Converse Morrill was born a Morrill – the son of Walter Coolidge Morrill and Antoinette Macdonough Converse – but he lived his adult life under a doubled surname, “Converse Morrill Converse,” having taken his mother’s maiden name as a second surname. His parents divorced when he was a small child and his mother returned to her maiden name, Converse; much of his youth appears to have been spent abroad, and he is absent from the United States censuses of 1910, 1920, and 1930. When he reappears in American records as a young man the doubled name is already fixed: his 1922 passport application reads “Converse Morrell Converse.” The form held for the rest of his life – through his 1930 marriage in Nevada, his 1940 census household in Santa Barbara, California, and his 1942 draft registration – and, tellingly, he passed it on: his son was registered at birth in California in 1935 as “Converse Morrill Converse.” No adult record ever names him “Morrill” alone; the Morrill survives only as the middle element of the tripartite name. He died in Santa Barbara in 1976. [5]
California Death Index, 1940-1997 (Converse M Converse, d. 27 Jan 1976, Santa Barbara; corroborated by SSDI ark 1:1:V9T6-627), online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VP2S-JG5 (accessed 2026-07-10), California Death Index, 1976. Converse M Converse, died 27 Jan 1976, Santa Barbara, California.
Nevada County Marriages, 1862-1993 (Converse M Converse & Stella Freed, Winnemucca, Humboldt Co., 8 Apr 1930), online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QL4G-V1KD (accessed 2026-07-10), Nevada County Marriages, Humboldt Co., 8 Apr 1930. Converse M Converse married Stella Freed, 8 April 1930, Winnemucca, Humboldt, Nevada.
Nevada County Marriages, 1862-1993 (Converse M Converse & Stella Freed, Winnemucca, Humboldt Co., 8 Apr 1930), online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QL4G-V1KD (accessed 2026-07-10), 1930 marriage, bride age 28. Stella Freed, bride, age 28 (b. ~1902), of Los Angeles, California.
World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 (Converse Morrill Converse, Beverly Hills CA, b. 10 Sep 1901 Stamford CT; carries both surnames; corroborated by 1922 passport application ‘Converse Morrell Converse’ ark 1:1:QV5Y-56KT), online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGXB-YN3X (accessed 2026-07-10), WWII draft registration, 1942.
California Birth Index, 1905-1995 (Converse Morrill Converse, b. 7 Aug 1935 Santa Barbara; mother’s maiden name Freed), online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VL6Z-2FX (accessed 2026-07-10), California Birth Index, 1935 (son).
World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 (Converse Morrill Converse, Beverly Hills CA, b. 10 Sep 1901 Stamford CT; carries both surnames; corroborated by 1922 passport application ‘Converse Morrell Converse’ ark 1:1:QV5Y-56KT), online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGXB-YN3X (accessed 2026-07-10), 1942 draft registration. Converse Morrill Converse, b. 10 Sep 1901, Stamford, Connecticut.