Ann, born at Charlestown, Massa- chusetts, August 26, 1832; married, October 31, 1876, at Bath, Maine, B. W. Hawthorne, of Wool- wich, Maine, the Rev. Mr. Nutting officiating; she now resides at Bath. 5. Frances May, born December 21, 1834, at Charlestown, Massachu- setts, and died in Bath, December 21, 1866. 6. Samuel Ralph, born May 16, 1837, at Charlestown, Massachusetts, died July 10, 1845. 7. George Wil- liam, born April 4, 1839, at Bath, Maine, and died October 16, 1881, at sea in the Indian ocean; he was a master mariner, married, December 19, 1874, Jane Parker, his second cousin and daugh- ter of Alden Parker and Louise (Lee) Morse, of Winnegance, Maine, the ceremony performed by the Rev. Mr. Houghton; they were the parents of one child, Louise E. Morse, who married, Scp- tember 25, 1907, Maurice M. Miller. 8. James
Thomas, born April 25, 1841, at Bath, Maine, and now a member of Morse & Company, shipping merchants of Boston. 9. John Gilman, born March 19, 1843, at Bath, Maine, and died there May 11, 1849.
BENJAMIN WYMAN MORSE-The name of Captain Benjamin Wyman Morse, whose death occurred May 30, 1887, at his home in Bath, Maine, is undoubtedly one of the best known in this city as well as along the Kennebec river and the grown to still greater proportions had not the . costal region hereabouts as being one of those tide set in against the American merchant marine in a manner which practically destroyed that ac- tivity in the United States, Mr. Morse was asso- ciated.
who did most to build up and develop the present great prosperity of this region. Captain Morse was the eldest child of Wyman and Eliza Anna (Donnell) Morse, and a member of the old and distinguished Morse family, of which there is ex- tended mention above.
He was born September 1, 1825, at Bath, and there gained his education at the local public schools. While yet little more than a lad, he was employed by his father on the old side wheel steamer Bellingham, of which the latter was in command, and very soon became familiar with all the details of that work. When the elder Mr. Morse died, he was himeslf placed in command of the Bellingliam which, however, was very soon displaced by larger and more powerful side wheel steamers, one of which was the Ellen Morse, the first steam engine side wheeler built on the river. For a number of years he continued to use these vessels, which were then the only type of steamer in use, but he was quick to perceive the advantages of the screw propeller type when that epoch making discovery first came into use and it was not long before he had replaced his old type steamboats with the new. With his usual enter- prise, Captain Morse owned the first one of these that appeared on the Kennebec, and it was not long before he possessed a fleet of them. In the meantime, his business had been growing by leaps and bounds, and in association with his brother he organized the Knickerbocker Steam Towage Company, which was incorporated by act of the Maine Legislature, and which soon became the most important business of its kind in the re- gion. At first Captain Morse took the position of treasurer of this great concern, but afterwards was elected president and held that office until the time of his death. In addition to the tow boat business which he built up he extended his en- terprise into other fields of activity, and was soon engaged in general coastwise navigation and also in the building of ships. He was the owner of shares in a great many vessels and also built
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many of his own in his shipyards after 1879, among which were seventeen of the largest class of coastwise vessels. He also purchased a num- ber of schooners from other builders in the neigh- borhood, so that he soon became the owner of the largest coastwise fleet operating from any one port. Yet another venture of Mr. Morse was in connection with the ice business and it was in the winter of 1876 that he first began the process of cutting and storing ice on the upper Kenne- bec, he being the pioneer in this line. This ice was shipped by liim to southern cities and proved so successful that he soon extended his busi- ness to Boothbay and later to the Hudson river. His own vessels were largely employed in the transportation of this ice and returned from their destination with cargoes of coal for the northern ports. This introduced him into a new line and he gradually developed the coal business to very large proportions, using barges as colliers, with which he transported this essential commodity. It was his custom to purchase small ships which he would convert into barges and which answered his purpose admirably. Since the death of Mr. Morse, this business has been continued by his successors, the Morse Company. Mr. Morse was a director of the Lincoln Bank of Bath, and also a member of the Board of Trade. In his relig- ious belief he was a Universalist and attended the church of that denomination at this place.
