The Merrill Newsletter - Volume 7, Number 2 - August, 2002 - Page 3
NEW QUERIES
by Howard and Jean Merrill Query: Dottie West needed information on John K. (maybe King) Merrill b. 15 Apr. 1811 in New York City. He was m. 29 July 1832 in Palmyra, NY to Elizabeth or Eliza Gardner. It was a double wedding as Elizabeth Gardner's sister was married at the same time. She was b. 25 Aug. 1809 in Boston, MA (although I haven't been able to find her birth there) and she d. 27 Jan. 1883 in Palmyra, NY. John Merrill's father--name unknown--was supposedly born in Paris, France. John Merrill was a chairmaker and had a brother who went to CT. They had the following 7 children:
1. Melvina Eliza b. 27 Oct. 1834 and d. 29 Nov. 1838 or 2 Dec. 1838
2. Josephine Merrill b. 2 Aug. 1836 and d. 20 Aug. 1918 m. 27 Oct. 1864 William Parsons (this is my line).
3. John G. Merrill b. 19 Aug. 1838 and d. 18 Mar. 1867 of typhoid and lung congestion.
4. Fredrick Augustus b. 14 Dec. 1840. He lived in New York City and he d. 1 Nov. 1896 in either Palmyra or Rochester NY. He m. Jessie Mitchell.
5. Thadeus Alphonso b. 10 May 1843 and d. 15 Dec. 1843 in Palmyra, NY
6. Cora Merrill b. 22 Apr. 1849 m. 1. Wayland Trumbull and 2. Joseph Blaby and she d. 28 July, 1906 in Palmyra, NY
7. Sara M. b. 18 May 1851 and d. 12 June 1899 in Palmyra, NY. She may have been a missionary.Query: Shirley Scott had her husband's lineage posted on their homepage (descended from Daniel (4) [William (3,2,1)] and Elizabeth Lytel of NC through their daughter Mary who m. Samuel Lambert).
Query: Carol Sue Smith Wilcoxson said her grandfather was Ernest Clifford Merrill born 03/14/1903 in Mackinaw, IL., died 04/29/1993, married, 1926, Alberta Francis Davis Main [d. 1977]. He lived most of his life in Salina, Kansas. He was the youngest child. Other sibs were Esther (Hegland), Venita or Venida (Lewis), Fern (White) and Lavern (Gust) twins, and Lavone (died as a child). His father was General Mansen Merrill who was married to Lillian Hall but divorced. She later married Ollie Gray and then Tom Williams. For years they thought General Merrill was killed trying to jump a train to get home after a visit to see my grandparents in Salina, KS. When I was about 11 years old he showed up out of the blue and I have pictures of me and my brother with him. He lived with a woman somewhere in IL and died in the late 50's or early 60's in IL. My mother Alice Vivian Merrill Smith was an only child. I met all of my great aunts and uncles when I was a child and lived in Salina but lost touch.
I have no dates for General Mansen Merrill or Lillian Hall. All I know about him is that his father disowned him when he married her. His father owned a farm that later became Peoria, Ill. Lillian Ann Hall-Merrill-Gray-Williams is buried in the Gypsem Hills Cemetery in Salina, KS but we haven't found the grave or a stone. Her father was a fortune teller and laborer, who lived to be around 80, and remarried after 1926. Family thought 2nd. wife poisoned him.
Query: Damaris Reynolds wrote, I have an ancestor, Thomas Wells, who married Elizabeth Merrill 13 May 1720 in Saybrook, CT. Her father is supposed to be Thomas Merrill married to Elizabeth Roe and I have read that Thomas was part of the Newbury Merrills, but I have not been able to verify it.
Query: Rachel Collins asked: Would you happen to have a Frederick Willis Merrill in your line? He lived in NH and then married a Lucinda Ella in Maine.
Query: Michele A. Koltermann lists an ancestor Andrew MERRILL, b. 1804, New Gloucester, ME No wife listed, ch: i.Antone Raymond, b 1832 Sept 22 ME, d. 1906 Dec 28 LaCrosse. WI, m. 1863 NY Hannah Elizabeth Barker, lived New Rochelle, Long Island. NY; Andrew's other ch, ii. E.R. Merrill resided New Rochelle; iii. Lydia.A. Merrill-Jones, resided NYC.
Query: Nell Truitt in Florida said " My husband, John, a descendant from the Robert Merrill lineage through Eli Reid of Alabama, remembers his mother, Martha Clara Merrill Truitt, and her mother, Nancy Elizabeth Shreves Merrill, speak about the old family coming from Wales. Has any researcher found a Merrill progenitor who came from there? Or a story about how the family gave refuge to the King, and he honored the family?"
Query: Phyllis Evans wrote "My husband is related to the Merrill's starting with Nathaniel and brother John. My husbands cousins are the Parker's of Lowell, MA. I have their family history on loan. Looking for the direct link for the D A R. Grandmother was Julia Evelyn Campbell grand-daughter of William Merrill and Elsie Bixby."
