Curtis & Fanny Morse; Prosperous South Dedham/Norwood Family

Curtis Gay Morse (1805-1874)

Fanny Boyden Morse (1812-1887)

Eliza R. Morse (1835-1836)

Benjamin B. Morse (1841-1842)

Curtis Gay Morse was born on December 18, 1805; his parents were Oliver and Azubah Gay Morse. On February 5, 1832, Curtis Morse married Fanny Boyden in Dedham. Fanny, who was born on December 3, 1812, was the daughter of Jabez and Sally Fuller Boyden.

Curtis and Fanny had six children: Sarah, Eliza, Henry, Benjamin, Edwin, and Herbert.

Sarah, Henry Edwin and Herbert all lived into adulthood and married.

Eliza R. Morse was born on April 6, 1835 and died on September 26, 1836. Benjamin Morse was born on April 28, 1841 and died on September 11, 1842. Both were only about 17 months old; the cause of their deaths was not recorded.

Shortly after their marriage, Curtis and Fanny Morse bought land on what is today

Washington Street and built a Greek Revival home. Curtis G. Morse became a furniture manufacturer. Around 1855 he and Moses Webb began making mahogany extension tables in a mill on the north side of Railroad Avenue. Later known as Haley, Morse and Boyden, the firm reportedly became the first in the country to make rubber roller clothes-wringers. The business was very successful but was destroyed by fire in 1865. That year, Curtis Morse was identified in the U.S. Census as a “gentleman.” In the 1870 Census, he was listed as a retired furniture manufacturer. In addition, his real estate was valued at $10,000 and his personal estate was valued at $50,000, equivalent in purchasing power to over $1.1 million dollars today.

Approximate site of Morse home in 1858.

"It is my wish that my executor shall in consideration with the family also with brother Otis Morse make such improvements in cemetery lot as shall be satisfactory to the family in spending a sum not to exceed one thousand dollars."

Curtis G. Morse died on December 3, 1874 of paralysis. Given that Highland Cemetery was not founded until 1880, Curtis Morse and the two children who predeceased him must have been interred in Old Parish. The location is unknown but, since their plot does not appear on the 1890 map of Old Parish, it appears the remains was relocated to Highland prior to that date, perhaps at the death of Fanny Boyden Morse who died on March 17, 1887.

Today, Curtis, Fanny, Eliza, and Benjamin are all interred in lot 69 at Highland Cemetery.

Final resting place in Highland Cemetery of Curtis, Fanny, Eliza, Benjamin, Morse.