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Times Leader P.M. Update: Sunday, April 25

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A final farewell for Nanticoke firefighter

For passengers of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, their baggage was loaded and unloaded at their destinations by Jacob Morse.

Morse spent 54 years and four months working for the Lehigh Valley Railroad retiring in 1934. He died at his Harding, Exeter Township, home Aug. 7, 1949, the same home where he was born. His home was opposite of the Coxton shops of the railroad company.

The Civil War had already begun when Morse was born Dec. 29, 1861. At 18, Morse began working for the railroad as a brakeman on a coal train running from Mountain Top to Packerton in Carbon County.

Given the Mountain Top location, coal hoppers were transported through the historic Ashley Planes to Fairview Township where trains with up to 100 coal hoppers were then transported to Packerton.

“He entered the service of the Lehigh Valley as a coal train brakeman on April 6, 1880, when such a job was a real man’s job, owing to the trains being composed of long strings of the old fashioned ‘coal jimmies.’ Some times more than 100 were in one train and had to be handled with hand brakes which was hard work,” the Evening News reported in a Rail News section of the newspaper on April 18, 1925.

Morse’s faithful attention to duty earned him a promotion in October 1883 as brakeman on fast freight trains between Coxton and Mauch Chunk, today’s Jim Thorpe in Carbon County. Four years later, he was promoted to passenger trains as a brakeman in April 1887, being assigned to passenger trains running between Jersey City, N.J., through Wilkes-Barre, to Sayre and onto Buffalo, N.Y.

In 1888, Morse was reassigned as a brakeman on the passenger train known as the Wyoming Valley Express, running daily trips between Wilkes-Barre, Pittston and New York City.

“He was promoted baggage master on this run in 1895, and he now stands at the top of the baggage master roster of the Wyoming division with an enviable record, a record clear of all demerit marks, in fact a clean slate after all these 45 years of continuous rail service, and the greater part on the company’s fastest and most important passenger trains,” the Evening News reported in Rail News.

Once a year, Morse would take a leave of absence to go hunting with friends. His favorite hunting site was Dutch Mountain in Wyoming County. His favorite game was bear and once proclaimed he encountered three panthers near North Mountain near Davidson Township in Sullivan County. He also hunted in Bear Creek and near Cider Run in Lycoming County.

“Jacob Morse, the Lehigh Valley baggage master, shot a black bear Friday night at Cider Run. It weighed about 600 pounds,” the Wilkes-Barre Record reported Oct. 26, 1908.

Morse was given an award for safety when he discovered faulty brake riggings under passenger cars on a train headed to New York City in November 1920.

“Jacob Morse, number one on the Coxton yards roster of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, has passed the half century mark in service of the railroad when he finished his run as baggage master on Nov. 29, local daily express to New York City,” the Times Leader reported April 14, 1930.

Morse retired in August 1934 after more than 54 years of railroad service.

Morse was wed in 1890 to Jemima Martin, a native of England. They had two sons and a daughter, and several grandchildren when he died in August 1949.

“Had he lived until January, he and Mrs. Morse would have celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary,” Morse’s obituary states as published in the Times Leader Aug. 8, 1949.

A member of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, Morse was also a member of the Veterans Association of the Lehigh Valley Railroad.

Morse was buried in Harding Cemetery.

Look Back: Exeter Township man employed 54 years for Lehigh Valley Railroad