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St. Mary's Church
Wherstead, Suffolk, England |
Among
the families of New England who should be recorded in
history, the one bearing the name of Merrill has a high
claim, and many of its representatives have been good
and faithful ministers of the gospel.
"If we accept Merrill as the normal spelling of the family name in America, it is worthy of remark that the only departures from this standard which have been widespread and persistent have been among the descendants of John2 Merrill of Hartford. His descendants generally for a time added a final s to the name, and for many years the name was commonly written Merrills or Merrells by a large proportion of the Connecticut branch of the family. Furthermore, the change of the i in the last syllable to e or a became very common in Connecticut in the first half of the eighteenth century, but for many years there has been a constant tendency to accept Merrill as the preferred spelling. I cannot recall an instance where any correspondent spelling his name Merrell, Merrall or Merrills has proved to be a descendant of any one of Nathaniel1 Merrill’s sons who remained in the vicinity of Newbury: these spellings are prima facie evidences of descent from John2 of Hartford." - Samuel Merrill
©
Merrill.org - Updated
21 December, 2007
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