Subject: Re: Merrill family - Alice R Merrill
Date: Tue, March 3, 2011 12:00p

Question: Meredith Allen wrote:

I'm trying to find Alice R. Merrill, b. around 1885; d. after 1931; m. Charles E. Chamberlain, b. May 1884; d. 1921 in Haverhill, Massachusetts I'm slogging through the Merrill males from the time of Nathaniel's arrival in the US but making achingly slow headway as there were so darned many of them. ANY help you could give me would be MOST appreciated.

Answer:Meredith:

From the MA vital records we have an Alice Rachael, b. 1886 Sep 4 in Haverhill to William Edwin and Lucy C (Martin) Merrill.  We think this is your Alice R.  In the 1900 Haverhill census, Alice R, 13, is with William E, 51, and Lucy C, 36, all b. MA.  By 1910, Alice is already m., but William E and Lucy are still in Haverhill.  When we looked for Charles and Alice in 1910, we found a Charles and Alice in Lowell, MA , but the ages are not correct, so we don't think they are your family.. Did Charles and Alice live somewhere else in 1910 and 1920?  What children did the have? When? Where?  Sometimes it is easyier to look for the children than the parents.  Sometimes the Ancestry census search engine will find the famiy looking for children but will miss them looking for the parents - Weird.

The lineage of William Edwin (8) is William (7,6), Samuel (5,4), Nathaniel (3,2,1). More details are available.

Let us introduce our selves. 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.

Howard and Jean Merrill

Subject: Re: Merrill family - James Judson Merrill
Date: Tue, March 15, 2011 1:21p

Question: Rachel Cohen wrote:

Can you please help me trace my husband's paternal grandmother's Merrills? She is Ruth Merrill Kennedy (b.1928 in Beverly, MA), daughter of James Judson Merrill (b. 1888 in Wolcott, Lamoille, VT according to his WWI record) who is the son of Carroll Augustus Merrill (b. abt. 1863 in Hyde Park (I think), Lamoille, VT). His father was born in NH and his mother in VT. After his son was born, he moved to Londonderry, NH, but that's all I know. Can you help?

Thanks!!!! Rachel

Answer: Rachel:

As you say, James Juson was b. 1888 July 28 im Wolcott VT according to his WWI draft registration. He is also listed in the Londonderry NH vital records.  Apparently his mother, Fannie Gray d. after 1893 when brother Henry H was b.  In the 1900 census, in Londonderry, James J, 11, VT, 1888 July, is with his father Carroll A, 37, VT, Widow, 1863 Mar.  James's brother Millard M, 9, is a pupil a the N.E. Industrial School in Beverly MA, and his brother Harry H, 7, is boarding with a Sandborn couple in Londonderry. We were unable to locate James J's two sisters in that census.

James Judson (10)'s lineage is Carroll A (9), James R (8), Enos (7), Parker (6), Richard (5), Nathaniel (4), Thomas (3), Abel (2), immigrant Nathaniel (1). More details are available

Do you have any dates for when and where Carroll Augustus m. and d.? We found James Judson and Marion l Raymond in the 1930 census in Beverly, MA with children June L, Ruth J and Charles W. Were there any later children?  Do you have exact dates for these children? Who they m? Etc? We would like to bring this line down to the present day. Be assured that our database [over 60,000Merrill males plus wives and daughters] is not internet accessible, nor do we give out info on living individuals. If anyone ask, we refer them back to the person who gave us the data. We use this database strictly to try and help folks, like yourself, solve their Merrill lineage problems. 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.

Howard and Jean Merrill

Subject: Re: Merrill family - William Merrill, Wirt Co WV
Date: Tue, March 29, 2011 4:04p

Question: Sam Merrill wrote:

I would like some help or direction if it could be had. I myself am a descendent of Henry S. Merrill born 1835, believed to be son of William born 1805 in WVa. my line goes like this or so we think Sam b 1962-Sam b 1939-Everett b 1909-Sidonia Tilden b 1876-Henry S b 1835 -William b 1805 recently some DNA tests from a relative who also believes he descended from William b-1805 have the 1st 12 DNA markers. 12 24 14 11 11 14 12 12 12 14 13 31 I have been told that this DNA closely matches my close relative William V. b-1935 but does not match the Richard Merrill line from Staten Island, which I am guessing then would not match William III(Capt. Benjamins brother) which we believed it did. my Question would be is there a way to figure out who this DNA matches upto prior to 1750?

