Morse's Niece and Nephew

[sguthmann]

Can anyone shed some light on who this "niece and nephew" were that Morse was visiting at Emery's on 08-04-1892? How were they related? What were their names? How were they connected to the Emerys? Where did they live prior to the FR visit? After the visit? Were they ever checked out by authorities or sought for an interview re: Morse?

[sguthmann]

ok, in the meantime I looked up a bit more, but still have many questions. The niece's name appears to have been Annie Morse, daughter of JVM's brother. Still not sure of the nephew's name though? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe they were from Minnesota? As of Aug 1892, it appears the niece was about 19 yoa and the nephew 16 yoa.

i'm still foggy on the Emery connection? And JVM mentions that he learned of his niece and nephew being at Emery's not only from AJB, but from Annie Morse's grandmother (identity?) and something about being with one of her cousins...not sure if JVM meant a cousin of Annie's or a cousin of his?

any additional info is appreciated, especially the name of the nephew. also any notes on how all characters were related. thanks!

[john]

They were from Excelsior, MN and I kicked around there when I was a kid. It wasn't much of a town then and now it's like a burb of Minneapolis, though 25 miles away. In 1892 it wouldn't have had many people, and I have superficially checked, and there were no Morse people at that time, but I wasn't terribly interested and didn't dig deeply. Their name perhaps wasn't Morse, or they may have been there a different year - the town couldn't have been more than a few hundred people at that time. Anyway, it's grounds for somebody to look up.

[Kat]

ok, in the meantime I looked up a bit more, but still have many questions. The niece's name appears to have been Annie Morse, daughter of JVM's brother. Still not sure of the nephew's name though? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe they were from Minnesota? As of Aug 1892, it appears the niece was about 19 yoa and the nephew 16 yoa.

i'm still foggy on the Emery connection? And JVM mentions that he learned of his niece and nephew being at Emery's not only from AJB, but from Annie Morse's grandmother (identity?) and something about being with one of her cousins...not sure if JVM meant a cousin of Annie's or a cousin of his?

any additional info is appreciated, especially the name of the nephew. also any notes on how all characters were related. thanks!

I don't like to sound like I'm pushing Hatchets at you, but in the June/July 2004 issue, the article "The Elusive John Morse" by Joe Carlson addresses a lot of these questions.
Do you have Rebello's book?
There is relationship info in there in the Morse's Will section, pages 70-78.

[sguthmann]

yes, thank goodness for rebello's book - on so many levels! - that is one of the few sources that i've found to have some more in-depth info on the Morse family. I'm still working on the niece and nephew, but my present focus is quickly becoming the Emery family and the Morse-Emery connection.

Anyone with any ideas about that?

[Kat]

Cynthia, or Gramma, have you yet come across a connection between Dan Emery and the Morses?
Through Dan Emery's wife maybe?
Do we even know her name?

[diana]

Yes, I wonder why William Morse's son and daughter stayed with the Emerys when they visited Fall River? That's never really been gone into, has it? It's natural to assume there were family ties -- but not knowing the maiden name of Mrs. Emery may make it difficut to substantiate this.

I looked at Morse's testimony to see if his references to the Emery family helped at all -- but didn't get far with that.

This is what he says at the Inquest:

". . . Then Mr. Borden and I talked about some cattle I had; and then I went away.
Q. Did you say where you was going?
A. Yes Sir. He was telling the night before, up at Mr. Emery's I had a nephew and niece from the West, and he told me where they lived, and wanted me to go and see them.
Q. Did he tell you where they lived?

. . . I left there 15 or 20 minutes of nine, came down to the Post Office, wrote a postal, and went up Bedford street to Third street, and went from there to Pleasant street, and up to Weybosset street, No. 4. Dan Emery's.

. . . Had you ever been to Emery's before?
A. Not this time, I had six or seven years before when they lived on North Main street" (excerpted from Inquest, pp.101 - 103)

At the Preliminary Hearing, he says basically the same thing -- but 'Dan' Emery is now formalized to 'Daniel' Emery.

At trial, JVM talks about visiting his niece and nephew but he eliminates the Emerys altogether. Their name is never mentioned in his trial testimony.

