A Merrill Memorial
The following is the text
from Samuel Merrill’s “A Merrill Memorial” Finished in 1928, A Merrill
Memorial is the most thorough Merrill Genealogy ever published. I am in the
process of editing it, correcting some of the errors in it and adding to it
information that I have received from Merrill across the country. The footnotes
are Samuel Merrill’s. The endnotes are mine. JHM
Above is a original Letter sent out by General Lewis Merrill. His hand writing is up in the upper left hand corner. I have been fortunate to receive a box of letters that belonged to General Merrill. From What I can tell his research was not over. I have found additional names and dates that are not in "AMM". As I find interesting letters I will post them.
AN
ACCOUNT OF THE DESCENDANTS OF NATHANIEL MERRILL,
AN
EARLY SETTLER OF NEWBURY, MASSACHUSETTS
By
SAMUEL MERRILL
CAMBRIDGE,
MA 1917-1928
Edited
By JOHN HAROLD MERRILL
LODI,
CA 1992-2001
WITH regard to this work I entertain no illusions. It is incomplete, but it will save from possible oblivion the records of early generations, which could not again be easily gathered, and it will assist many to determine their own lines of descent. Furthermore, I make no confession of failure. Intermittently for many years, as I have had leisure, I have studied the family history, but at no time have I undertaken the compilation of a genealogy more complete than that herewith presented.
This work was multigraphed as follows: Pages 159 to 289 in 1917; pages 1 to 152 in 1921-22; pages 291 to 412 in 1925; pages 413 to 644 in 1927. In May 1917, I gave partial copies of this work, comprising the record of the first four generations of the family in America (pages 159 to 289), to the library of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, the New York Public Library, the Newberry Library of Chicago and the library of the California Genealogical Society. In each case I requested readers to send corrections and additions to me. The fact that in ten years no material errors or omissions have been brought to my notice is evidence of the substantial completeness of that portion of this work.
For the faults of this work I can offer few excuses. I have done the typewriting, illustrating and printing as best I could, without assistance, also without instruction in drawing, and without even an apprentice’s training in a printing office. The standard of accuracy, however, is probably higher than it would have been if I had sought the clerical and mechanical assistance of persons unfamiliar with the subject matter.
Many books of family history published within the past thirty years are disintegrating on the library shelves owing to the presence of an excessive amount of wood pulp in the paper on which they are printed. In some such books aniline inks have been employed, and the text is fading owing to action of sunlight. In this book the best linen record paper has been used, and the ink after six months’ uninterrupted exposure to sun and rain has shown no loss of color.
No copies of this book have been sold, and none will be sold. Copies, for public use, will be given to about twenty libraries, including the following:
In the copies deposited in the library of the New England Historic Genealogical Society and the New York Public Library I shall probably make corrections and additions not entered in other copies.
Cambridge, Mass.
1 Feb. 1928.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Merrill: the Name and Its Variations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
English Origin of the Merrill Family. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
The Wills of Three John Merrells. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Wherstead, a Parish in Suffolk. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Newbury in the Seventeenth Century. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Nathaniel(1) of Newbury and His Sons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Nathaniel(2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
John(2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Abraham(2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Nathaniel(2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Abel(2). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
John1 Merrill of Newbury. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
A Few Questions of Heraldry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Merrill as a Place-Name. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Some Eighteenth Century Migrations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Some Unconnected Lines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
The Prudence Merills Document
Three Students of the Family History
REV.
SAMUEL-HILL MERRILL
To Rev. Samuel-Hill Merrill, more than to any other individual, is due credit for the collection and preservation of data relating to the early generations of the Merrill family in this country. His interest and industry saved from oblivion many facts which otherwise would have been lost, and the work which he performed, incomplete as it was, has been the foundation on which all later students have sought to build.
Mr. Merrill’s son wrote that his father began his genealogical work in 1850. Pastorates in various places in northern New England gave him opportunity for much research in town and church records, and this in his later years he supplemented by correspondence with persons in more distant places.
Not long after Rev. Mr. Merrill’s death, Gyles Merrill of Haverhill, Mass. chanced to be in Portland, and called upon the widow to make inquiries with regard to the clergyman’s genealogical papers. It appeared that members of the family were little interested in the work which Mr. Merrill had done in this field, and an arrangement was easily made by which all the books and papers relating to the family history came into the possession of Mr. Merrill of Haverhill. These papers, now in the possession of the compiler of this Memorial, have been freely used in the present work.
Rev. Mr. Merrill was a painstaking student, and later research has brought to light few serious errors in the written records which he compiled. He seems not to have made much effort to trace the history of the family in England, and had made comparatively little progress in gathering data regarding the later generations in this country, but his tabulation of the descendants of Nathaniel(2), Abraham(2), Daniel(2) and Abel2, for the first three or four generations, has been of great value to those who have succeeded him in the work. To the descendants of John2 of Hartford he paid little attention.
Biographical Samuel-Hill Merrill was in the eighth generation of the American Merrill’s. He descended from Daniel(2) through John3, Thomas4, Samuel5, Humphrey6 and James7, and was born 12 May, 1805, in Buxton, Me.
After preparatory studies in Troy and Albany, N.Y., he pursued a theological course, from 1827 to 1830, with Rev. Jacob Cummings, a Congregational clergyman of Stratham, N.H. He was ordained 23 Feb. 1831, in Barrington, N.H., where he remained as pastor about four years. In 1834 he went to Indiana as agent of the American Tract Society, and in 1836 became colleague with Dr. Lyman Beecher, pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church of Cincinnati. He preached at Center Harbor, N H., as stated supply, in 1838-40, and was pastor at Amesbury Mills, Mass., from 1840 to 1844. After supplying pulpits at Kennebunkport and Old Town, Me., he was installed as pastor of the Old Town church, remaining there from 1846 to 1854. Later he held pastorates at Bluehill and East Machias, Me. In 1856 he took charge of the Bethel Church for Seamen in Portland, and remained there until 1864, when he resigned to fill a chaplaincy in the army.
