I'm sure if you've stumbled across today's profile you probably got a bit of a chuckle out of this politician's humorous name! Dependent Merry (yes, that is his name!) served as Lincoln County's representative in the Maine state legislature in the mid-1860s and sadly that's the extent of what I've been able to find on this mysterious Maine native!
I first became aware of this oddly named man courtesy of an 1868 work entitled The Resolves of the State of Maine, which highlighted various resolutions and acts passed by the Maine legislature during the years 1866-1868. Also featured here was a roster of then-current Maine state senators and representatives, including Dependent Merry.
From what I've been able to find, Dependent Merry was first elected to the Maine State House of Representatives in 1865, representing the town of Edgecomb in the county of Lincoln. He was reelected to the House in 1867 and nothing could be found on him after this date. The portrait of him above was discovered via the Maine Memory Network website and was originally featured on an 1865 Maine Legislature group portrait.
In an interesting twist to this article, research on the Rootsweb genealogical website has shown me that on May 2, 1808, a man named Dependence Merry was born in the town of Edgecomb, Maine, the son of Jonathan and Mary Merry. With this intriguing new tidbit, I'm fairly certain that this is the same man who served in the legislature during the 1860s, except for some minor spelling variations in his first name. A death notice for Depdent Merry (shown below) was listed in the August 17, 1889 edition of the Portland Daily Express, and denotes his being a former resident of Edgecomb.
YOU CAN HELP!
It's time for one of my famous "You Can Help" segments, and in the case of Dependent (or Dependence) Merry, it is sorely needed! I am currently in the process of trying to find more information on the life of Dependent Merry. If any readers, lurkers, or amateur historians have any time on their hands and want an interesting project to fill your time with, see what you can find in terms of information on this man! I'd appreciate anything you might be able to dig up on this uniquely named Maine resident. As there is next to nothing on the internet about this wonderfully named man, maybe someone knows more about him than what is already mentioned in his article here!
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