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Samuel
Merrill, 1928, reprint 1983
Merrill
as a Place Name - Chapter X,
pp117-124
Many places in the United States bearing in some form
the Merrill name are evidence of the spirit of enterprise
which has led members of the family to seek homes or business
careers in newly-settled territory. I have gathered such
facts as I can of the origin of these names. In some cases
I have failed to discover in what way the one in whose
honor the name was given was related to the early settler
of Newbury, but in more cases I have succeeded. The task
of finding these facts will become no easier as time goes
on. If, meanwhile, however, I am assisting some future
compiler of a town history to record the family antecedents
of one whose name will survive as a geographical designation,
my work will not have been wasted.
Alabama
Merrellton is a small village,
with post-office, on the Tallahatchee River in Calhoun
County, Alabama. It is a junction point of the Seaboard
Airline and Southern Railroads, and has a population of
about eighty. The village is in a farming section which
is rich in various minerals.
The name was given to the post-office
in 1883 in honor of Merrill Day Frank, then only two years
of age. Joseph Frank of Birmingham, Ala., wrote me some
years ago that he was a chief clerk in the railway mail
service at the time when the post-office was established,
and chose the name in honor of his daughter. The little
girl, following a custom which is not uncommon in the
South, had received a family name at her christening,
instead of one of the names which are supposed to be especially
reserved for girls, being named for her grandfather, Merrill
Thomas Castlebury. The latter was named for Merrill Collier
of Gwinnett County, Georgia. My efforts to follow the
name to its source elicited a letter from Judge John Collier
of Atlanta, who told me that Merrill Collier was named
for one of a family of Merrills in Carrollton, Carroll
County, Georgia. W.-W. Merrill, and his sons George and
Henry, were, he said, successful lawyers in Carrollton
many years ago. Of their ancestry I have no information.
(See page 639.)
Arkansas
In some cases where places which seem
to have been named for Merrills are found on State maps,
closer investigation yields negative results. On a certain
map of Arkansas appears Merrell, in Clay County.
The postmaster of a neighboring town, answering a letter
of inquiry, said:
In
Reply To Your Letter I Will Say There Is Not,
Any Place Here By The Name
Menchened In Your,
Letter But There Is Some
People Living In This,
Vicinity By The Name Of
Merrell. . . .
I
pursued my inquiries no further.
California
Merrillville, Cal., is a village,
with post-office, in Lassen County, in the northeastern
part of the State. The population is 142. It was named
in 1874, in honor of Capt. Charles-Alfred9
Merrill (Henry8, Samuel7, Thomas6,5,
John4,3, Nathaniel2), (see
page 418) president of the Lassen County Land and
Cattle Company, who formulated the project of tapping
Eagle Lake and conducting the water by a tunnel and flume
to a desert area thirty miles distant for the purpose
of irrigation. The undertaking became involved in litigation,
and was never completed. Merrillville is four miles below
Eagle Lake, in a territory rich in timber. The nearest
railroad station is at Susanville, on the Southern Pacific
Railroad, fifteen miles distant.
A map of northern California shows Merrill,
in Sierra County, near the Nevada line. A postmaster in
the vicinity writes that this Merrill is a lumber camp,
long deserted, and that the source of the name is unknown.
Georgia
Merrillville is a township in
a farming section of Thomas County, southern Georgia,
with a post-office and a station of the Atlanta, Birmingham
& Atlantic Railroad. The population, according to
the census of 1920, was 1204. Of these none bear the name
Merrill. The township was given its name in 1900, in honor
of Joseph-Hansell9 Merrill of Thomasville,
Ga., attorney for the railroad company, who was instrumental
in securing the building of the railroad, and the establishment
of a station at this point. Joseph-Hansell9
Merrill is a son of Joseph-Styles8 Merrill
(Lemuel7, Joseph6, Stevens5,
Abel4,3,2). (See page 566)
There
was formerly a village known as Merrell in Greene County,
northern Georgia. Henry7 Merrell (Andrew6,
Bildad5, Eliakim4, Isaac3,
John2) (see page 494)
settled there about 1850, organized a cotton manufacturing
company, and erected mills. Owing to business difficulties
incident to the Civil War the factory was abandoned in
1863, and the village has ceased to exist. The place is
now known as Long Shoals. Henry7 Merrell was
born 8 Dec. 1816, in Utica, N.Y., and died 28 Jan. 1883,
in Camden, Ark.
