Vintage Views: Everlasting love

The Kimball Jenkins Estate in Concord is pictured. This is the home where Samuel F. B. Morse courted Lucretia Walker.

The Kimball Jenkins Estate in Concord is pictured. This is the home where Samuel F. B. Morse courted Lucretia Walker. Courtesy Photograph

By JIM SPAIN

For the Monitor

Published: 09-22-2024 6:00 AM

It was just 66 years ago in 1958 when a storm visited the coast of New Hampshire, a storm that rekindled memories of a Concord romance from well over a century before. It was on Jenness Beach in Rye, that this intense storm exposed the old transatlantic cable, more specifically it was an electro-magnetic telegraph cable that ran beneath the Atlantic Ocean from Europe to the United States.

This long-abandoned cable was the dream of Samuel F. B. Morse and provided much fanfare when it was installed, linking Europe and the United States and allowing such communication for the very first time.

It was in the year 1816 that a young man arrived in Concord, a traveling artist named Finley. Young Finley rented a room in the Stickney Tavern, the present-day location occupied today by the Merrimack County Court House. He set up shop in a rented room and advertised his trade in search of a living. With no more than $15 to his name, he was in search of portraits to paint for local Concord residents.

It was his desire to become one of the very best portrait painters in America, and he was well on his way. He was indeed very talented, and his rate was quite commanding at $15 per portrait, but the people did indeed arrive and sit for their portraits to be painted by young Finley. As his first week in Concord passed and he acquired a handsome profit of $120, he decided to venture about town and enjoy his new found wealth.

Finley called upon a local attorney’s young daughter inviting her to sit for her portrait. A beautiful young lady of local prominence from a long-established Concord family. With her portrait in mind, he spoke to the Reverend Asa McFarland and asked if he could rent a room to expand upon his portrait business. Finley packed his belongings and moved up the street to the McFarland house setting up his new shop in one of the parlors.

Local banker Samuel Sparhawk happened upon Finley and hired him to paint his portrait as well as portraits of his family members. Sparhawk was impressed with this young artist and invited him to the family home for dinner, introducing him to his seventeen-year-old daughter, Lucretia Walker. She was the great granddaughter of Concords first minister, Reverend Timoty Walker, granddaughter of Judge Timothy Walker, president of the local bank. Her father was Charles Walker and known locally as a very prominent banker. Living in the present-day Kimball Jenkins Estate on North Main Street, young Lucretia lived a life that was prominent and envied by many.

It was within two months that Finley, known today as Samuel F. B. Morse, was in love with the beautiful dark-haired Lucretia Walker. He frequented her residence attending dinners weekly, he was admired by her parents and family. Samuel F. B. Morse became a very famous inventor and continued his quest to be one of the finest artists in America. He invented fire pumps in Concord and multiple items that made life easier to live. He was recognized as a brilliant inventor and admired for his intelligence. Many of his painting commissions are of notable people and survive to this very day. Within two years of meeting Lucretia Walker, the couple were married.

With his artistic lifestyle his travel requirements were many. He would leave Concord for many weeks at a time to complete his many projects. The relationship was loving and tender, and the coming years rewarded the couple with the birth of their children. But sadly, happiness is not always meant to be. Lucretia passed away unexpectedly and suddenly at the age of 25. She left a devastated family and a distraught husband behind.

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Grief stricken, Samuel F. B. Morse ventured to Europe after the sudden death of his wife. He worked with his various artistic projects but found new inspiration upon his return across the Atlantic Ocean aboard a ship. It was aboard this ship that Morse proclaimed his faith in the idea of a submarine line across the Atlantic Ocean. Morse invented the telegraph “Morse Code” and was certainly involved in many projects. His many commitments with the sciences and the arts ultimately ended his beloved favorite endeavor as a talented painter.

Morse was a wealthy and respected man. His approval and support of the transatlantic cable that was exposed during the great storm in 1958 was highly regarded. He enjoyed additional success in education, instruction, inventing and highly regarded and prominent positions.

As an old man, Samuel F. B. Morse returned to Concord to relive his younger years when he courted Lucretia Walker. A young man on North Main Street in search of a career found so more than he expected. He found Lucretia Walker, the love of his life.