Representative women of New England/Anne E. Merrill

by Mary H. Graves

ANNE ELIZABETH MERRILL, who has for many years occupied the position of Supervisor of Music in the public schools of Portland, Me., with much credit, is a native of that State, being one of the two surviving daughters of the late Captain Samuel and Sarah Perkins (Sturgis) Randall. The home of her parents for many years was in Riverside, formerly a part of Vassalboro, Kennebec County. Her paternal grand-father, Benjamin Randall, was one of the pioneer settlers of that town. His wife was Susan Cross. He was a lineal descendant of William Randall, who settled in Scituate, Mass., be- fore 1640. A Benjamin Randall is on record as a private in Captain Bartholomew York's company, Colonel Edmund Phinney's regiment, at Fort George, December, 1776, also in the same company, July, 1777 (Massachusetts Archives).

Captain Samuel Randall, shipmaster, was for a long period successfully engaged in voyaging, but eventually through fire and shipwreck he met with severe losses. Going to California to start afresh, he became master of a high-water steamboat on the Sacramento River. Nearly four years later, and after he had retrieved his fortune and his own boat was not running, he lost his life by a boiler explosion on a low-water steamer, on which at the request of a friend he had embarked as captain for a single trip. His property was in California, where he had made large investments, and his family was apparently well provided for. Monthly dividends for a time were regularly sent to Mrs. Randall, then in Portland. At length notice was received of a change of management, and after that no more remittances were received. Hence the straitened circumstances in which she passed her declining years, years of mental and physical infirmity.

Mrs. Randall was the daughter of Jonathan Sturgis and his wife, Melinda Hartwell Perkins. Jonathan Sturgis was a lineal descendant in the sixth generation of Edward¹ Sturgis, who emigrated from England about the year 1634, and in 1639 settled at Yarmouth, on Cape Cod. Edward² Sturgis, son of Edward,¹ married Temperance Gorham, who was born in Marshfield, Mass., in 1646. She was a daughter of Captain John Gorham and his wife. Desire Howland. who was the daughter of John Howland and grand-daughter of John Tilly, both of whom came over in the "Mayflower" in 1620.

Edward³ Sturgis, born in 1673, son of Edward^ and Temperance, married Mehitable Hallet in 1703; and their son Edward⁴ married Thankful Hedge, and was father of Edward,⁵ who married Mary Bassett. The last named couple, with four sons—James, David, Jonathan, and Heman—moved from Bainstable, Mass., to Vassalboro, Me., in 1795. On the ground where they settled were many Indian graves, and often, even to this day, Indian implements are turned up by the plough.

Jonathan⁶ Sturgis was born in November, 1782. His wife Melinda, whose maitlen name was Perkins, is dimly remembered by her grand-daughter, Mrs. Merrill, as being intellectual and refined, a gentlewoman of the olden time. She was cousin to the Hon. Reuel Williams, of Augusta, the kinship being through the Ingrahams. His maternal grandparents, Jeremiah and Abigail (Hartwell) Ingraham, who were married in Stoughton, Mass., in 1755, and removed to Augusta, Me., were hers also. As their daughter Zilpha, who married Seth Williams, was the mother of Reuel, it may be taken for granted that their daughter Tilly, who married a Mr. Perkins (see History of Augusta, Me.), was the mother of Melinda. Abigail Hartwell, it may be added, was daughter of Joseph' Hartwell, son of SamueP and grandson of William' Hartwell, an early settler of Concord, Mass. Elizabeth Hartwell, sister of Abigail, was the wife of Roger Sherman, the statesman.

The subject of this sketch received her earliest education mostly at private schools, and then attended the Augusta High School, where she was graduated. At an early age she showed marked ability as a singer, probably inheriting her love for music from both parents. At first she sang as the birds sing, for pure joy and love of singing. An uncle who played the violin took great interest in her early training, and taught her to read music unaided by an instrument.

At fifteen Miss Randall sang in a church choir in Augusta, and at the same time she began studying with representative teachers in Boston. At nineteen she married Albert Pembroke Merrill, who was connected with the large whotesale lumber house of Moses and James L. Merrill, of Portland. They took up their abode in Portland. The wetlded life of this young couple was soon blighted, as in less than a year after marriage Mr. Merrill was pronounced a hopeless invalid, and, closely following this calamity, business reverses came, the loss of fortune necessitating removal from a luxurious home and the bearing of heavy burdens.

Mrs. Merrill then began singing in church on a salary, first at old St. Luke's, now St. Stephen's, then at Congress Square Church, where she remained twelve years. The death of Mr. Merrill after an illness of nearly five years was followed some years later by that of her only child, Martha Pitts Merrill, at the age of twelve. Through these and other home trials that came, testing her faith and strength, Mrs. Merrill showed herself steadfast, keeping up her musical work as well as caring for the invalids in her family.

She was one of the charter members of the Rossini Club, one of the best known and most exclusive musical clubs of Portland, and a member of the Haydn Association. She had large voice classes, and was soloist at many large concerts throughout New England. In 1884 the position of Supervisor and Teacher of Music in the Portland public schools was proffered her. Accepting it after some consideration, she has held the position with growing favor ever since, and has brought the school music to its present high standard. This sort of teaching called for additional self-training; and each summer she has attended summer schools, thus keeping in touch with up-to-date methods. She has studied under such teachers as Professor Hugh A. Clark, of the University of Pennsylvania, Professor Zuchtmann, Professor Lyman Wheeler, Madame Herminie Rudersdorff, Mr. William H. Dennett, and Mr. Holt, for many years a leading teacher in the Boston schools. Mrs. Merrill's elder sister, Martha S. Randall, married Eben Pillsbury, and died in Minnesota, leaving a daughter, now Mrs. Keach, of Hartford, Conn. The other sister, who lives with Mrs. Merrill and skilfully manages their household affairs, is Miss Harriet Howard Randall. Mrs. Merrill is much loved and respected by her large circle of acquaintances. She is a prominent worker in St. Luke's Cathedral, of which she is a member.