Nathaniel Meserve: from carpenter to colonel
Some time ago, a member of the Messervey Heritage Facebook group provided information on Colonel Nathaniel Meserve, part of the American entourage of Jersey emigrants. I always meant to do a post on him, and today noted that it was two years ago that Marilyn Griffin Turner provided the post! Nathaniel Meserve was born in Newington, New Hampshire about 1705, the son of Clement Meserve and Elizabeth Jones. Nathaniel’s grandparents were original New Hampshire settlers from Jersey, Channel Islands. Following in his father’s footsteps, Nathaniel became a carpenter and joiner and eventually a ship’s carpenter (shipwright). On 16 December 1725, Nathaniel married his first wife Jane (Sarah) Libby [1] and they had ten children. His wife died in 1747 and he married a second time to Mary Jackson a widow and daughter of Judge Jotham Odiorne. The story goes that Nathaniel enjoyed great success as a shipbuilder and became very wealthy. He purchased land in Portsmouth