Mr. Merrill was commissioned chaplain of the First District of Columbia Cavalry 19 Feb. 1864. He served with this organization until it was merged with the First Maine Cavalry, and then served as chaplain of the First Maine until it was mustered out, 1 Aug. 1865. After the war he wrote “Campaigns of the First Maine and First District of Columbia Cavalry,” which was published in Portland in 1866. [1]
In July, 1866, Mr. Merrill was appointed agent of the American Bible Society for New England, and held this position three years. At the time of his death he had been supplying the pulpit of the Congregational church in Scarboro, Me., for more than two years. He was stricken by paralysis while in his pulpit, 31 Aug. 1873. There had been recent deaths in the parish, and for this reason he took for his text I Samuel, xx, 3: “There is but a step between me and death.” Shortly after beginning his sermon he paused, and seated himself on the sofa. He was carried to his room, but his work was ended. He died in Scarboro 18 Sept. 1873, aged 68.
A reunion of his regiment was being held in Bangor at the time of his death. When the telegraph announced that his life was over Rev. Dr. Teft, a former chaplain, said of him, addressing the assembled veter ans:
“He was as good and faithful a chaplain as ever held the office. Both in camp and on the battle-field he closely imitated his Master; for he, like Him, ‘went about doing good: Other men in his position would think it enough to do what was set before them; but he waited for no man to point out the ways of usefulness. He sought and found them for himself; and yet nothing, as you all know, ever did him so great a pleasure as to be informed where he could be of service to his suffering comrades and to his country’s cause. To bless the soldier, to encourage him in the hour of danger, to impart to him the consolations of religion when stricken down, was more than his meat and drink. But I need not enlarge; you know it all. His memory is sacred to every one of you; it will remain with you till your own dying day.”
Mr. Merrill married Hannah Prentice, daughter of Rev. Josiah Prentice of Northwood, N.H., 9 Nov. 1832. His children were:
Edward-Payson9 Merrill, born 7 Nov. 1834; a 1st Lieutenant in Co. D, First Maine Cavalry, while his father was chaplain, and later a commission merchant in Portland. (He was still living there in 1920.)
Susan-Frentice9, born 6 April, 1840; married 12 Mar. 1873, Thomas Brackett Reed, for twenty-two years a member of Congress from Maine, and for six years Speaker of the House. (Mrs. Reed died 28 May, 1914, at her home in Portland. She left an estate of more than $600,000. Of this $100,000 was given to her brother Edward, and most of the remainder to her only child Katherine, wife of Arthur Ballantine of San Diego, Cal.)
Marion-Calista9, born 10 Jan. 1842; married Rev. Charles Dana Barrows, D.D., a Congregational clergyman who held pastorates in San Francisco and in Lowell, Mass.
Some years ago a veteran of the First Maine Cavalry told me of Chaplain Merrill and the high esteem in which he was held by the men of the regiment. On one occasion, he said, a portion of the regiment was on a transport floating down one of the Virginia rivers. It was a Sunday, but, to pass the time away, some of the men, idling on the deck of the steamer, began a game of cards. Soon the chaplain chanced that way. He looked sadly at the card-players, and slowly passed on, but said nothing.
“We knew that the chaplain didn’t like it,” said the narrator. “He didn’t say anything, but he looked grieved, and none of us wanted to hurt his feelings. It was surprising how quickly we lost interest in that game! So the cards were put away, and the game ended.”
David Norton, author of “Sketches of the Town of Old Town,” (published 1881, page 101), describes Mr. Merrill as “a man of distinguished ability, personally attractive, of the greatest suavity of manner and address, winning his way into the good graces and opinions of all classes of society. . . . He was of that kind of temperament which required a good deal of exercise, and he was fond of getting away into the forest and spending a week or so in hunting and fishing. . . . He was very fond of children, and the parson was ever ready to unbend himself and ‘become a boy again,’ and was as much interested as they were in a game of romp or hide and seek.”
GYLES MERRILL
Commenting on the service performed by Gyles Merrill of Haverhill, Mass., in respect to the family genealogy, Gen. Lewis Merrill wrote: “To his zealous and intelligent gathering of data and information, and his laborious and critical examination of every puzzling question referred to him, and to his deep interest in and sympathy with the labor undertaken in compiling this record, the writer is very deeply indebted, as are all who have any interest in the subject.”
Gyles Merrill’s interest in the history of his family began when he was a young man, and continued until his death. At no time, however, had he any thought of preparing a history for publication. His work was simply an agreeable employment, aimed at satisfying his own curiosity, and it was done in the scant leisure which the activities of a busy life afforded. His research involved a study of many closely related lines of his own ancestors, the families of Putnam, Cushing, Wainwright, Bradbury, True, and a number of others, engaging his attention in an equal degree.
After obtaining possession of the Merrill records gathered by Rev. Samuel H. Merrill Gyles Merrill’s research extended over a wider field, but still he formed no plan for continuing the work which the clergyman had undertaken. He entered heartily into the spirit of Gen. Lewis Merrill’s genealogical project, however, and assisted in every way in his power, and he keenly regretted that Gen. Merrill was forced to discontinue his work, the genealogy still far from finished.
At his death in 1894 Gyles Merrill left to the compiler of this Memorial all his genealogical books and papers. It is as a personal tribute to his memory, and with a view to preserving this material, and the large amount of additional matter which has been gathered since his death, and making it accessible to those who are interested in the subject, that this book is now given to the public.
His Antecedents Gyles Merrill was born and died in the house where his father spent his life, and where his grandfather, Rev. Gyles Merrill, and his great-grandfather, Rev. James Cushing, lived during the seventy years covered by their two ministries. The same house, three miles from the center of population of Haverhill, is now the home of his eldest surviving son.
Rev. James4 Cushing was a descendant from Matthew1 Cushing (1589-1660), emigrant, through
John2 (1627-1708) of Scituate, colonel of the Plymouth regiment, Deputy and Assistant of the
Plymouth Colony, and Rev. Caleb3 (1673-1752) of Salisbury. He was great-grandson of Rev. John
Cotton, who held pastorates in Boston, England, and Boston, Mass., and grandson of Rev. John Cotton of Plymouth, the Indian scholar. Rev. James4 Cushing was born 15 June, 1705, in Salisbury, graduated at Harvard in 1725, and was ordained as the first minister of the North Parish Church in Haverhill 2 Dec. 1730. He died 13 May, 1764.
Rev. James Cushing’s wife was Ann Wainwright, whose grandfather, Capt. Simon Wainwright, was killed by the Indians in Haverhill in 1708. Her father, Capt. John Wainwright, was drowned in 1721, when Ann was only eight years old. John Wainwright’s cousin, Lucy Wainwright of Ipswich, had married Judge Paul Dudley of Roxbury, son of Gov. Joseph Dudley. Judge Dudley’s six children having all died in infancy, his wife’s young cousin was given a home in the Judge’s household, and it was there that James Cushing married her, 15 Oct. 1735. [2] Mehitable Wainwright, sister of Ann, was the wife of Meshech Weare, President of New Hampshire during the Revolution.
