Subject: Re: Merrill family Frank William Merrill
Date: Mon, November 12, 2007 2:21p

Question: Constance Merrill wrote:

I have questions about the maine merrills. my father was frank philip merrill b. 1919 d.1988 philip gordon merrill b.aug. 1894 d.1935 (married margaret flaherty) frank w. merrill b.1857 maine to abigail l.b. 1858 (there were multiple frank w.,s at that time in the portland scarborough area) but searching census records i believe his father was william merrill b.1816 and olive j. goodwin do you have any knowledge if this is correct?

Answer: Constance:

Your Frank William (9) Merrill m. 1877 July 29 Abigail Lidia Hamel in Portland. He was b.1857 Dec 16 in Gardiner and d. 1901 May 6 in Portland age 43-5-0. He was NOT the son of William Thurston Merrill and Olive Goodwin, but rather the son of John F (8) and Elizabeth H Wellus. His lineage is John F (8), William (7), John (6) Moses (5), Nathan (4,3), Abel (2), immigrant Nathaniel (1). More details are available.

It is easy to see how you came to the conclusion about William Thurston and Olive Goodwin. They did also have a Frank William b. 1857 Nov 8 in Scarboro, d. 1909 Apr 7 in Scarboro, but he m. Katie Allen, and only had two daughters. You have to go back to the original immigrant for these two Frank Williams to have a common ancestor. This Frank William (9)'s lineage is William T (8), Phineas (7), Levi (6), Daniel (5), Joseph (4), Daniel (3,2), Nathaniel (1).

We have your father in our database, but have nothing about his family. We would greatly appreciate details of his family and descendants down to the present. Be assured that our database is not internet searchable and we give out NO info on living individuals. Did your father have any siblings other than Beverly Jean? When did your Merrill grandparents die?

Howard and Jean Merrill

Subject: Re: Merrill family James Merrill
Date: Tue, November 13, 2007 4:03p

Question: Jim Roaix wrote:

Greetings Howard ... I am still trying to place my "James MERRILL" supposedly born ca 1794 in New Brunswick, which would probably make him the son of a Loyalist MERRILL (if there was such an animal. He had Joshua P. and Sarah as children, and died in Washington County, Maine after 1860, ! as he is in that census (which is where the "NB birth" comes from. Jim

Answer: Jim:

We don't have anything new on your "James". Looking back on our correspondence, it seems that all the census records indicate he was b. ME, not NB, but his wife was b. NB in all the records.

There have been some new developments with regard to NB Merrills. It seems there was a british soldier [Merrill] in the Revolutionary War, who after the war was granted 40 acres in Stanley NB. [No known James among his descendants] We have 3 or 4 descendants of this soldier as correspondents. There was some question as to whether he was a loyalist from New England or whether he was from Britain. One of his male Merrill descendants has had his DNA tested. The DNA associated with the male Y-chromosome is passed from father to son essentially unchanged over many, many generations so should follow the surname, barring an adoption or other non-parental event. The descendants of immigrant Nathaniel of Newbury MA share an unusual and very rare DNA pattern. The results from the descendant of the NB Merrill show that he cannot be descended from Nathaniel of Newbury. Since almost all of the New England Merrills are descended from Nathaniel, the conclusion is that the NB soldier was probably from England, not a New England Loyalist. While we have not done much research in England, we know that there are a lot of apparently unrelated Merrill families in England. The use of surnames by the common man didn't start till about 400 years ago. Apparently a lot of unrelated families assumed the Merrill name. We know from DNA results that Merrill immigrants to Staten Island and the MD eastern shore are not related to each other nor to Nathaniel of Newbury, nor the NB soldier.

All this is interesting, but if your James was really from ME as the census indicates, it does not relate to your problem. If we could find a male Merrill descendant of James's son Joshua P, DNA tests might tell us if he was a Nathaniel descendant. But so far we haven't found record of Joshua P surviving the Civil war.

Sorry we can't be of more help,

Howard and Jean Merrill

Subject: Re: Merrill family Ask the Experts Query
Date: Fri, November 23, 2007 11:50a

Question: Jim Merrill wrote :

Hi, Below is a question that you posted to your website. You may wish to direct the attention of James Merrill to the following eBay auction: http://tinyurl.com/2x7xtv Long version URL is: http://cgi.ebay.com/CIVIL-WAR-1ST-CALIFORNIA-VOL-GAR-DOCU-1880-OAK-GROVE-ST_W0QQitemZ290183304432QQihZ019QQcategoryZ156948QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Best regards, Steve Bogdan - - - Subject: Re: Merrill family Henry Merrill Date: Fri, Oct 13, 2006 23:05 Question: JAMES MERRILL wrote: Hi, I'm looking for info. on Henry E Merrill.He was born in or around Gardiner in 1826. He married a saah Dodge and they had two children, CharlesR born in Washington ME in 1849 and Helen born 1853.He was an officer with the 16th Maine during Civil War. You have help me establish his death in 1908 in Gardiner. He was listed as a carpenter and a justice of the peace. My desire is to find info on Henry's parents and if possible Saah Dodge's parents. Jim Merrill

Answer: Jim:

This came to us and we are passing it on. We haven't looked at the site, but you mentioned that Henry was a Capt. in the CA Infantry, so it might be of intrest to you.

