Subject: Re: Merrill family - Mary Merrill
Date: Fri, July 2, 2004 12:18 pm

Question: Greg Merrill wrote:

My grandfather was Charles Emmett Merrill, born circa 1898 in Cleburne Co, AL. I am looking for any info you may have on his father, mother, siblings and ancestors. Thank you very much in advance.

Answer: Greg:

Your Charles Emmett was b. 1895 May 30 in Cleburne Co AL to Robert Edward and Betty Elizabeth Austin. He was raised by his mother's brother in Atlanta. He m. Ethel Gregory [we don't have the date]. He d. 1948 July 31 in Atlanta. His son, Hugh Gregory, was b. 1927 Aug 5.  Are you by chance this son, or his son, or grandson?

Charles Emmett (8)'s lineage is Robert E (7), Joseph B (6), Joseph (5), Charles (4), Benjamin (3), William (2,1). More details are available.

We are trying to database the Merrill/Merrell surname nationwide from the original immigrants right down to the present day for all the immigrant lines. So far we have over 60,000 Merrill males, plus their wives and daughters in our database, but we estimate that there are well over 100,000 so we have a long way to go, and we need and appreciate all the help we can get, particularly with the later generations. We use this database strictly to try and help folks trace their Merrill roots. Be assured that no info on living individuals will become internet accessible. We would be interested in any info you have on the Merrill surname descendants of Charles Emmett down to the present.

We write the query column for the MERRILL NEWSLETTER published by Lil Hall Welch. Check out the Newsletter homepage at <www.merrill.org/genealogy/tmn>

Howard and Jean Merrill

Subject: Re: Merrill family - Mary Merrill
Date: Sat, July 3, 2004 7:50 pm

Question: Angela Dethloff wrote:

i am desperately seeking info on merrill lineage. i can only go back to:Mary Merrill, b abt 1825 in NJ(maiden ?) had the following children:Andrew born abt1852, sarah b abt1855, edward b 1857, whitfield b abt 1859 and john b abt 1868.All the kids were born Morris County NJ. I know Andrew ! was born in Ralston Morris County NJ.I do not know the Merrill father of these children, it seems he died young and the mother raised them. I come from the line of Edward. any info would be extremely appreciated.......

Answer: Angela:

We are not sure that all the info we have refers to your Mary and family, but here is what we have.  The IGI gives the m. 1843 Jan 24 of John L Merrell and Mary Brinkruff in Great Meadows, Warren Co, NJ.  In the 1850 census, in Greenwich, Warren, NJ, we found John L/S [difficult to distinguish the handwriting], 33, Carpenter; Mary, 25, both b. NJ.  We did not find the family in the 1860 NJ census. Perhaps, since we now know where Andrew was b. it would be worthwhile to look in the 1860 census page by page in Ralston. Warren and Morris counties are adjacent.

In the 1870 census, in Morris Twp,  we find Mary, 45; Andrew, 18; Sarah E, 15; Whitfield, 11;  Louisa, 9; Morris, 7;  John, 2. This is certainly your family, but Edward, b. 1857 seems to be missing. Perhaps he was visiting grandparents  when the census taker came by and didn't get counted.

In 1880 Mary and the family are listed in Morristown, living, along with several other families, with a Hugh Elliott, who seems to be running a boarding house, although he is listed as a shoemaker. The record is pasted below.  Edward is back with the family. Son Andrew is m. and rooming nearby with a widow and her son.
Census Place:    Morristown, Morris, New Jersey
    Source:    FHL Film 1254793  National Archives Film T9-0793     Page 258D    
    Relation    Sex    Marr    Race    Age    Birthplace
Mary MERRILL    Other    F    W    W    54    NJ    Occ:    Keeping House    Fa: NJ    Mo: NJ
Edward MERRILL    Other    M    S    W    24    NJ    Occ:    Laborer    Fa: NJ    Mo: NJ
Whitfield MERRILL    Other    M    S    W    21    NJ    Occ:    Laborer    Fa: NJ    Mo: NJ
Louisa MERRILL    Other    F    S    W    20    NJ    Occ:    At Home    Fa: NJ    Mo: NJ
Morris MERRILL    Other    M    S    W    19    NJ    Occ:    Painter    Fa: NJ    Mo: NJ
John MERRILL    Other    M    S    W    12    NJ    Occ:    In School    Fa: NJ    Mo: NJ

