Subject: Re: Merrill family Ezra (5) Merrill
Date: Fri, February 8, 2008 9:36p

Question: Terry Merrill wrote:

Hi Howard & Jean!

I'm researching Ezra Merrill (Stephen (4),
Stephen (3), Daniel (2), Nathaniel (1) db: 1746, Salisbury, MA. Looking
for date of death, occupation, etc. Any info?

Answer: Terry:

We do not have a death date for Ezra (5) Merrill. He is listed in Salisbury MA in the census of 1800, 1810 and 1820, but not of 1830. "A Merrill Memorial" states he spent his life in Salisbury, so we expect he d. between 1820 and 1830. His death is not recorded in the published vital records of Salisbury [neither is his wife Molly Stevens's d. recorded there]. He had five sons, Thomas, 1776; Ezra, 1779; Stephen, d. 1802; Benjamin, 1783; Joseph, 1786. We don't have any info on his occupation.

Sorry we couldn't be more help

Howard and Jean Merrill

Subject: Re: Merrill family Anna Merrill 1786
Date: Mon, February 11, 2008 10:20p

Question: Sherri Copeland wrote:

Anna Merrill, ca 1786, dau of Jacob and Anna Stanley is my question.
I suspect she may be the mother of my James Stanley Harrington, b. 1823
in Oneida Co NY and d. in 1858 in Cincinnati OH. Would you have any
information on her which would assist me in Ruling her in or out as the
mother? Thank You.

Answer: Sherri:

We are sorry, we don't have any information on who Anna m. Her parents
did move to Oneida Co NY about 1800. We are not sure of the reference,
but we have that Anna d. 1850. Since she was not listed with her parents
in the census, we assume she did m. Even if we had who she m. we would
not have recorded who her children were. With a database of over 60,000
Merrill males plus wives and daughters, we had to draw the line
somewhere and chose to stick strictly to the Merrill surname.

Sorry we could not help,

Howard and Jean Merrill

Subject: Re: Merrill family Joseph True Merrill
Date: Sun, February 17, 2008 12:33p

Question: Lisa Krappman wrote:

Dear Howard and Jean,

I have recently constructed my husband's family tree from his ancestor's family notes and vital records. It shows that his great, great, great grandfather was Joseph True Merrill (b. 12 jul 1821, d. 04 feb 1889) who married Luella Sarah French (b. 07 aug 1823/29, d. 12 apr 1907). It also lists Thomas True Merrill and Olivia Merrill (no b. or d. dates) over Joseph, so I assumed it was Joseph's parents.

After researching the Merrill family name and finding your website, I am overwhelmed by what I see. According to "A Merrill Memorial" written by Samuel Merrill, it certainly appears that my husband's family is part of the Nathaniel Merrill line, stemming from Abel. On further reading, it appears that Olivia Merrill was actually a long ago cousin of her husband Thomas True Merrill. If this is the case, then my husband's line would stem from both Abel's and Daniel's line, of course, all leading back to Nathaniel Merrill.

Given the unbelievable history of the Merrill family in the United States, I wanted to confirm my findings with you before sharing this information with the rest of my husband's family. We do not carry the Merrill surname, my husband's great great grandmother had the last "Merrill" surname in our line, although one of my husband's aunts has "Merrill" as her middle name.

The family notes I am speaking about were dated August 19, 1950 and were written by my husband's great grandmother, and include the following note: "I know little about T.T. (Thomas True) Merrill except that he was the father of my adored grandfather. Was considered a very smart business man; was responsible for getting the Congregational Church in Merrimac built; that a large picture of him hangs in the First National Bank on School St. in Merrimac; that he was rather homely, also that he dropped dead one morning soon after arriving at his place of business. I know no dates concerning he or his wife and know of no way to find out."

Thank you for your time. It is wonderful to have the opportunity to write to you directly.

Sincerely, Lisa Krappman

Answer: Lisa:

You have it correct. Joseph True was descended from Nathaniel both through his father Thomas True (6) [1791-1871] [Parker (5), Eliphalet (4), Thomas (3), Abel (2), Nathaniel (1)], and through his mother Olivia (7) [1799-1842] [John (6), Aaron (5), Stephen (4,3), Daniel (2), Nathaniel (1)]. Which of Joseph True's daughters was your husband's great, great grandmother? We suspect it was Emily Maria Luella, 1857, if she wrote her notes in 1950 [she would have been 93]. Her older sister, Clara Anna, 1848, would have been 102 in 1950. Do you have d. dates for Emily and Clara? Three other sisters died young.

