Subject: Re: Merrill family Walter W Merrill
Date: Wed, July 20, 2005 9:05 pm

Question: Heather Williams wrote:

Looking for the parents of John L Merrill(s) b. 1829 d. 1886 --Lived in New Hartford and Bristol, CT. Married to Ellen L Merrill(s)--I believe her maiden name was Bartel, but I'm not sure. Their children were: Erwin Merrills b. 1868 John J Merrills b. 1870 Walter W. Merrills b. 1871 George Merrills b. 1874 William W. Merrills b. 1875 Edith Merrills b. 1878 Frank Merrills b. 1879 The 1880 Census has them living in Bristol, CT and the 1870 Census shows they were living in New Hartford, CT. Also, starting with the Census in 1900, the "S" is dropped off of the last name, and it is listed as Merrill. Working on my family tree as a Christmas gift for my Grandparents, and Walter W. Merrill(s) is my grandmother's grandfather. Any info anyone has would be greatly appreciated.--Heather

Answer: Heather:

We will be glad to help you with your Merrill genealogy. Your Walter W (8) was b. 1870 Jul 21 in New Hartford, Litchfield, CT and d. 1963 Sep 21 in Bristol, Hartford, CT. He was the son of John Luke (7) [1829 Apr 13 - 1885 Dec 13] and Ellen L Belden [1842 - 1910].  His lineage is John L (7), Zebulon (6), Jerijah (5), Zebulon (4), Jacob (3), John (2) immigrant Nathaniel (1). More details are available. We can send you a report detailing the family from Nathaniel down to Walter W, or we can send you family group sheets for each generation, whichever you prefer.
Since we are sticking with the Merrill surname, we don't have a lot of info on the wives families, but will give you what we have.

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 John Luke Merrill down to the present.

Howard and Jean Merrill

Subject: Re: Merrill family Grafton Co Merrills
Date: Wed, July 20, 2005 9:05 pm

Question: Jack Merrill wrote:

Howard I am working on some Thorton/Campton, Grafton Co., NH Merrill families and I cannot connect them to any of the lines. There are Four Merrill farmers that coiuld be brothers, Edmund, b. 1809, Joshua, b. 1811, David, b. 1814 and Nathaniel, b. 1812. There is another one, Peter, b. 1797. They are all living in Thornton, Grafton Co., NH in 1850 and 1870. Peters fathers name could be John and his mothers name Mary. This I got from WFT. I coujld not find them anywhere in AMM Thank you John(Jack) Merrill John(10), Harold(9), Willis Newton(8), Willis Perry(7), Noel(6), Cyrenus Bissel(5),Aaron(4), Cyprian(3), John(2), John(1)

Answer: Jack:

We find and have at least a tentative lineages for four of the five Merrills you listed, but we do not find the Nathaniel, b. ca 1812, that you mentioned in Campton or Thornton NH in the 1840, 50, 60, 70 or 80 census. Where did you find him? Are you sure it was Merrill and not MOrrill or MerriTT? Sometimes the handwriting in the original census can easily be misinterpreted, especially by indexers.  But the fact that we didn't find him in any of these census suggests that he was not a Merrill. Neither do the vital records and cemetery records from Campton and Thornton that we collected from the NH State Library in Concord indicate a Nathaniel's presence there. The only name close is a Nathan Lyman (8) 1842-1872.

With regard to the other four, there are two sets of brothers. Peter, 1797, and Joshua, 1811, are believed to be the sons of John and Mary (__?__). John [ca 1774 Newbury, MA - before 1830 Thornton] is believed to be the son of James (5) and Ellis Cooper, Nathan (4) and Dorothy Carr, Nathan (3) and Hannah Kent, Abel (2) and Priscilla Chase, Nathaniel (1) and Susannah (__?__).

