People
Residents
Jay Morse - Partner of Pickands, Mather & Company
In 1883, Jay C. Morse was manager the Cleveland Iron Mining Company in Marquette, Michigan and a partner in the Taylor Iron Company. He had invested in Michigan iron mines and was a wealthy man ready to form his own company. He, along with Colonel James S. Pickands and Samuel L. Mather, formed a partnership to engage in the sale of iron ore, pig iron, and coal, with initial interests in two small mines in upper Michigan and a wooden steamer. The company became Pickands Mather & Co., a chief supplier of raw materials to the steel industry with, at one time, the second largest shipping fleet on the Great Lakes. Pickands Mather was one of four major ore companies in the United States with headquarters in Cleveland.
Jay Collins Morse was born to Collins and Fannie (Curtis) Morse on March 24, 1838, in Painesville, Ohio. Fannie died six months after Jay was born. Jay received a good education in public schools but pushed by a restless spirit, he left home and obtained a clerkship in the freight department of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad where he remained for several years.
In 1864, Morse married Mary Ann Outhwaite, daughter of John and Ann Outhwaite. Mary Ann was born in April 1838. Jay and Mary Ann had one child: Gertrude Carolyn (Ely), born on September 22, 1868.
In 1865, Jay’s father-in-law John Outhwaite and Outhwaite’s associates Samuel L. Mather and George Worthington persuaded Morse to leave a promising career in railroading and manage the Cleveland Iron Mining Company’s mines in Marquette, Michigan, a position he held for seventeen years. Morse equipped the mine with machinery and built one of the first great ore docks at Marquette. The company’s mines grew to be the most significant iron-ore producing district in the United States. At the same time, Morse managed McComber Mine in Negaunee, Michigan, and was secretary and manager of the Bancroft Furnace.
In 1867, James Pickands moved to Marquette, Michigan. He partnered with Morse to open a hardware store, supplying materials to the iron-ore companies. In 1870, Pickands married Caroline Martha Outhwaite, Morse’s sister-in-law. In 1880, Morse and Pickands formed the Taylor Iron Company. Two years later, Caroline Pickands died. Soon after Pickands and Morse relocated to Cleveland and joined by Samuel Mather, founded Pickands Mather & Co.
In 1885, H. H. Porter, chairman of the Chicago & Eastern Illinois Railroad, prevailed upon Morse to enter the field of manufacturing steel products. With the financial backing of Pickands Mather, Morse became the president of the new Union Steel Company with headquarters in Chicago. Morse was instrumental in the consolidation of Union Steel with the North Chicago Rolling Mills Company and the Joliet Steel Company, forming the Illinois Steel Company with himself as president.
In 1901, J. P. Morgan engineered the creation of U.S. Steel, the world's largest business enterprise. The Illinois Steel Company became part of this conglomerate. Morse left the company and returned to Cleveland as a partner of Pickands Mather.
Morse acquired a property along Lake Erie near his partner Samuel Mather in an area that would soon become the Village of Bratenahl. Located at 12725 Lake Shore Boulevard, his estate was called “Moyenage.”
Mary Ann Morse died on February 28, 1886, and was buried in Lake View Cemetery. On January 11, 1899, Morse married his business partner’s widowed second wife, Seville Samantha Hanna Pickands. Seville Hanna was born on March 30, 1846, to Leonard and Samantha Hanna. She was the sister of U.S. Senator Marcus Alonzo Hanna.
Jay Morse died on August 22, 1906, at his new home in Bratenahl. Upon his death, Seville Morse became the first and only female partner in Pickands Mather, a position she held until her death on June 26, 1927. Both Jay and Seville Morse were buried in Lake View Cemetery.