Subject: Re: Merrill family - John Merrill, ca 1804
Date: Wed, November 23, 2011 12:56p

Question: Ryan Barron (Merrill) wrote:

I have traced my family histroy of Merrill down to a John Merrill from ME. He married a Mary Wilson from either NH or ME. I have two different documents. Census document from 1850 stating Mary's birth state as NH and a death certificate of one of their children stating Mary was born in ME. They had 8 children. I can't think of all the names off the top of my head but here are a few: James, Mary, Sara, Amaziah, John H., Cyrus (I have a copy of his death certificate) Adaline... The last known place I can find is when they lived in Brooks, ME. I am assuming if my math is correct both Mary and John were born 1804 but it could be 1805 or 1803. I am assuming they were married about 1828 as their fist son was born in 1828 (apx). Some of his children setteled in Ohio and the rest settled in MN. I have really been struggling and I am very curious. I don't know if he changed the spelling of his name... If you have any way of helping me that would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks Ryan Barron (Merrill)

Answer: Ryan:

Thank you for your query. Let us introduce ourselves. We are Howard and Jean Merrill.   For thirty 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 a 100,000 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.

Your John Merrill, ca 1804, is in our "Lineage Unknown" file. We do not know who his parents were. We thought we had John and Mary's death records in Portland in 1875, but closer inspection today showed that not to be true.

In the 1870 census we did find a John Merrill, 67, b. ME, and Mary, 67, b. NH, in St. Joseph, Stearns, MN, and next door was a James Stables, 41, and wife Susan, 37, both b. ME. Could this be your John and Mary? And could Susan Stables be a daughter of John and Mary? Susan was not listed in 1850, but she would have been 17, and perhaps already m.  You mentioned that some of the family went to MN.  Who and where to?

We checked the 1880 census and John is still in St. Joseph, but Mary is no longer there. John is living with James Stables, 51, b. ME, and wife Francis, 46, b. ME.  John Merrill is listed as James' father [in law?].  Is Susan and Francis the same woman??  Don't find any of them still in St. Joseph in 1900.  The 1880 census indicates that both John's parents were b. NH, but I don't know how much faith to put in that,  It all depends on who gave the info to the census taker, James, his wife [who may or may not be John's daughter], or John himself.  We did not find record of John or Mary's d. in what MN records we have access to, or on Findagrave.com.

We would be very interested in what you know of John's children, particularly his sons and how you descend from John.  We are pretty sure that you descend from immigrant Nathaniel, who came to Newbury MA in 1639 [almost all ME Merrills did}. 

One way to be sure would be to be Y-DNA tested. The DNA associated with the male Y-chromosome is passed from father to son, essentially unchanged over many, many generations [tens or hundreds].  The descendants of Nathaniel share a rare and distinctive DNA pattern. While the DNA test, run on a saliva swab, will NOT tell you who John's parents were, it may confirm your descent from Nathaniel. Family Tree DNA currently has a year- end sale for $119 [usually $149] for the 37 marker test [the best one for genealogy purposes].

Let us hear from you,

Howard and Jean Merrill