Samuel Merrill, 1928, reprint 1983

Some Eighteenth Century Migrations - Chapter XI, pp125-152

Buxton, ME

    The Narraganset War was a brief episode of the war against King Philip, chief of the Wampanoags, and it was fought in 1675. The Massachusetts soldiers who took part in the campaign were promised, in the event of success, grants of land in addition to their usual service pay, but for many years the terms of the promise were not complied with. At last, in 1734, a grant of land on the east side of the Saco River in Maine, some ten miles above its mouth, was made to 120 proprietors, the proprietors being soldiers of the Narraganset War, or their representatives. The township was given the name Narraganset No. 1, (*) and by this name it was known until, at its incorporation in 1772, it received the name Buxton.

   Settlement was begun in 1742, but little progress in this direction had been made when, in 1744, war between England and France broke out, and the few settlers were forced to abandon their farms and take refuge in the more easily defended towns along the coast. In 1750, the war having ended, some of the settlers returned, and thereafter nothing happened to cause them to desert their homes.

   Capt. Thomas Bradbury of Biddeford was one of the proprietors of Narraganset No. 1. He was a native of Salisbury, Mass., and married Sarah⁴ Merrill (Moses³, Daniel²). (See page 197.) His daughter Elizabeth married Samuel⁵ Merrill of Salisbury, a great-grandson of Daniel² Merrill through John³ and Thomas⁴. (See page 359.) Capt. Bradbury was noted as an Indian fighter, and in 1748 and 1749 had command of a block-house on Saco River, opposite the southern extremity of the present town of Buxton. But Capt. Bradbury did not become a resident of Narraganset No. 1 until about 1763.

   Samuel⁵ Merrill had been a soldier at the block-house, under his father-in-law's command, in 1748. He was living in Narraganset No. 1 on the 17th of May, 1751, for on that day he was one of the signers of a petition for a meeting of the proprietors of the Plantation. Capt. Bradbury had purchased two lots of land in the Narraganset township, paying for them £600, old tenor. One was described as Lot 1, Range D, 1st Division, and the deed recites that a dwelling house stood upon it. This "was probably the first dwelling house in the town worthy of the name."(**) Capt. Bradbury gave a deed of this farm to his son-in-law, under date of 22 Nov. 1753, and here Samuel⁵ Merrill spent the remainder of his long life, dying in 1822 at the age of ninety-three years. The homestead was near Salmon Falls, and in 1872 a portion of the farm was in possession of Ansel⁹ Merrill, greatgreat-grandson of Samuel⁵ Merrill.

   In 1754 Samuel Merrill was a second time a petitioner for a proprietors' meeting, this time the fear of attack by the Indians impelling the proprietors to provide for the erection of a fort, the structure "to be forty feet square bilt with Pillasaders or Stockades three feet & one half in the ground & ten feet above the Ground & Said Stockades to be Sett Double & a Good flanker or watch box at two opposite Corners of Said fort." By good fortune no attack was made by the Indians in the course of the seven years' war, from 1754 to 1761. Once Indians were seen in the vicinity, and all the inhabitants hastened to the garrison, "who were aided and assisted on this occasion by the coolness and decision of Lieut. Samuel Merrill." (***)

   Samuel⁵ Merrill was a man of prominence in the community. In 1761 at a meeting of the proprietors it was "Voted that the proprietors give to Samuel Merrill the old meeting house for said props meeting in Said merrills dwelling house on Lords days heretofore." He was repeatedly chosen surveyor of roads, and after the incorporation of the town he was frequently elected selectman. His military service continued as late as the Revolution, and he served as a lieutenant at the battle of Bunker Hill, in the company commanded by Capt. Jeremiah Hill. (****) Ten of his children lived to grow up; and they left many descendants in Buxton. His name was handed down in the successive generations, Rev. Samuel-Hill Merrill, the genealogist (see pages 1-4), and Governor Merrill of Iowa (see page 534), among others, receiving the name Samuel as part of their inheritance.

* There were seven "Narraganset" townships. No. 2 is now Westminster, Mass.; No. 3, Amherst, N.H.; No. 4, Goffstown, N.H.; No. 5, Bedford, N.H.; No. 6, Templeton, Mass.; No. 7, Gorham, Me.
 
**"Buxton Centennial," (Portland, 1874), p. 236.

***"Buxton Centennial," p. 53.
 
****"Buxton Centennial," pp. 163, 272. His son Samuel6 was a member of the same company

Greene, ME

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