Shari Handley’s Eastern Shore Genealogy

Genealogy and history resources for Maryland’s Eastern Shore and Delmarva

Family History

The Mezick Family of Wicomico

My direct Mezick/Messick line on Maryland’s Lower Eastern Shore, from Julian Mezick in seventeenth-century Somerset County through the Wicomico County family of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

About the evidence: This page is a working family history. Some early relationships are well supported by land, probate, parish, census, marriage, and other records; others remain hypotheses or depend in part on older compiled research. Where evidence conflicts or a connection has not been proved, I have tried to say so plainly.

The Direct Line

The family name appears in records as both Mezick and Messick. This page follows the direct line shown below while also listing siblings and collateral children from each generation.

JulianJacobElihuElihu Jr.FrancisIsaac FrancisLuther FranklinEvan CarlyleSharlene Ruth
Generation 1

Julian Mezick

  • Born Probably mid-17th century; place unproved
  • In Virginia Transported to Accomack County in 1664/65
  • In Maryland Nanticoke Hundred, Somerset County, by 1674
  • Died Will proved June 1718

Julian MEZICK was transported by John TILNEY to Accomack County, Virginia, in 1664/65. By 1674 he had moved north into Somerset County, Maryland, where he established himself in Nanticoke Hundred. In September 1681 he acquired 100 acres that he called Nantes. By 1710 he was conveying land on the south side of the Nanticoke River and along Wetipquin Creek to sons John, Jacob, and Joshua.

Older family research proposed that Julian may have been French or Huguenot, largely because he named land Nantes. That is an intriguing possibility, but his European birthplace and ethnic or religious origin have not been proved. The tract name alone is not sufficient evidence.

First wife: Sarah Covington

Julian married Sarah COVINGTON on 29 April 1674. She was a daughter of Nehemiah COVINGTON, whose family had moved from Virginia’s Eastern Shore into Somerset County.

  1. Nehemiah MEZICK, born about 1676; married Sarah HOPKINS; died August 1751.
  2. John M. MEZICK, born about 1678; married Mary COLLIER; died about 1746.
  3. Richard MEZICK, born about 1680; died before 1715. Unverified placement His identification as Julian’s son came from the old IGI and has not been independently substantiated.
  4. Jacob MEZICK, born about 1682 — direct ancestor; see next generation.
  5. Joshua MEZICK, born about 1684; died about 1718.

Second wife: Priscilla Nicholson

After Sarah’s death, Julian married Priscilla NICHOLSON. Julian’s will refers to “my wife’s six children,” supporting the attribution of the following children to Priscilla:

  1. Joseph MEZICK; married Grace.
  2. Isaac MEZICK; married first Sarah and later Ann WINDSOR; died August 1779.
  3. Benjamin MEZICK; married first a woman of the MACOMB family and later Betsy; died 24 April 1773.
  4. Julian MEZICK; died about 1742.
  5. Sarah MEZICK; married Joseph DASHIELL.
  6. Mary MEZICK.

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Generation 2

Jacob Mezick

  • Born About 1682, Somerset County
  • Land Nantes, Pasturage, Ellingsworth’s Hope, James’ Lott
  • Died February 1761
  • Direct-line child Elihu Mezick, born 1716

Jacob MEZICK received one-third of his father’s Nantes land in 1710 and continued to acquire property. His holdings included 45 acres called Pasturage, patented in 1724; 100 acres called Ellingsworth’s Hope, purchased in 1726; and 34 acres called James’ Lott, patented in 1753.

First wife: Rachel Covington

Jacob first married Rachel COVINGTON, daughter of Abraham COVINGTON. Their two daughters were:

  1. Dinah MEZICK, born about 1712; married John NELSON in Stepney Parish on 13 January 1745.
  2. Rachael MEZICK, born about 1714; married first Lewis BEARD and second William ELLINGSWORTH.

Second wife: probably Elizabeth Waller

Older compiled research identified Jacob’s second wife as Elizabeth NELSON. Later evidence points instead toward Elizabeth WALLER, while Elizabeth Nelson appears to have married a younger Jacob Mezick. I consider Elizabeth Waller the better working identification, but the marriage still needs direct documentation.

  1. Elihu MEZICK, born 24 June 1716 in Stepney Parish — direct ancestor.
  2. Joshua MEZICK, born about 1718.
  3. Aaron MEZICK, born about 1720; married Mary, widow of Roger NICHOLSON; died November 1774.
  4. Covington MEZICK, born about 1722; married Sarah Ann CORBY; died 1771.
  5. Jacob MEZICK, born about 1724; married first Sarah Ann CORBY, widow of his brother Covington, and second Sarah PORTER; died 1791.
Open question: Can a direct marriage record or equivalent original source be found for Jacob Mezick and Elizabeth Waller?

