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Record Group Number: 900000
Series/Collection Number: M96- 3
Creator: Morse family
Title, Dates: Morse family and Fernandina harbor pilots papers, 1860-1940.
Amount: 1.00 microfilm reel 35mm
Medium Included: photographs
Organization/Arrangement: Unarranged.
Restrictions:
Terms Governing Use:
Biographical/Historical:     James Madison Morse was born in 1839 in Smithville, North Carolina. He moved to Fernandina, Florida, and married Jane Rebecca Latham in 1859. They had a son, Edward Francis Morse, born in 1866 in Fernandina. Edward Francis Morse became a harbor pilot, guiding the ships that carried lumber, cotton, naval stores, and phosphate through the Cumberland Sound and into Fernandina Harbor. He served as Harbor Master of Fernandina for 25 years and as president of the Pilots' Association of Fernandina, an organization founded by his maternal grandfather, George W. Latham, in 1831.

Summary:     This collection consists of a microfilm copy of the papers of the Morse family of Fernandina, Florida, of the Pilots' Association of Fernandina, and of the Cumberland Sound Pilots' Association. The collection primarily includes papers of the two pilots' associations, including surety bonds; correspondence; financial records such as checks, bills, receipts, mortgage records; bills of sales for boats; records of vessels entering the port of Fernandina; and other organizational records. Subject matter includes the sale, insurance, repair and maintenance of boats; the appointment of Harbor Master; ship traffic in the harbor; and membership in the Pilots' Association of Fernandina.

    The collection also includes some personal financial records of E.F. Morse, Harbor Master and President of the Pilots' Association of Fernandina. There are also several photographs of pilot boats, a pilot house on Pelican Island, and the Fernandina pilot's tower.

Finding Aids:
Additional Physical Form:
Reproduction Note: Microfilm.
Location of Originals/Duplicates: Originals in the possession of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Sintes of Fernandina Beach, Florida.
Associated Materials: For more materials related to the Morse family, see Collection M96-10, Latham and Morse Family Papers, 1809-1940 (1 microfilm reel).
Language Notes:
Ownership/Custodial History: Mrs. Helen Sintes, one of the donors of the collection, is the granddaughter of E.F. Morse.
Publication Note:
General Note: Finding aid, photographs, and family tree located in case file.
Electronic Records Access:
Subject Access Fields: Morse, Edward Francis, 1866-1940
Navigation Florida
Pilot boats Florida
Pilots and pilotage Florida
Shipping Florida
Photographs. aat
Cumberland Sound (Ga. and Fla.)
Fernandina (Fla.)
Added Entries Morse, Edward Francis, 1866-1940
Cumberland Sound Pilots Association
Pilots Association of Fernandina