Samuel Finely Breese Morse was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, on April 27, 1792, the first son of Jedidiah Morse and Elizabeth Breese. He had two younger brothers: Sidney Morse and Richard Morse.
At the age of 7, Samuel was enrolled in Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. While Samuel was a good student, his drawing skills were only average. And it was during his tiome at Phillips Academy that he decided he wanted to be a portrait painter.
In 1808, at the age of 16, Morse entered Yale College, in New Haven, Connecticut, to study religious philosophy, mathematics and the science of horses. It was here that he began to paint miniature portraits of his classmates.
Morse graduated from Yale College in 1810 and wanted to continue with his art work, but his father disagreed with this decision. As a result, Morse got a job as a clerk in a Charlestown bookstore but continued to paint. In 1811, however, Morse’s father changed his mind and allowed Samuel to travel to England to continue his art studies. While in England, Morse studied and worked at the Royal Academy of Design with a well-respected artist, Benjamin West, from 1811 to 1815.
Morse then returned to the United States and bought a studio in Boston, Massachusetts.