    Census Place:    Morristown, Morris, New Jersey
    Source:    FHL Film 1254793  National Archives Film T9-0793     Page 258C    
    Relation    Sex    Marr    Race    Age    Birthplace
Maria EARL    Self    F    W    W    36    NJ    Occ:    Plain Sewing    Fa: NJ    Mo: NJ
Frank A. EARL    Son    M    S    W    5    NJ    Occ:    At Home    Fa: NJ    Mo: NJ

Andrew MERRILL    Other    M    M    W    25    NJ    Occ:    Laborer    Fa: NJ    Mo: NJ
Maria MERRILL    Other    F    M    W    24    ENG  Occ:  Keeping House  Fa: ENG  Mo: ENG
Mary L. MERRILL    Other    F    S    W    3    NJ    Occ:    At Home    Fa: NJ    Mo: ENG
William MERRILL    Other    M    S    W    1    NY            Fa: NJ    Mo: ENG

We do not know the lineage of this John L who m. Mary Brinkruff. The fact that he was from Warren Co suggests that he may be descended from a David [ca 1750] who was early in Warren Co.  David in turn, we believe to be descended, but we don't know exactly how, from William (1) who came with brother Richard to Staten Island in 1680.  William left Staten Island in 1687, moving first to Middletown NJ, then in 1704 to Hopewell NJ where he d in 1724.  This is all pretty nebulous, but that is true with a lot of lines in NJ, one of the worst states to do research in, in our opinion.  To get off that rather depressing note, let us tell you something about us.

We are trying to database the Merrill/Merrell surname nationwide from the original immigrants right down to the present day for all the immigrant lines. So far we have info on over 60,000 Merrill males, plus their wives and daughters in our database, but we estimate that there are well over 100,000 so we have a long way to go, and we need and appreciate all the help we can get, particularly with the later generations. We use this database strictly to try and help folks trace their Merrill roots. Be assured that no info on living individuals will become internet accessible. We would be interested in any info you have on the Merrill surname descendants of your Edward down to the present.

We write the query column for the MERRILL NEWSLETTER published by Lil Hall Welch. Check out the Newsletter homepage at <www.merrill.org/genealogy/tmn>

Howard and Jean Merrill

Subject: Re: Merrill family Gyles Merrill
Date: Fri, July 9, 2004 11:03 am

Question: Bonnie Rulli wrote:

I am researching the Watson family from Derbyshire, England and my great, great grandmother was Ruth Watson who came to the US and then to Ontario, Canada. She had a sister Grace who married Leonard Newbury and their eldest daughter married Gyles Merrill (died 1894 in England). I understa! nd the Merrills lived in New England and then Gyles and Eliza returned to England. They had 4 sons- Gyles, Samuel, Moses and James. Can you elaborate on this info or steer me to someone from that family. Thanks.

Answer: Bonnie:

Gyles (7) Merrill was b. 1816 Mar 13 in Haverhill, Essex, MA, and d. THERE [not in England], 1894 Jan 23 of flu and pneumonia.  He m. 1849 Nov 28 Eliza Watson Newbury [1816 Jan 26 - 1890 Jun 24].  Gyles (7) and his grandfather Rev. Samuel H (5) had collected a great deal of Merrill genealogical data in New England and passed their papers to Gyles's son Samuel (8) [1855 Jan 1 - 1932 Jan 12], who was editor of  the "Boston Globe". Samuel (8) used these papers and did considerable additional research to produce what is now the "bible" of Merrill genealogy, "A Merrill Memorial", a privately printed limited edition, 721 pages, now out of print, which was donated to genealogy libraries across the USA.  It is being put "online" on the site on which you posted this query, <www.merrill.org>. Information about Rev Samuel H (5) and Gyles (7) is given in chapter 1 of that book. The lineage of Gyles (7) is Moses (6), Samuel H (5), Moses (4,3), Daniel (2), immigrant Nathaniel (1).

 Nathaniel (1) [1601-1655] was b. in Wherstead, Suffolk, England, and came to Newbury, Essex, MA in 1639. Most of the Merrills in America are descended from Nathaniel. We estimate there have been well over 100,000 Merrill males, plus wives and daughters descended from Nathaniel.  Our database of known descendants of Nathaniel has over 43,000 individuals, and does not include children of the Merrill daughters.  More details are available.