From the Dudley homestead in Roxbury a number of cuttings of apple trees were taken to Haverhill, about the time of Ann Wainwright’s marriage, and grafted on trees on the parsonage grounds. They were of a variety called “snoutings,” and the original stock was brought from England. Currant bushes and an asparagus bed were also set out at the parsonage, the plants coming from the Dudley estate. It used to be said that for many decades this was the only asparagus bed in Haverhill. Both the asparagus bed and the apple trees were still in existence, and in bearing condition, at the time of Gyles7 Merrill’s death in 1894, though the trees showed evidence of extreme old age.
Of Rev. James4 Cushing’s children, James5 was a surgeon in the British Navy, and died, 2 June, 1764, at Madras, India, and John5 was a surgeon in the American service in the Revolution, was captured by the British, and confined in the Mill Prison, Plymouth, England. His daughter Lucy5 was born 1 Aug. 1747, and died 7 Aug. 1798. She married Rev. Gyles Merrill 13 Oct. 1767.
The pallbearers at the funeral of Rev. James Cushing were eight clergymen, and, following a custom of the time, each in turn supplied the North Parish pulpit for one Sunday following Mr. Cushing’s death. Rev. Gyles Merrill thereafter occupied the vacant pulpit, and was ordained some months later. [3]
Rev. Gyles5 Merrill was born 12 March, 1739, in Salisbury, his father being Moses4 (Moses3, Daniel2). He was named for Dr. Samuel Gyles of Newburyport, who had married his mother’s sister. He graduated at Harvard College in 1759, and then studied theology with his uncle, Rev. John True of Hampstead, N.H. He died 27 Apr. 1801.
Writing in 1860 the author of Chase’s “History of Haverhill” said: “The Rev. Mr. Merrill had a peaceful ministry, and was greatly respected and beloved by his people. As a preacher he was orthodox in faith, of sound learning, and was justly and highly esteemed. The simplicity, kindness and dignity of his manners are even yet remembered by many, with the greatest respect and veneration. He had the welfare of his people constantly at heart, and those who survive him testify to his amiable disposition, and his devoutness as a Christian.”
Rev. Gyles Merrill has been described as being tall, with dark eyes and hair, and of fine personal appearance. He had positive convictions, but was tactful in meeting opposition, and was often called upon, when friction arose in neighboring parishes, to act as arbiter, seldom failing to bring the warring factions into accord. “He was a sound scholar and learned divine, simple and earnest.” [4]
College-preparatory schools were few in his time, and a number of young men were prepared for college under his instruction, boarding in his household while pursuing their studies. In respect to worldly possessions he was more prosperous than most of his calling. Aug. 12, 1771, he purchased from the Parish the parsonage house and three and a half acres in connection with it,[5] and by subsequent purchases aquired fifty-nine acres of farm land near the parsonage, besides twelve acres in Plaistow and 12 ½ acres of woodland in Londonderry, N.H. The inventory of his estate shows that this farm was well stocked and equipped. At his death he had a horse, a pair of oxen and seven cows, besides seven other cattle and thirteen sheep and lambs. He seems to have been looked upon by the people of his parish and neighborhood as a man of means and a friend in time of need, for at his death he held about twenty promissory notes, ranging in amount from $2 up to $255. The total of the inventory was $4742.37.
At the desk at which, in his later years, Rev. Gyles Merrill wrote his sermons, much of the work of compiling this history has been performed, and seated there I finished, with pen and ink, this picture of the desk itself. “June 8, 1792. Moses Cushing brought home my desk and book case.” This entry in the diary of Rev. Gyles Merrill records the advent of the fine old article of furniture in the Merrill household. Since then, for a century and a quarter, it has faithfully served a succession of the clergyman’s descendants. The cabinet maker was an older brother of Lucy Cushing, and he lived about a mile south of the parsonage, on the road to Haverhill.
Rev. Gyles Merrill had five sons and four daughters. His two youngest sons, James-Cushing6 and Samuel6, graduated at Harvard College in 1807. Both were noted for their scholarship in the classics, both became lawyers, and both served in the Massachusetts Senate. James-Cushing6 Merrill was for seventeen years one of the judges of the Boston Police Court, and Samuel6 Merrill was president of the Merrimack Mutual Fire Insurance Company, of Andover, Mass. Another son, Moses6 Merrill, lived on the homestead place in Haverhill, and died there in 1864 at the age of 88 years. From 1819 until his death he was a justice of the peace, and was widely known as ‘Squire Merrill. He was for many years collector of Haverhill. Moses6 Merrill’s youngest son was Gyles7 Merrill, the genealogist.
His Life The old parsonage house of the North Parish was the birthplace of Gyles7 Merrill, as it had been of his father and his father’s mother. He was born there 13 March, 1816, and died there, of pneumonia, 23 Jan. 1894. The house was built by the Parish about 1731, and remained practically without change until 1863. It has never been unoccupied, and many of the original timbers lend strength to the larger house which now occupies the site.
Gyles7 Merrill received the usual common school education, supplemented by courses at Atkinson Academy and in private schools, under the tuition of his cousin Gyles-Merrill Kimball, grandson of Rev. Gyles5 Merrill through Lucy6 Merrill, and of another kinsman, John Kelly, whose uncle Jacob had married Mary6 Merrill, Lucy’s sister. Gyles7 Merrill taught school each winter for six years, beginning when he was nineteen years of age, and worked on his father’s farm, and as a surveyor, the rest of the year. (The silhouette, made in his youth, was the work of a Putnam cousin.)
Early in 1840 the Boston & Maine Railroad was under construction through New Hampshire, and he became a bookkeeper and paymaster for the contractors, leaving this position to assume the superintendency of a screw factory at Rotterdam, N.Y. Wishing to live nearer his old home he resigned this position in 1847, and entered the employ of the Norfolk Lead Company of Roxbury (now Boston). Within a year he became superintendent. He devoted himself to the manufacture of white lead and kindred products until 1852, when the company sold its business to the Boston Lead Company. He next took a position with the Sullivan Railroad Company, shortly becoming superintendent, and lived in Charlestown, N.H., in this capacity, from 1852 to 1859.
