Mary Hill “May” Merry and Blanche Xavier Merry were two of the six daughters of Captain William Lawrence Merry of San Francisco. Both born in San Francisco (May in 1870 and Blanche in 1874), the sisters grew up during the rollicking early days of the city by the bay.
Their father’s career shaped the girls’ early days in San Francisco. Captain Merry, born in 1842 in Brazil, was a steamship captain, a wholesale grocer, a lawyer, and the Consul-General for Nicaragua in San Francisco (1891-96). He was the president of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce for seven years and also president of a shipping company, the North American Navigation Co. (Palo Alto Times). He was also the US Minister to El Salvador (1897-1907), Nicaragua (1897-1908) and Costa Rica (1897-1911). He was an active Freemason and a huge advocate for the failed Nicaraguan Canal project (Political Graveyard).
The six Merry’s sisters grew up in San Francisco society with a father who was often in the news. Life-long Episcopalians, they were members of St. Luke’s in San Francisco. Several articles provide little windows into the type of social events and activities that were part of their lives. In 1884, they took part in a fund raiser at St. Luke’s:
“The galleries and main floor were filled with elegantly dressed ladies and their escorts. The booths were ranged around the hall and presented a most attractive appearance…The entertainment comprised some charming tableaux and pictures. The subjects were well selected and the costuming and impersonation perfect.” (San Francisco Examiner)
10 year old Blanche Merry appeared in a program called “Seminary Alarmed.” 14 year old Miss May Merry impersonated a painting called “Yes or No.”
In 1892, 22 year old May and 18 year old Blanche were bridesmaids at St. Luke’s when their older sister, Angelina, married Rev. Charles Mason (the assistant pastor at Grace Church in San Francisco). The sisters were both dressed in pink with “dainty floral wreaths of corresponding hue.” (The Morning Call). Assistant Bishop William Nichols performed the service. The reception was held at the family home at 2030 Pacific Avenue (corner of Pacific and Laguna). The décor included illuminated Mikado lanterns, “great clusters of snowballs” hanging from white silken cords, and masses of roses. The event was attended by the who’s who of San Francisco, including members of the Shreve and Crocker families (The Morning Call).
The sisters attended San Francisco’s very posh Miss West’s Seminary on the corner of Van Ness and Pacific Avenue. In 1891, the school gave a musicale to benefit an Episcopal orphanage in San Francisco run by Mrs. George Gibbs (another big name in bay area Episcopal history). May Merry was in charge of the pink tea table and Blanche was at the silver table. Tea “was dispensed in dainty cups, and with each was presented a butterfly made of gayly painted tissue paper.” The ladies wore outfits to match the color schemes of their tables. The ceiling was decorated with “Chinese and Japanese lanterns of every possible shape and color.” The entrance fee was 25 cents and more than 900 people attended including many “well known society people.” (San Francisco Call)
After many years in San Francisco, the family moved to Sausalito where they had a “delightful home” that “became a charming factor of the hillside town.” (The San Francisco Examiner). The sisters never married, traveled widely, and lived together most of their lives. In Dec of 1906:
“Miss May Merry, who has been in California for nearly a year past, expects to leave on Saturday next for her home in San Jose, Costa Rica, where she will spend the winter. Captain Merry and Miss Blanche Merry went to Costa Rica in August.” (San Francisco Call)
In 1908 the sisters were together with their mother and father in Connecticut when their mother died of heart failure at the home of their sister (The San Francisco Examiner)
In 1912, Captain Merry passed away and left each of the two unmarried and now referred to as “spinster sisters” $20,000 (about $575,000 today)(San Francisco Call). In 1917, millionaire W. H. White (who was connected to the United States Fruit Company and would have known the sisters in Costa Rica) left each of his two “friends” (May and Blanche) a $10,000 bequest, so the sisters were comfortable financially (The Brooklyn Daily Eagle).
In 1920, the sisters were living in Bethesda, Maryland with the family of their younger sister, Caroline (1920 Census). By 1930, they were living with their youngest sister, Edith Merry Meiggs, in her home on Waverly Street in Palo Alto (1930 Census). By 1940, the sisters rented their own apartment together at 1436 Emerson Street in Palo Alto and lived there for the last 15 years of their lives (1940 Census).
The sisters, along with their sister Edith Meiggs and her family, joined St. Mark’s after it was founded. Blanche and May donated the original white vestment set to St. Mark’s in memory of their parents – Captain W.L. and Althea Hill Merry (St. Mark’s Archives).
Tragically, the two sisters who spent so much of their lives together also died together. On Feb. 4, 1954, a fire broke out in their apartment. The sisters were both in their 80’s, and Blanche was blind, crippled by arthritis and wheelchair bound. The evidence indicated that May tried to carry her sister to safety, but was unable to do so, and both died in the fire (Palo Alto Times).
The two standing seven branch candlesticks at St. Marks are given in memory of May and Blanche Merry. At the base of each candlestick is a plaque commemorating one of the two sisters. The standing candlesticks were made at the wood shop in Allied Arts Guild in Menlo Park of oak, and designed to match the other original woodwork in the sanctuary (St. Mark’s Archives).
One of the saddest parts of this story is that it highlighted how terrible the early 1950’s were for May and Blanche’s sister, Edith Merry Meiggs. Her husband died in 1952. Her sisters in 1954, and her two sons in a terrible accident a year later in 1955 (see Rose Window). What an unimaginably difficult time it must have been for her.
The sisters who lived their lives together, and are remembered at St. Mark’s together, also shared a memorial service – The funeral was held at St. Mark’s at 3pm on February 6, 1954. They are also buried together with other family members at St. James the Less Episcopal Church Cemetery in Scarsdale, Westchester, New York (Find A Grave).