Howard and Jean

Subject: Re: Merrill family Shubael Merrill
Date: Sun, November 25, 2007 10:49a

Question: Joshua Merrill wrote :

I have some Merrill lineage info starting with George(5) Merrill and continuing with Shubel(6). Shubel settled in Deposit NY after moving with his mother to Ticonderoga, NY. My father and grandfather who have both passed away, did some extensive research.

Answer: Joshua:

Shubael (6)'s lineage is George (5), Jonathan (4), Daniel (3), John (2), immigrant Nathaniel (1). How do you descend from Shubael?

Let us introduce our selves. We are Howard and Jean Merrill. For twenty five 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 a100,000 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 can expand our database and do a better job of helping solve Merrill lineage problems. We would be interested in the details of your descent from Shubael down to the present.

You asked about a list of Merrills. In our database of only the descendants of Nathaniel there are over 56,000 individuals which includes wives [and their parents, if known] and husbands of the Merrill daughters, but not the children of the daughters, since they do not carry the Merrill surname. Just a list of over 25,000 names would be meaningless, unless with dates and how they were connected. A genealogy report of the entire database would be many thousands of pages long and is not available. We will be glad to share info on your direct line [including siblings] in return for info on the recent generations of your line.

Howard and Jean Merrill

Subject: Re: Merrill family Peter (4) Merrill
Date: Sat, November 24, 2007 9:53p

Question: Pat Duckwitz wrote :

I am from merrills thru peter 1703, his parents were daniel and esther chase. i would like to know the names of children of peter and esther and dates. thank you

Answer: Pat:

We are not sure which generation you are asking about, that of Daniel and ESTHER, or that of PETER, since you asked for children of Peter and Esther. Peter(4)'s lineage is Daniel (3,2), Nathaniel (1).

Peter m. twice, first to Mary Bailey Feb 8 1725/26. they had Mary, 1726 Nov 7; Judith, 1727/28 Mar 18; Hannah, 1728/29 Feb 14.

Peter m. 2nd Priscilla Annis 1729/30 Mar 20. They had Peter, 1733 Nov 11, d. bef. 1739; Elijah, 1735 Mar 26; Priscilla, 1736 Oct, d. bef. 1743; Abigail 1737 Nov 26; Peter, 1739 Nov 11; Priscilla, 1743 Apr 24; Seth, 1745 Jun 24 - 1749 Nov; Esther 1749 May 17; Annis 1751 Jun 13; Jacob 1754 Mar 22. They didn't have a very good survival rate, loosing at least three in childhood. Elijah may have also d. young, since we don't have any additional info on him.

How are you descended from Peter?

Howard and Jean Merrill

Subject: Re: Merrill family Annis Merrill
Date: Sun, November 25, 2007 9:26p

Question: Pat Duckwitz wrote:

THANKS, NOW I GO DOWN TO ANNIS 5 AND LYDIA COFFIN FROM PETER. I NEED NAMES AND DATES ON THEIR CHILDREN.

Answer: Pat:

You still have not said how you descend from Peter and Annis.

Annis (5) Merrill m. 1784 Jun 10, Lydia Coffin (6) Merrill [Moses (5), Nathan (4,3), Abel (2), Nathaniel (1). They had Joseph Annis, 1784 Nov 22; John, 1786 May 2; Samuel, 1788 Jan 12; Mary Coffin, 1789 Dec 30; Lydia 1791 Dec 9; Susannah, 1793 Jan 19; Sally, 1796 Apr 25; Moses, 1798 July 13; Jacob, 1800 Sep 18; Priscilla 1802 July 19; Nancy 1805 Aug 6.

Howard and Jean Merrill

Subject: Re: Merrill family Merrill Memorial
Date: Tue, November 27, 2007 4:35p

Question: Robert Merrill wrote :

I am getting ready to put my Family tree to print.In this book I have the Merrill Memorial copy from merrill.org. Am I infringing on any rights , if I was to add this to my book? Thank you.

Answer: Robert:

A Merrill Memorial was originally privately printed, 27 copies, and distributed gratis to genealogical libraries across the country. None were sold. It was never copyrighted. It has since been reprinted by Parker River Reseachers and is now out of print. There should be no problem with rights infringement, but you should acknowledge that it was the source of the information that you took from it.

We hope that you have removed the references to the DeMerle legend that was in your 2004 printout. There is no credible evidence that these simple English farmers traveled back and forth from England to France. The fact that descendants of Nathaniel share Haplotype G DNA suggests that Nathaniel's ancestors were probably in England since the time of the Roman Legions, long before surnames came into use for the common man. Two Roman Legions from the Caucasus region served along the Scottish and Welsh borders. That region is the only place in the world where Haplotype G predominates [37% of men there are Haplotype G].

Howard and Jean Merrill