James Monroe Meserve was born in Banstead, New Hampshire, on May 20, 1820. Although he was a family man with six living children and a seventh on the way and was considered (at 44) to be past the age of enlistment, he nevertheless volunteered for service with Company A of the First New Hampshire Cavalry in March 1864. His natural abilities gained him the rank of sergeant a month after his enlistment, but he was captured by Confederate forces shortly thereafter and sent to Andersonville prison in Georgia. Sergeant Meserve died in Andersonville on August 22, 1864.
Although Sergeant Meserve was not a poet by training, this poem, which he wrote for his family while he was away fighting, illustrates the highly literate nature of the 19th century mind. Even men and women with little education, whose spelling, grammar, and punctuation left much to be desired, were nonetheless capable of turning a flowery phrase with the best of them.
Thanks to Regina Hallmark, the great-great granddaughter of Sergeant Meserve, for sharing this poem, which she received from her mother, Eva Littlefield Scott of Bristol, New Hampshire.
source: http://users.erols.com/kfraser/meserve.html
UNTITLED by James Monroe Meserve
Cherished one, do not grow weary, God is ever up on high; Have you not got still above you The same calm and lovely sky? It is painful now to leave you, Yet there's pleasure with the pain, In the thought, so sweet and cheering That we both may meet again. In life's storm and in life's sunshine Oft I've fondly turned to thee, And I can forget thee never, Though fate far may beckon me. Though I go to scenes of battle, O! it is a golden thought, I've left those who still can love me, And I cannot be forgot. Let me speak about my children -- Ere I leave the Granite State For the scenes of war and danger, Let me speak about the eight. Ann has reached the age of woman And a grandchild now have we. Evard's mother is our daughter -- Happy may his mother be. Yet we've seven other children; Christie's a girl of nineteen, And then Clinton, a year younger, Next our James Leroy is seen. Then a boy of eight bright summers Does to play with comrades go; Yet he'll tell you of his father Who forgets not John Monroe. Then we've little smiling Addie; She's the youngest of the eight; But she oft speaks of the father Still within his native state. Ah, but there are yet two others, They've far from the fireside gone; Yet we love them just as fondly -- David and his brother John. They are living with their grandma, They are from earth's sorrows free, Yet when I my watch am keeping, Will they not watch over me? When my lonely post I'm walking In some distant grove or glen, O, will not the wand'ring angels Watch their loving father then? When I'm on the field of battle And see comrades fall or die, Then, to aid me and preserve me, Will their images be nigh. And when I'm writing homeward, To the wife and mother dear, Will the thoughts of those I'm missing Give the sheet an extra tear? Home! I never can forget thee! Wife, my love for thee is great; Children, thou my heart art wedding To the good old Granite State Yet I must leave thee, New Hampshire, Bid farewell to mountains high, Go to meet the foe and strangers And to see the war clouds nigh. And how often in my fancy, In my dreams I'll travel far From the comrades who're around me, From the crowning scenes of war. And in dreams I will embrace thee, Oh my wife so fond and true, And be angry with those who wake me When my dreams were all of you. Thus could I continue dreaming, But I hope again we'll meet, And thy presence will be real, And the friends of yore we'll greet. Far thee well, my loving Addie, Ah, the word doth take my breath, No -- my heart is clinging to thee, As the ivy clings in death.
source: http://users.erols.com/kfraser/untitled.html
Ethel Meserve Band
Chris Baronner writes " I am not related to the Meserve family, but my band is called Ethel Meserve. I am from State College, P. A. where Ethel Meserve the store and lady is. The store closed down in recent years, but Ethel still lives here. We chose the name before the store closed and as far as we know Ethel likes having a band named after her."
The undersigned would announce to the public
that they have formed a co-partnership under the firm name of
LOCKE, MESERVE & CO.,
for the transactions of a general
DRY GOODS JOBBING BUSINESSand occupy
Chambers No. 53 Middle Street,
Opposite Canal National Bank,
Portland,until on or about October 1st, when we shall remove to the new and spacious store,
NOS. 51 & 56 MIDDLE STREET.
We opened at our present location. on Monday August 12, with an entire new stock of fresh and desirable goods.
The late severe depression in the Dry Goods Market has enabled us to make our purchases at especially low prices, thus giving us a dreaded advantage over other parties with old stock, the credit of which we propose to give our customers and those who may favor us with their patronage.
In our Woolen Department no pains or exertions will be spared to make it the most attractive of any in the State, and we are determined in this, as in every other department, to conform to the prices of any market in the country.