Query: Doris Merrell Harlan wrote that she believes that her sixth grandfather was Capt. Benjamin Merrill from NC. Proposed lineage: Capt. Benjamin-Andrew-John-Willaim Roland- John B- Thomas Roland -John and my brother Billy Merrell. Somewhere along the way Merrill became Merrell. She knows that they last three are her relations - have proof of them, but can't find any paper trail connecting William Roland and John B together.
Query: Paul A Merrill of Australia wrote that he had traced his Merrill line back to a Stephen Merrill b 4 Aug 1832, lived in Green Hill, Stanley Parish, New Brunswick, d. 6 Mar 1907; married Mary E Graves b 30 Jul 1837. I believe that Stephen might have met Mary in Maine, considering that his son, Joseph William Merrill (great grand-dad), born 1866 met his wife Hattie Elizabeth Pray in Maine, since she was born there. Do you have any records of a Stephen in the early records? There is a note that his mother might have been Abegail ? born in 1798, so I'm looking for a Merrill born around 1798 in either NB or Maine. Any chance that he is related to the Marriner Wood Merrill line?
Query: Allan Stewart said: The furthest back I have been able to go in search of Merrill ancestors is Bathsheba, b. abt. 1767 in CT. She died August 14, 1850 in Buffalo, Erie, NY, and was living with her son, George Washington Merrill (George 2), at the time per the 1850 Black Rock, Erie, NY census. Her obit in "Erie County NY Obituaries" said “Merrill, Mrs. Bathsheba, mother of George W., d. Aug 14, 1850, age 83”. The obit of her apparent husband is also given “Merrill, George, father of George W., June 9, 1848, age 67”. It is interesting that he was some 14 years younger than she was. I have assumed that this George and Bathsheba were husband and wife, and have unsubstantiated indications that there were two other children:
Susan Merrill who m. Edwin Dunbar and Elizabeth Merrill, b. 1805, d. 1824George Washington Merrill and Louisa Flagg Burr had the following children:
George Burr Merrill, b. 1844 NY, d. 1920 PA, m. Mattie Egan
John Flagg Merrill (my great grandfather), b. Dec 25, 1848 NY, d. Sept 8, 1922, m. 1st Charlotte Maude Foster, m. 2nd J. Vera Lash
Mary Louise Merrill, b. 1849 NY, m. Wm. Leavitt Haines1869, had two girls, Marion & Louise.
Charles Thompson Merrill, b. abt. 1855, d. Apr 15, 1880
Frank Elton Merrill, b. 1857, d. 1860 PA
Louisa Seymour Merrill, b. Oct 26, 1865, m. Corwin Pottenger Rees, had one son, Merrill, and later adopted Marion Haines, her niece.This family moved from Buffalo to Erie, PA some time between 1855 and 1860.
Query: Greg Hunter of Elbridge NY was searching for MERRILL lines connected to James MERRILL born 1805 and wife Sophia SHURTLEFF and their 14 children. They were located in Alexandria Bay, Jefferson Co, NY. James' Children: Jerome (1832-1845), Ann Eliza (1834-), Catherine (1835-1918), Jane N. (1836-1913), Hannah E. (1838-1911), Melvin (1840-1845), James M. (1840-1845), Mary A. (1841-1847), John (1843-1847), Harriet (1844-1847), Sarah L. (1846-1936), William J. (1848-1876), Mary E. (1849-1926), Alice S. (1852)
Query: Allan Merrill of Salt Lake City would appreciate any information on the fate of Justin Jared (7) [son of Samuel] Merrill's first wife, Annie Lovina Manchester. Cannot find a trace of her after 1838, no date or place of death. Justin Jared remarried in 1840 (Camillia Wirack).
Query: Suzanne Congdon of Smyrna GA is looking for ancestry of William R. Merrill, b. 9 Oct. 1806, son of Richard Merrill and Sarah A. Wallace, b Sep.17.1807, daughter of Moses Wallace. Their son, William Campbell Merrill, b. Dec 1851, married Anna Hartshorn, b. Jan 1862, and is my gggrandfather. William R. came to Ulster, PA from Easton, PA in 1847. I located a Richard Merrill in the 1800 Census records of Northampton county, PA and suspect he may be my Richard. I found a Richard Merrill who married Mary Neigh, born in Northampton County, PA
Query: Virginia Lawson Long of Mountain Grove MO is searching for info on the family of Isaac and Cynthia (Owens) Merrill, who are living in Wright Co MO in 1860. They moved to AR during or after the Civil War, and are in Izard and Stone Co AR. She needs date of death and place of burial for Cynthia.
Query: Ginger Merrill Menefee of Boone Co KY, a long time correspondent, is still looking for any information on Col. Benjamin Merrell, b. 11 Dec. 1759, Hopewell NJ. Married Mary B. Hart on 11 Jan. 1789 in NJ. Had 5 Kids. Sarah Hart 1789, John McIver 1792, Nathaniel Wilson 1794, Martha Bonneau 1798, Anna Maria Gilchrist, 1801
Benjamin's children were born in South Carolina. Moved to Ky. Pension record filed in Fayette Co. Ky. Some info from Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia. I descend from John McIver Merrell.