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Generation 3

Elihu Mezick

  • Born 24 June 1716, Stepney Parish
  • Occupation Bricklayer
  • Militia Capt. Day Scott’s company, 1748
  • Died 26 July 1788, Somerset County

Elihu MEZICK appears in a deed as a bricklayer. He served in Captain Day Scott’s Somerset County militia company in 1748 and appeared on Nanticoke Hundred tax lists in the 1750s. His land included portions of Nantes, Pasturage, and Ellingsworth’s Hope, followed by later acquisitions such as Lee’s Situation, End of Strife, James’ Lot, Mistrust, The Gore, and River Tract.

First wife: Sarah Fisher

  1. Delilah MEZICK, born 17 March 1740; married Daniel RITCHIE.
  2. Catherine MEZICK, born 5 September 1742; married Elijah LARMORE.
  3. James MEZICK, born 11 January 1744; married Elizabeth; died 5 March 1826.
  4. Elizabeth MEZICK, born 5 June 1747; married William BENSON.
  5. Fisher MEZICK, born 30 March 1754.

Second wife: Margaret Ritchie

After Sarah Fisher’s death, Elihu married Margaret RITCHIE, daughter of Archibald RITCHIE and Elizabeth LARRAMORE McCabe.

  1. Elihu MEZICK Jr., born 20 March 1756 — direct ancestor.
  2. Sarah MEZICK, born 1 January 1758; married Solomon McKIMMEY; died 1 June 1780.
  3. Mary MEZICK, born 21 February 1760.
  4. John Ritchie MEZICK, born 16 February 1762; married Nancy HOPKINS.
  5. Daniel MEZICK, born 17 June 1764; married Priscilla WAINWRIGHT; died 1800.
  6. Amelia MEZICK, born 23 June 1766.
  7. Susannah MEZICK, born 8 October 1768.
  8. Martha MEZICK, born 29 March 1773, twin of Mathew.
  9. Mathew MEZICK, born 29 March 1773.

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Generation 4

Elihu Mezick Jr.

  • Born 20 March 1756, Stepney Parish
  • Residence Nanticoke Hundred
  • Major landholding Part of 587-acre tract called Spy
  • Died Before January 1809

Elihu MEZICK Jr. accumulated substantial property. In 1794 he and his cousin Covington MEZICK patented 587 acres called Spy. In 1799 he acquired four adjoining tracts—End of Strife, Lee’s Situation, The Gore, and River Tract—followed by 288 acres called Recovery. His household appears in the 1800 census in Nanticoke Hundred.

Revolutionary-era status: I have not found evidence establishing Elihu’s military or political service during the Revolution. An older version of this page speculated that the family might have been Loyalist, but at present that remains unsupported speculation rather than a conclusion.

Wife: Leah Dougherty

Elihu married Leah DOUGHERTY, daughter of John DOUGHERTY and Leah DICKERSON, on 13 May 1792/93. After Elihu’s death, Leah later married his cousin Covington MEZICK.

  1. Dickerson Doughty MEZICK, born 6 April 1793; married Sally BEDSWORTH. Newspaper lead Older research notes cite an 1817 Maryland Gazette proclamation reporting his escape from the Somerset County jail after a kidnapping conviction; the original newspaper item should be rechecked before this is cited as a proved biographical fact.
  2. Eleanor MEZICK, born 29 November 1795; married Levin W. MEZICK; died 15 September 1861.
  3. Harriet MEZICK, born 27 August 1798; married Major SELBY.
  4. John MEZICK, born 27 February 1800; died young.
  5. Tubman MEZICK, born 4 November 1801; married Nancy JONES.
  6. Samuel MEZICK, born 24 January 1803; married Druscilla DENSON.
  7. Francis MEZICK, born 24 October 1805 — direct ancestor.

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Generation 5

Francis Mezick

  • Born 24 October 1805, Somerset County
  • Residence Tyaskin District
  • Married Sarah Anne Denson, 1 January 1834
  • Died 11 July 1863

Francis MEZICK inherited about 50 acres of the large Spy tract on the east side of the Nanticoke River and north side of Wetipquin Creek. In 1838 Francis and Sarah Anne purchased 65 acres called Evans Second Chance and Sidney, north of the Wicomico River near Shiles Creek, from her parents James and Polly DENSON. The family appears in the 1840 and 1850 censuses in the Tyaskin District.

Francis’s personal-estate inventory was administered by his son Isaac after Francis’s death in 1863. The inventory styles Isaac as “Dr.” Isaac Mezick; that wording is preserved as it appears in the record and should not automatically be read as proof that he was a physician.