Indiana
Merrillville, Ind., is a village
in Ross township, Lake County, about twenty-five miles
from Chicago. The population of the village in 1916 was
estimated at 209. William and Dudley Merrill settled there
in 1837, and were joined later by their brothers John-F.
and Lewis-B., and by their father Oliver Merrill. They
are said (*)
to have come from Corinth, Vt. From them the village received
its name. Some of their descendants were living recently
in the village. The land in the vicinity is valuable for
farming purposes. There is a station of the Chesapeake
& Ohio Railroad of Indiana at this point.
Iowa
Merrill, Iowa, is a village,
with post-office, in Plymouth township and Plymouth County,
eighteen miles north of Sioux City. The population in
1916 was estimated at 620, the people being interested
in grain and dairy industries. At this point there is
a station of the Illinois Central, the Great Northern
and the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railroads.
The name was given to the place in honor of Sherburne-Sanborn7
Merrill (see page 425) (Moses6,
Jonathan5, John4,3, Nathaniel2)
of Milwaukee. Mr. Merrill was a prominent railroad manager
in the Northwest for twenty years prior to his death in
1885.
Maine
Merrill,
in Aroostook County, Maine, received its name from Capt.
William6 Merrill (Levi5, Israel4,
James3, Abel2) of Portland, who
purchased the southeast quarter of Township No. 6, Range
4, 7 June, 1842, for $1932 (see page 615).
The township received the name of Merrill Plantation at
its organization in 1876, and was incorporated as a town
in 1911. Its population in 1920 was 361. William-George7
and Edward-Thomas7 Merrill, sons of Captain
Merrill, settled on the land which he purchased, and some
of their descendants now live in that vicinity. Lumbering
and potato-raising are the chief industries.
Merrill's
Corner is a village in Brownfield, Oxford County,
Maine. It received its name about 1810 from Nathaniel6
Merrill (Nathaniel5, John4,3, Nathaniel2),
a farmer (see page 427) who lived
there. None of his descendants have lived in the village
in recent years.
Merrill
Hill in Auburn, Maine, received its name from Elias5
Merrill (Daniel4, Moses3, Daniel2),
who, in 1791, bought five hundred acres of land (see
page 367) there from various settlers. Elias5
Merrill's sons, Elias6
Jabez6, Daniel6, and Marshfield6
(and James6)
all occupied portions of this land.
Maryland
Merrill
is a small village in a farming section on the Savage
River, a tributary of the Potomac. It is in the eastern
part of Garrett County, the westernmost county in Maryland.
The region is mountainous, Big Savage Mountain of the
Alleghany Range casting its shadow at daybreak over the
quiet settlement. A post-office was established at this
point about 1900. The place was given its name in honor
of Elias Merrill, who was born in 1838 in Garrett County,
Md., and died 28 Aug. 1909. He was a farmer, and lived
in Merrill. His father, John Merrill, was born in 1814
in Frostburg, Md., and died in 1860. Andrew-Jackson Merrill
of Piedmont, West Virginia, a brother of Elias, writes
that he thinks John Merrill's father was Nicholas, and
that Nicholas was a native of Massachusetts. Most of this
branch of the family are members of the Church of the
Brethren, commonly known as Dunkards, and two brothers
of Elias Merrill were ministers of that church.
Michigan
Merrill,
Saginaw County, Mich., is a village of 505 inhabitants
in Jonesfield township, on the Pere Marquette Railroad,
twenty miles west of Saginaw. The occupation of the inhabitants
is chiefly farming and lumbering. The name was given to
the place about 1880 in honor of Nathan-Weston8
Merrill, at that time superintendent of the railroad upon
which it is situated. Mr. Merrill was a native of St.
Albans, Maine, (see page 520) a
son of James-Levi7 Merrill (Levi6,
James5, Joseph4, Daniel3,2).
He died 18 April, 1903, at his home in Saginaw, aged 67.