With a large acquaintance among the importers and manufactures, with long experience with the trade of this and other States, and a buyer constantly in New York, we confidently believe our facilities for buying and selling goods to bu unsurpassed.
Soliciting your orders through our Agent, Mr.
L. H. Varney, and an early call when in our city,
We remain, respectfully yours,
LOCKE, MESERVE & CO.
N. R. STORER,
N. F. LOCKE, } recently of the firm of Deering, Milleken & Co.
C. H. MESERVE } recently of the firm of Davis, Meserve, Haskell & Co.
J. M. FIFIELD, late with Deering, Milliken & Co.
The above announcement was found in a Maine newspaper dated June 30, 1868M. E. BOLSTER
The Morning Oregonian - February 1905
Mrs. Mary F. Meserve of Salisbury, Mass., was cured of Anemia, a disease in which there is an actual deficiency of blood, by the use of
Dr. Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People
She says: The first sympton was an ususual paleness. Later the blood seemed to have all left my body. I had shortness of breath and fluttering of the heart; was depressed, morose and peevish. I suffered for two years.
Physicians did me little good, but I am now a well woman because I took twelve boxes of Dr. Williams' Pink Pills."
These pills really make new blood and have cured obstinate cases of rheumatism, scrofula and erysipelas. They are especially useful to growing girls.
Sold by all Druggist
The above article was contributed by Lillian Follett Hall of Harlingen, TexasThis newspaper story was printed on September 8, 1930
TELLS SECRET OF 50-YEAR-OLD MURDER CASE
___________________________________________________ Amazing Maine Mystery Cleared Up --- Real Truth Astounding in Its Strange Angles ___________________________________________________ BY JOHN BANTRYROCKLAND, Me., Sept. 8 -- The inside story of one of Maine's greatest murder mysteries has, after a lapse of 50 years, been revealed. And the revelation is so extraordinary, the facts so entirely unlike what was ever suspected that old timers who remember the case are amazed. No queerer combination of circumstances could be imagined that this seemingly (at the time) simple murder case now reveals.
It rivals the most thrilling of detective mysteries.
Fifty years ago Sarah H. Meservey was found dead in her home at St. George's, Tenants Harbor. She was the wife of a prominent Rockland sea captain who, at the time, was away at sea. She had apparently been strangled to death by a long woolen scarf which she wrapped around her head and neck.
SUSPICION FALLS ON A SAILOR NEIGHBOR
After a time suspicion fell on one Nathan F. Hart, who admitted he had been cutting wood in the rear of Mrs. Meservey's home about the time the murder was committed. He was a sailor who lived with his wife two houses away from the Meservey home. He knew the dead woman well. His reputation was fairly good, yet his alibi seemed not convincing as he stoutly denied going to the Meservey yard. He saw no strangers about and heard no disturbance though he was in a position to notice anyone entering or leaving the house.
FOUND GUILTY IN THE FIRST DEGREE
Gradually public sentiment turned against him. At the trial the evidence offered by the government was very scant. The defense was flat and general denial. Hart stuck to his story that he was entirely innocent. The jury convicted him of murder in the first degree. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, Maine having abolished the death penalty for murder. Soon after the conviction public sentiment shifted. There grew up a feeling that the evidence against him was slender and his powerful protestations of innocence made a profound impression. As time went by a real clamor for his release grew up. A prominent man named A. R. Duton wrote a book entitled "Nathan F. Hart, An Innocent Man in a Felon's Cell."
LAWYERS FAIL TO SEEK NEW TRIAL
This book circulated all over the country. It was a very effective plea for Hart, showed up the hollowness of the case against him and pleaded for justice. This resulted in an almost country-wide demand that Maine remove the stigma from an innocent man and set him free.
Hart's friends soon numbered the vast majority of persons in the immediate counties. Yet, strangely his lawyer made no move for a new trial which apparently they could have obtained.
Some years after Hart died in prison still asserting his absolute innocence. The general opinion was that a terrible mistake had been made and that the State had virtually killed, by severe imprisonment and humiliation, an innocent man.
Now comes the real story. It is made public by Hart's counsel at the trial 50 years ago, Job H. Montgomery of Camden, president of the Knox County Bar Association. He has kept the secret all these years in spite of the terrific agitation that went on for years. He believes the public entitled to know the truth and he makes the Hart case a chapter in his life history which he has given the Rockland Courier-Gazette.
KILLED HER, BUT ACCIDENTALLY
Hart did kill Mrs. Meservey. The story he told a the trial was a lie. His protestations of absolute innocence were false. His alibi was a fake.
