Freeman Harlow Morse (1807-1891) a U.S. Representative, was born in Bath February 18, 1807; attended private schools and the academy in Bath. He was a carver of figureheads for ships.
A member of the Maine House of Representatives (1840-1844), he was elected as a Whig to the Twenty-eighth Congress (March 4, 1843-March 3, 1845).
Mayor of Bath in 1849, 1850, and again in 1855, Morse again served in the Maine House of Representatives in 1853 and 1856. He was elected again, this time as a Republican, to the Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth Congresses (March 4, 1857-March 3, 1861). Chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs (Thirty-sixth Congress), he was not a candidate for renomination in 1860.
Morse was a delegate to the Peace Convention held in Washington, D.C., in 1861, in an effort to devise means to prevent the impending war. He was appointed by President Lincoln as United States consul at London on March 22, 1861, and as consul general on April 16, 1869. He served until July, 1870 and resided in England after his retirement from office. He died in Surbiton, Surrey, England, February 5, 1891, with interment in the parish churchyard of St. Mary’s, Long Ditton, Surrey County, England.
Additional resources
Freeman Harlow Morse Congressional Biography: https://bioguideretro.congress.gov/Home/MemberDetails?memIndex=M001010 (accessed January, 2021)