In 1859 the Vermont Central and Vermont & Canada Railroads leased the Sullivan road, and he became superintendent of the combined system, with offices first in Northfield, Vt., and, after 1860, in St. Albans. Ill health forced him in 1873, to resign, his position then being that of general superintendent of the Central Vermont system. The company had added to its mileage by construction and lease, and when he left the management it was operating a network of fifteen railroads in Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and Canada. The aggregate length of the system was nearly eight hundred miles.
Mr. Merrill returned to Haverhill in 1874, and occupied again the old homestead, where he spent the remaining years of his life. He made a tour of Europe in 1878, and travelled in the Western and Southern States, but most of his later years were spent quietly at his home. He was deeply interested in all public questions, but never held public office, except for a single term, in 1858, as a member of the New Hampshire Legislature. Although renominated, he declined a reelection. He was an active member of the church with which his family had been for many years associated. Singularly modest and unassuming in character, he was distinguished for strict integrity and broad benevolence, and died without having ever made an enemy.
Gyles Merrill married, 28 Nov. 1849, in Roxbury, Eliza Watson Newbury, daughter of Leonard and Grace (Watson) Newbury. She was born 26 Jan, 1816, in Mickleover, Derbyshire, England, and came to the United States with her family in 1832, and settled in Lockport, N.Y. She was a teacher in Roxbury prior to her marriage. For twenty years she was a vicepresident of the Woman’s Board of Missions of the Congregational Church. She died 24 June, 1890.
Gyles7 Merrill had four children:
Gyles8, born 6 Oct. 1850; died 3 Aug. 1880; B.S., Dartmouth College, 1872; chemist.
Moses-Putnam8, born 27 Jan. 1852; died 13 April, 1878.
James-Cushing8, born 9 Sept. 1853; now living at the Haverhill homestead.
(Died 12 Sept. 1927.)
Samuel8, born 1 Jan. 1855; compiler of this Memorial.
Of Gyles7 Merrill’s grandchildren, Gyles9 (Samuel8), born 2 Nov. 1891, was a first lieutenant in the 77th Field Artillery (United States Regulars) in France in 1918-19. Wainwright9 (Samuel8), born 26 May, 1898, was killed in action at Ypres 6 Nov. 1917, and is buried in the Ypres Reservoir Nurch Cemetery.
Wainwright9 Merrill was a sophomore in Harvard College when, in November, 1916, five months before the tardy declaration of war by the United States, he left college and enlisted in the Canadian Artillery. A volume of his letters, written from English training camps and from the front to members of his family and others, and edited by one of his college instructors, was published in 1918 by George H. Doran Company of New York under the title, “A College Man in Khaki.” The degree of bachelor of arts, “for honorable service in the war,” was conferred by Harvard College on Wainwright Merrill as of the class of 1919.
GEN.
LEWIS MERRILL
The third in the group of students of the family history to whom especial credit should be given in this place is Gen. Lewis Merrill of Philadelphia. In the ‘80s of the last century he became physically incapacitated for active military service. Thereafter he devoted much time, for two years or more, to the more sedentary employment of genealogical research, and conducted wide correspondence to gather data. Gyles Merrill of Haverhill placed at his disposal all his own genealogical papers, as well as the papers of Rev. Samuel H. Merrill. Gen. Merrill retained these books and papers for a considerable time, adding greatly to his own records from these sources.
Gen. Merrill never visited Newbury, Haverhill, and the other places in that vicinity where the earlier generations of the family lived, but when it was necessary to solve any knotty question, or supply missing facts, he had the ready assistance of Gyles Merrill, in whose judgment he had the greatest confidence. In Gen. Merrill’s later years failing eyesight made even genealogical work impracticable, and his task was far from finished at his death.
In 1892, having undertaken to prepare for publication, from the papers in Gyles Merrill’s possession, a brief account of the first five generations of the family in America, I submitted my manuscript to Gen. Merrill. He had kindly agreed to make such additions to my records as he could, and did so, but these additions were not carried beyond the fifth generation. His records of the sixth and subsequent generations were quite extensive, and these remained in the hands of his son after his death.
See “American Ancestry,” vol. iii. (1888), p. 89.
Gen. Lewis8 Merrill was born 24 Oct. 1834, at New Berlin, Pa. His father, James7 Merrill (1790-1841), a native of Peacham, Vt., was a prominent lawyer in New Berlin, and a member of the State Constitutional Convention in 1838. The General’s grandfather and great-grandfather, Jesse6 and Samuel?? Merrill, both served in the Revolution, the younger of the two, as a boy of 15, being a member of the company of which his father was captain at the surrender of Burgoyne. Samuel5 Merrill was a son of Samuel4 (Nathaniel3,2), and lived in the West Parish of Haverhill, Mass.
Three brothers of Gen. Merrill, Charles8, George8 and Jesse8, served with distinction in the War of the Rebellion. George8 was a major. Jesse8 held the rank of General, and served on the staff of Gen. Rosecrans. Charles and Jesse were lawyers, the latter being a resident of Lockhaven, Pa.
Gen. Merrill’s wife was Anna Rhoda Houston, a descendant of Dr. John Houston, a surgeon in the Revolution. She died in 1882. He was survived by a son and two daughters. His son, John-Houston9 Merrill, is a lawyer in Philadelphia, editor of the American and English Encyclopedia of Law, and author of “Memoranda Relating to the Mifflin Family,” published in 1890.
Gen. Merrill graduated at the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1855, and for some time thereafter served in the First Dragoons on the Western frontier. The Civil War having broken out he became, in August, 1861, colonel and chief of cavalry on the staff of Gen. Fr’mont. Soon after this he organized a regiment of Missouri volunteer cavalry, which was known as Merrill’s Horse, and was appointed colonel of the regiment. In 1862 he undertook operations against the guerrillas of western and northern Missouri, and from 1863 to the close of the war commanded brigades of cavalry in Arkansas, Missouri, Georgia and Alabama. March 13, 1865, he was brevetted brigadier-general of volunteers for “gallant and meritorious service during the war.” In 1866 he was appointed inspector-general of the Department of the Platte, and later judge-advocate of that department. He commanded a military district in South Carolina, where he had to deal with the Ku-Klux outlaws, (about 1871), and for this service received the thanks of the War Department and of the Legislature of South Carolina. In 1875-6 he performed similar duty in the Red River district of Louisiana.
