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MOREHOUSE, Harry Sinclair,
Hotel Proprietor.
In speaking of the Morehouse family,
one historian has said:
The Morehouse family, while the generations
come and go, has maintained an honorable posi-
tion in the localities in which its members have
resided. Its headquarters have long been on Digby
Neck, Noya Scotia.
It is from this Nova Scotia family that
Harry S. Morehouse is descended. The
name literally means "at the Moorhouse,"
the cottage situated on the moor, a local
name common to many places. There is
record found of the name in England in
the reign of Edward III. (1333), when
one Henry de Moorhouse is granted land.
From that time on there are frequent
mentions of the name in the English
records.
Thomas Morehouse is the original ancestor
of all the Morehouses in America
he was a first settler in Stamford, Connecticut,
in 1637-41, was in Wethersfield
in 1640, and in Fairfield in 1653. He married
Isabel Keeler, daughter of Ralph
Keeler, of Norwalk, Connecticut.
It is from this Thomas Morehouse,
above mentioned, that Harry S. Morehouse
is descended, and although born in
Nova Scotia, his ancestors were of early
Connecticut Colonial stock, and he is
himself now a resident in the city where
Thomas Morehouse was a founder, Stam-
ford, Connecticut.
Harry Sinclair Morehouse was born in
Bear River, Digby county, Nova Scotia,
March 31, 1880, son of David Reed and
Desire Foster (Liske) Morehouse. David
Reed Morehouse was born in Smith Cove,
Nova Scotia. It was the custom of most
of the inhabitants of that part of Nova
Scotia to take to a seafaring life very
early and Mr. Morehouse followed this
custom. He rose to the rank of captain
;
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
116
and made voyages all over the world. He
was in China when the navies of the
world opened up that self-isolated country
to the foreign trade. Mr. Morehouse
had one unique experience in salvaging
the "Marie Celeste." This experience is
worthy of note. "The Mysterie of the
Marie Celeste" will always hold a prominent
and interesting place in maritime
history. The "Marie Celeste" was a full
rigged ship, loaded with alcohol, and so
forth. Captain Morehouse discovered
her about four hundred and eighty miles
south of the Azores under full sail and
without a soul aboard. It has been supposed
that rumblings in the hold, caused
perhaps by explosions of gasses from the
alcohol and other freight, frightened the
crew who took to the small boats without
even stopping to lower a sail. It was a
valuable find, Captain Morehouse's share
of the salvage being $25,000. At that time
the vessel under command of Captain
Morehouse was named "Dei Gratia," cer-
tainly it was very apropos. Captain
Morehouse followed the sea until he was
about sixty years of age, and then lived
retired about six years until his death.
About 1886 he became a citizen of Somer-
ville, Massachusetts, and continued to re-
side there until his death. He was a
member of a Masonic lodge in Halifax,
Nova Scotia.
Captain Morehouse married Desire Fos-
ter Liske, daughter of Samuel Liske, of
Port Medway, Nova Scotia, and of their
seven children, six grew to maturity. They
were : Edward Reed ; Harriet, who married
Frank Lyman Pearson, of Somer-
ville, Massachusetts ; William Liske, de-
ceased ;
Agnes Beatrice, the wife of Roder-
ick B. MacLeod, of North Tonawanda,
New York ; Harry Sinclair, of further
mention ; Ethel Louise, wife of Harold J.
Holman, of Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Harry Sinclair Morehouse was edu-