Howard and Jean Merrill

Subject: Re: Merrill family Margaret M Merrill
Date: Wed, July 21, 2004 10:28 pm

Question: Charles Henderson wrote:

Hi: I have been searching for the Merrills(My wifes side of the family) for quite a while and all we can find is George Merrill,b:1901, Rhode Island.Married Lillian Carpenter,b: 7 Mar. 1903 Concord NH.They had three children, as far as we know, George Merrill jr.,b:1921; James Merrill, no! information; Phyllis louise merrill,b:17 Apr 1923, Lowell Massachusettes,m: 30 Sep 1929,Louis Sutton. Any help you can offer will be greatly appreciated. Thank You

Answer: Charles:

We are sorry that we do not have any information on your George Merrill, b. 1901. Most of our data is pre 1880, but we looked through several hundred George's in our database, just to make sure.

George should be with his parents in the 1910 census and perhaps in the 1920 census [depending when he and Lillian got married].  But the 1910 census is not indexed, so you really need to know where he was, in order to find him without looking through a lot of microfilm. The 1920 and 30 census are indexed, but it still helps to know where to look. We  have collected the Merrill  from all the census up to 1880, but have not read the 1900 - 1930 census.

Do you know when and where George d.?  New England vital records are pretty good in this time frame. Often the death record filed with the state gives the parent's name.  If not, the newspaper obit often does.  Or the funeral home that buried him. Do you know when and where he m. Lillian? On  MA m. records, the bride's and groom's parents have almost always been given, since 1850. NH records prior to 1900 are not as complete as MA, but may have become so by the time George and Lillian got m.

There must be a typo in Phyllis Louise's m. date. She can't have been b. in 1923 and m. in 1929.

We are trying to database the Merrill/Merrell surname nationwide from the original immigrants right down to the present day for all the immigrant lines. So far we have over 60,000 Merrill males, plus their wives and daughters in our database, but we estimate that there are well over 100,000 so we have a long way to go, and we need and appreciate all the help we can get, particularly with the later generations. We use this database strictly to try and help folks trace their Merrill roots. Be assured that no info on living individuals will become internet accessible. We would be interested in any info you have on the Merrill surname descendants of George down to the present.

We write the query column for the MERRILL NEWSLETTER published by Lil Hall Welch. Check out the Newsletter homepage at <www.merrill.org/genealogy/tmn>

Sorry we could not be more help,

Howard and Jean Merrill

Subject: Re: Merrill family Margaret M Merrill
Date: Fri, July 30, 2004 3:25 am

Question: Kathleen Lang wrote:

Hello, I'm hopeing you can help me with my search. My grandmother, Margaret M. Merrill, married James V. Lang on 2/1/1909. I believe she was born around 1890 in Portland Maine.She told me stories of a link to the Micmac or Mikmaq Indians in Maine. A great ? grandmother came from England and married an Indian. I would love to trace her family back. Thank you for your help. Kathleen

Answer: Kathleen:

We found Margaret M's m. on the internet <http://thor.dafs.state.me.us/pls/archives/archdev.marriage_archive.search_form>. This is an index of the vital records in Augusta. It does not give all the information that is in the original record, like the parents of the bride and groom and their ages. A copy can be ordered from that site.

The vital records were not required to be filed with the state until 1892, so records before that date are pretty hit and miss.  We do not have record of a Margaret b. in Portland ca 1890.  However, we do have a Margaret M, b. 1889 Mar 17, in Saco, which is only about 15 miles from Portland. At 20, Margaret could easily have been working in Portland at the time of her m.  The parents of this Margaret M, b. Saco were Elbridge Gerry (9) Merrill and Selina E Vickerson. Elbridge's lineage is Elias (8), Asa (7), Levi (6), Daniel (5), Joseph (4), Daniel (3,2), immigrant Nathaniel (1). More details are available.  Immigrant Nathaniel was b. 1601 in Wherstead, Suffolk, England and came to Newbury MA ca 1639.

We have no way of being sure that this Margaret M of Saco is your Margaret M who m. James Lang, other than getting a copy of that m. record. It is only $6 for a plain copy, $10 for a certified copy.  A plain copy should be sufficient unless you are planning to join the DAR or something like that.  If it turns out that we have the wrong Margaret, having her parents names will go a long way in finding her lineage.

When we and other researchers were collecting the ME  vital records we stuck with the Merrill surname.  In ME the m. records are filed under the grooms name, so all we got was the boys m..  There is a separate brides index, which lets you find which groom to look for to find the m. info. Not a big deal if you are looking for one m. , but a lot of work to collect the info on all the Merrill brides.  It was hard enough to collect all the b, d, and male m.

Let us know what you find, and we will be glad to help.

Howard and Jean Merrill