Thanks!!!! Rachel

Answer:Sam:

I believe we have corresponded before because, we have Sam Merrill as the the reference for Sidonia as the first name of S. Tilden Merrill, but we can't lay our hands on our correspondence - perhaps because of a computer crash.  Let us re-introduce our selves. We are Howard and Jean Merrill.  We are two of the co-coordinators of the Merrill DNA Genealogy Group. 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. We also use our database to support the work of the Merrill-DNA-Genealogy Group.

We were in correspondence with William V Merrill before he passed away and had the lineage which he said went back to Capt Benjamin of NC and from there to his grandfather William (1) immigrant to Staten Island, presumed to be the brother of Immigrant Richard (1) of Staten Island.  This was partly based on one of the few errors in William Ernest Merrills book "Captain Benjamin Merrill and the Merrill Family of NC" That book stated that Capt Benjamin (3)'s grandson John (5) m. Jemima Batton. We do not know what John (5)'s 1st wife's name was, but we are certain that she was not the Jemima Batton, triplet daughter of Henry Batton of Monongalia Co VA [now WV].  Capt Benjamin's grandson John (5) went to KY and is listed there in Caldwell Co in 1820, in Calloway Co in 1830 [formed from Caldwell in 1821], and in adjacent Henry Co TN in 1840.  This is at the same time that John [and Jemima Batton] are listed in Monongalia Co VA..

Until recently the ancestry of Joseph and John Merrill, assumed to be brothers, who m.Elizabeth and Jemima Batton, two of triplet daughters of Henry Batton of Monogalia Co VA, now WV, was a complete mystery.  Then a record was found  was found for a John, 1773, son of Nicholas that was consistent with that for John in VA who m. Jemima Batton.  We have record of Andrew, 1757 - 1846, son of Nicholas and Lidea, who was a Revolutionary War veteran serving in the NJ Line, who in his pension application gave a very detailed description  of his migration after the war from NJ to Loudon Co VA, Frederick Co VA, Washington Co MD, Loudon Co VA, Hampshire Co VA before settling in Clark Co KY.  At the same time that Andrew was roaming around Loudon Co VA there was a Nicholas Merrill on the Loudon Co VA 1781-1787 tax list, but we don't know if this was Andrew's father, but we think it probably was. Baptismal records in NJ show Nicholas and Lidea [we don't know her maiden name ] also had a Mathias and a Philip. There was also a Mathias Merrill on the Loudon Co Tax list.  Nicholas's son, Philip, settled in nearby Allegany Co MD in the MD panhandle. Nicholas (3), 1728, was the son of Philip (2), 1679, who was the son of immigrant Richard (1) who came to Staten Island, NY ca 1680 from Tysoe, Warwickshire England.  All this info taken together suggests that John, and presumably Joseph, are descended frim Richard (1), immigrant to Staten Island.

William V was the first to be DNA tested and for a while his pattern was taken as the standard for descendants of John and Jemima, although it did not match that of others of the Staten Island family. This was before the above record was found linking John to The Staten Island family.  Then a descendant of Stephen, son of John and Jemima, was tested and his DNA pattern matched that of  the typical Staten Island family.  Now we had two with differnt patterns supposedly descended from John and Jemima.   When your relative was recently tested and matched William V it has caused us to look critically at the the lineages of all.

Both the matching patterns are descended from William and Mary Hayes of Wirt Co WV who appears there in 1850.  John and Jemima did have twin sons John and William, b. 1805. We know that twin John d. young. There is a William Merrill listed in Monongalia Co in 1830 and 1840 who incidently has a children mix consistant with the william in Wirt co in 1850. We [and William V] had always assumed these were the same William.  In the light of the DNA results, however, there may be another explanation.  Joseph and Elizabeth Batton also had a son William S b. 1802 who d. in Marion Co in 1875. He and his mother are living with his brother Austin in 1870.  This may the William who is listed in Monongalia Co in 1830 and 1840. We know nothing about his family  We think that John and Jemima's son, William 1805, may have d. young like his twin brother John.  This might be suggestive since John and Jemima had a lated son, John William in 1826 [named in honor of the twins??]..

So where does that leave you and other descendants of William and Mary Hayes.  It appears that your William is not a son of John and Jemima, based on the limited results of Stephen's descendant.  At least at present, we have William of Wirt Co as your earliest known ancestor. You might want to consider being tested. So Far, none of the other 100 Merrill tested match your two William, Wirt Co testees  We are trying to locate descendants of other sons of John and Jemima and get them to be tested to see if they also have the typical Staten Island pettern. We have just located a Joseph and Elizabeth Batton descendant and she is going to try and convince her nephew to be tested.  

We hope this helps, if you have any questions we will beglad to try and answer them. We have cc'd the other coordinators of the Group.

Howard and JeanMerrill