Research Note: The Nathaniel Messer Families

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States
Surname/tag: Messer

Discussion

The 1963 history of Walpole, New Hampshire, citing no sources, lists Nathaniel Messer last among the nine children enumerated there of Timothy Messer abd Hannah (Marble) Messer of Haverhill, Massachusetts, Willington, Connecticut, and Walpole, New Hampshire. No dates are given for him. He should, however, not have been listed last among their children, but rather second, for his birth record shows that he was born at Willington, Connecticut, on 12 May 1750, just 28 months after their marriage and 18 months after the birth of their first child, Mary.^[1]

The Walpole history says that this Nathaniel Messer married Betsy Mason, resided in the [Walpole] Valley area, then moved to Marlow, New Hampshire, and had several children. One of those children was Nathaniel Messer Jr., who it says married Betsy Town and had children, one of whom was William Hopkins Messer, who it says was born at Marlow. William, it says, married Lucy Ann Pierce and had a daughter Jeanette, who married Charles M. Russell of Walpole.^[2]

The major problem with this narrative is chronological. The 1850 Census shows a Betsey Messer, born in New Hampshire, in the Nathaniel Messer family at Alstead, New Hampshire, at the age of 60.^[3] However, William H. Messer was born in November, 1821, to Nathan Messer and Betsy Messer, and not in Marlow but in the adjacent town of Alstead.^[4] Accepting the lineage in the Walpole history volume would make Betsy (Mason) Messer the grandmother of William H. Messer when she was only 31 years old. While that is theoretically possible, it is extremely unlikely, The baptismal record of Betsy Mason says that she was baptized at Rye, New Hampshire, in June 1790,^[5] and her age in the census record is thus confirmed.

However, The 1860 Census enumerated two Betsey Messers living in northern Cheshire County, New Hampshire, both born in New Hampshire, and both 70 years old. The Betsey Messer living at Alstead in 1850 and 1860,^[3] the wife of Nathaniel Messer, was not the former Betsey Mason, but rather was the former Betsey Towne. The name of the wife of Nathaniel D. Messer of Alstead is given in the death record of their daughter Ruth (Messer) Turner as Betsey Towne.^[6]

The Betsey Messer living at Marlow in 1860 and 1870^[7][8] was the former Betsey Mason, and she was, the widow of Nathaniel Messer's brother Alpheus Messer. The record shows that Betsey Mason of Acworth, New Hampshire, had married Alpheus Messer of Marlow at Marlow on 30 Dec 1811.^[9]

(There was a Nathaniel Messer, born at Marlow in 1813, whose mother was recorded in his birth record as Betsey Mason, but the name of his father is recorded in both his birth and death records not as Nathaniel Messer, but as Alpheus Messer.^[10][11])

No record has been found of the birth of Alpheus Messer, whose death record says he was 60 when he died at Marlow on 5 Jun 1848.^[12] An item in the genealogical section of the January 1916 Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine, lists Alpheus as one of the children of Nathaniel Messer and Ruth (Draper) Messer.^[13] Although it cites no source, the approximate birth date of Alpheus Messer and his residence in northern Cheshire County, New Hampshire, where at least some of the other children of Nathaniel and Ruth Messer settled, make his membership in this family likely.

Conclusion

• The children of Nathaniel Messer (1750-1824) and Ruth (Draper) Messer include (among others) Nathaniel Messer (1782-1864) and Alpheus Messer (c1788-1848).
• Nathaniel Messer (1782-1864) married Betsey Town.
• His brother Alpheus Messer (c1788-1848) married Betsey Mason.
• William H. Messer (1821-c1880) was the son of Nathaniel and Betsey (Town) Messer; the grandson, not the great-grandson, of Timothy and Hannah (Marble) Messer; and thus the nephew, not the son, of Betsey (Mason) Messer.
• Nathaniel Messer (1813-1873) was the son of Alpheus and Betsey (Mason) Messer.

(Research Note by WikiTree contributor Stu Bloom, with revisions, 24-27 Nov 2022)

Sources

1. ↑ Children of Timothy and Hannah Messer, in Connecticut, U.S., Town Birth Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection) (Ancestry Image, subscription required; see Ancestry Sharing Link) [database on-line] > Willington Vital Records 1727-1851 > image 73 of 126. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. Original data: White, Lorraine Cook, ed. The Barbour Collection of Connecticut Town Vital Records. Vol. 1-55. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1994-2002.
2. ↑ Martha McDanolds Frizzell, A History of Walpole, New Hampshire (Walpole Historical Society, 1963), pages 204-205
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Betsey Messer in the Nathaniel D. Messer family, in United States Census, 1850, database with images, FamilySearch > New Hampshire > Cheshire > Alstead > household 252 > family 283 > image 31 of 34; citing NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
4. ↑ Undated transcription by the town clerk of Alstead, New Hampshire, of the birth record of William H. Messer, in New Hampshire Birth Records, Early to 1900," database with images, FamilySearch > Index to births, early to 1900 > Morse to Mitchell > FHL film #004244268 > image 3123 of 4840; Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics, Concord.
5. ↑ FamilySearch abstract of the baptismal record of Betsey Mason, daughter of Daniel Mason, in New Hampshire Births and Christenings, 1714-1904, database, FamilySearch Betsey Mason, 1790.
6. ↑ Death certificate of Ruth E. Turner, in Massachusetts Deaths, 1841-1915, 1921-1924, database with images, FamilySearch > 'Deaths 1914: v. 46 Gloucester to Groton > page 358 > FHL film #2404247 (004284194) > image 1955 of 2114; State Archives, Boston.
7. ↑ Betsey Messer in the Loren Messer family, in United States Census, 1860, database with images, FamilySearch > New Hampshire > Cheshire > Marlow > household 121 > family 129 > image 14 of 21; citing NARA microfilm publication M653 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
8. ↑ Betsey Messer in the Loren Messer family, in United States Census, 1870, database with images, FamilySearch > New Hampshire > Cheshire > Marlow > household 80 > family 82 > image 9 of 20; citing NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
9. ↑ Transcription made in 1906 by the town clerk of Marlow, New Hampshire, of the marriage record of Alpheus Messer and Betsey Mason, in New Hampshire Marriage Records, 1637-1947, database, FamilySearch > Index to marriages, early to 1900 > (Ms - Mz) McShane to Mizer > FHL film #004243066 > image 364 of 4899; Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics, Concord.
10. ↑ Transcription made in 1906 by the town clerk of Marlow, New Hampshire, of the birth record of Nathaniel Messer, in New Hampshire Birth Records, Early to 1900, database with images, FamilySearch > Index to births, early to 1900 > Morse to Mitchell > FHL film #004244268 > image 3040 of 4840; Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics, Concord.
11. ↑ Death record of Nathaniel Messer, in New Hampshire Death Records, 1654-1947, database with images, FamilySearch > Index to deaths, early to 1900 > Morse to Nichols > FHL film #004243765 > image 1940 of 5079; Bureau Vital Records and Health Statistics, Concord.
12. ↑ Transcription made in 1906 by the town clerk of Marlow, New Hampshire, of the death record of Alpheus Messer, in New Hampshire Death Records, 1654-1947, database with images, FamilySearch > Index to deaths, early to 1900 > Morse to Nichols > FHL film #004243765 > image 1851 of 5079; Bureau Vital Records and Health Statistics, Concord.
13. ↑ "Messer, Masser-Draper" in Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine, January 1916, page 63