Captain Benjamin Wyman Morse was united in marriage, July 19, 1853, at New York City, with Anna E. J. Rodbird, who was born April 10, 1830, a daughter of William and Jane A. (Pritchard) Rodbird. William Rodbird was born in Alna, Maine, April 11, 1799, and died in Bos- ton, Massachusetts, March II, 1854. Jane A. Pritchard was born in Warwick, Virginia, July 13, 1802, and died in Bath, December 11, 1849. They had been married in Richmond, Virginia, September 25, 1834. The ceremony of Captain Morse and Miss Rodbird was performed by the Rev. Mr. E. H. Chapin, and two children were born to them, as follows: Jennie Rodbird, and Charles Wyman, whose sketch follows. Mrs. Morse's death occurred December 4, 1898, at Bath. Jennie Rodbird Morse is a lady of great cultivation and talent and has much ability in both music and art. She is now the owner of the beautiful old mansion of General Mcclellan, in Bath, and there makes her home.
Mr. Morse was a man of unusually strong and virtuous character, but for all that a gentle and willing personality. He was exceedingly domes- tic in his tastes and his greatest happiness was
to remain in his own home where he had a charming library of rare books, of which he was a consistent reader. He is buried in Oak Grove Cemetery, with his wife, and there has been erected a magnificent granite monument to his memory, representing an oak tree, broken off twenty feet from the ground.
CHARLES WYMAN MORSE, son of Captain Benjamin Wyman and Anna E. J. (Rodbird) Morse, was born in Bath, Maine, October 21, 1856. After preparatory education he entered Bowdoin College, whence he was graduated A.B. in the class of 1877. He had secured a book- keeping position paying fifteen hundred dollars, and subletting the work for a third of this sum defrayed his expenses with the remainder, also beginning dealings in ice while a student at Bow- doin. Upon his graduation from college he was possessed of a considerable sum earned during his college years, and at once engaged in the ice business with his father and cousin. Until mov- ing to Brooklyn in 1880 he was absorbed in the organization of the production end of the busi- ness, obtaining long term options on the icc crops of the Maine district and gaining control of several Maine companies, and in New York, acquiring controlling interests along the Hudson river, began the major development of this en- terprise. Until the manufacture of artificial ice won the southern field, Mr. Morse's companies were the principal factor in ice cutting and dis- tribution along the Atlantic coast, an operation of great magnitude that resulted in the incorpora- tion, March 11, 1899, of the American Ice Com- pany, under the laws of the State of New Jersey.
During this period Mr. Morse had entered the banking field with the energetic zeal that had already made him a leader in large affairs in New York City and a figure of national promi- nence, and rapidly ascended to a commanding position in the financial world. He was the dominating force in many institutions of im- portance and magnitude, including the National Bank of North America, the New Amsterdam National Bank, and the Title Insurance Company, of New York, his control extending to about six- teen banks. Mr. Morse, in a remarkably short time, conducted financial opertions of such stu- pendous scale that he became known as one of the greatest financial geniuses of his time.
Ships and shipping were a natural interest of his family and he had steadily increased his in- terests in this line from his first cargo carrying ships used in ice transportation to the organiza-
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tion, in 1905, of the Consolidated Steamship Company, capitalized at sixty millions. His was the outstanding figure in maritime affairs in the United States, among his interests the Clyde Steamship Company, the Eastern Steamship Company, the Hudson Navigation Company, the Mallory Steamship Company, the Metropolitan Steamship Company, and the New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Company. As in the ice busi- ness and in banking, so in steamship operating, he became the conspicuous leader, planning and consummating operations that staggered imag- ination and set new limits to the achievements of modern business.
This was his position when the panic of 1907 broke upon the country. In his rise to power he had scorned the traditions of the financial circles, for his aspirations and accomplishments had far transcended the beaten path, and, as his was the vision of the pioncer, his was the course of path-maker. He had offended and embittered many interests and, along with staunch friends, had many enemies whose en . mity in Wall street was stronger than persona! feeling could ever become. Finding him at thuis strategic time with plans of expansion in ful! swing and his resources taxed to the utmost, a concerted attack was made upon his varied iu- terests, which fell helpless before the force of the onslaught. The panic of 1907, the collapse of vast combinations of capital, and the gov- ernmental inquiry which followed is written into history. Mr. Morse bore his losses with the fortitude and lack of complaint that is a distin- guishing mark of the real fighter and at once applied himself to the repayment of his debts, which he accomplished in sums totalling many millions.