Let us introduce ourselves. We are Howard and Jean Merrill. For twenty eight years we have been trying to database the Merrill/Merrell family nationwide from the original immigrants down to the present day for all immigrant lines. So far we have info on over 60,000 Merrill males plus their wives and daughters in our database, but we estimate there have been well over 100,000 so we have a long way to go, and 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 from us.

While our database is not internet searchable, we will be glad to search it for anybody and share what we find at no cost. All we ask is that folks share their Merrill data with us so that we may expand our database and do a better job of helping solve Merrill lineage problems.

We will attach a Genealogy Report (Ancestors_of_Joseph_True.rtf) from Nathaniel (1) down to Emily (7).

Hope this helps,

Howard and Jean Merrill

Subject: Re: Merrill family Fannie, d/o Stephen
Date: Mon, February 18, 2008 5:55p

Question: Ruby Robart wrote:

I am searching for info on parents of my grgrgrandmother Fannie F Wright. Fannie m. John J Hunter b.1810 England. They had dau. Mary Jane Hunter b. in Penn 6 Feb 1844 d. Kent co. Mi 1916. We obtained Fannie`s death certificate which states her father`s name as Stephen Merrill leading us to speculate Wright was a previous husband`s name. Fannie was born at Lake Erie lakeshore New York. Birthdate listed as 1813 or possibly 1818. She died 15 Apr 1923 Kalamazoo, Mi. Her passing was marked as the death of the oldest known resident of Michigan at the time. No mother`s name or place of birth for parents was listed. If you can help with this Stephen at all with only the daughter`s info I have, I will be thrilled. I have read the Merrill Memorial and I cannot connect a Stephen to a Fannie nor one who traveled to New York or possibly Canada.

Thanks in advance for anything you may have.

Answer: Ruby:

We are sorry, we cannot locate any info that would connect your Fannie Merrill with any known Stephen. We looked at the 1810 to 1830 NY census. There were only a couple of Stephens listed as "head of household", and they were all in eastern NY, not near Lake Erie. We also looked in MI, 1820 and 30 -no Stephen. We looked in our database file of known descendants of Nathaniel, over 156,000 individuals, including wives, daughters, and spouses. No Knights or Hunters m. to a Fannie Merrill. No Fannie, or Fanny, or Frances b. 1813-18 time frame, or daughter of a Stephen. Our early Canadian records are almost non existent, especially outside of Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Nothing on a Fannie or Stephen.

Sorry we could not help,

Howard and Jean Merrill

Subject: Re: Merrill family Marlow W Merrill
Date: Tue, February 19, 2008 8:15a

Question: Gary F Merrill wrote:

Howard & Jean -

My name is Gary Francis Merrill, and I live in Emmetsburg, Iowa. My 8-year-old daughter has recently taken an interest in her family history, so I have started doing some research with her. I have traced my family line only back as far as Marlow W Merrill (b. 2 Feb 1837, Oneida, NY). One other researcher that I have found online has indicated that Marlow was a son of Solomon Merrill and Polly Harrington. Tracing the history back up the tree that way shows: Marlow W. Merrill, Solomon, Solomon, Benjamin, John, John, Nathaniel). However, this is the only place I have been able to connect my family to the descendants of Nathaniel Merrill. Do you have any information that could confirm that Marlow is, in fact, the son of Solomon Merrill, descended from Nathaniel? Any information you could share would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Gary F. Merrill Emmetsburg, IA

Answer: Gary:

We can confirm that Marlow, 1837, was the son of Solomon and Polly. In the 1850 census, in Fon Dulac Co WI, Solomon, 63, and Polly, 46, [2nd wife] are listed with 8 children, including Marlow, 13. We did not find them in 1860, although one of Marlow's brothers, Harvey, is listed. In 1870, Marlow, 33, is listed in Lamartine, WI, with wife, Lorain, 18, son Freeman, 1, and mother, Polly, 64. We did not find Marlow in 1880, and have no further info on him. We have Marlow (7)'s lineage as you have it: Marlow (7), Solomon (6,5), Benjamin (4), John (3,2), immigrant Nathaniel (1). More details are available.

