Subject: Re: Merrill family - John and Jemima Batton
Date: Sat, March 14, 2009 5:08p

Question: Jack D Merrill wrote:

I appear to be a descendant of William Merrill born in 1804 son of John and Jemima Merrill. I recently began research on the Merrill name, it appears that there is new information breaking on this line of Merrill's. Could you help confirm that I'm on the right track with my genealogy. I ! would of course provide you with all the information I have gathered with sources. I am also interested in participating in the MerrillDNAProject. Thank you for your work. Without the transcripts from various messages boards, web links etc., I wouldn't have made it to this point.

Best Regards, Jack

Answer: Jack:

Thank you for writing. Of course we will be glad to help you confirm your paper trail back to John and Jemima. Jackson appears to be a popular name in that family. You will need to provide us with what you know about your family line.

Let us introduce our selves. We are Howard and Jean Merrill. For over 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.

Glad you are interested in participating in the Merrill DNA Project. To date we don't have a known descendant of John and Jemima Batton that has been tested. John and Joseph, presumably his brother, show up in Monongalia Co, now WV, and marry two of Henry Batton's triplet daughters, Jemima and Elizabeth. We do not know who their father was. both john and Joseph d. before the 1850 census, the first census that gave the birthplace of the individual. In 1880, Stephen, son of John and Jemima, said his father was b. NY, but son John W said he was b. WV. It is known that descendants of Richard of Staten Island settled in the western MD panhandle, and it may be that John and Joseph belong to this clan.

A Jesse b. MD and Nancy Hemphill lived in Belmont and Harrison Co, OH before moving to IA. For a time, Jemima Merrill, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Batton, and her husband, John Morgan, lived next door to this Jesse in Harrison Co, OH, suggesting a close tie between these Merrill families. A descendant of Jesse has been DNA tested and his results match the other "Staten Island" Merrill descendants, although we haven't got a firm paper trail. So we are anxious to see how a known "John and Jemima" descendant compares. I am sending this also to Gary Merrill, another of the coordinators of the Merrill DNA Project. He can give you details, cost, etc for the DNA testing.

Howard and Jean Merrill

Subject: Re: Merrill family - John and Jemima Batton
Date: Sat, March 14, 2009 8:48p

Comment: Howard and Jean,

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. I'm providing you with the information that I have collected. As you will see it seems that Samuel R Merrill married Rosa Merrill daughter of George Franklin Merrill of New Hampshire. I had trouble here because one record I found indicated that Samuel married Rosie Reid daughter of Joe Reid of Monongalia, West Virginia around the same time and place. Other census records seem to have resolved any marriage to Rosie Reid. Please find the attached GEDCOM file. I'm new to this so I hope I have provided you with right information. If you need anything else from me please let me know. I'm excited to see where this leads.

Best Regards,
Jack Merrill

Subject: Re: Merrill family - Myron M Merrill
Date: Mon, March 30, 2009 9:410a

Question: Dear Howard and Jean,

Last month I wrote and asked you if my late grandmother was born a Merrill. You were able to find out that she although adopted by Melissa Piper and her husband she was born the daughter of Myron Merrill. I looked at the Family Search website and found the dates of M! yron's birth and death but his mother is listed as Mary Johnson. I seem to remember that she was his step mother and not biological mother. Could you check on this and find if she was his birth mother and if not let me know who was?

Thank you for your time. Best regards,

Kathy Bottomley

Answer: Kathy:

Hiram Wesley (6) and Mary Emerson Johnson were Myron M's parents. Mary Johnson d. when Myron was 2. Hiram m. 2nd, 1854 Nov 30, Mary Emeline Foster, so Mary Foster was Myron's stepmother, but she raised Myron from the age of 11. It was this Mary E (Foster) Merrill, 65, who was next door to Kate and Melissa Piper in 1900.

Howard and Jean Merrill