If Post 1 was about the experience of visiting Yale’s libraries, this post is about what I learned once I sat down and started reading.
At Sterling Memorial Library, we spent our time with Morse family correspondence from January and February 1825, the weeks surrounding the death of Samuel Morse’s first wife, Lucretia.
Before this day at Yale, I had read some of the digitized Morse letters available on the Library of Congress website. But holding original letters written by Samuel F. B. Morse himself with his own quill pen and paper was just different. It is just as striking to read letters written by his father, Jedidiah Morse, who at that time was more famous than his son.
Reading a letter written by Samuel Morse.
But what stayed with me most was reading the letters in sequence and watching events unfold in real time.
Here is the timeline as it appeared in the correspondence:
📜 January 1825
Lucretia writes to Samuel in NYC, pleading with him to come home to Connecticut before leaving for Washington, D.C. She tells him their child hardly recognizes him because he has been away so often. Her wording seemed sincere, not sarcastic. Enough to make any parent feel guilty.
He does return for a short visit before leaving again.
📜 Early February
Samuel is in Washington working on his portrait of the Marquis de Lafayette. Lucretia is in New Haven, recovering after the birth of their third child.
📜 February 7
A letter from Samuel’s father reports that Lucretia is resting and recovering. The tone is calm and nonchalant. Tragically, she dies later that same day after the letter was already sent out.
📜 February 8
Jedidiah Morse writes a heartbreaking letter to his son with the news that Lucretia has died.
📜 February 9
Not knowing any of this, Samuel writes a letter to Lucretia, describing an exciting day in Washington. He writes about his work painting Lafayette, that he met the new president, John Quincy Adams.
He is writing to his wife after her death without knowing it.
Reading that sequence in order made the timing feel very real. The delay in communication, the distance, and how quickly everything changed.
There was more.
📜 Late February
I read letters between Samuel’s brothers, writing to each other about the loss. Their grief came through clearly, even for New Englanders.
I did not expect the letter from Lucretia’s father, mourning his daughter. That one was especially difficult. Such an unexpected loss of his treasured child.
These were not just names from history. They were a family trying to make sense of sudden loss. They were writing letters that took days to arrive, not knowing what the other person already knew.
February 2026
Now, in 2026, with their correspondence preserved in neat manila folders and placed in front of me, I was able to follow the story as it unfolded, letter by letter. It felt like the Morse family preserved it and was waiting for me to find it 201 years later.
As Samuel’s first cousin six times removed, that felt especially meaningful. That's more than I can ask from any research trip.
Years of life: 1791-1872
Relation: My 1st cousin 6x removed (my dad's dad's mom's mom's mom's mom's 1st cousin)
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