Let us introduce ourselves. We are Howard and Jean Merrill. For twenty eight years we have been trying to database the Merrill/Merrell family nationwide from the original immigrants down to the present day for all immigrant lines. So far we have info on over 60,000 Merrill males plus their wives and daughters in our database, but we estimate there have been well over 100,000 so we have a long way to go, and 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 from us.

While our database is not internet searchable, we will be glad to search it for anybody and share what we find at no cost. All we ask is that folks share their Merrill data with us so that we may expand our database and do a better job of helping solve Merrill lineage problems. We would greatly appreciate the details of the Meriill surname descendants of Marlow W down to the present day.

Howard and Jean Merrill

Subject: Re: Merrill family John Merrill - Wilmington, NY
Date: Wed, February 25, 2008 7:41a

Question: Steven Belanger wrote:

Hi Howard and Jean...

It's been awhile since we've corresponded and I hope you're both doing well! We're still trying to tie our Charles G. Merrill (1806-1894) with other Merrill families who were in the same vicinities. Since the wife of our Charles, Lovina Gates Collins, came from Essex County, NY, we've been looking in that county for any possibly connections. I'm curious about the family of John and Phebe Merrill who are in Wilmington, Essex County, in 1850. Both would've been born around 1774. While census information does not support our Charles being a son of this couple, I'm still trying to see if there might be any connection. I cannot find any evidence of this John and Phebe in any online sources or in the Merrill Memorial. They had two sons that I know of, John Jr, born in 1810 in VT. and Hyatt, born in 1804-1806, also in VT. There is also a Sophronia on the 1850 census who might be a daughter, or a wife of Hyatt. John and Phebe have disappeared by 1860, so I'm assuming they died between 1850-1860. John, Jr. also ended up in Wisconsin, as did our Charles, and is buried in Omro, Winnebago County, Wisconsin with his wife, Hannah Hickok Merrill. Hyatt Merrill is listed in the John Merrill, Jr. household in 1860 and disappears after this date. Do you know anything about the family of John and Phebe Merrill? Any help is always appreciated! Thanks for all the good work you're doing to extend the knowledge of the Merrill family.

Answer: Steven:

Good to hear from you. The only info we have on John and Phebe comes from what we can deduce from the census, which before 1850 is kind of uncertain. John is listed in Jay, Essex, NY in 1820 and in Wilmington in 1830-1850. He may also be the John listed in Corinth, Orange, VT in 1810, but it is not entirely consistent with the 1820 census. The 1820 census is the most instructive. John [26-45]; wife [26-45]; 3f [under 10]; 3m,1f [10-16]; 2m,1f [16-26] including 1m [16-18]. This indicates that they had 5 boys and 5 girls. From subsequent census and other sources, we have possible names for four of the sons: Hyatt, ca 1804; Thomas P, ca 1806; John Jr, ca 1810; and Wesley E, ca 1818.

The age [from 1860 census] for Thomas is questionable since the 1830 census indicates he was b. 1790-1800. A Thomas m. a Polly Crook in Corinth VT, 1822 Dec 8. The Mary A (Wilcox?) with Thomas in 1860 could be a 2nd wife [a different age than the wife in 1830]. Thomas stayed in Wilmington and is listed there thru 1880. In 1870 there is a Samuel, 66, living with him. We wonder if Samuel and Hyatt are the same person - same age. Hyatt was with John Jr in 1860 and when John took off for WI, he moved in with brother Thomas.

The age for Wesley [1860 census] doesn't fit with the 1820 census [there were not any males under 10] so he may not belong, although Thomas had a Wesley in the next generation.

With five sons there seems to be room for your Charles in John and Phebe's family given the uncertainty on the ages, but we don't have anything that would link them other than the VT birthplace and VT is right across the lake from Essex Co. We don't have anything new on Charles' parents.

Thank you for the info that John Jr went to WI. Do you have d. dates for him and wife Hannah?

