Subject: Re: Merrill family Brazilla Merrill
Date: Tue, January 25, 2005 11:44 am

Question: Gina ___? wrote:

Hi, I'm from Florida. Grandmother, Gladys L. Phillips is a Merrill. Done some research. Can go back as far as Barzilla Merrill b. 17 Nov. 1764, d. 14 Apr 1850. Town listed is Goshen, CT, USA. Not sure if he either was b. or d. in CT. Anyways, it seems the USA Merrills include Barzilla,Herman,Leonard,Wilbur. Wilbur H. Merrill b. 18 Jun 1840, d. 1925 in NY state. I'm trying to find out if Barzilla was first Merrill in the states that my line extends from? Any suggestions to find out information? Thank-you in advance for your kindness.

Answer: Gina:

Your grandmother Gladys L (11) Merrill, b.1901 Oct 1 in Perrysburg, NY is in our database, but we have nothing on her m. to ______? Phillips. You have her line correct back to Barzilla (6), except that Barzilla's son was Heman, not Herman. The descendants of Barzilla [to 1907] are covered in a delightful little book by Mary Thrasher, "Merrill Genealogy, descendants of Barzilla Merrill 1764-1850", but that book does not cover the earlier generations, nor anything since 1907. The complete lineage back to immigrant Nathaniel (1) [1601-1655] is Gladys L (11), Luther Wells (10), Wilbur H (9), Leonard (8), Heman (7), Barzilla (6), David (5), Nathaniel (4), John (3,2), Nathaniel (1).  More details are available.

What is your surname? we file correspondence by  surname.

Howard and Jean Merrill

Subject: Re: Merrill family Nathaniel B Merrill
Date: Mon, January 17, 2005 3:29 pm

Question: Rex Hatfield wrote:

Dear Howard & Jean, I've checked the Merrill Memorial for any leads on Nathaniel B. Merrill (b. ca. 1770 in NY, possibly d. in OH). He and his 1st wife, Polly (b. ca. 1770, d. 1805), were the parents of my ancestor, Elizabeth, "Betsey" Merrill who was b. May 4, 1804 in Manchester, VT. She was married on May 6, 1822 in Pittsford, Monroe Co., NY to Elijah Thayer (1792-1842). She married 2nd Remington Whaley (1794-1866) in 1853 in Cattarugus Co., NY. She died Mar. 29, 1880 in Clinton Co., IA as Betsey Thayer. Her father married 2nd Deborah Thayer, her 1st husband's older sister. Most of the information came from the Thayer family memorial and US federal census records. I appreciate any help you can give me. Thank you for making so much available about the Merrill family. Rex Hatfield

Answer: Rex:

We are sorry, we don't have any info on your Nathaniel B. Merrill. We didn't find a Nathaniel as "head of household" in  Bennington Co VT in either 1800 or 1810. In 1820 there is a Nathaniel, [45+] in Ontario, Ontario, NY [now Wayne Co], not far from Pittsford, Monroe, NY. He and wife, [45+] have 1f [under 10], 1m,1f [10-16], 1m,3f [16-26]. This may be your Nathaniel B. We don't find him in Monroe, Ontario, or Wayne Co NY in 1830.

We checked our database, over 47,000 individuals -known descendants of immigrant Nathaniel [and spouses], but didn't find anything on your Nathaniel B, Elizabeth, or Elijah or Deborah Thayer. We didn't find a Nathaniel that fits in our "Lineage Unknown" file -almost as big as the known. We will add him to our unknown file. Do you have any additional info on him for us to add?  Where in OH do you think he might have d., and when?

Sorry we couldn't be more help,

Howard and Jean Merrill

Subject: Re: Merrill family Merrill Newsletter
Date: Mon, January 17, 2005 12:54 am

Question: Donald E. Merrill wrote:

Hi, Howard and Jean - Could you tell me if the Merrill Newsletter is still being published by Lillian Follet-Hall? I gave up a few years ago because I did not get any reply or acknowledgement when I sent in a check for a subscription a couple of times. It isn't any great problem if I don't receive it, since the family has been quite well researched and identified for many years, but I might connect with some of the closer relatives who might be interested in copies of some family photos from my grandparents' three photo albums which I have. Also, do you know if Virginia Merrill of Solon, Maine has compiled any recent additions to the three books which I purchased from her a few years ago? My ancestry from the immigrant is: Nathaniel, John, John, Daniel, Israel, Jared, Daniel, Ezra, Abner, and George.