During the Indian troubles in the Northwest, at the time when the Northern Pacific Railroad was under construction, Gen. Merrill was assigned to duty there, in command of the Seventh Cavalry. In his honor a station on the Northern Pacific Railroad in Montana was named Merrill. (See page 121.)
He was promoted major in the Regular Army in 1868. The service which he had performed in South Carolina, however, breaking up the Ku-Klux conspiracy and supporting the so-called “carpet-bag” government, was considered by certain interests in Washington as political, and for this reason his further promotion was delayed. He was retired from active service in 1885 for disability from wounds received in battle, and in 1891 was given the rank of lieutenant-colonel on the the retired list of the Regular Army. Following his retirement Gen. Merrill made his home in Philadelphia. He was a member of the Loyal Legion, the Grand Army of the Republic and the Masonic order. He was of a genial disposition, and very popular in his club, the Union League, where much of his leisure in his later years was spent.
Gen. Merrill had suffered from nephritis, or inflammation of the kidneys, for some years. His death, from this cause, was quite sudden, however, and he breathed his last on the morning of 27 Feb. 1896, at the Presbyterian Hospital in Philadelphia.
Gen. Merrill was a thorough soldier, and uncompromising in the discharge of his duties. An episode of his cadet life at West Point was related to me, many years ago, by Maj.-Gen. George L. Andrews, who, at the time of the narration, was professor of modern languages at the Military Academy. As a young man Gen. Andrews was an instructor at West Point, he said. There was more or less trouble in the Academy from hazing at the time, and finally a cadet named Gordon was taken to the post hospital as a consequence. After his discharge from the hospital a court martial was convened. The fact was brought out that Cadet Gordon in the course of a hazing escapade was challenged by Cadet Merrill, who was on sentry duty, and refusing to halt when ordered received a flesh wound from a thrust of the sentry’s bayonet.
Cadet Gordon was disciplined for his misdemeanor, while Cadet Merrill was commended by the court for the correct performance of his duty.
Merrill:
the Name and Its Variations
Origin of Surnames. Surnames were not common in England before the eleventh century. When they came into use some were derived from places, some from baptismal names, some from trades or offices, and others from miscellaneous sources, these latter being in their origin largely nicknames based upon personal characteristics or upon the names of animals, birds or other things. To which of these classes our family name may be assigned, I regret that I am unable to say.
Battle Abbey Roll. The search for the origin of the Merrill name has led many to inspect the Roll of Battle Abbey—the list of Norman knights who survived the battle of Hastings, and who were rewarded for their military service by grants of English land from the Norman Conquerer. As General Merrill wrote, “There are among the names on Battle Roll three which may have become Merrill in after years.” But the true Roll “has not come down to our times, and the various lists we possess are of subsequent date, and more or less apocryphal in their character.”[6] Many names are said to have been inserted in after years by the monks of the abbey, for mercenary considerations, and the Roll is now considered of little or no historic value.
Is the Name Anglo-Saxon? In a little book entitled “Surnames as a Science,” published in London in 1883, Robert Ferguson, M.P., seeks to derive “Merrill” from a German origin through the Anglo-Saxon. Few of us will thank him for his efforts. “Marlingen,” he says, is a Bavarian family name, and it appears in the Anglo-Saxon as “Merlingas.” The “ing” in this name “is a patronymic, as in Bruning, son of Br–n.” The ending “ingas” is of the nominative plural, Merlingas thus denoting sons or descendants of Merl. According to this theory, some family among the Saxon hordes which invaded England in the fifth and sixth centuries may have been under the patriarchal leadership of a man named Merl, and all the individuals in the group accordingly took the name Merlingas, or sons or followers of Merl.
But Mr. Ferguson wastes his efforts in etymological abstractions, and gives no evidence whatever to show that the English surname Merrill has anything in common with Marl and Marling, all of which names he undertakes to derive from the same Anglo-Saxon source. A little phonetic similarity is insufficient to prove community of origin.
The Huguenot Theory. Another theory, which has found many supporters, is that the family is descended from Huguenots who migrated to England after the bloody events which marked St. Bartholomew’s day in Paris in 1572. To quote again from General Merrill:
“I have no doubt, and have everything short of full proof, that we come of the English Merrill family who fled from France after the massacre of St. Bartholomew. They belonged to the DuMerle family of Auvergne, and the DeMerle family of Dauphiny. The evidence of the coat-of-arms is to my mind conclusive, taken with all the other facts.”
Bishop Stephen-M. Merrill and his brother, James-Warren Merrill, in their little book, “Joshua Merrill and Family” (1899), arrived at a similar conclusion. They say, “The name Merrill, according to the best information now in reach, originated in the French-speaking Cantons in Switzerland several hundred years ago. . . . The original form of the name, and that still prevalent in Switzerland, was Merle. The Rev. J. H. Merle, D.D., the learned author of the ‘History of the Reformation,’ (D’Aubign”s history), is an example.”
Merle is a French common noun meaning blackbird, and it is an old English name for birds of the same species. The French also use the word, in a figurative sense, to denote a crafty, swaggering fellow, and Lor’dan Larchey, in his “Dictionnaire des Noms,” (Paris, 1880), intimates that Merle as a surname was presumably first applied to some quarrelsome person.
But the theory that the English name “Merrill” is derived from the French “Merle” seems to depend altogether on phonetic resemblance for support. It ignores the fact that the Merrill name was found in England long before the sixteenth century. [7]
Miriel, Meriel, Meurrill, Meverell, six centuries ago. The Duchess of Cleveland in “The Battle Abbey Roll” (vol. II, page 245), mentions “John and Richard Miriel, Norfolk; Adam de Miriel, Suffolk; and Matilda de Miriel, with her daughter Margaret, Kent, in the time of Edward I [1272-1307]. Nicholas de Meriel was of Yorkshire at the same date.”
In Bray’s “Sketch of a Tour into Derbyshire and Yorkshire,” (published 1777), the village of Tidswell (now spelled Tideswell) in Derbyshire is described. In the chancel of the large parish church, the writer says, “there is also a raised tomb (on which bread is given away every Sunday) for Sampson Meurrill, with a date of 1388.” This was probably the year of Sampson Meurrill’s birth, for Guillim, in “A Display of Heraldry” (6th edit., 1724, page 266), tells of “Sir Sampson Meverell, Kt. who dy’d Anno 1462, and was buried in the Church of Tydeswall in the County of Derby.”
