James W. Morse Biography


	This biography appears on pages 1814 in "History of South 
	Dakota" by Doane Robinson, Vol. II (1904) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.


	JAMES W. MORSE, the efficient clerk of the courts of Hughes 
county, comes of staunch old colonial stock in both the paternal and 
maternal lines, the respective families having been established in New 
England at an early epoch in our national history, while the 
genealogical records of the Morse family have been carefully compiled 
and preserved through the various generations, Professor Samuel F. B. 
Morse, the distinguished inventor of the electric telegraph, having been 
a member of the family.

	James W. Morse was born in Springfield, the attractive capital 
city of the state of Illinois, on the 3d of September, 1853, and is a 
son of James M. and Emma M. (Gregory) Morse, the former of whom was born 
in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and the latter in Danbury, Connecticut, 
while they were numbered among the early settlers of Sangamon county, 
Illinois, the father having been for many years engaged in business in 
Springfield, where both he and his wife died. The subject secured his 
early educational discipline in the public schools of his native city, 
and as a youth learned the art of telegraphy, but shortly afterward 
learned the watch-making trade to which he devoted his attention for 
eighteen years. He came to Pierre in 1889 and here engaged in the cigar 
and tobacco business, and in 1893 was appointed deputy postmaster, in 
which capacity he continued to serve until November, 1894, when he was 
elected to his present office of clerk of the courts, having held the 
same continuously for nearly a decade, through successive re-elections, 
and having handled the exacting affairs of the office with marked 
ability and discrimination. In politics he accords an unwavering support 
to the Republican party, and is at the present time worshipful master of 
Pierre Lodge, No. 27, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, while he is past 
master of the local lodge of the Ancient Order of United Workmen and 
past venerable consul of the Pierre Camp of the Modern Woodmen of 
America.

	On the 29th of December, 1878, Mr. Morse was united in marriage to 
Miss Mary J. Schlipf, who was born and reared in Sangamon county, 
Illinois. They have three children, Bernice W., aged twenty-four years, 
who holds a clerical position in Pierre postoffice; Dorothy L., aged 
twenty-two, who is a stenographer in the office of the secretary of 
state in her home city; and Kathryn H., at this writing three years of 
age. The subject's musical abilities are evidenced by the popularity of 
his productions, among which may be mentioned, "The Soldier's Dream of 
Home," "Tell my Boy to Meet Me There," "My Boyhood's Home in Sunny 
Tennessee," and many others of equal merit.