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Samuel
Merrill, 1928, reprint 1983
Merrill:
the Name and Its Variations - Chapter II,
pp17-27
Merrill
and Morrill
General
Merrill was convinced that the Morrills had been a distinct
family since the Conquest, “they coming probably
from Hugo de Moruile (Battle Abbey Roll).” On the
other hand, community of blood between the Merrill, Morrill
and Murrill families in England is perhaps indicated by
the fact that a similar coat of arms is described under
the several names in works on heraldry. (See pages 110-111.)
Some
confusion has been caused by a peculiarity of medieval
script, e being often written  ,
and o being written  .
Thus,  (*)
might easily be mistaken for Morrill, when in reality
it should be read Merrill. Abraham Morrill was
an early settler of Salisbury, Mass., but few instances
of serious error, so far as I am aware, can be attributed
to the names of his descendants being mistaken for the
names of Merrills in the records of Newbury and Salisbury.
The
writers whom I have quoted in respect to the origin of
the name are quite dogmatic in stating what they assume
to be facts—but disagree radically in their conclusions.
There was an old English and French game played by boys,
called merils (pronounced
as the plural of Merrill), or merels. The game was sometimes
called nine-men’s morris, or five-penny morris. According
to Webster the name is derived from a Latin word marella,
from madaris, a Celtic javelin or pike. It would
be quite as reasonable to trace the family name to this
source as to some of the other sources from which writers
have, without seeming doubt or hesitation, assumed to
derive it. . . .
I
am forced to dismiss this subject with the admission with
which I began, and say that the origin of our family name
is unknown.
VARIATIONS
IN SPELLING
If
we accept Merrill as the normal spelling of the
family name in America, it is worthy of remark that the
only departures from this standard which have been widespread
and persistent have been among the descendants of John2
Merrill of Hartford. His descendants generally for a time
added a final s to the name, and for many years
the name was commonly written Merrills or Merrells by
a large proportion of the Connecticut branch of the family.
Furthermore, the change of the i in the last syllable
to e or a became very common in Connecticut
in the first half of the eighteenth century, but for many
years there has been a constant tendency to accept Merrill
as the preferred spelling. I cannot recall an instance
where any correspondent spelling his name Merrell, Merrall
or Merrills has proved to be a descendant of any one of
Nathaniel1 Merrill’s sons who remained
in the vicinity of Newbury: these spellings are prima
facie evidences of descent from John2 of Hartford.
(**)
Some
years ago in a bookshop I found, and purchased, a copy
of Hume’s History of England, on the inside of the
cover of each volume of which, in a rather boyish hand,
is written Selah Merrell. The book was printed
in 1854. I have always assumed that it was a textbook
of young Merrell of Canton, Conn., when a student at Yale
College. In 1892 Rev. Dr. Selah Merrill, the archaeologist,
wrote me from the American consulate at Jerusalem: “When
I was a child our name was spelled Merrell. It is only
since I went to college that the change was made.”
Indifference
to uniformity in spelling has in many ways complicated
the problems of the genealogist. Many instances are found
in the earlier years where individuals have spelled their
own names in two or more ways, and more frequent still
are the cases where recording officers have resorted to
various phonetic expedients, and have introduced many
eccentricities in spelling, throwing doubt in some cases
on the identity of individuals. The published records
of births, marriages and deaths in Newbury show eight
spellings of the family name: Merrill, Marril, Merel,
Meril, Merrell, Merril, Merryl and Mirril. (Vital Statistics,
published in Salem, 1911.)
* The
will of Nathaniel1 Merrill, reproduced in facsimile
at page 70, illustrates the peculiarity in orthography
here mentioned.
** In
the first volume of Manwaring’s “Digest of the
Early Connecticut Probate Records,” covering the
years 1635 to 1700, the Index shows 21 references to entries
where the name is spelled Merrells, and none to
the name spelled in other ways. In the second volume (1700-1729)
there are 68 Index references where the spelling is Merrells
and two where it is Merrill. The third volume (1729-1750)
shows Merrells 66 times, Merrell 36 times,
and Merells, Merrels and Merrill
once each.
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