Hiram P. Merville papers (Ms.96.4)

Biographical/Historical Note

Hiram P. Merville was born in China, New York in 1840. At the time of his father's death in 1860, he was one of Jacob Merville's four surviving children. He enlisted in the First Regiment of New York Dragoons (previously the 130th Regiment New York Volunteer Infantry) in 1862, at which time he gave his occupation as farming. He was discharged a corporal in August 1865.

He became a physician after the war, and in 1867 married Emma Jane Wilkison in Eagle Valley, New York. They had two daughters, Beulah (Mrs. Charles W. Spofford) and Susan (Mrs. Herbert J. Droppers). They soon went west, settling in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where Hiram practiced medecine until his death in 1908. He is buried in the Forest Home Cemetery in that city.

Many of these letters were written to Hiram's brother Charles, and often mention another brother named Fayette. It is probable that the Harry referred to in the letters refers to his brother Harrison.

Hiram had no sister named Em. It is likely that this recipient of his letters was his future wife Emma Jane, five years his junior, and a schoolteacher before their marriage. Emma Jane was born in Aztalan, Wisconsin, where her father died after the family had moved there from New York. Emma Jane's mother returned to New York after her husband's death and married her husband's uncle, Nathan Round.