Answer: Donald:

Re: the Merrill Newsletter. Lil Hall Welch has had serious heath problems with her eyes, and has not been able to put out the Newsletter. Steve Merrill, webmaster of this site, was going to help get out the newsletter, but so far nothing has happened. We supplied our query columns. We keep prodding, but nothing yet. Perhaps some nudging by subscribers would help. <steve@merrill.org>

Unfortunately,  we regret to report that Virginia Merrill passed away last April 21. By her will, we were sent all her Merrill papers, 10 file boxes of them. We are slowly going thru them page by page, getting the "new to us data" into our computer program. We figure it is at least a one year project.  So far we have over 47,000 individuals in the program, and that does not include children of the Merrill daughters  We had collaborated with her on the first two books.

We would like to bring your line down to the present. We have your line down to you, but nothing on your family, your children and grandchildren [ and great grandchildren?].  You only have two years on us and we have ten grandchildren, but the oldest just started college.  Be assured that no data on living individuals will become internet accessible.  Our database is not online, but we will search it, gratis, for anyone, just for the sharing of data. But for living individuals, we refer them back to the person who gave us the data.

Thanks for writing,

Howard and Jean Merrill

Subject: Re: Merrill family - William Conrad Merrill
Date: Thu, January 06, 2005 11:59 am

Question: Susan Wellington wrote:

My gggrandfather is William Conrad Merrill 14 Mar 1833(38)-1915. married in Wisconsin and then to ELiza Lambert in Liverpool, North Syracuse NY. He had a large farm on Chestunut Street that is now part of Syracuse NY proper. He and ELiza had nine children, one of whom is my ggrandmother A! melia Merrill Childs. I am finding discrepancies in birthdates and birth place for William and his twin Willard, a schoolteacher in Wisconsin. Do you have information for this family? Is it possible that there are two sets of twins Willard and William? Thank-you.

Answer: Susan:

Thank you regarding your query regarding William Conrad Merrill - we didn't have his middle name, only the initial C.  Your date of Mar 14 1833 agrees with our data from another correspondent. We have that he was b. in Hill, a village just south of Bristol that was moved in the late 1940's or early 50's when they built a flood control dam at Franklin. I spent summers in Bristol in that time period. His parents, John (7) and Rhoda Cilley were listed in New Chester [now Bristol] in 1830 [ which probably included Hill at that time]. In 1840 they were listed in Dorchester, NH, in Orange NH in 1850, back in Dorchester in 1860, and in Wyocena, WI in 1870 and 80. John (7)'s lineage is  John (6), Jonathan (5), John (4,3), Nathaniel (2,1). More details are available.

William C was not with his parents in 1850 when he would have been 17, but Willard was. William may be the unidentified William, 17, in nearby Wendell.  In 1860, Willard is in Dorchester, m. to Martha A (_?_), 20. In 1870, Willard's wife, Martha A, 31, and daughter Rhoda A, 9, are in Hebron, NH, living with Joseph C Sanborn.  Willard is nowhere to be found in NH or in WI.  There is a Willard (7),  38, b. NY, and wife Clara in Janeville WI, but he is Not the son of John and Rhoda. He is the son of James (6), Gideon (5,4), Wiltertom (3), John (2), Nathaniel (1).

In Wyocena  WI in 1870 is  John (7) and Rhoda Cilly and their grand daughter Augusta [ child of their son Charles Cilley who d. in the Civil War]  Two other of Charles's children are living there with John's  daughter Abby Merrill Sanborn.  Also in Wyocena is John's son Peter Hatchett, 27, and his wife Georgetta, 19.  There is also a William, b. NH, which we think is your William Conrad, but he  gives his age as 29, rather than 37.  He is not m. Nor does he have with him the child, Rhoda Ester, attributed to his first wife, name unknown. Perhaps they both d. at her b.?

In 1880, William is in Salina, Onondaga, NY. He gives his age as 42 [very doubtful], b. NH parents b. NH; Eliza, 25, b. Canada; John, 8; Fredie, 6; your Amelia, 3; Lillie L, 4 mo., all b. NY. Perhaps he shaved years off because he m. such a young wife.

In 1900, still in Salina, we find yet another age for William. He says he is 76, not 66,  b. Mar 1824. At least he got the month right.  He is with 3rd wife, Mary (_?_), 51, NY, June 1848, m. 3 years,  5 children, 4 living [these children must be from HER prior m. - not William's]; Willie, 15, May 1885; Sarah, 12, June 1887;  Rhoda, 7, Aug 1892; Maud, 6, May 1893. Next door is son Frederick, 25, Jan 1875, m. 6 years; Ida, 23, m. 6 years , no children.

All this info on William's family is new to 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 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 William Conrad 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