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281
Heroes of the Telegraph
·
John Munro
31
CHAPTER
III.
SAMUEL
MORSE.
Cooke
and
Wheatstone
were
the
first
to
introduce
a
public
telegraph
worked
by
electro-magnetism;
but
it
had
the
disadvantage
of
not
marking
down
the
message.
There
was
still
room
for
an
instrument
which
would
leave
a
permanent
record
that
might
be
read
at
leisure,
and
this
was
the
invention
of
Samuel
Finley
Breeze
Morse.
He
was
born
at
the
foot
of
Breed's
Hill,
in
Charlestown,
Massachusetts,
on
the
27th
of
April,
1791.
The
place
was
a
little
over
a
mile
from
where
Benjamin
Franklin
was
born,
and
the
date
was
a
little
over
a
year
after
he
died.
His
family
was
of
British
origin.
Anthony
Morse,
of
Marlborough,
in
Wiltshire,
had
emigrated
to
America
in
1635,
and
settled
in
Newbury,
Massachusetts,
He
and
his
descendants
prospered.
The
grandfather
of
Morse
was
a
member
of
the
Colonial
and
State
Legislatures,
and
his
father,
Jedediah
Morse,
D.D.,
was
a
well-known
divine
of
his
day,
and
the
author
of
Morse's
AMERICAN
GEOGRAPHY,
as
well
as
a
compiler
of
a
UNIVERSAL
GAZETTEER.
His
mother
was
Elizabeth
Ann
Breeze,
apparently
of
Welsh
extraction,
and
the
grand-daughter
of
Samuel
Finley,
a
distinguished
President
of
the
Princeton
College.
Jedediah
Morse
is
reputed
a
man
of
talent,
industry,
and
vigour,
with
high
aims
for
the
good
of
his
fellow-men,
ingenious
to
conceive,
resolute
in
action,
and
sanguine
of
success.
His
wife
is
described
as
a
woman
of
calm,
reflective
mind,
animated
conversation,
and
engaging
manners.
They
had
two
other
sons
besides
Samuel,
the
second
of
whom,
Sidney
E.
Morse,
was
founder
of
the
New
York
OBSERVER,
an
able
mathematician,
author
of
the
ART
OF
CEROGRAPHY,
or
engraving
upon
wax,
to
stereotype
from,
and
inventor
of
a
barometer
for
sounding
the
deep-sea.
Sidney
was
the
trusted
friend
and
companion
of
his
elder
brother.
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