Mr. Morse Goes Home

By Linda Lemmon
Town Crier Editor
POMFRET — It was a long way home for Mr. John Morse.
In November Becky Lamb discovered that a non-descript stone leaning on her front light pole was in fact a headstone for Mr. Morse. He died in 1796 at the age of 35, according to the stone. Lamb did a little research and discovered that Mr. Morse belonged in Pomfret. She called Pomfret First Selectman Maureen Nicholson who dropped by Lamb’s home on Tracy Road and picked up the headstone. Then research began to find out exactly where he belonged in the cemetery.
Enter Donna Dufresne, researcher extraordinaire. She discovered exactly where his headstone should be placed and also researched his life. She said it was a stroke of luck that the man died young because that opened up more records to flesh out his life.
A map of the Pomfret cemetery by Dorman Weaver showed Mr. Morse’s headstone was in place in 1950. Sometime after that it ended up in Killingly.
Dec. 14 was homecoming day. The town’s DPW brought the slate headstone. Dufresne, historical society members, and experts including preservationist Ruth Brown of the Connecticut Gravestone Network and expert Keegan Day were there to help. Brown said, “We need to do more on preservation here.”
The headstone has a pointed bottom; however, if the stone were “planted” using that bottom, it would either have to be sunk so low as to cover some wording or it would be top heavy and fall over.
Experts expect to fashion some sort of collar so that it is standing secure but not buried on concrete.
The headstone says:
In Memory of/ Mr. John Morse / Who died Aug. 1796 / Aged 35 / A wit’s a feather and a chief a rod: / An honest man’s the noblest work of God”
The quote on the headstone was written by Alexander Pope, an English poet, translator and satirist of the Enlightenment ear in Great Britain. One meaning ascribed to the quote is: “It is good to be smart and it is good to be a leader, but it is the best to be an honest person.”
Dufresne said: “I was able to identify exactly where the missing stone should be installed because I have the 1950 map from Dorman Weaver’s project on the cemetery. John Morse is buried with the Sharpe family. This led me to believe he had married one of the Sharpes. Indeed, he married Sarah (Sally) Sharpe on March 15, 1795. That same year, John Morse bought 8 rods of land with his business partner, John Phipps (along Rt. 97). The property was sold by John Maguire, who was a tailor.
“The deed implies that there had been some kind of clothier shop, either tailors or dressmaking during the 15 years between the Revolutionary War and the mercantile owned by John Phipps and John Morse.
“John Morse died at age 35 in 1796. He’d only been married one year and the child he had with Sarah Sharpe had died in February of 1796, John died in August. Because he died young and unexpectedly it was likely he was insolvent. I’ve run into several inventories of shop keepers who died insolvent, and the inventories are informative. Indeed, John Morse’s estate went to Probate due to “bad debt”. His inventory is 10 pages long including the inventory of the store which was filled with imported and domestic fabric as well as paint, chemicals, hats, pipes, China sets, pewter, teapots, spices, and more. Several pages of the inventory are devoted to debts he owed to creditors – merchants in Providence – who sailed to the West Indies to procure fabric from Great Britain and the East Indies Trade.”
The cause of death was not available but Dufresne said there were several epidemics around that time.
For the full research on Wed. night, check the expanded version of this story at www.putnamtowncrier.com and at the paper’s FB page: Putnam  Town Crier & Northeast Ledger. It’s fascinating.

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Resting Place - Finally
The headstone of Mr. John Morse - from 1796 - was returned to his resting place in Pomfret last week. From left: Donna Dufresne, First Selectman Maureen Nicholson and historical society member John Folsom. More photos on page 4. Linda Lemmon photo.

captions, page 4:

Top left: Experts, officials and "finders" at the cemetery with Mr. Morse's stone. Bottom left: Keegan Day speaks to group. Top right: Finding where the stone goes (from left: John Folsom, Maureen Nicholson and Donna Dufresne.)