Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/345

Rh city, 13 May, 1694, and served as mayor from the end of that year till 1698. On 19 March, 1695, he and other members of the Church of England petitioned for leave to buy land whereon to erect a church, and he was one of those that had charge of the building of Trinity church. He and other "managers of the building," on 16 July, 1696, asked that "the money collected for ransoming Christian slaves be paid over to them, as some of said Christians are dead, and others have escaped." Merritt and his son were the first vestrymen of Trinity, having been chosen in 1697. In 1700 he was commissioned colonel of Abraham De Peyster's regiment. About this time he removed to Orange county, N. Y., where he was registered in 1702 as a justice. The last recorded event in his history is that he returned to his original vocation, as he was appointed pilot of her majesty's ship "Lowestaffe" on 24 April, 1706.

MERRY, Ann, actress, b. in Bristol, England, 30 May, 1769; d. in Alexandria, Va., 28 June, 1808. She was the daughter of John Brunton, an actor and manager of the Norwich theatre. In February, 1785, Miss Brunton first appeared at the theatre in Bath as Euphrasia in &ldquo;The Grecian Daughter,&rdquo; which was followed by other leading parts, and on 17 Oct. of the same year she made her début at Covent garden theatre in London as Horatio in &ldquo;The Roman Father.&rdquo; Here she attained great distinction, and by many was rated second only to Mrs. Siddons. In 1792 Miss Brunton married Robert Merry, known in literature as &ldquo;Delia Crusca,&rdquo; a lieutenant in the horse-guards, who was an amateur playwright and a man of letters. He had rapidly run through his patrimony, but at that time still figured in fashionable circles. She at once retired from the threatre, and went with her husband to Paris, but when their means were entirely exhausted she wished to return to her former occupation. Family considerations on the part of Mr. Merry prevented her return to the London stage, but an offer that was made through Thomas Wignell, of the Philadelphia theatre, was readily accepted. The couple arrived in New York city, 19 Oct., 1796. Mrs. Merry renewed her career at the playhouse in Philadelphia on 5 Dec. of the same year as Juliet in &ldquo;Romeo and Juliet.&rdquo; From 1797 until 1808 she performed with undiminished success in the large cities of the Union. Mr. Merry died in 1798, and in 1803 his widow married Thomas Wignell, who died soon afterward. In 1806 she became the wife of William Warren. Among her important roles were Calista in &ldquo;The Fair Penitent,&rdquo; Alica in &ldquo;Jane Shore,&rdquo; Isabella in &ldquo;The Fatal Dowry,&rdquo; and Monominia in &ldquo;The Orphan.&rdquo; She was the first actress of eminence that crossed the Atlantic, and easily held her own against all rivalry. His sister, Louisa Brunton, with whom she is sometimes confounded, was a distinguished performer on the London stage in later years, and became Countess of Craven.

MERVINE, William, naval officer, b. in Pennsylvania in 1790; d. in Utica, N. Y., 15 Sept., 1868. He entered the navy, and was made midshipman, 16 Jan., 1809, lieutenant, 4 Feb., 1815, commander, 12 June, 1884, and captain, 8 Sept., 1841. He was placed on the retired list, 21 Dec. 1861, promoted commodore, 16 July, 1862, and rear-admiral, 25 July, 1866. He spent twenty-five yeai's in active duty afloat, four years in performing shore service, and the remainder of the time on furlough or awaiting orders. At the beginning of the civil war, although seventy years of age, he reported promptly for duty, and did good service during the iirst year of the war, but his health was inadequate to the heavy duties of that period, and he reluctantly submitted to be retired.

MERY, Oaston Etienne, explorer, b. in Baton Rouge, La., in 1793 ; d. in Pau, France, in October, 1844. He was the son of a wealthy creole whose ancestors had settled in Louisiana a century before, and received his early education in New Orleans, but finished his studies in Paris, where he was graduated in law, returning in 1813 to his native city. Having quarrelled with his father, he joined Jean Lafitte (q. v.), who took him into his con- fidence, and gave him charge of his correspondence and accounts. When Com. Paterson invaded Grande Terre in 1814, Mery directed the flight of Lafitte and his companions through the swamps and bayous of the interior, which he knew well, and a few months later, when the British proposed to Lafitte that he should co-operate with the expedition against New Orleans, he recommended to the latter a more patriotic course, and fought under Gen. Jackson in the battle of 8 Jan., 1815. Although wounded during the action, he rejoined Lafitte at Barataria bay, and continued to conduct the corsair's transactions till 1817, when the establishment in Grand Terre was abandoned. He then returned to New Orleans, and, the death of his father occurring a few months later, he found himself with an independent fortune. He then went to Texas, lived for some time in the Champ d'asile that was founded by Baron Lallemand {q. v.) and other French exiles, and afterward removed to Mexico, but was driven away by the civil wars, and went to California, where he explored the country for several months. He afterward visited the eastern states, resided several years in Philadelphia, where he married, and held from 1831 till 1833 the office of French consular agent. In 1835 he came to New York and tried to organize a French packet company, to ply between that port and Bordeaux : but, failing in the scheme, he returned to New Orleans, and in 1839 went to France in the hope of restoring his impaired health. He published "La legende du corsaire Lafitte" (Tours, 1841); "Observations sur le commerce des Etats-Unis," in which the author dwells upon the advantages of the establishment of packet lines between Europe and the United States (Paris, 1842) ; and " La politique americaine et les Indiens" (Pau, 1843).

MESLIN, Etienne Edouard (may-lang), French explorer, b. in Marseilles in 1751 ; d. in Paris in 1812. He was employed on scientific missions in the West Indies and South America between 1779 and 1791, and published, among other works, "Statistique de l'ile de Tabago" (Paris, 1781); "Histoire de la domination frauQaise a Tile Grenade et aux Grenadilles" (1784); "Journal d'un voyage a travers le royaume de la Nouvelle Espagne" (1794); "La race Latine dans I'Amerique du Sud" (1799); and "La domination espagnole dans l'Amerique du Sud, etudiee au point de vue de la race Indienne" (2 vols.. 1804).

MESNARD, Henry Etienne (may-nar), French adventurer, b. in Rouen in 1603; d. in Martinique in 1663. He was captain of a merchant ship making yearly trips from Rouen to South America, and established in 1637 a factory at the mouth of Orinoco river. Perceiving the commercial advantages that would be obtained if France should take formal possession of the country, he interested several merchants of Rouen in the project, and with their support formed in 1643 the Society of Cape North, which received from Louis XIII. a grant of the country between the Orinoco and the Amazon. Mesnard immediately organized an expedition, and, sailing from Dieppe, 11 Sept.