BUT, he was not guilty of deliberate murder. The killing was a pure accident. Had he been in a position to tell the real story his punishment would have been a short term in jail. Why he was not in a position to tell the real story constitutes an amazing episode the truth of which was never suspected and could not have been guessed by the shrewdest detective.
On his way home on the afternoon of the crime Hart passed through the Meservey yard. He was a sneak thief at heart and when he went to the door to speak to Mrs. Meservey he found no one at home. He conceived the idea of slipping into the house to see if he could pick up anything. He found the kitchen window unlocked, raised it and went in.
CHOKED BY SCARF IN STRUGGLE
While Hart was peeking into the kitchen closet to see if he could lay hands on anything worth stealing Mrs. Meservey returned. She came in so quietly that Hart did not realize she was in the room until she grabbed him by the throat from behind. She was a powerful, courageous woman nearly as strong as Hart.
The two engaged in a terrific struggle, knocking over the furniture and upsetting the kitchen table. Mrs. Meservey was wearing a long woolen scarf about her head and throat. In some manner as the pair were wrestling about the scarf caught, suddenly tightened up and Mrs. Meservey fell to the floor choking.
HART AND WIFE LEARN SHE IS DEAD
Hart stood watching her, fearful to aid her since she had recognized him. As she lay helpless on the floor he jumped out the window and ran away.
Hart's wife was one of the most prominent and best liked women in town. She was far above him in station, intelligent and well bred. When he got home he told her the truth, adding that he must flee, since Mrs. Meservey had recognized him.
Then came the development that no one had ever suspected. Hart told his wife that the only thing which could save him was the possibility that Mrs. Meservey was dead. The two of them started out in the darkness to find out. When they reached a point where they could see the Meservey house they saw it was dark. That convinced them the woman was dead.
TRY TO DIVERT SUSPICION
They then went to the rear of the house and climbed in the kitchen window. They found Mrs. Meservey dead on the floor--the scarf had choked her to death.
Then they did the foolish thing. In order to make it appear that a burglar was responsible they turned the place upside down, opening bureau drawers and scattering the contents about.
Even that might have fooled the authorities if Mrs. Hart had not proposed a crowning bit of folly.
She wrote a letter purporting to come from some person who had a grudge against Mrs. Meservey threatening her. She crumpled this note up and left it beside the body.
It was this note that convinced the police that no burglar committed the crime. At the trial they tried to pin the note on Hart. No one ever dreamed that Mrs. hart knew anything about the case. Had they thought to secure a sample of her handwriting the solution of the case was right in their hands. But Mrs. Hart's reputation was above reproach.
YIELDS TO WIFE'S PLEAS, KEEPS SILENT
Before the trial Hart told the real story to his lawyer, Mr. Montgomery. Mrs Hart confessed her part also.
Harts's lawyer advised him to plead guilty, tell the real story and promised that he could be convicted only of involuntary manslaughter with the sentence of perhaps two or three years. But of course Mrs. Hart would have to stand trial as accessory after the fact and probably get a light sentence. Mrs. Hart was terrified and pleaded with her husband to save her since he had pulled her into the terrible business.
Hart yielded to her and decided to go to trial with a flat denial of any knowledge of the crime. He felt the evidence against him was not sufficient to convict. His attorney, while still urging him to tell the truth, felt bound to follow his client's wishes.
WHY NEW TRIAL WASN'T SOUGHT
Conviction followed.
The reason his attorney never pressed for a new trial was this. The year after Hart's conviction the Maine Legislature restored capital punishment. Hart was greatly frightened of hanging. He asked his attorney to give absolute assurance that he wouldn't be hanged if he should be convicted again. His attorney told him he felt the new law could not apply to his case but Hart, still fearful, would not sanction the plea for another trial.
Mrs. Hart was also vehemently against a new trial. She felt that had a narrow escape at the first trial and did not want to take another chance, though not a breath of suspicion had rested on her.
DEATH RELIEVES WIFE'S FEARS
Then Hart died in jail with a plea of innocence on his lips.
Mrs. Hart remained in the town honored as a brave and faithful woman. She received the sympathy of everyone. She was more popular and respected than before because of her heavy affliction. No one would have dared to suspect her of any knowledge of her husband's crime--even those who felt him guilty.
All the time her husband was in jail Mrs. hart had been terrified by the fear that he would make a confession which would reveal her part in the case.
