5715 Highway 201: The Samuel Morse House

Architecture Style: Greek Revival

Built: About 1833

As a young man, Samuel Morse III, of Paradise, built this home. In his older age, he chose to sacrifice it.  He was one of the four sons of Samuel II; each built a home beside the mill complex their father created, and each took a turn operating the mills. Samuel married Charlotte Boehner, whose sister Lucy married his brother Elias.  In those days it was common for sibling groups from nearby families to marry: “double cousins” abounded in early Nova Scotia! These cousins grew up together, sharing the concerns of the mill and the farms.  Such close family ties had their own joys and their own hazards. Adults and children lived, played, worked, ate, studied and slept within view of one another. Some were anxious to leave, to make their fortunes in Halifax or Boston.

The young men were brought into the Temperance Societies, where they learned leadership and debating skills, and promised never to “make, buy, sell or use” alcohol.  Samuel’s sons,  John Eager and George Rupert, as well as some Morse cousins, were charter members of the Paradise Sons of Temperance, Clyde division.  No brew allowed.  But tea –  now there was a drink!  In 1870 John E. started his famous Morse’s Tea Company in Halifax and became wealthy. Perhaps Samuel, 70 years old by then and a widower, gave his only surviving son what he had: money borrowed with his house in Paradise as surety, to help him launch a new business.  In 1870 Samuel instructs Dr. Forsythe to sell the house to cover his debt and send him the excess.

Dr. Forsythe kept the house himself and raised his family there. His son James Ernest and Bertha Lavinia Leonard, daughter of James Stewart Leonard and Annie Eliza Morse., noticed each other when Bertha came to visit her grandmother next door. After their marriage, they lived here.  Eventually, they made their way to Wolfville, New England, and Ohio. Sepia-toned photos with inked notes came home by mail for years.   James sold the home to William Shaw of Lynn, Massachusetts. There had been Shaws in the area since 1760 and before, so perhaps William came to Nova Scotia because he knew it so well. The house belonged to the Shaw family for many years.  Margaret Shaw was remembered as a very fine woman and dedicated community member.

David and Tana Bent restored the home’s colourful Victorian spirit and cared for it well.