The pedigree of Sir Sampson is given by Guill im thro’ a line of seven Meverell ancestors, together with a line of descent to Francis Meverell, four generations later. Francis Meverell, like most of the others mentioned in the pedigree, was of Throwley, in the neighboring county of Stafford. His arms were: “Argent, a Griffon rampant with Wings display’d Sable, beak’d and leg’d Gules, arm’d Or.” Sampson Meverell, eldest son of Francis, was living in 1569.
Whether
these Meverells or Meurrills of Staffordshire were related to the Merrells of
Suffolk is not known; but their presence in England through all the centuries
covered by the thirteen generations enumerated in the “Display of Heraldry”
increases the difficulty of convincing a sceptic that the Merrills are of
Huguenot extraction. Other instances also might be cited to show that the name,
with some variation in spelling, was present in England at a very early date. It
is much more likely that the American Merrills are descended from some one of
these Miriels, Meriels, Meurrills or Meverells than that their ancestors were
Merles in France in the sixteenth century. Nathaniel1 Merrill of Newbury was
probably a native of Suffolk, and “Adam de Miriel, Suffolk,” cotemporary and
subject of Edward Longshanks, may easily have been his kinsman. No one in this
day, however, can hope to trace the connecting links through the three
intervening centuries.
Light Complexion, or Dark? Again quoting the same letter from General Merrill (dated 2 Sept. 1884): “The Huguenot family from which we come, if I am right in my belief, were from Westphalia originally, and belonged to a light-haired people. They were not Latins, but Teutons, and the name is, I think, very clearly traceable to the Old High German M„r, which meant ‘illustrious.’ The Westphalian form of the name still exists, M„hrle.”
Marell, Märell and Mährle are given as German family names by Prof. Albert Heintze in “Die deutschen Familiennamen,” (Halle, 1903). These are all diminutive forms of Mar, and Mar has been employed in the formation of the names of persons, according to Heintze, since the first century. The word is derived from the Gothic mˆrs, Old High German mƒri, Middle High German maere, meaning renowned.
This German derivation becomes unimportant, of course, if we dismiss the Huguenot theory as untenable.
Mark Antony
Lower, author of “Patronymica Britannica, a Dictionary of the Family Names of
the United Kingdom,” (London, 1860), ignores Merrill, Morrill and Morrell as
family names, but mentions Merrell as “probably the same as Murrell, Morell.”
These two latter he considers variants of the same name. Merle also he gives as
“perhaps the same as Murrell.” Mr. Lower ascribes French Huguenot ancestry
to certain of the Morells of England, but he adds: “There were other and
earlier importations of this name into England, the first on record being that
of one Morel, who is mentioned in the Domesday of Norfolk [1086]. The word is a
diminutive of the Old French more, a Moor, and refers to darkness of
complexion.” [8]
Another English writer, Charles Wareing Bardsley, in a posthumous work entitled “A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames” (London, 1901), groups Morel, Morell, Morrall, Morrell and Morrill together as having a common origin, and says they were used originally as nicknames, being derived from morel, meaning dark-complexioned. As between the theory that the earliest members of the family belonged to a light-haired race, and the belief that the family name is derived from a word meaning dark-complexioned, there is no occasion to make a choice. A lady of another family name, who took pride in a strain of Merrill blood, and sought my aid in tracing her Merrill ancestors, assured me that “all Merrills have light hair and eyes, and are below the average in hight.” Inasmuch as my father and three brothers all had dark eyes and hair, and averaged nearly six feet in hight, I had to disagree with her. And a correspondent once assured me that “all Merrills are very musical people,” a statement which any of my friends, who ever heard me attempt to sing, would dispute, probably with sarcastic comments.
Such generalizations are never trustworthy. If a certain Nathaniel8 Merrill were descended from a line of ancestors among whom there had been no intermarriage of relatives, only 1-128th part of his blood could be considered to be derived from Nathaniel1 Merrill. In equal degree he would have inherited the blood of 127 ancestors in other families, 64 of the total being male and 64 female. A descendant in the direct male line inherits no more of the blood of Nathaniel1 Merrill than a descendant of a daughter of Nathaniel’s daughter, where the descent in every case follows a female line, with a change of name in every generation.
Muriel Bardsley, in his “Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames,” explains Merrill, Merrall, Merrell, Murrell and Murrells as originally a baptismal name, signifying “the son of Muriel.” He adds: “From an early there was a disposition to pronounce this name [Muriel] Meriel or Merrell.” A little book devoted to the subject of baptismal names of girls—I have forgotten the title—explains Muriel as derived from the Greek mupov, meaning myrrh.
Merrill and Morrill. General Merrill was convinced that the Morrills had been a distinct family since the Conquest, “they coming probably from Hugo de Moruile (Battle Abbey Roll).” On the other hand, community of blood between the Merrill, Morrill and Murrill families in England is perhaps indicated by the fact that a similar coat of arms is described under the several names in works on heraldry. (See pages 110-111.)
Some confusion has been caused by a peculiarity of medieval script, e being often written Q, and o being written O. Thus, might easily be mistaken for Morrill, when in reality it should be read Merrill. Abraham Morrill was an early settler of Salisbury, Mass., but few instances of serious error, so far as I am aware, can be attributed to the names of his descendants being mistaken for the names of Merrills in the records of Newbury and Salisbury.
The writers whom I have quoted in respect to the origin of the name are quite dogmatic in stating what they assume to be facts—but disagree radically in their conclusions. There was an old English and French game played by boys, called merils (pronounced as the plural of Merrill), or merels. The game was sometimes called nine-men’s morris, or five-penny morris. According to Webster the name is derived from a Latin word marella, from madaris, a Celtic javelin or pike. It would be quite as reasonable to trace the family name to this source as to some of the other sources from which writers have, without seeming doubt or hesitation, assumed to derive it. . . .
I am forced to dismiss this subject
with the admission with which I began, and say that the origin of our family
name is unknown.
