Roger Bigelow Merriman

Roger was a son of Daniel and Helen (Bigelow) Merriman. His father was the pastor of the Central Congregational Church of Worcester. Roger entered Harvard with the Class of 1896. In 1897 he went to Balliol College, Oxford, where he spent two years working for the research degree of B.Litt. He took his Ph.D. at Harvard in 1902 and was appointed to the post of instructor in history from which he was promoted in 1908 to become assistant professor and in 1918 to become professor. As an instructor at Harvard he schooled a young Franklin Roosevelt (Class of 1904) in European history.

He married Dorothea Foote in Boston on June 2, 1904. They had five children (mentioned in his wife's memorial).

He taught a course on the Spanish Empire, the impetus for his research and publication on the topic. His four-volume work The Rise of the Spanish Empire (1918-1934) is recognized as a pioneering work in the field of Latin American history. At Harvard, Merriman was the Gurney Professor of History and Political Science and founding master of Eliot House. From 1904-1945, he was a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, serving as corresponding secretary from 1923-1932, and vice president from 1932 until his death in 1945. He received honorary degrees from Oxford, Glasgow, and Cambridge, and was a member of several European honorary societies.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt exchanged a letter each year with his former history teacher--usually on benign topics--until 1941.

He died at his summer home at St. Andrews-by-the-Sea and was buried at Clinton, MA. He is survived by his widow and four children.

"According to online records, his cremains and his wife Dorathea are inured in Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts." ~Thanks to contributor Jerry (#46851553)