Elizabeth Ann Breese Morse, by Samuel Morse, Harvard Art Museums
Elizabeth Ann Breese Morse Commonplace Book
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Manuscript Cookbooks Survey Database ID#
1520Place of Origin
United States ➔ Massachusetts ➔ BostonUnited States ➔ New York ➔ Poughkeepsie
Date of Composition
ca. 1785-ca. 1900Description
Born in Massachusetts in 1766, Elizabeth Ann Breese married Jedidiah Morse in 1789. In addition to being a Congregationalist pastor in Boston, where the couple spent most of their lives, Jedidiah wrote several highly popular geography textbooks, earning the sobriquet "father of American geography." Miss Lucy Osgood, a close friend of Jedidiah and Elizabeth Morse, wrote, "In his [Jedidiah's] duties as a host his admirable wife [Elizabeth] zealously cooperated, making her home attractive to visitors of every description by her cordial, dignified and graceful manners, and her animated conversation." Presumably, Elizabeth's "cooperation" as hostess also included laying a tempting table, prompting her to collect recipes. The couple had three sons, one of whom was Samuel Finley Breese Morse (1791-1872). Although best known as the inventor of the telegraph, Samuel Morse began his career as a distinguished portrait painter. Among his portraits were the two of his mother and father shown here. Elizabeth Breese Morse died in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1825. Her husband, born in 1761, died the following year, also in New Haven.
Elizabeth Breese Morse wrote her recipes in what she called "A Common Place Book," which she originally inscribed with her maiden name, likely indicating that she began compiling her book before she was married in 1789. Later, she wrote her married name and the date April 10, 1805 on the outside cover of the book. Elizabeth Breese Morse included several Dutch-American recipes in her book, which she may have learned from her step-mother, Ann Clarkson, who was a native of New York City, a center of Dutch-American culture. She also wrote many recipes that were fashionable throughout the country during her lifetime.
Elizabeth Breese Morse's commonplace book was continued into the late nineteenth century by other authors, who may have lived at Locust Grove Estate, in Poughkeepsie, New York, where the book is now housed. The Italianate-style mansion at Locust Grove was designed and built by Samuel Morse in the early 1850s and occupied by Morse and his family during the summer months until Morse's death. The house and extensive grounds are now a New York State historic site and museum.