Children of Francis Mezick and Sarah Anne Denson

  1. Martha A. MEZICK, born 27 September 1834.
  2. Sarah E. MEZICK, born 13 February 1837; died 1905.
  3. Isaac Francis MEZICK, born 20 May 1839 — direct ancestor.
  4. Albert Emery MEZICK, born 17 September 1842; married Julia; died 1917.
  5. John Cadmus D. MEZICK, born 1846; married Hester L.; died 1903.
Sarah Anne’s grave: A nearby stone reads “Ann Mezick 1812–1883” and may mark Francis’s wife, but census evidence points to a birth closer to 1809. The identification remains worth investigating rather than treating the stone as settled proof.

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Generation 6

Isaac Francis Mezick

  • Born 20 May 1839, Somerset County
  • Married Elizabeth Jane White, 14 March 1868
  • Occupations Farmer; later shipping agricultural produce
  • Died 4 February 1923

Isaac Francis MEZICK married Elizabeth Jane WHITE, born 25 May 1840, on 14 March 1868. Elizabeth had previously married Thomas Benjamin Franklin HUGHES in 1857 and had four Hughes children before his death. Isaac and Elizabeth then formed a large blended household.

Historic tintype of Isaac Francis Mezick holding his infant son Luther Franklin Mezick
Isaac Francis Mezick holding the infant Luther, probably in 1869. The original family tintype is the primary visual source.

The 1880 census lists Isaac as a farmer in Wicomico County’s Tyaskin District. By 1900 the family was in the Trappe District and his occupation was recorded as shipping agricultural produce. Family photographs and later research identify the family home in Fruitland, near St. John’s Methodist Church, where Isaac and Elizabeth are buried.

A 1988 Daily Times article about James and Harriett Wilson preserved James Wilson’s recollection that he had been raised by Isaac and Elizabeth “Ike” and “Beth” Messick and credited them with teaching him to read and write, farm, manage money, own property, and value education and Christian principles. That later recollection adds a rare personal dimension to the census and land records.

Children of Isaac Francis Mezick and Elizabeth Jane White

  1. Luther Franklin MEZICK, born early 1869 — direct ancestor; birth date disputed.
  2. Millard Milton MEZICK, born 11 December 1870; married Nora WILLIAMS; died 28 January 1927.
  3. Gurney Washington MEZICK, born 8 December 1872; married Fannie RUARK; died 11 April 1952.
  4. Hurvey Clark MEZICK, born 7 October 1875; married first Virgie GRAY and later Clevie SCHOFIELD; died 12 March 1947.
  5. Otis Latimer MEZICK, born 4 October 1876; died 24 March 1953.
  6. Sarah Ella MEZICK, born 20 November 1879; gospel and temperance singer; married Prescott GILLILAN on 28 April 1909; died 16 March 1970.
  7. Addie Grace MEZICK, born 22 August 1882; died 26 November 1895.

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Generation 7 · Featured

Luther Franklin Mezick

Born Early 1869; date disputed
Married Carrie Roberta Robertson, 24 June 1891
Died 27 March 1917, Petersburg, Virginia
Work Farmer, singer, evangelist, lecturer
Public life Prohibition organizer and candidate
Buried St. John’s Cemetery, Fruitland

A disputed birth date

Luther’s exact birth date is unresolved. His gravestone gives 11 January 1869, while his Virginia death certificate gives 17 February 1869. Because the two original or near-original records disagree, this page preserves the conflict rather than choosing one date as certainly correct.

Marriage and family

Luther married Carrie Roberta ROBERTSON on 24 June 1891 at Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church, the congregation also known locally as Massey’s, in the Clara/Capitola area. The church register names them as Luther F. Messick and Carrie R. Robertson, both residents of Capitola, and records the Rev. F. J. Cochran as the officiant. Luther was twenty-two and a farmer; Carrie was twenty.

  1. Audrey MEZICK, born 19 January 1893; later joined her father’s traveling musical work; married George H. MOORE on 18 September 1923; died 5 July 1969.
  2. Evan Carlyle MEZICK, born 7 January 1898 — direct ancestor.
  3. Herbert Luther MEZICK, born 19 March 1900; married Shellie Noble SHORES on 25 March 1922; died 1966. Their son Herbert Noble Mezick’s middle name reflects Shellie’s Noble family line.

Singer, composer, evangelist, and reformer

Luther’s public life grew far beyond farming. He directed music at local temperance and local-option meetings, wrote and composed sacred music, and published at least one surviving piece, Song of Meditation, under the imprint “L. F. Mezick, White Haven, Md.”

