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From Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette, Wisconsin, publ. 1901 - page 229-230
REUBEN S. MORSE. This influential citizen of Beetown is one of Grant county's early educators, and has gained distinction not only in civil life, but as a veteran of the Civil war. He comes of Revolutionary stock, his grandfather having served in the patriot army of 1776. He is a native of Maine, as was his father, who was the youngest of seven brothers, and whose baptismal name was Moses. Reuben S. MORSE is one of two surviving members of his father's family. Mary J. is the wife of Richmond B. PIERCE, of Cassville township, Grant county. Edwin Russell, politician and editor, died at Springfield, Ill., Aug. 6, 1900.
Reuben S. MORSE was born June 3, 1835, and was a lad of ten years when his parents removed from Maine to West Cambridge, Mass. Later the family had its home in Lexington, in the same State, a spot the mention of which makes the pulse of every true American beat faster. In 1855 younger Reuben determined to seek fortune in the Northwest, and coming to Grant county, Wis., he settled in Waterloo. For several years he devoted himself to teaching, conducting schools at various localities for thirty-five terms. He first came to Beetown township in 1859, and in 1861 located in the village of that name. His early training was in the Whig school of politics, and it is no cause for surprise that upon the formation of the Republican party he at once affiliated with that organization, casting his first Presidential vote for John C. Fremont, in 1856. The outbreak of the Rebellion fired his youthful blood and stirred his patriotic impulses to their depths. In August, 1862, he enlisted in Company I, 20th Wis. V. I., but in the following April was discharged for disability, at Springfield, Mo., and returned home. His health having been partially restored he re-enlisted, in 1864, this time in Company B, of the 43d Wisconsin Regiment. His service was in Kentucky and Tennessee, and was chiefly on detached duty, his strength being unequal to arduous service in the field. He acted as orderly sergeant, and was ever prompt to respond to every call made upon him. He received his final discharge at Nashville, on June 24, 1865. Mr. MORSE keeps alive his recollection of his life as a soldier through his membership in Tom Cox Post, G.A.R. of Lancaster. Since his return home he has been prominent in public affairs, and has been honored alike by his fellow citizens and by the National Government through elevation to various posts of high trust and grave responsibility. For nine years he served as clerk of that township, and for eleven years following 1874 he held the office of postmaster. He also enumerated the township for the united States censuses of 1890 and 1900. He has ever taken a deep and active interest in educational matters, and has given his own children the best opportunities within his command. His life has been one of activity and industry. Free from self-seeking, he has been ever ready to perform every public duty to which he was called, and his fidelity to every trust, both private and public, has gained for him the confidence and respect of the community whose welfare he has aided in promoting for more than forty years.
Mr. MORSE has been twice married. His first wife was Emma Jane WADDLE, who died within a year after their marriage, and his second union was with Nancy A. BURGESS. Of his children, three died in childhood, while one son, Frank, was called away in 1895, at the age of twenty-six. Those who are yet living are as follows: Dr. Edwin MORSE, a prominent physician of Appleton, Wis.; Mary F., the wife of John PETERSON; Charles N., a resident of Montana, who served in the First Montana Regiment during the Spanish-American war, and did duty in the Philippines; Emma I., Mrs. Dr. Albert RECTOR; and Miss Effie V., who is an accomplished musician and a teacher of music.
This biography generously submitted by Carol Holmbeck