Every county in Nebraska has one or more ghost towns. One of Adams County’s ghost towns is Morseville, formerly located at the four corners of sections 17, 18, 19, and 20, Township 5 N, Range 12W—currently Logan Township.
Adams County was established in 1871 with Juniata, located in the north-central area, as the county seat. The first settlers took the more desirable lands near Juniata and along the route of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, or in Little Blue Township where water and trees were plentiful along the Little Blue River. By the mid-1870s settlers were filing claims in the less desirable southwest part of the county over ten miles south of the nearest railroad depot at Kenesaw.
In 1874 and 1875 several members of the Morse and Parks families homesteaded in Silver Lake (now Logan) township. The oldest of this group was Emily Parks Morse born about 1820 in Dearborn County, Indiana. In her Homestead Proof, for the southeast quarter of Section 20, she stated she had settled in October 1875 and lived alone in a dugout for three years. Then she built a frame-roofed sod house 14 by 20 feet. Of her 160 acres, by 1880 she had broken 55 acres and planted crops, plus fruit and forest trees.1 It was very unusual for an elderly widow to homestead alone, but Emily had many relatives close by to help her, including her son Charles N. Morse in the same section.
In 1877 George Washington Parks, Emily’s brother, applied for a post office located on his homestead in the southeast quarter of Section 18, naming it Morseville.2 John Z. Benson was appointed postmaster in August 1878, replacing Parks, and in 1880 R. F. Arms became postmaster. The post office was discontinued in July 1889 and mail was sent to the new town of Holstein.3
3 Searching newspapers provided the largest amount of information about Morseville. In October 1934 the Springfield Monitor published a story about the estate of R. F. Arms’ widow. “The town of Morseville was in a corner of the Armes farm. (northeast corner of section 19) One room of a sod house was given over to the general store and post office, while the family occupied the remainder. The town consisted of a store, blacksmith shop, church, and school, and has long ago become nothing but a memory. It never had a railroad and passed out when Holstein and Campbell were established.
Mr. Armes became postmaster a year before Harry Armes was born and held the post for eight years. The mail came in weekly from Kenesaw with a horse and cart. It was one of four towns on a star route. Mr. Armes traveled 30 miles to Hastings to wholesalers to get supplies of groceries and dry goods. As postmaster, he got a percentage of his postage cancellations.”4
In September 1882 the Hastings Gazette-Journal reported “Our postmaster R. F. Arm (sic), is now the only merchant in the village, and he has a pretty fair trade. P. A. Vote, however, is putting up a two-story building, the lower room of which he is going to use for a store and the upper to be for a public hall. Mr. Vote on his return from California found his peach orchard well loaded down with fruit.”5
The Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) post No. 161, named Rocky Face, was organized in 1883. The GAR was a fraternal organization for Union veterans of the Civil War. Members met the first Saturday of each month in Mr. Vote’s Morseville Hall. The roster on the first quarterly report dated Nov 20, 1883, included: G. W. Parks, John F. Presley, I. W. Jenkins, D. F. Nicholas, H. C. Minnix, Daniel B. McCurdy, R. S. White, Joseph McCoy, J. P. Hartgraves and Wesley Gross. Names added by March 31, 1884, were Nathaniel Munroe, Samuel P. Moore, D. S. Wilkinson, W. Farrer, Geo W. Bunton, Robt Chambers, and Reuben F. Armes. In 1885 John Lawler was added and I. W. Jenkins dropped. The last report was in September 1887 when Isaac Snyder and John W. Gross were added and Wesley Gross, H. C. Minnix, and Robert Chambers were dropped.6
1883 was a busy year in Morseville. The town was growing with the addition of a blacksmith shop built by Hugh Minnicks, an addition to Vote’s building, and a new house a half mile west of town built by D. F. Nichols. Independence Day was celebrated with speeches, picnics, and a dance.7
The Morseville School, District 73, was established in 1885, from parts of districts 61 & 63, in the southwest corner of Section 17. The last school year was 1948-49. The school building had served as a community center and a United Brethren congregation met there. Morseville never had a separate church building.8
The Kansas City and Omaha Railroad was built across southern Adams County in 1887 establishing the town of Holstein seven miles northeast of Morseville.9 Being bypassed by the railroad was the death knell for towns on the plains, and Morseville, never an incorporated village, began its decline.
However, Morseville continued to be mentioned in local newspapers. The Kearney County Democrat in February 1887 noted that “A dance will be held at the Morseville Opera house opposite R. F. Arms wholesale boot and shoe store; R. F. Arms floor manager. Sampson Burkholder is building a broom corn house 16 x 100 feet. Rev. Joe McCoy preaches every two weeks at the White Schoolhouse. The coffee house is still in full blast warm meals at all hours. Coffee and squash is all the go.”10
In April 1888 the Adams County Democrat published a liquor license notice. “Notice is hereby given that I have made application for a Druggist’s Permit to sell liquor for medicinal, mechanical and chemical purposes in the village of Morseville. A. L. Kimple.”11 Gradually the newspaper mentions petered out.
Today only the little Morseville Cemetery, with about 40 known graves, remains to suggest that the town ever existed.12
1. Emily Morse Homestead Proof – Testimony of Claimant, final certificate no. 2753, Bloomington, Nebraska Land Office; Land Entry Records for Nebraska, 1857-1908; Records of the Bureau of Land Management, Record Group 49; National Archives, Washington, D. C., consulted at Fold3.com (https://www.fold3.com/image/295892510 ).
2. Post Office Reports of Site Locations, 1837-1950, NARA microfilm publication M1126 (683rolls), roll 357 Adams – Brown counties, Image 776, consulted at (https://catalog.archives.gov/id/68513967?objectPage=776).
3. Record of Appointment of Postmasters, 1832-September 30, 1971, NARA microfilm publication M841, Roll 77; National Archives and Records Administration, consulted at Ancestry.com. (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1932/images/30439_065462-00028?ssrc=&backlabel=Return&pId=899517 ).
4. “Many Interesting Keepsakes Found in Personal Effects of Mrs. A. G. Armes” Springfield Monitor Springfield, Nebraska 11 Oct 1934, page 1 (https://www.newspapers.com/image/754746096/?terms=%22A%20G%20Armes%22%20).
5. “Morseville News Items” Hastings Gazette-Journal 21 September 1883 p. 1, col. 6 (https://www.newspapers.com/image/701348115/?terms=%22P%20A%20Vote%22%20&match=1).
6. Rocky Face Post 161, Morseville, Nebraska, Grand Army of the Republic Department of Nebraska, RG026, Series 8, Reports of the Adjutant and Quartermaster of each post, 1879-1944, History Nebraska, Lincoln.
7. “Morseville Splinters” The Juniata Herald 12 July 1883, p. 3, col. 4 (https://www.newspapers.com/image/707705085/?terms=Morseville&match=1).
8. Creigh, Dorothy Weyer. “Adams County: The Story, 1872-1972”. Hastings, Nebraska, 1972, p. 546.
9. Creigh, Ibid., p. 925.
10. “From Morseville” Kearney County Democrat, 22 February 1887, p 5. (https://www.newspapers.com/image/726601760/?terms=Morseville&match=1).
11. “Liquor License” Adams County Democrat, 7 April 1888, p. 1. (https://www.newspapers.com/image/673580395/?terms=Morseville&match=1).
12. Morseville Cemetery, Findagrave.com. (https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/100991/morseville-cemetery).