Call the lawyer

On January 4, 1796 my relative was anxiously awaiting a reply from his lawyer.  My relative was named Jedidiah Morse, Jr.  

Family member name: Jedidiah Morse, Jr.
Years of life: July 23, 1761 - June 9, 1826

Places lived: Woodstock, CT, Charlestown, MA

Tree branch: Pearson
Relation: My 5th great-granduncle (my dad's dad's mom's mom's mom's mom's dad's brother)

My granduncle was the author of geography textbooks used in schools in the newly formed USA.  A few years later, some other guy wrote a geography book and plagiarized dozens of pages of Uncle Jedidiah's text word for word.  So, my granduncle sued him! He was waiting for confirmation by mail that his lawyer would take the case.

Who was the family's lawyer? None other than Alexander Hamilton!

In time, they won their case and it became the very first copyright infringement case in the country, Morse v. Reid.

Here is Jedidiah.

Sources:

Painting of Jedidiah Morse, Jr. painted by his son, Samuel Morse.  Now owned by the Yale University Art Gallery.

Geography book.  Photo taken by me at Samuel Morse's home, Locust Grove, in Poughkeepsie, NY.

Alexander Hamilton Letter.  Online Library of Congress, Alexander Hamilton Papers.