Morris Correspondents over the decades

To the best of my knowledge Morris has never had a radio station or a TV station. News about Morris has been carried by newspaper correspondents writing for local papers such as The Morris Chronicle, The Oneonta Daily Star, and The New Berlin Gazette.

The first correspondent to come to my attention was Rita Shampnois who started her career of reporting Morris news to The Daily Star in 1974 at the tender age of 81. You can see a photo of her and read more at the link below.

http://ourtownnews.info/morris-ny/Rita-Shampnois-shares-Morris-news-via-...

Out of the blue I was asked about Miss Mary Wise and her role as a correspondent from Morris for the The Daily Star. She started writing for them about 1948. Under the old telephone system you could reach her by dialing 60. She had been coming to Morris for years with her friend, Mrs. Daniel Duroe, widow of former New Lisbon resident, Rev. Daniel Duroe. Miss Mary Wise was born in England and came to live with her family in Pittsburgh just around the corner from the St. Luke's Episcopal Church where Rev. Daniel Duroe was the rector for 33 years. When Rev. Duroe passed away in 1922 Mrs. Duroe came to live in a house provided to her by her in-laws, the Duroe Family. The Rev. and Mrs. Duroe had never had any children and Miss Mary Wise came to Morris with her perhaps as a surrogate daughter.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/122294443/daniel-duroe

She eventually owned the house next to the current library and sold it to the Campfield family when she finally left the area 11 years after the passing of Mrs. Duroe.

After Miss Mary Wise, the torch, or perhaps the pen, was passed to Mrs. Bessie Dyer. Mrs. Dyer was a former school teacher who had lived all but the last four years of her life on her family's farm at the top of Patrick Hill. For at least some of the time that she was the Morris Correspondent she lived in the stone building that is the current library. Looking at one of her columns you will see that her phone number, 13-Y-11 was a bit more complicated than the phone number of Miss Mary Wise. The letter and additional numbers indicate that Mrs. Dyer shared a party line.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/97935753/bessie-dyer

Next in line after came Miss Rose M. Wright, also operating with a party line. She carried on until at least 1969 and by then Morris Brevities had evolved into Morris Notes.

I have seen a report that Clem Carpenter who worked with his father at the Morris Chronicle became the Morris Correspondent for The Daily Star in 1891.

Vera Thurston Klindt was The Morris Chronicle correspondent in the 1930s and 1940s. Her son Fran tells that she used to send her reports to a

Mr. Palmer in Edmeston who published The Edmeston Local.

Mabel Card served as the Morris Correspondent for The Daily Star in 1969.

Mildred M. Dixson was the Morris Correspondent for The Daily Star in 1972.

Leita Goodier was a correspondent serving Morris for The New Berlin Gazette in 1960s.

Helen Pickens was a correspondent serving Morris for The New Berlin Gazette into the 1980s. More will be added to this page as more is learned about the topic.

Rene Elliott worked with the New Berlin Gazette to share Morris news.