(April 27, 1791–April 2, 1872), was an American inventor and artist. He invented the Morse Code, developed the telegraph, and built the first camera in America. He was the son of Jedediah Morse, the educator and textbook writer known as “The Father of American Geography.”
Samuel F.B. Morse was also one of the greatest portrait artists of all time. He was the founder and president for 20 years of the National Academy of Design, and, in 1831, received the distinction of being appointed to the first chair of fine arts in America, the Professor of Sculpture and Painting at New York University.
In 1844, Samuel F.B. Morse erected the first telegraph lines between Baltimore and the chamber of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. The first message, only four words, ever sent over this new communication system which would revolutionize the world, was a verse from the Bible found in Numbers 23:23:
“What hath God Wrought!”2063
Samuel F.B. Morse wrote to his wife during those anxious days between failure and success:
The only gleam of hope, and I can not underrate it, is from confidence in God. When I look upward it calms my apprehensions for the future, and I seem to hear a voice saying: ‘If I clothe the lilies of the field, shall I not also clothe you?’ Here is my strong confidence, and I will wait patiently for the direction of Providence.2064
Later in life, when informed of his wife’s death, Samuel F.B. Morse wrote to his father:
Oh, is it possible? Is it possible? Shall I never see my wife again? But I can not trust myself to write on this subject. I need your prayers and those of Christian friends.2065
Samuel F.B. Morse graduated in 1810 from Yale College, having studied under the godly influence of its President, Timothy Dwight. Four years before his death, Samuel F.B. Morse gave this strong testimony of his faith:
The nearer I approach to the end of my pilgrimage, the clearer is the evidence of the divine origin of the Bible, the grandeur and sublimity of God’s remedy for fallen man are more appreciated, and the future is illumined with hope and joy.2066