In 1874, when Maggie was 22 she married Seth M Milliken who was 38. (Have not yet found the marriage certificate but multiple sources mention Oct 1874). Seth, son of Josiah Milliken, had spent his earlier years creating the Deering-Milliken Co, a dry goods business that grew from commissioning dry goods to department stores and cotton and wool manufacturing, to what some say was the largest textile firm in the world.
Margaret is found in the 1880 census living in New York City at 990 Madison St, with husband Seth M, sons Seth, age 5, Gerry, age 3, and three servants, a cook, waitress, and a nurse. Later that year she gave birth to a daughter Margaret L Milliken, and then died in 1882 at the age of 30. With the help of Donna McCarthy, a fellow SHACKFORD researcher, I found this death notice "MILLIKEN - At Paris, on 20th January, Margaret L., wife of S.M. Milliken. Relatives are invited to attend her funeral service, at her late residence, corner of Madison Av. and 77th St. on Monday, the 13th inst. at eleven am." (New York Times, Monday, February 13, 1882. In 1910, her husband Seth requested disinternment of her body from the Pine Hill Cemetery in Dover NH to be moved to the Woodlawn Cemetery in New York. He never remarried.
Margaret's three children remained in New York all becoming prominent in their respective fields
Seth Minot Milliken, b. 1875 graduated from Yale and then Columbia's College of Physicians and Surgeons and became a well known physician and surgeon. In 1907 he married Alida King Lessee. They formed the Blue Hill Troupe whose performances fund New York City charities.
Gerrish Hill Milliken, b. 1877 also graduated from Yale, then joined hs father's company. In 1913 he married Agnes Gayley. He is noted in articles as a supporter of higher education.
Margaret Milliken, b 1880 married Harold Ames Hatch who joined her father's company. They funded numerous foundations, some focused on the medical world and their name is mentioned in current research done at the Harold and Margaret Milliken Hatch Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology at Rockefeller University
Even after Margaret's death, there remained a connection between the William Neal Meserve and Seth Mellen Milliken families (their two wives Abby Augusta Hill and Margaret Leighton Hill were sisters). The two Milliken sons, Seth M Milliken and Gerrish H Milliken were ushers at the 1899 wedding of Frederick Meserve Hill (son of William Neal Meserve) and Frederick Meserve Hill joined the Milliken Company.
While searching for information about Maggie, it became clear that it is more difficult to find source information for women in the 1800s as their names change, their lives were mostly spent in the home, they are not found in city directories until 1900s, often didn't attend colleges which often have updates on their graduates in alumni magazines. While there was information available about Margaret's father and her husband, there was little available about her. I wondered how she met Seth Milliken. William N Meserve's diary mentions that it was agreeed that at his next appearance in Dover NH, a contract of marriage between Miss Hill and himself would be fufilled. Was there such a contract for Margaret's marriage? Were the women involved in the decision about their marriages contracts? How did she feel about moving from the peaceful city of Dover, NH to living in New York City? And I also wonder why she died at such a young age. I've added doing some more research on her some day when I can get to New Hampshire and New York.
Next article: Joseph Wesley Shackford meets Charles Burnham Shackford, son of his father's brother Samuel Burnham Shackford.
Johnston, Joseph S., editor, The Diary of Joseph Wesley Shackford, Library of Congress, 1991 p. 6-21
The Dover Public Library Collection
E-mail from Dover Public Library giving permission to post photograph of L G Hill's home
Federal Census 1870, 1880
("New Hampshire, Death Records, 1654-1947," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FS2G-K8X : accessed 28 Nov 2012
Annual Report (Google eBook) Dover (N H) School Committee, The Committee, 1907, p. 74, List of Graduates of the Dover High School
Huebner, Richard Alden, compiler and editor, "Meserve Civil War Record", RAH Publications, Oak Park, Michigan, 1987, p. 113
New York Herald-Tribune, Tuesday Nov. 7, 1899 (page 5)
Special thanks to Donna Sprague who is also researching this family line and shared many references to articles she found related to these SHACKFORD descendents.