A few years ago the History Center was contacted by a man in Indiana who had purchased an antique knife at an estate sale. The name of the manufacturer was obscured but the words “Lockport NY” were very clear. He wanted to know if we had any information on the company and, if possible, on the family who owned the business. Though the name is difficult to read, a few letters were more discernible than others including the first two which look like “MO.”
In February 1867, a new “manufactory” opened in Lockport in “two buildings immediately north of the Railroad Depot, erected by the Holly Manufacturing Company.” The Morse Cutlery Company, operated by an extended family of brothers and cousins, began with $30,000 in capital and an impressive Board of Directors that included Thomas Thorn Flagler and Daniel Van Valkenburg. By June 1867, the factory employed 40 men and six women and was making 100 dozen knives and forks per day. They were anticipating making twice that number by the fall. One of the places the company shipped to, that is specifically mentioned in the newspaper article, is Indiana.
Unfortunately the success of the Morse Cutlery Company was short-lived. On the evening of Nov. 25, 1867, a fire was spotted in a wooden addition to the larger stone building the cutlery used to produce utensils. A great effort was made by the fire department to save the main stone building and the machinery and inventory that was inside. The damage amounted to $20,000, mostly to the wooden building and its contents; the company was only insured for $5,000. A few other businesses nearby sustained minor damage and were able to reopen in a few days. An editorial in the Lockport Daily Journal the day after the fire called for the extension of the Holly Water Works “to the more distant portions of the city.”
Less than two weeks after the fire, Morse Cutlery had begun erecting a temporary structure, shifting equipment around in the stone building and making plans to resume operation as soon as possible. “A substantial building on the burnt district” was planned for “next season.” But the “next season” brought more woes for the company.
On July 11, 1868, a fire in a building at Market and Exchange streets, where Morse was storing some of its inventory, caused the company to lose $4,500 worth of stock. In August, the roof of the stone building “slid off…about six feet,” apparently weakened by the fire, high winds and finally by “necessary jar” of “starting up the machinery.” The company said it would be repaired “at once” and would not “interfere with the work of the establishment.” Despite their optimism, it was just one more setback for the company.
In September, another editorial appeared in the newspaper asking whether the citizens of Lockport would support a cutlery business by buying shares in the company. In this article it is referred to as the Lockport Cutlery Company, not the Morse Cutlery Company. To further complicate the situation, it is listed in the 1869 Niagara County Gazetteer and Business Directory as the Morse Cutlery Company with capital of $60,000, while in the Lockport City Directory for the same year, it is listed as the Lockport Cutlery Company, with the same Board of Directors and the same amount of capital. At some point in the late summer or early fall of 1868, the Morse family must have given up the business.
The Morse family was not from Lockport (or even Niagara County), so why did they decide to start their business here? The 1868 Lockport City Directory lists eight men with the last name Morse, five of them working at the Morse Cutlery Company. Two have other jobs and one has his own business, Daniel Morse & Co., “ins. agents and bankers, Arcade [bldg.].” How the men were all related is unclear but many of these Morses, who originally came from Massachusetts, were part of a large family there. One of those men was Edgar S. Morse who had the closest connection to Lockport.
Edgar Morse was born in Shelburne Falls, Mass., in 1846, the son of Samuel and Lucretia Morse. In 1855 the family was living in Cayuga County, New York, where Samuel worked as a scythe maker. The family returned to Massachusetts by 1864 where Edgar enlisted in the Massachusetts 8th Infantry. He was mustered out in November of the same year with no reason given. It was a few years later that Edgar’s family arrived in Lockport to start the Morse Cutlery Company with several other relatives.
The reason they chose Lockport is not certain, but there are a few clues. Daniel Morse, and his brother Charles, were bankers in this city and may have been willing to supply some of the capital needed to start a business. Among those named as investors are “Morse Bros., Esqs.” Another reason Edgar came to (or later returned to) Lockport was that this was the home of his future wife, Sarah M. Wright.
Sarah was the daughter of William S. and Mariah Lockwood Wright of Olcott and spent her childhood in that community until her family moved to Lockport when she was 16 in 1863. Her father operated a general merchandise store in Olcott with an uncle of Dr. Samuel Outwater. When they came to Lockport in 1863, William Wright opened a furniture and undertaking store on Main Street, with various partners over the years. It eventually became part of the Prudden undertaking business which still exists today as Prudden & Kandt.
When Sarah Wright and Edgar Morse actually met is unclear. According to census records and Sarah’s obituary, the couple were married in Lockport in 1876. For at least the next five years, they lived on a farm on the Lake Road just west of Olcott, surrounded by an extended family of Wrights and Lockwoods. Sometime in the early 1880s, the Morses left Niagara County and did not return here to live. For many years the couple ran a grocery store in Auburn, N.Y., but were in Boston in 1900. Edgar had a difficult time working due to a war injury and that could be why he applied for a Civil War invalid pension. By 1910, he was in Springfield again and able to work as a store clerk in the Armory. Edgar eventually retired for good and he and Sarah moved to Greenfield, Mass., in the early 1920s. They never had any children. Sarah passed away in 1926 and Edgar died in 1928. They were both buried in Shelburne Falls where Edgar had been born.
It is fortunate for us here in Lockport that although the Morse Cutlery Company was only in operation for a very short time, evidence of its existence, and that of the people who started it, can still be found today.