admin DAVID R. MORSE, the veteran financier who passed away January 27, 1908, was for more than a quarter of a century identified with the Erie County Savings Bank. In his eighty-eighth year, Mr. Morse was the official head and the directing spirit of the largest savings institution in the State, outside of New York City.
David R. Morse came of Puritan stock. He was able to trace his ancestry eight generations to Samuel Morse, who came to this country in 1635. John Morse, son of Samuel, had a son, John, who had a son, Ezra Morse, who was the father of Deacon Seth Morse, a member of the Guilford Volunteers during the Revolution. Among his sons was John Morse, who lived at Moody’s, Conn., and was the father of David Morse, grandfather of the subject of this sketch. David Morse was born in Guilford, Conn. He married Lucy Norton, and settled at Norton Hills, Greene County, N. Y., later removing to Greenville, N. Y. During the Revolution he served in Capt. Hand’s Company of Col. Talcott’s Regiment, and later joined the Coast Guards. He was the father of Simeon, Martin, Beulah, Asher, and David Morse. Asher Morse, father of David E. Morse, was born in Guilford, Conn. In early life he was brought by his parents to Norton Hills, N. Y., where he married Anna Reynolds. Originally a currier by trade, he became a farmer, settling after his marriage on a farm at South Westerly, in Albany County. He carried on tanning and later built and operated a large sawmill and flour mills. He was a Whig in politics, and a member of the Presbyterian Church of Greenville, N. Y. He was the father of three sons, George, Charles, and David E., and five daughters, Delia, who became the wife of William M. Shepard; Mrs. Hulda Savage; and Lucy, who became the wife of Lorenzo B. Shepard, of the famous law firm of Parsons & Shepard of New York; Mrs. Maria Wyatt, and Mrs. Susan Bobbins.
David E. Morse was born October 14, 1819, at South Westerly, Albany County, N. Y. He was reared on his father’s farm, and attended the primitive schools of that day. When fourteen years old, he secured a clerkship with George Reed, who besides carrying on a store was engaged in the forwarding business at Coxsackie, and operated a line of market sloops between that place and New York. Here he remained for three or four years, making his home with Mr. Reed’s family. Young Morse’s environments were very pleasant, the Reeds being a family of high, standing. Mr. Morse through all his long life remembered his first employer and his household with peculiar pleasure, as the influences of the Reed home were wholesome and inspiring, and undoubtedly their paternal training aided much in molding the strength of character and the correct habits of living that distinguished Mr. Morse’s entire career. At the close of his period of employment in Coxsackie, Mr. Morse went to New York, where he worked as a clerk in a dry-goods store for five years. In 1843 he came to Buffalo, bringing with him a stock of dry-goods. He opened a store in Main street, where he remained in the dry-goods trade till 1850, when he sold out to engage in the ship chandlery business. Through this venture he soon became interested in the ownership of lake vessels. In 1865 Mr. Morse practically withdrew from all business except the care of his extensive vested interests. In 1879 he was elected a trustee of the Erie County Savings Bank, and on May 7, 1884, he was elected Vice President. In 1889 he was chosen President, and was serving his eighteenth year in that office at the time of his death.
Essentially a business man, politics played a very minor part in Mr. Morse’s life. In 1878 he was, however, persuaded to become a candidate for Alderman, chiefly to forward certain important public interests. He was elected and served one term from the old 10th Ward. Some years later he was elected a trustee of Forest Lawn Cemetery, and for several years was President of the board, finally resigning of his own choice. During this period Mr. Morse did much toward making Forest Lawn the beautiful spot it is today. He was also one of the founders of the Falconwood Club on Grand Island, incorporated in 1879, and he and the late Dexter P. Rumsey became sole owners of the property.
Mr. Morse was married in 1845 to Elizabeth G. Miller, daughter of Capt. William T. Miller, an old settler of Buffalo. Mr. and Mrs. Morse celebrated in 1907 their 62d wedding anniversary. Their children were: Jennie, who married Walter T. Wilson, and had issue of Walter Morse; Gertrude, the wife of Rev. Mr. Littell, and Margaret J.; Charles M., the only son, is the well-known efficient city engineer of Buffalo, and Anna, deceased in 1908, was the wife of Samuel Ames of New York. For many years Mr. Morse had been an influential member and a trustee of the First Presbyterian Church.
David E. Morse was a man of unusual equanimity of temperament. His mental alertness to the last was phenomenal. One of his striking intellectual qualifications was his power of accurately estimating real estate values, his judgment therein having been infallible, and he was one of the ablest real estate experts of Buffalo. Mr. Morse’s personal appearance corresponded with the qualities and career of the man. He was a venerable and in some respects picturesque figure. His fresh complexion indicated him to be a much younger man than he was, but his silver white beard gave a suggestion of the patriarchal. His manner was full of quiet dignity and easy charm. Everything about him bespoke the gentleman of the old school. He was probably the finest example in Buffalo of an old age at once beautiful and beneficial, of length of days crowned with honor and of intellectual strength undiminished by the march of years.
SOURCE: Memorial and Family History of Erie County New York; Volume I