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We got started collecting Merrill info in 1980 when I was off from work
on a medical leave. Anything we could find in the library on Merrills -
the vacuum cleaner method. My great uncle had earlier given me what he
had collected on our line, which later proved incorrect. We started
reading census microfilms starting with 1850 then going backward and
forward from there. We gathered so much Merrill info, we offered our
services to do Merrill research for a fee - not a money maker, but we
did break even and charged off our first computer. After three years
the record keeping of a small business wasn't worth the hassle, so we
went to doing it for free, just for the challenge of trying to solve
folks problems. Problem solving was a major aspect of my job as a
chemist with Exxon from which I retired in 1986 after 30 years.
Jean and I were high school sweethearts, and we married after we both
graduated in chemistry from Stetson University in DeLand Florida. She
worked as a chemist in the Graduate School of Public Health, putting me
through graduate school at the University of Pittsburgh. When I came to
work at Exxon, then Esso, here in Baton Rouge, LA she became a stay at
home mom, until all four children were in school, when she started
volunteering in our elementary school library, and eventually became a
substitute teacher. She quit teaching when it wasn't fun anymore,
shortly before I retired. Recently she returned to volunteering in the
library. Our hobbies, other than digging up dead people, include
travel, volunteering, and growing Bonsai, miniature Japanese trees. It
keeps us busy, and I wish I could say young, but at least young at heart.
We are both puzzle freaks, crossword, cryptoquote, jumble, and now
Soduku, so genealogical problems are a natural for us, and we find it
challenging. When Dick Listro started up the Merrill Newsletter, we
offered our services answering Queries and kept it up when Lil Hall took
over. Just wish we could have kept up the Newsletter, but I know
publishing it was a hassle, especially getting folks to contribute
articles. While we started off just working with Nathaniel's line, it
soon became evident as we left New England that we had to cover all the
various lines. We have traveled over the country, and done research in
many states, including several weeks in Salt Lake, our niece lives there
which makes it convenient. Our computer database for Nathaniel's line
has over 56,000 individuals, and we have finally gotten the Staten
Islanders and William of MD in the computer. It is not that we don't
trust computers, although we've had our share of problems, but
everything is also on 3X5 cards. Our files of folks we haven't yet
linked to an immigrant are as big as those we have.
Howard and Jean (10 March 2008) |