Mississippi
Merrill is a village of 328 inhabitants
in George County, southern Mississippi. It is a station
of the Gulf, Mobile & Northern Railroad, at the point
where the road crosses the Pascagoula River. The place
was given the name in 1898 in honor of Frank-Babson Merrill,
who built the Mobile, Jackson & Kansas City Railroad
(now the Gulf, Mobile & Northern), and became its
president. Lumbering, farming and stock-raising are the
chief industries. Mr. Merrill now operates a sawmill at
this point, but makes his home in Mobile, Alabama, fifty
miles distant.
Mr. Merrill wrote that he is a son of
Joshua-Babcock Merrill (1811-1894) of Barnstead, N.H.,
and grandson of Samuel Merrill (1788-1827) of Amesbury,
Mass. Samuel6 Merrill (Isaac5,4,
Abraham3,2) was born 28 Jan. 1782, and lived
in Amesbury, and he had a brother Joshua. Mr. Merrill
wrote that his father was named for an uncle Joshua. He
was inclined to the belief that his father was a son of
this Samuel6, an error with regard to the date
of Samuel Merrill's birth having in some way found its
way into his family papers.
Montana
Merrill, Stillwater County, Montana,
is a station on the Northern Pacific Railroad fifty miles
west of Billings. It is on the Yellowstone River, about
sixty miles from the northeastern corner of the Yellowstone
National Park. It is a shipping point for Montana range
cattle. The place was named in honor of Gen. Lewis8
Merrill, who was in command of the Seventh U.S. Cavalry,
stationed in the Yellowstone Valley in 1877, protecting
the men engaged in the construction of the road. (See
pages 13-16.)
New
Hampshire
Merrill's Corner is a village
in Farmington, Strafford County, N.H. Isaac7
Merrill (Joseph6, Jacob5, Isaac4,
Abraham3,2), a native of Amesbury, Mass., settled
there about 1830 and established a country store, and
this fact gave the name to the neighborhood. The post-office
(see page 501) formerly maintained
there has been discontinued, mail being delivered by rural
carrier from Rochester.
New
York
Merrill, N.Y., is in Clinton
County, in the northern Adirondacks. It is a small village
in the southern part of the town of Ellenburgh. It is
chiefly known as a Summer resort, but some farming and
lumbering is done by the inhabitants. Two brothers, Enoch6
and Paul6 Merrill (Paul5, Enoch4,
Joseph3, Abel2), natives of Gilmanton,
N.H. (see pages 608-609), settled
in Belmont, Franklin County, N.Y., early in the nineteenth
century and engaged in farming. Paul's son, Darius-Warren7
Merrill, went up Chateaugay Lake eight miles to the site
of the present village of Merrill about 1858, and built
a log cabin on the shore of the lake. Here he entertained
sportsmen from the cities, and gradually increased his
accommodations until, at his death in 1887, his house
would accommodate sixty guests. The family name in recent
years has been common in Belmont and Merrill village.
The village of Merrill is four miles from Lyon Mountain
station on the Delaware & Hudson Railroad.
Besides the village of Merrill there
are in the State of New York two places known as Merrillsville.
In the town and County of Franklin, twenty miles south
from the village of Merrill, is Merrillsville, a farming
village in the Adirondacks. John7 Merrill (John6,5,4,3,
Nathaniel2) (see page 423)
removed in 1835 from Chelsea, Vt., with his four grown-up
sons, and made the first clearing in the forest in that
vicinity. In 1838 he caused a post-office to be established
there under the name of Merrillsville, and it remained
more than forty years, when it was removed to Loon Lake,
a Summer resort two miles distant. John7 Merrill
was a native of Concord, N.H. He died at Merrillsville
19 Oct. 1872, aged 89. The village is six miles from Loon
Lake station on the Delaware & Hudson Railroad. A
number of the descendants of John7 Merrill
now live in the town of Franklin.
In Madison County, N.Y., 135 miles southwest
of Merrillsville in Franklin County, is another village
of the same name, in the town of Lenox. The inhabitants
of this Merrillsville, who in 1916 numbered about
105, have been chiefly interested in hop-growing and farming.
The name was given to the place half a century ago or
more by Gerrit Smith, the noted Abolitionist, who lived
in Peterboro in the same County, in honor of Solomon Merrill,
who, before 1830, was one of the first settlers there,
and who lived there more than thirty years. Solomon Merrill
went West with his brother Allen, and died in Wisconsin.
A post-office called Merrillsville was established in
1891, but it has been discontinued, mail being delivered
by a rural carrier from Oneida.