His death relieved her of that awful suspense. She had years of comparative happiness afterward unless she was tortured with the remorse for her part in the affair. If she was she never told her husband's lawyer about it. When she died she was honored by all the townspeople as a gallant woman who suffered for her husband.
And so, thanks to Mr. Montgomery, this strange crime is a mystery no longer, but it must take its place as one of the most romantic of New England mystery stories. And people will have different opinions as to the morality of Mrs. Hart's position an d whether she was justified in demanding that her husband sacrifice his life to keep her reputation intact.
The above article was contributed by Richard Meservey of Cary, IllinoisStory published by the Arlington Coin Journal Vol. II - No. 7, dated Sept.- Oct. 1973
OUR EARLY FEMALE COUNTERFEITOR'S
This month we want to tell you about Tamsen Meserve. She had the dubious distinction of being the only woman counterfeiter to ever darken New to ever darken Hampshire's shores.
Tamsen was an outgoing woman, with no little amout of ambition, curtailed, perhaps, only by the times and the premise that woman in those early days were meant to be seen rather than heard.
In 1704 Tamsen married Joseph Ham of Dover with whom she lived a typical and somewhat conformist life for 19 years, until her husband's death in 1723.
Two years later, scarcely out of the mourning period dicated by the times, she remarried - this time a widower named John Tibbitts. This marriage followed much the same pattern as her first one. That is, until 1731 when things began to look up for Tamsen. It so happened that a William Byrn, a painter (and perhaps a laborer, too) came to Dover from Rochester, New Hampshire. Now after a short while, the folks in Dover began to think pretty highly of Mr. Byrn and so implored him to "keep School." As he put it, "learn their children to write."
William cottoned to this idea, accepted their offer, and was at once boarded at the home of John and Tamsen Tibbitts. Now, Tamsen, being a bright young woman, soon discovered that the new boarder had latent talents; that is, he could do a mighty nice flower drawing, and had the ability to pen beautiful script.
Believing that such talent shouldn't go to waste, Tamsen brought a 20 Shilling Mass. bill and a few other notes to Bryn, and with a bit of friendly persuasion, prevailed upon him to copy them.
News of Byrn's skill somehow reached the ears of John McVicker and Samuel Styles, and soon a partnership was formed with the gifted penman. McVicker and Byrne, never ones to use their heads, made a foolhardy mistake of delivering to Styles two documents bearing their signatures. In one they promised to give Styles one-fifth of all the money he could pass, and also pay his expenses, while the other one they swore "by the living God" to betray him neither by signs or word of mouth.
Meantime, Tamsen was busy in her own way, having passed off a 30 shilling New Hampshire bill to Sarah Pitney, while Styles passed a 3-Pound 10 Shilling note to Hannah Bradford of Portsmouth and another to Sarah Croftswait.
This threw Styles under suspicion and he was promptly arrested and he was promptly arrested and searched. His pockets produced nine counterfiet 3 pound 10 shilling bills, along with much more incriminating evidence-the two documents given him by McVicker and Bryn.
At this point things began to happen pretty fast; warrants were speedily issued and both of Style's accomplices were tossed into jail. They were soon joined by the Tibbets, and it didn't take long to discover that the gang had a plate and that the only give-away on the nicely stuck bills were the signings.
At the court hearing, both Styles and Byrn wre given the same sentence-pay a fine of 14 pounds, stand one hour in the pillory at Exter, each to have one ear lopped off, and each to be jailed for one year without bail.
The Court, backlogged with work, didn't have time for the other prisoners, so McVickers was returned to jail and the Tibbitts were released on recognizance of 500 pounds.
Byrn, who began to feel sorry for what he had done, began to repent, though more than likely spurred by the thought of perhaps drawing a lighter sentence, decided to blow the whistle on his friends and made a full confession of the whole ugly mess. He claimed the bills were not made by a plate but his own hand and pen at the instigation of Tamsen; and bitter at Styles for his carelessness which brought on Byrn's arrest, he let loose with everything he knew about him, too.
The outcome was that Tamsen and her husband were charged with counterfeiting and passing, but at a Court of General Sessions, the king's attorney couldn't get a grand jury to indict them, so they were dismissed after paying court costs. McVickers, on th other hand, was convicted, fined 7 pounds, pilloried for one hour, had one ear cropped, and spent a year in prison.
Thus New Hampshire's only woman counterfeiter, Tamsen Meserve Ham Tibbitts, bless her heart, came out of that nasty counterfeiting business smelling like a rose!
The above article was contributed by Phillip Meserve of Orangevale, California