So I guess the main clue we get from this is that the Emerys lived on North Main Street somewhere around the mid '80's.

[sguthmann]

i seem to remember reading a newspaper account that referred to morse and emery as "cousins" - of course, the not everything in the paper was accurate, so this must be confirmed, but is, perhaps, a starting point?

does anyone have access to fall river city directories from the years immediately before or after the murders? perhaps we can learn more about the emerys? also, what dan's occupation was?

and then there's the other question...why would AJB know - or care - if the Anna Morse and her brother were in town at the emery's? why direct morse to visit?

[Harry]

Mr. Emery worked at the Hargrave's mill just across the street from his house. I believe they manufactured soap.

This from the FR Daily Globe, August 5, 1892 - page 1:

"What time did he [Morse] leave?"
"At 11:30 a.m."
"Are you positive about this."
"Yes sir very positive for I know it was that hour because I looked at the clock and then went to the store to get some things for dinner."
Mr. Emery is a mill hand and comes home from the Hargraves near by at 12 o'clock. That would give Mrs. Emery 30 minutes to go to the store, get the goods, prepare them and cook dinner, in order to have her husband's dinner on time that day."

[sguthmann]

thank you very much Harry! just for clarification, the part in your post where you bolded the text and following that, is that still part of the newspaper account or are they your thoughts?

i wish i had access to more actual newspaper accounts from the time, esp the FR newspaper...

[sguthmann]

aha! that's the same article where Morse supposedly referred to Daniel Emery as his "cousin." do you recall where it was that you learned Dan Emery worked at the mill?

i've read about an "Emery scrapbook" that Mr. Robert Flynn either has or has had access to. Is that the same Emery family, i wonder? anyone know?

[Harry]

aha! that's the same article where Morse supposedly referred to Daniel Emery as his "cousin." do you recall where it was that you learned Dan Emery worked at the mill?

The only place I've seen that he worked at the mill was in the newspaper article I cited. The highlighting was mine as it refers specifically to your question.

[sguthmann]

Fall River City Directory, 1892:

"Emery Daniel L. Overseer, Hargraves mills, house 4 Weybosset"

Unfortunately nothing more. But does confirm the employment at the mill.

[Kat]

Where did you get an 1892 City Directory, If I might ask?
I don't know anyone who has one in their personal collection.
Did you call the Library?

[sguthmann]

yep, the library.

[Kat]

I called the Library today too!
We are bumping into each other all over the place!

[nbcatlover]

As an aside, there was a John Emery who married a Hannah Morse in the early 1700s, probably in what is now Maine, whose families came from Newburyport.

There is also a Morrison family in Vermont working on their genealogy. They are showing ancestors of a John Morrison Sr. b. 1628 and an Anthony Emery b. 1600. It would be interesting if the "cousinship" was through Rhody Morrison, but it would be harder to trace.

[sguthmann]

thanks, i did find genealogical links too, but they seemed too far back for someone to be referring to morse and dan emery as "cousins." i figured that there must be some marriage, some closer link between the two. but so far, i have not found it.

there also appears to be some question as to Anna Morse's parents. if she was the daughter of a Joseph Morse or William B Morse (who she was living with in 1892). either way, she'd be a niece of morse's, but i wonder what the backstory is.

[nbcatlover]

sguthmann--I believe the discussion on Anna's questionable parentage is in the forum archive--haven't been able to locate it quickly.

I came across an Anna P. Morse on The Political Graveyard who served as a Republican delegate from Minnesota in 1932. This Anna lived in Blue Earth, Faribault County, Minnesota at the time she was a delegate, but nothing more is known about her--says "presumed deceased" "burial location unknown." I have always wondered if this ties in with this mysterious niece.

From a previous forum discussion, Morse's nephew is supposed to be her brother (if she is the daughter of Joseph Morse).

For years, I thought Daniel Emery was being referred to as the nephew. and that he had permanently relocated back to Fall River because it was the Emery name was the only name consistently used for the Weybosset St. visit. Anna's name was never involved.

[theebmonique]

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Tracy...

[Allen]

A picture of Victoria Lincoln? My heavens I've been wanting to see a picture of her at any age for quite some time now.

[theebmonique]

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Tracy...