Organists of Old First | 1: Harris Cornell Meserole (1891-1893)

As the congregation eagerly anticipated moving into a grand, new building, the 1891 Easter service was held in our upper hall, with the sanctuary still under construction. This is the second part of an ongoing series (read Part 1 here).

The first mention of an organist that I found for our church was in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, which named H. C. Meserole, a local, 25 year old recent college graduate. The Eagle reported that he played and directed our Easter worship service of March 29, 1891, in what they called the Carroll Street Chapel (designed and built in 1888 by architect George L, Morse), since our main church was unfinished. This then is the same hall where we will worship this Easter, under similar circumstances; our sanctuary is again under construction. The instrument Meserole played was a mechanical action, two manual organ built in 1889 by Reuben Midmer & Son, Brooklyn. According to the NYC American Guild of Organists’ website, it was located at the rear of the podium in the second floor Sunday School Hall (upper hall), which indicates that it must have been on the small side; Midmer was known for some huge organs, many of them located in theaters. If you ever dig into The Brooklyn Daily Eagle archives, you will note the many concerts in our upper hall; the space has a long history of hosting performances.

Easter 1891

A notice from the Eagle for the services reads:

First Reformed (Dutch) church, Seventh avenue and Carroll street — A quartet made up of Miss Evelyn Eaves, soprano; Miss E. M. Dutcher, alto; H. W. Nason, tenor; C. H. Clarendon, baritone: H. C. Meserole, organist.  Morning service: “Christ Our Passover,” F. N Shepperd [Frank N. Shepperd]; “Christ the Lord is Risen,” Dudley Buck [American organist and composer – you will see his name later as teacher to some of our organists]; “Alleluia, Christ is Risen,” H. R. Shelley (soprano solo) [Harry Rowe Shelley was another organist and composer, student of Dudley Buck]. Evening Service: “Hosanna,” Jules Granier [a French composer – his “Hosanna” was recorded by Enrico Caruso]; “A Song for Easter,” N. H Allen [organist, teacher and composer, Hartford CT]; “Immortality,” F. N Shepperd (alto solo). — 29 Mar 1891

The pieces on this Easter were contemporary, written in the latter half of the 19th century.

Dedication of the Sanctuary

Meserole is remembered as the organist for the sanctuary’s dedication six months later, on Sunday, September 27, 1891. We find a lengthy description of the service in the Eagle as well as in our own, History of the First Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Breuckelen: Now Known as The First Reformed Church of Brooklyn, 1654 to 1896. The Eagle noted that construction was still ongoing the day before with, “the sound of the carpenter’s hammer and of the mason’s chisel,” echoing through the building. But by the time of the service, all was in order for a festive opening. Several speeches and a sermon would be given, and the music would be magnificent, with the regular choral quartet augmented by additional vocalists. Again, the Eagle gives us a description:

The Sanctuary, September 27, 1891, from “The History of the First Reformed Dutch Church of Breuckelen…,” link above.

“The music, which was admirable, was in charge of the organist of the church, H. C. Meserole. …The organ voluntary selection rendered by Mr. Meserole, was the introduction to Mendelssohn’s second organ sonata [“Sonata No. 2 in C minor”– listen to the introduction, “Grave,” here]. The opening anthem was the Te Deum in E Flat, by Buck, solo parts rendered by Mr. Thomas and Miss Eaves…”

Life Story

Harris Cornell Meserole had ancestors from the old Dutch families; his grandmothers’ birth names were Henrietta Remsen Wyckoff and Maria Schenck; he had a great grandmother who was born a Vanderbilt. His given names, Harris and Cornell, were the maiden names of two other of his great grandmothers and farther back, we find Ryerson, Lott, and van Voorhees families in his tree, surnames of members and window donors at Old First. His great grandmother, Magdalena Duryea Meserole and other prominent Meseroles, were members of the old Dutch Reformed Church on Java Street, Greenpoint, and major funders of its new building at 145 Kent Street, opened in 1869 (now the abandoned St. Elias Melkite Greek Rite R. C. Church) (see more photos here). The congregation shrank and the remainder of the members who had not relocated to other Brooklyn neighborhoods, removed to the current Greenpoint Reformed Church on Milton Street. Both Harris’ parents’ surnames were Meserole, the two were half-cousins. The Meseroles were early Huguenot settlers of New Netherlands. Read an email post from the Brooklyn Historical Society about the Meserole family here.

Harris’ father died when he was just one year of age. His mother, left with two small children to raise, sent him to Siglar’s Preparatory School in Newburgh, Orange County, New York. Afterwards, Meserole attended Princeton University where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1886. Harris had been the pianist in Princeton’s Instrumental Club and attended Princeton alumni gatherings in Brooklyn over the years. Though very talented musically, he may not have had the constitution or training to play a pipe organ larger than the upper hall Midmer – we do not see him recorded as organist after the sanctuary dedication in 1891, and the organ was officially “opened” two months later, on November 10, 1891, by Raymond Huntington (R. H.) Woodman, the renowned organist and composer who served the First Presbyterian Church in Brooklyn Heights and The Packer Collegiate Institute. In February 1893 Harris ran an ad in the Eagle for a position as an organist.

Garfield Place in the 200s block.

Harris lived a quiet life. In 1888, he resided with his mother and sister at 187 Prospect Place. Annie, his only sibling, died in February of 1892 in their Prospect Place home. From 1900 he, with his mother and two servants, lived at 216 Garfield Place; from 1900 on, he had no occupation, but there are references of his service and social life in the Eagle; attendance at weddings, donations to flood relief, membership in the Big Brother and Big Sister Organization, an officer of the Academy at Chamenade (opera house), and the like. In the 1920s he is listed in the Brooklyn Museum’s Annual Reports as a Sustaining Member.

Copied here is a short bio from After Twenty-five Years, Class Record of 1886, published by Princeton University in 1911, details which Harris probably supplied:

HARRIS CORNELL MESEROLE.

“Mezzy” was born July 9, 1865, son of Abraham Meserole and Catherine M. Meserole. He prepared for college at Siglar’s School, Newburgh, N. Y., entered Princeton with the Class of ’85 in 1881, and then was graduated with the Class of ’86, with the degree of A.B.

Soon after graduation he became connected with the Williamsburgh Fire Insurance Company of New York, and was with that company for four years. In 1890 he went with the Manufacturers’ Trust Co. of Brooklyn, which later lost its separate identity through merger with the Title Guarantee and Trust Co. In 1904 he resigned to devote his attention to some tangled real estate matters and to look after his health which has not been robust. He is leading the simple quiet life, looking out for his health.

“Mezzy” has attended all reunions, big and little, of ’86, and is always “on the job”. He belongs to the Princeton Club of New York. He is not married.

In the Princeton Alumni Weekly of 1925, we read, “Mezzy has been quite ill in hospital in Brooklyn.” He and his mother had moved from their home on Garfield Place to an apartment in 1350 Bedford Avenue in Prospect Heights.

Harris Cornell Meserole died in 1926 at the age of 61.

. . .

As quiet as the life of H. C. Meserole’s was, our next organist was altogether the opposite — Rafael Navarro of Cuba.
(read Navarro’s story here)

Our church historian, Jane Barber, has compiled a comprehensive history of our amazing organ, and the people who have played it. 

(read Part 1 here)  Organists of Old First | Intro: A History