Biography of Miss Elizabeth S. Morse Excerpted from "Collections of the Kansas State Historical Society, 1911-1912", Edited by Geo. W. Martin, Secretary. Vol XII., State Printing Office, Topeka, Kansas 1912. submitted by Teresa Lindquist (merope@radix.net); (copyright) 2001 by Teresa Lindquist ----------------------------------------------------------------------- KSGENWEB INTERNET GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY COPYRIGHT NOTICE: In keeping with the KSGenWeb policy of providing free information on the Internet, this data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format for profit or other gain. Copying of the files within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- MISS ELIZABETH S. MORSE was first a teacher among the Cherokee Indians, having been sent out from Boston in 1842 by the American Baptist Missionary Union. Upon her arrival in the Cherokee Nation she found there was no building suitable for school purposes, so, not willing to be idle, she opened a day school. She boarded in an Indian family, eating at table with them, and her room was so open that snow and rain came through, falling upon the bed in which she slept. She lived in this way for a year, when she had a cabin built in which she set up housekeeping. The only means of lighting and ventilating was by the door, there being no windows. The chimney was built of logs, with stones laid at the bottom in place of jams, so it was unsafe to have any but a very small fire. At first there was no floor in her cabin, but later one of puncheons was laid. Miss Morse stayed with the Cherokees several years, but as the building for the school seemed as far off as ever, owing to a difference of opinion as to where it should be built, she left the tribe and went to the Delawares about 1848. She remained at the Delaware Mission School until the removal of those Indians to the Indian Territory, in 1867. Miss Morse then went to live with friends. She died in Kansas in November, 1899, at the advanced age of 85.