From about 1905 through 1908 he toured extensively with his sister Sarah Ella MEZICK as gospel and temperance singers. Promotional material called them “Sweet Southern Singers from Maryland.” After Ella married Prohibition organizer Prescott GILLILAN in 1909, Luther’s daughter Audrey became his principal family singing partner. Luther also lectured, organized, and campaigned for the Prohibition Party, combining music, religious revival, and reform politics.

Death in Petersburg

The old version of this page said that Luther died in Clara. His death certificate establishes instead that he died on 27 March 1917 at Petersburg Hospital in Petersburg, Virginia, while engaged in revival work. His wife and two sons reached Petersburg before his death, and Audrey was traveling with him. His body was returned to Maryland for burial at St. John’s Cemetery in Fruitland.

Family tradition: A family story associated Luther’s final illness with a carbuncle, surgery, and ether. The documentary evidence assembled so far does not establish that story as the medical cause of death, so it remains family tradition rather than a proved conclusion.

His will and musical legacy

Luther’s will left his guitars to his daughter, his gun to his oldest son, his watch to his second son, and the remainder of the estate to Carrie during her widowhood. She never remarried and lived until 20 July 1946. The bequests are a wonderfully personal summary of the life recorded elsewhere: music, family, and the practical belongings of an Eastern Shore man whose work carried him across the country.

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Generation 8

Evan Carlyle Mezick

  • Born 7 January 1898, Clara, Wicomico County
  • Known as Carlyle
  • Married Lillian Ruth Young, 5 June 1920
  • Died 8 March 1960, Tyaskin

Evan Carlyle MEZICK worked in the tool-and-die trade as a machinist and at one time also worked in sales. He married Lillian Ruth YOUNG, daughter of George F. YOUNG and Mary Ruth HANNA, on 5 June 1920 in Baltimore. Carlyle is buried in the Robertson family graveyard in Clara. Lillian died 20 July 1976.

Children of Carlyle Mezick and Lillian Ruth Young

  1. A daughter, stillborn about 1924.
  2. Evan Carlyle MEZICK Jr., born 26 January 1925; married first Doris BUZZARD and second Anna Marie WOLF; died 16 December 1991.
  3. Marvin Gerald MEZICK, born 12 November 1926; married Mabel Gertrude ABBOTT; died 8 March 2006.
  4. Ronald Bryan MEZICK, born 11 September 1928; married Betty Jo LIPSCOMB; died 20 June 1998.
  5. Eugene Arlon MEZICK, born 25 February 1930; died 22 October 1993.
  6. Sharlene Ruth MEZICK, born 6 August 1933 — direct ancestor.
  7. One daughter who is living.
  8. Burton Alan MEZICK, born 11 February 1946; married Joyce COMEGIES; died 2 February 2015.

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Generation 9

Sharlene Ruth Mezick

  • Born 6 August 1933, Salisbury, Maryland
  • Married George Edward Clayton
  • Died 10 December 2014, Michigan
  • Family migration Eastern Shore to Michigan

The direct line on this public page ends with Sharlene Ruth MEZICK, daughter of Evan Carlyle Mezick and Lillian Ruth Young. She married George Edward CLAYTON, who died 19 September 2011 in Michigan. Sharlene died 10 December 2014.

With Sharlene, this branch of the family story stretches from the creeks and river land of seventeenth-century Somerset County to twentieth-century Michigan—more than three centuries after Julian Mezick first appears in surviving American records.

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Sources, Evidence, and Open Questions

This page draws on a mixture of original records, contemporary reports, family material, and older compiled research. Important source groups include:

  • Somerset County land patents, deeds, probate records, and tax records.
  • Stepney Parish registers and other Methodist church records.
  • Federal census records for Somerset and Wicomico Counties.
  • The Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church marriage register for Luther F. Messick and Carrie R. Robertson, 24 June 1891.
  • Virginia death certificate for Luther Franklin Mezick, 27 March 1917, and his gravestone at St. John’s Cemetery.
  • Contemporary newspapers documenting Luther’s singing, temperance work, political activity, and 1917 death.
  • Family photographs, including the original tintype of Isaac Francis Mezick holding the infant Luther.
  • Surviving sheet music for Luther’s Song of Meditation.
  • Older family compilations and correspondence, used cautiously where original documentation has not yet been located.

Questions still worth pursuing

  • Where was Julian Mezick born, and is there any documentary evidence for a French or Huguenot origin?
  • Can Richard Mezick’s placement as a son of Julian and Sarah be independently established?
  • Can Jacob Mezick’s second marriage to Elizabeth Waller be directly documented?
  • Can Sarah Anne Denson Mezick’s grave and exact birth year be conclusively identified?
  • Can additional original records resolve Luther Franklin Mezick’s conflicting January 11 / February 17, 1869 birth dates?

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