Oregon
Merrill, Oregon, is a town of
four hundred inhabitants in Klamath County, at the extreme
southern edge of the State. The nearest railroad station
is Klamath Falls, twenty-two miles distant. Farming and
sheep and cattle raising are the chief industries. The
village was laid out in 1894 by Nathan-Smith Merrill,
and was named in his honor. In 1919 Mr. Merrill wrote
that he lived in Merrill, and was a farmer. He was born
22 Aug. 1836, near Hillsboro, N.H. He was a son of Nathan
Merrill, who was born 8 Jan. 1806, in Nashua, N.H., and
grandson of Capt. Nathan Merrill of Hollis, N.H., a drover.
Texas
Merrelltown is a small village
in Travis County, Tex., sixteen miles north of Austin.
It has borne the name since about 1850. Nelson7
Merrell settled on Brushy Creek in what is now Williamson
County, Texas, in 1837. He was born in Connecticut in
1810, the son of Erastus6 Merrell (Stephen5,
Benjamin4, John3,2) (see
page 463). The family had migrated to Concord,
Ohio, in 1818. In 1839 Nelson Merrell raised a company
of "rangers" for the protection of the infant
city of Austin, which had just been selected as the capital
of the Republic of Texas, and he was chosen captain of
the company. Hostile Indians still roamed the woods in
the immediate vicinity. Nelson Merrell moved to Walnut
Creek, in Travis County, in 1846. A post-office was established
at this point, and he was appointed postmaster, the place
being given the name Merrelltown. After the Civil War
he moved to Brushy Creek, and his descendants now live
at Round Rock, in the same vicinity. The post-office at
Merrelltown has been discontinued, a rural delivery route
from Round Rock serving the community in its stead.
Utah
Merrill's Spur, Cache County,
Utah, is a station on the Oregon Short Line Railroad and
on the Ogden, Logan & Idaho Electric Railway, at the
northern edge of the State. Its mail service is through
the office at Richmond, one mile distant. The station
was named for Marriner-Wood Merrill in the last decade
of the last century. (See page 644.)
Wisconsin
Merrill, the County seat of Lincoln
County, Wis., is a thriving city having, according to
the census of 1920, a population of 8068. Merrill town
has an additional population of 909. The chief industry
of the place is the manufacture of lumber, which is shipped
in large quantities. It is on the Wisconsin River, and
a lumber boom at this point has a capacity for 100,000,000
feet of logs. An abundance of hardwood timber grows in
the vicinity. Two newspapers are published in the city.
The town was originally named Jenny, but this name was
changed to Merrill in 1880 in honor of Sherburne-S.7
Merrill (See pp. 119, 425) of Milwaukee,
general manager of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul
Railway. The Wisconsin Valley Division of this road passes
through the city. It was said a few years ago that there
were no persons named Merrill living in the city.
Merrillan, Wis., is a village
in Jackson County, at the junction of the Chicago, St.
Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha and the Green Bay &
Western Railroads. Its population in 1920 was 628. It
is devoted to lumber interests, and is the center of a
good farming section. Leander-Gage7 Merrill
and his brother Benjamin-Hammond7 Merrill,
sons of Humphrey6 (Nathaniel5, Humphrey4,
James3, Abel2), went to Wisconsin
in 1849, and settled in 1871 upon some pine land which
they had purchased in the present town of Merrillan. They
built a saw-mill and invested heavily in other improvements.
The name of the town is derived from the fact that there
were many copartnerships in which the senior member was
a Merrill--"Merrill & Loomis," "Merrill
& Ice," etc.--and the repetitions of "Merrill
and" suggested "Merrillan" as a name.
Merrill Park is a station on
the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway in the city
of Milwaukee. It is two miles from the union station of
the company in that city, and within a few rods of the
late residence of Sherburne-S.7 Merrill, formerly
general manager of the company, in whose honor it was
named. (See page 119.)
*
Oliver Merrill was born 20 Jan. 1782; died 7 Oct 1854;
married 1806, Elizabeth Fellows of Corinth. He moved to
Owego, Tioga County, N.Y. in 1820, and later to Indiana.
Chapter
XI
If
you have further information on the book, "A Merrill
Memorial" and would like to share it with others,
please contact
me.
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