Howard and Jean

Subject: Re: Merrill family Nicholas Frank Merrill
Date: Mon, February 29, 2008 7:47a

Question: Joseph Galarneau wrote:

looking for information on frank nichols merrill and caroline richardson merrill. they were the parents of charles henry merrill b. 1875 in hiram, me. charles henry married(28 mar 1908 in hiram) maude j. sargent b 16 jan 1890 d. 21 oct,1971. sorry but thats all the dates i have. thank you for your prompt response to my last inquery on charles oliver merrill. You asked that i share information on his decendants. i e-mailed that to the e-mail address listed on your reply. hope you got it.

thank you joseph

Answer: Joseph:

We had a difficult time locating your Frank N for in none of the records we had was he listed as Frank. He was always Nicholas, and ages of Charles apparently had been misread as well as his initial, but we finally sorted it all out. Charles Henry (10)'s lineage is Nicholas F (9), Nicholas D (8), William (7), Humphrey (6), Samuel (5), Thomas (4), John (3), Daniel (2), Nathaniel (1). More details are available. We were curious what the connection was between this line and that of Charles Poole, but when we were looking through the data you sent [we haven't posted it all yet], we found that Melvin Donald (10), 1934, m. Elaine Josephine Merrill, who is the daughter of Kenneth Wilson (11) and granddaughter of Charles Henry (10). We found Nicholas in Sweden, Oxford, ME in 1860, Madison, Carroll, NH in 1880, and in Stoneham, Oxford, ME in 1900 [he d. 1908 May 5 in Lovell, ME]. Charles H's m. to Maud was his 2nd m., but we haven't found record of his 1st m.

Will get back to you when we've posted your data,

Howard and Jean Merrill

Subject: Re: Merrill family Sheffield England Merrills
Date: Fri, February 29, 2008 10:04p

Question: William Vincent wrote:

My maternal grandmother's maiden name was Merrill, and she was one of a large family from Sheffield, Yorkshire, England. I know little about this branch of the family, other than that they were numerous and wealthy, but my mother has done some research and come up with a Merrill family from Eyam, Derbyshire. Eyam was the scene of a terrible but uplifting episode during the Great Plague of 1665/6, when, after plague was brought into the village, the inhabitants decided to stay within the boundaries of the village rather than spread the disease. This was an act of incredible self-sacrifice, involving an almost certain and extremly unpleasant demise for nearly all concerened. Inevitably, most of them died, and the houses bear the names of the victims to this day - some of the families were wiped out, but they never cracked and the survivors remaind in the village until the plague burnt itself out.

At least one of the victims was a Merrill (I can't remember his Christian name), whose grave can still be seen in a farmyard today. The farmer is quite used to people wandering around to find it. As far as I am aware, the Merrills were a Derbyshire / Yorkshire family - quite a long way from East Anglia. The only other thing I know about Merrills is that two of them stood with the 20th Maine (Merrill is, apparently, quite a common name in Maine, and there is a town of Merrilll in the State) on Little Round Top at Gettysburg - the crucial moment of the crucial battle of your Civil War. By coincidence, the garrison of Little Round Top was commanded by a Colonel Vincent (who was killed in the fight)- my mother married a Vincent.

I hope that you find the above of some interest. I am pleased that one of my family names (I was christened William John Merrill Vincent) is still well known in the USA. It's good to know that some of my ancestors had the good sense to go to America!

With kind regards, William Vincent

Answer: William:

Thank you for writing. Very interesting. The use of surnames by the common man didn't start till about 1400. It is apparent that completely unrelated families across England took the surname Merrill, or one of its variant spellings. Recent DNA studies on descendants of at least a half dozen [and probably many more as yet untested] Merrill families from different parts of England have been shown to be completely unrelated. As far as we know no Yorkshire Merrill descendants have been tested. If you know of any Yorkshire Merrill males who would be interested in being tested, we would like to be put in contact with them. It is a simple saliva swab. What is looked at is the DNA associated with the male Y-chromosome which is passed from father to son essentially unchanged over many, many generations [thousands of years], so should follow the surname, barring an adoption or other non-parental event.

There were over two hundred Merrill men from Maine who fought in our Civil War, four from the 20th Maine. Certainly most, if not all, of these Maine Merrills were descended from Nathaniel, 1601-1655, immigrant to Newbury MA from Wherstead, Suffolk, England ca 1639. From very early on, Maine has had the highest concentration of Merrills of any state. They just stayed there and multiplied.

Thanks again for writing,

Howard and Jean Merrill