Since the panic of 1907, Mr. Morse has not only paid off every cent of his many millions of indebt- edness, but has recouped his affairs and fortune to such an extent that he is president and chair- man of the board of directors of the United States Steamship Company, a $25,000,000 corporation. This company owns outright the Groton Iron Works with its ten million dollar steel plant and two and one-half million dollar wooden shipbuild- ing plant, both located near New London, Con- necticut, and the Virginia Shipbuilding Corpora- tion, a ten million dollar shipbuilding plant at Alexandria, Virginia. The company also owns the controlling interest in the Hudson Naviga- tion Company, which operates the largest river steamers in the world, between New York and Albany, and several ocean going freight steamers.
Mr. Morse is chairman of the board of directors and the moving spirit in cach of these companies. Mr. Morse has constantly retained his interest in his native city, and Bath received as a token of his public spirited attachment a handsome high school building which was named in his honor. His clubs are the Union League, University, Met- ropolitan, Lawyers and Riding, all of New York, and he also belongs to the New England So- ciety and the New York Historical Society.
Charles W. Morse married (first) April 14, 1884, Hattie Bishop Hussey, born in Brooklyn, New York, November 4, 1862, died July 30, 1897, daughter of Erwin A. and Harriet (Southard) Hussey. He married (second) June 18, 1901, Mrs. Clemence Cowles Dodge. There were four chil- dren of his first marriage, three sons, Benjamin Wyman, Erwin Albert, and Harry Franklin, all of whom are mentioned more extensively, and Ann Elsie, born February 28, 1897.
BENJAMIN WYMAN MORSE-The business career of Mr. Morse has been in connection with the important shipping and navigating inter- ests of the eastern coast, interrupted by a short period in ice manufacturing, and now continued as an official of the Hudson Navigation Com- pany and executive officer of the Virginia Ship- building Corporation. He is a son of Charles Wyman Morse, the noted steamship operator, and Hattie Bishop (Hussey) Morse.
Benjamin Wyman Morse was born in Brook- lyn, New York, December 17, 1886, and after attending the Brooklyn and New York public schools was for a time a student in the gram- mar schools of Bath, Maine, He graduated from the Morse High School, of Bath, a member of the first class to graduate from that institution, which was a gift to the city of Bath from his father, and after a year at Bowdoin College, Brunswick. Maine, he entered Harvard University. He com- pleted his college course at Harvard, graduating in the class of 1908, and at once began business life.
During two summers, while a student in high school, he served as reporter for the Bath Daily Times, and for three summers thereafter was agent in Bath of the Kennebec Division of the Eastern Steamship Corporation, plying between Boston and the Kennebec river. Upon graduat- ing from college he entered the employ of the Citizens' Line of the Hudson Navigation Com- pany in New York, whose boats ran between New York City and Troy, New York, and after a year with this line purchased an interest in the
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Knickerbocker Ice Company, of Baltimore, Mary- land. He became secretary of this concern, which he held for three years, then for two years was secretary and treasurer of the company, and in April, 1914, sold his interest in the Knicker- bocker Ice Company and changed his residence from Baltimore to New York City.
In partnership with Captain Mark L. Gilbert he established in the ship brokerage and shipping business under the style of the Continental Trad - ing Company, which successfully operated for a period of two or three years, during the latter part of which Mr. Morse purchased his partner's interest and conducted the business independ- ently. Soon after the organization of the United States Steamship Company he sold this business and became vice-president and general manager of the United States Steamship Company, own- ing and operating a fleet of twelve ocean sicaut- ships. This company, shortly prior to the en- trance of the United States into the European WVar, sold most of its steamers and invested in shipyard properties, first purchasing a wooden shipyard at Noank, Connecticut, and later con- structing a large steel shipyard at Groton, Con- necticut, then, late in 1917 and carly in 1918, building another large steel shipyard at Alexan- dria, Virginia. In addition to these interests, the United States Steamship Company, from its in- ception, held a controlling interest in the Hudson Navigation Company, operating the well-known night lines between New York and Albany and Troy.
Mr. Morse was the first secretary, then the vice- president of the Hudson Navigation Company, then secretary of the Groton Iron Works, con- trolling the shipyards at Noank and Groton, Con- necticut. Subsequently he became vice-president and general manager of the Virginia Shipbuild- ing Company, which constructed the steel ship- yard at Alexandria, Virginia, of which he was in full charge from its establishment. His interests and connections are large and influential and he is numbered among the leaders in his line of endeavor. He is a member of the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, to which he was elected while a student at Bowdoin College, and is a communi- cant of the Universalist Church.
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