Morse, Leopold, 1831-1892

Leopold Morse (August 15, 1831 – December 15, 1892) was a German-born American businessman and politician. He served as a U.S. Representative representing three congressional districts in Massachusetts from 1877 to 1885 and 1887 to 1889.

Born in Wachenheim, Bavaria (then part of the German Confederation), he attended the common schools there before immigrating to the United States. He resided for about a year in Sandwich, New Hampshire before moving to Boston, Massachusetts, where he worked in a closing store which he later purchased and operated. Morse was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate in 1870 and 1872 for election to the Forty-second and Forty-third Congresses from Massachusetts' 4th congressional district but would go on to be elected to the Forty-fifth and to the three succeeding Congresses, thrice from the 4th district and the final time from the 5th. He served as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Navy (Forty-eighth Congress). He declined to accept a renomination in 1884 and was elected president of the Post Publishing Co. publisher of The Boston Post, in that year.

In 1886, Morse was elected as U.S. Representative from Massachusetts' 3rd congressional district for the Fiftieth congress. From 1887 to 1889, he served as chairman of the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of State. Morse was not a candidate for renomination in 1888 and resumed business activities thereafter. He died in Boston on December 15, 1892 and was interred in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.