SAMUEL FINLEY BREESE MORSE. 



SAMUEL F. B. MORSE was born at the foot of 

 Breed's Hill, Charlestown, Mass., April 27, 

 1791. He was the eighth child in a family of 

 eleven children, all of whom, except three sons, 

 Samuel, Richard, and Sidney, died in their infancy. 



The father, Jedediah Morse, was a doctor of 

 divinity, having studied under Jonathan Edwards, 

 and was also* a journalist and writer of books. He 

 helped to establish the "Boston Recorder," now 

 the " Congregationalist," and with others laid the 

 foundations of the Theological Seminary at Ando- 

 ver, the American Board of Foreign Missions, the 

 American Bible Society, and the American Tract 

 Society. He was an impulsive, hopeful man of 

 wonderful energy, and, as Daniel Webster said, he 

 was " always thinking, always writing, always talk- 

 ing, always acting." 



His wife, Elizabeth Ann Breese, was the grand- 

 daughter of Samuel Finley, President of Princeton 

 College, a w r oman of strong will, excellent judg- 

 ment, and extremely pleasant manners. From the 

 one, the boy Finley inherited energy and hope ; 

 from the other, agreeable manners and indomitable 

 perseverance. 



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