****************************************************************************
File contributed to the Fulton County ILGenWeb Project
Copyright 2008, all rights reserved.

These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format 
without the written consent of the author at http://fulton.ilgenweb.net.

****************************************************************************

Submitted by Lois Anderson-Richards & Lisa Simpson Lutts

****************************************************************************

Martha Lodema Schermerhorn Morse 

(October 21, 1843- May 20, 1929)   

Martha was our great, great grandmother from Grandma Fuller’s maternal line. She is seen seated in the photo, dated 1921, at age 78. Behind her are three generations of our maternal line – Viola Morse Dalton, Elsie Dalton Fuller, and newborn baby Elwanda Fuller Simpson.   

Recently discovered information from Martha’s obituary tells a more complete story than what we knew before. She was born in Watertown , Oswego County , New York on October 21, 1843 . Her parents were George and Sarah (Vanderbilt) Schermerhorn. Martha was the oldest of seven children.   

In 1850, Martha’s father died and she went to live with her uncle and aunt, Curtis and Lodema Barker. Lodema must have been Sarah’s sister. In the 19th century it was common if a father died and the mother had no means of support, for some of the children to go and live with other relatives. This seems to be why seven year old Martha was sent off.  Later, Sarah remarried as Martha’s obituary states that Martha had a half-brother named Asel Duley.   

In 1856, Martha, age 13, came from New York to a farm northwest of Middlegrove , Illinois with the Barkers. The farm is best known as the Jackson McCombs homestead.   

In 1858, she began to teach school at the Oakland School District She obtained her first teaching certificate that same year by taking an oral examination before T.M. Morse, Sr., who was the Justice of the Peace and resided what is now Fairview Township . The following year she began to teach in Middlegrove in Maquon Township .   

On September 18, 1861 she married Ansel Harris Morse, who also came from New York and whose family goes back to the first Puritan settlement of Newbury , Massachusetts . Their farm was in northwest of Middlegrove in Maquon Township . They had seven children.   

In the winter of 1864 Martha joined the Free Baptist Church of Middlegrove. Ansel also joined, but we do not know the year. In the obituary they write, “From that time she has been a very devoted Christian and her life was a godly example to those who came into her presence.” By 1924 she joined the Elmwood Presbyterian Church and “attended regularly as long as her strength permitted.”   

After Ansel passed away in 1913 “she made her home with her daughters.” Her last 5 ˝ years were spent living with our great grandmother, Viola “Ola” Morse Dalton in Elmwood.   

Mom remembers Martha has being quite ill and bedridden. The obituary states “All that loving hands of her daughters was done to relieve her intense suffering during the last eight weeks of illness.”   

Her obituary notes the survivors including 6 children, 34 grandchildren, 37 great grandchildren, a brother and sister in New York and a half brother in Michigan .   

One of the mysteries still remaining is Rev. Elsie Anderson who officiated at the funeral. Grandma Elsie Fuller said she was named for this minister. Martha’s obituary states that the Rev. Anderson was from Canton and she is listed in the obituary as one of the out of town relatives. She is probably a sister of Hattie Morse Anderson, one of Martha’s daughters. But, how did a woman in the early 1920s become ordained when women were not admitted into the ministry? I am seeking the answer to this interesting side puzzle in our family history.
 
Elmwood Gazette May 30, 1929 
Martha Lodema Schermerhorn-Morse was my Great Grandmother, She was married to Ansil Morse. Their daughter Florence Hattie Morse-Anderson was married to George Phillip Anderson and they had 12+ children in Middlegrove, Illinois. Their son,  Clarence Wardie Anderson 1907-1983, was my father. He worked in the Coal Mines, I have his mine Certificate record 1932, near Middlegrove. Later he worked for Admirals in Galesburg Illinois and retired from there in 1965.  He received the Black Lung Pension along with Admiral retirement.