VARIATIONS IN SPELLING. If we accept Merrill as the normal spelling of the family name in America, it is worthy of remark that the only departures from this standard which have been widespread and persistent have been among the descendants of John2 Merrill of Hartford. His descendants generally for a time added a final s to the name, and for many years the name was commonly written Merrills or Merrells by a large proportion of the Connecticut branch of the family. Furthermore, the change of the i in the last syllable to e or a became very common in Connecticut in the first half of the eighteenth century, but for many years there has been a constant tendency to accept Merrill as the preferred spelling. I cannot recall an instance where any correspondent spelling his name Merrell, Merrall or Merrills has proved to be a descendant of any one of Nathaniel1 Merrill’s sons who remained in the vicinity of Newbury: these spellings are prima facie evidences of descent from John2 of Hartford. [9]
Some years ago in a bookshop I found, and purchased, a copy of Hume’s History of England, on the inside of the cover of each volume of which, in a rather boyish hand, is written Selah Merrell. The book was printed in 1854. I have always assumed that it was a textbook of young Merrell of Canton, Conn., when a student at Yale College. In 1892 Rev. Dr. Selah Merrill, the archaeologist, wrote me from the American consulate at Jerusalem: “When I was a child our name was spelled Merrell. It is only since I went to college that the change was made.”
Indifference
to uniformity in spelling has in many ways complicated the problems of the
genealogist. Many instances are found in the earlier years where individuals
have spelled their own names in two or more ways, and more frequent still are
the cases where recording officers have resorted to various phonetic expedients,
and have introduced many eccentricities in spelling, throwing doubt in some
cases on the identity of individuals. The published records of births, marriages
and deaths in Newbury show eight spellings of the family name: Merrill, Marril,
Merel, Meril, Merrell, Merril, Merryl and Mirril. (Vital Statistics, published
in Salem, 1911.)
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. The figures given in the accompanying table show the relative frequency of the name in this country, under its various modes of spelling. The figures are taken from the directories of the several cities, none of which are of earlier date than 1916. No directories include the names of all the inhabitants, and in most such books the names of some non-residents are included. No better way can be easily found, however, for ascertaining, in general terms, the numerical strength of the family in various sections.
Included in the suburbs of Boston in the table are Brookline, Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Malden, Medford, Newton, Quincy and Somerville. These eight cities and Brookline (“the richest town in America”), are all within eight miles of Boston Common. They had in 1915 an aggregate population of 473,513, and no one of the nine places has less than 30,000 inhabitants.
The figures for New York include only the boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. In a Brooklyn directory for 1912 Merrill appeared 41 times, Merrell 6 times and Merrall once.
In the forty-five directories
represented in the table Merle appears 60 times, Merl 8 times, Morrall 12 times,
Morrell and Morrel, (including some of Italian origin), 431 times, Morrill 617
times, and Murrell (Murrel and Murrill) 148 times. The Morrills are relatively
much more numerous in New England than in any other section. Only seven Murrells
(Murrels and Murrills) are found in the New England directories. Twenty-six
persons bearing this name in some form are listed in Louisville, of whom 10 are
marked with a small c, to indicate that they have African blood. Meril, Merilh
and Merriall appear once each in these directories, but these may be
typographical errors.
Numerical Strength. It would be interesting to know how many persons in the United States today bear the name Merrill, or some of its variations, but it would be very difficult to make even a good estimate of the number. In general terms, the numerical strength of a family in a given city is indicated by the number of persons bearing the family name listed in the city directory. If the number of persons in a city bearing the name Merrill, or some of its variants, bears the same ratio to the entire population of the city that the number of Merrills (Merrells, etc.,) who are listed in the directory bears to the total number of names given in the book, it is easy to estimate the numerical strength of the family in that city. If, again, we select certain cities, representing both the sections where the family is numerically strong and those where its numbers are relatively few, we may obtain certain figures which, compared with the census figures for the entire country, will give a rough estimate of the number of persons, now living in the United States, who have inherited Nathaniel Merrill’s family name.
For this purpose I have assumed that Boston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati and San Francisco represent, in the aggregate, the average for the country with respect to distribution of the family name. If this assumption is correct, the number of persons now living in the country bearing the family name is about 25,000, or a little more than one in every 4000. [10]
Merrills now in England. The London Postoffice Directory for 1917, a book of more than 2500 pages, includes only commercial and professional entries. Many classes of individuals, whose names would be included in an American directory, but who are of minor importance from a business standpoint, are omitted. In this directory Merrill appears 5 times, Merrell twice and Merralls once. Four of the five Merrills are marble masons. Merle is found twice in this directory, Morrall 3 times, Morrell 35 times, Morrill 4 times and Murrell 20 times.
Henry Brougham Guppy, in “Homes of Family Names in Great Britain” (London, 1890), mentions Merrell as a family name represented by 18 individuals in every 10,000 among the farmers of Worcestershire, and Merrills as represented by 16 in every 10,000 in Kottinghamshire. In the other counties of Great Britain Mr. Guppy found the relative frequency of these or similar names to be less than 8 in every 10,000 of the farmers in the respective counties. Merrill is not given in his list, and hence presumably fell below the ratio of 8 in 10,000.
It does not appear by Rev. Samuel-H. Merrill’s papers that in his researches of fifty years ago he paid much attention to the question of the English origin of the family. “As to the European origin of the Merrill family I have no certain information,” he wrote, in a letter to Gyles Merrill of Haverhill, dated 12 April, 1869. To this he added: “Your information is correct that the two brothers, John and Nathaniel, came from Salisbury, England. That they were of French descent is highly probable.”
(See page 100.) But the reasons which Rev. Mr. Merrill assigned for belief in the theory of French descent are very unconvincing. The family temperament, he argued, is generally mercurial, and this is a French characteristic. The ending -lle, furthermore, is very common in French proper names, but not in English names, he said. Finally, “there were none of the name in England in 1520, but there were Merrills in France at that date.” If these reasons were based on accurate statements of fact they would be entitled to considerable weight, but Mr. Merrill is not in accord with General Merrill with respect to family temperament, and in the previous chapter it has appeared that similar family names were known in England at a much earlier date than 1520.
Salisbury, in Wilts Gyles7 Merrill, like Rev. Samuel-H. Merrill, felt a strong conviction that the Merrill s of Newbury came from Salisbury, in Wiltshire, in the South of England. This belief was based solely on tradition. Nathaniel1 Merrill was presumably more than 50 years of age at his death in 1655. His son Daniel2 lived in Salisbury, Mass., six or eight miles from his father’s homestead, and died at the age of 74. Daniel’s son Moses3 spent his life in Salisbury, and died at the age of 72. Moses4, of the next generation, spent most of his life in Salisbury, and in Haverhill, less than fifteen miles away, and died at the age of 87. Rev. Gyles5 Merrill lived in Haverhill, within a quarter of a mile of the homestead occupied in his later years by his father, Moses4, and died at 62. Moses6 Merrill lived in the house which had been the parsonage of his father, and died when 88 years of age. Here were six generations, with no long migrations to distant parts, and without the consequent interruption of frequent communication, the grandsons in most cases presumably hearing reminiscences and stories of olden time from the lips of their grandfathers. Under such circumstances a tradition is entitled to a maximum of credence. In this line of the family tradition pointed strongly to Salisbury as the English home of the Newbury Merrills.
