Born into a peasant family in Dârste, a neighborhood of Brașov city in the Transylvania region,[1][2] he was sent to the little local school at the age of six, attending for two years.
[1] In 1849, as a result of the ongoing revolution, the Meșotă family sought refuge in Wallachia and was housed at a small monastery in Bobolia village.
[3] He subsequently entered the Hungarian Roman Catholic gymnasium in Brașov, where Iacob Mureșianu was on the faculty.
[1] Meșotă returned home in 1861, the year he was hired to teach at Brașov's Romanian gymnasium,[1] where he offered courses on classical languages and history.
[2] In September 1877, upon the proposal of Maiorescu and of its president Ion Ghica, he was elected a corresponding member of the Romanian Academy.