Edmund M (7), 1809, and David (7), 1814, are the sons of Daniel (6) [1774 Sep 5, Amherst NH - Before 1850, Thornton] and Hannah Stevens, Benjamin (5) and Elizabeth Dutton, Benjamin (4), and Elizabeth Moody, Daniel (3), and Esther Chase, Daniel (2) and Sarah Clough, Nathaniel (1) and Susannah. More details are available.

Out of curiosity, what is your interest in the Merrills of Thornton, since your line descends from John (2) of Hartford CT while these families descend from brothers, Daniel (2) and Abel (2)?  

We also notice you have your line start with what you call John (1), who is really John (2), 2nd son of immigrant Nathaniel (1) and Susannah. After Nathaniel's death, John (2), still a minor, went from Newbury, MA to Hartford, CT to live with Gregory and Susan Wilterton and learn Gregory's tanning trade. Gregory's wife Susan is believed to be the mother, by a prior m., of Susannah, wife of Nathaniel (1) Merrill.  So John (2) really went to live with his grandmother. He eventually inherited the bulk of childless Gregory's estate.

In our prior correspondence, you gave us info on your dad, but not on yourself and your family, or siblings. We would like to bring your line up to date. Be assured that our database is not internet searchable, and we do not give out info on living individuals, but refer anyone asking back to the person who gave us the data.

Howard and Jean Merrill

Subject: Re: Merrill family Australia
Date: Tue, July 19, 2005 11:02 am

Question: Lorraine (__?__) wrote:

hello,doing family research we have come across a Daniel Murrell/Merrills he married Sarah Podd,they then had a son 1808 Daniel Murrell/Merrills who was a convict and transported to Australia,

Answer: Lorraine:

We are sorry, we have done little research in the UK other than for the ancestors of Nathaniel, 1601-1655, of Wherstead, Suffolk who came to Newbury, Essex, MA, USA in 1639. Our main emphasis has been tracing the descendants of Nathaniel and other early immigrants down to the present day in the US. We have info on over 60,000 Merrill males plus their wives and daughters.

Sorry we couldn't be more help,

Howard and Jean Merrill

Subject: Re: Merrill family Abigail Merrill
Date: Wed, July 06, 2005 9:11 pm

Question: Karen Engelauf wrote:

I am looking for information on Abigail Merrill (or Merrells), the first wife of Capt Oliver Belden. They were married 8 May 1755 in Canaan,Litchfield, CT. Source: Oliver Belden found in Marriage Index: Connecticut, 1635-1860 Married: May 8, 1755 in: Canaan, Litchfield, CT Family history library microfilm roll info: microfilm reference numbers Roll number: 0003935 through 0003945 Spouse name: Merrells, Abigail Abigail died 6 Nov 1767. I haven't been able to determine who her parents were. Ancestry.com has a user-contributed tree showing that she was the daughter of Israel Merrill, but that would mean she was just 13 yrs old when she got married. Any help you can provide would be appreciated!

Answer: Karen:

We agree that Israel (4) and Abigail Caldwell's  Abigail, b. May 1842, cannot be the Abigail, who m. your Capt Oliver Belden in 1755, she is just too young. We do not, however, have a m. for her.

 We do not know for sure who the parents of your Abigail were. But we do have a very good candidate. Abigail, daughter of  Abraham (4) and Abigail Nash, was b. 1729 Aug 3 in West Hartford.  She is the only Abigail listed in the CT b. records between 1700 and 1740 for which we don't have a known m.  She would be of marriageable age in 1755 [if not a little old - the average for girls m. in this time period is ca 20]. The only fly in the ointment is Abigail's m. location. As far as we know Abraham (4) lived his life in West Hartford. Abraham (4)'s lineage is Abraham (3) and Prudence Kellogg, John (2) and Sarah Watson, immigrant Nathaniel (1) and Susannah. More details are available.

We looked at who was having children in Canaan, CT. The only one we found was an Elisha who was having children after your Abigail's m.

Sorry we couldn't be more definite,

Howard and Jean Merrill