In Morse Mode

Description

Tracing the Family History of James, Charles & Edwin Morse – Published 2016 (206 pages)

This book reconstructs the life stories of the three Morse brothers who migrated to Van Diemen‘s Land in the middle of the 19th century. Their ancestral family had lived around the village of Puriton, Somerset, England for more than 500 years. The opening chapter relates how the father and uncles of the three brothers spent a month in a Somerset jail because of the harsh injustices of the legal system and their poverty pushed circumstances. The second chapter traces their long hazardous boat voyages to Van Diemen’s Land, including dodging icebergs as they sailed across the Great Southern Ocean.

James Morse arrived first and was employed by the original owner of Calstock, near Deloraine. Learning from his employer, James soon purchased some of the first land sold in this important country town. His remarkable success and his desire to help his two brothers come and join him is impressive. Once Charles and Edwin Morse arrived, they too commenced farming, purchased property, married and multiplied. Their obsession with racehorses, breweries, hotels and publican’s daughters made the later changes in some Morse families an unlikely prediction.  When the rich Kentish district opened up, Edwin Morse and other related families moved there to become pioneer settlers of West Kentish and Paradise beneath Mt Roland. All three brothers lived remarkably long lives, which very few of their descendants achieved. This book also covers the first few generations of the three Morse brothers’ offspring. Connected families include Braids, Charlestons, Cockers, Davies, Days, Dazeleys, Duffs, Dyers, Forwards, Jordans, Richardsons, Spicers, Whileys, Wilsons and Wyatts.