But traditions at best are uncertain. Other settlers in the neighborhood had come from Salisbury and Amesbury in Wiltshire, and had given the names to the towns of Salisbury and Amesbury in Massachusetts. It is quite possible that, a generation or two after the death of Nathaniel1 and his brother, the impression may have been created that Nathaniel too was from the Wiltshire city, and this impression may easily in later years have crystallized into an assertion of fact. A chain is no stronger than its weakest link, however, and a chain of tradition is no stronger than the memory of that one in the chain of those who have handed down the tradition whose memory is least to be depended on. Nevertheless, if no records or other evidence pointing in some other direction had been found, the Salisbury tradition might still carry considerable weight.
A somewhat superficial search of the church records of Salisbury, England, yielded negative results. No reference to Nathaniel1 Merrill or his brother was found, but the records of many churches in that vicinity have not been examined. [11]
Other Theories Among other places which have been considered the possible English home of the Newbury Merrills are Cheshire, Grafton Flyford in Worcestershire, and Somersetshire, but each theory has lacked the necessary evidence to substantiate it. A correspondent in New Hampshire wrote me some years ago, quoting his father as saying that the family name was originally McMerrill, and that he was a descendant of Robert McMerrill, a soldier in the army of Robert Bruce. Inasmuch as my correspondent was not sure of his grandfather’s christian name, I made no effort to trace, with his assistance, the connection with the Scottish soldier of six hundred years ago.
The Merrells of Suffolk Evidence stronger than tradition, bearing on the question of the English origin of the family, is to be found in Hartford, Conn., and in English records brought to light in following the clue furnished by the records in Hartford, (See pages 82-3.) John2 Merrill, a son of the emigrant, left Newbury soon after the death of his father, and is supposed to have been adopted by Gregory Wolterton of Hartford. In his will, dated 17 July, 1674, Gregory Wolterton named John Merrill as residuary legatee, and also gave “unto James wolterton the son of mathew wolterton that liue in Ipsage in sufolke in owld Ingland ten pound if he be liuing if not to his Childeren eaquelly deuided.”
In Gregory Wolterton’s will few words were wasted. He did not tell the relationship that may have existed between James Wolterton and himself; and he did not refer to any relationship as the reason why he made John2 Merrill the chief beneficiary of his will. But following the clue furnished by this will the records of Ipswich, England, and some of the neighboring parishes were searched, and they seem to have yielded evidence that the English home of the Merrills was in southern Suffolk, rather than in Wiltshire.
The Calendar of Wills at Ipswich between 1444 and 1600 shows twenty-three entries under the various spellings Merrell, Morrell, Murrell, Murell, Meryell, Morriell and Moriell. Whether these individuals were representatives of different branches of the same family it is not necessary to discuss at this time: it is sufficient to note that certain of them may have been in the direct family line of Nathaniel Merrill of Newbury. In the same Calendar there are also references, in the fifteenth century, to the wills of Thomas Woolverston of Freston and John Waterden of Bramford, and in the early sixteenth century to the wills of John Watterden of Needham Market and John Waterden of Needham. Whether these latter names are variants of Wolterton I am unable to say, but, in view of the wide latitude which recording officers in those days permitted themselves in writing family names, it may easily be that some of these men were lineal forbears of the prosperous tanner of Hartford.
Before we make up our minds, however, that the English home of the family was in southern Suffolk, it will of course be necessary to find more direct and positive evidence than is contained in the will of Gregory Wolterton, or in the Calendar of Wills just quoted.
To this subject I shall devote the following chapter.
The originals of the sixteenth century Suffolk wills, in the Probate Registry office at Ipswich, England, are preserved with a lack of care and system which would be severely criticised in most New England recording offices. All the probate papers of a year are rolled up loosely in a bundle, without regard to order, and tied with a cord. The smaller papers are exposed to danger of loss, and the larger ones are naturally badly worn by reason of loose prejecting edges. Each bundle is supposed to contain the papers of a single year, but many of the bundles are unmarked, and the search for any particular paper is a most discouraging undertaking. The bundles are stored in a vault, in a confused mass.
The officials look upon the original wills with comparative indifference. In their judgment the recorded copies are evidently of greater importance. Indeed, they said that no one in these days looks beyond the record books, and my persistence in trying to find the original instruments was, they said, very unusual. The copies are indexed, but there is no index to show whether the original wills are still in existence.
The wills of three John Merrells, probated respectively in 1600, 1552 and 1529, are recorded in old parchment-covered books, and these copies are easily found. The bindings are worm-eaten, and falling apart by reason of broken stitches, but the paper has well withstood the test of time, and the brownish-black ink shows no signs of fading. These copies were evidently made at the time when the wills were proved. Dictionaries were practically unknown, and orthography for this reason was not standardized. As a result the copies show many minor differences in spelling—differences from the originals, and inconsistencies with themselves. But in all essentials the phraseology is faithfully preserved.
In my copies I have followed literally, line for line, the transcripts in the record books. In the case of the two earlier wills the originals could not be found. In the case of the will of 1600 I was so fortunate as to find the original, but it was so much less legible than the recorded copy that the exact tenor of the instrument is better shown in a copy taken from the pages of the old book of record.
Will of John Merrell 1600 The original will of 1600 fills three large sheets of handsome deckle-edged paper, 10 ¾ by 14 ½ inches in size. The sheets are attached together at the top by a narrow strip of parchment, the ends of this parchment ribbon being bound by red sealing wax. The margins are ample, and the lines wide apart, but the writer used a coarsepointed quill, and crowded the writing in such a way that in our time one unaccustomed to ancient manuscripts would find much difficulty in deciphering it.
The testator affixed his signature in a shaking hand, with an indifferent pen, spelling his name Merell. But he was “sicke in bodie”—his will was admitted to probate nine days later—and we must not criticise his chirography, or his spelling of the family name. A facsimile of his autograph is given herewith. At the end of the third sheet, near the signature, a few drops of sealing wax were placed, and a corner of the paper was folded over the hot wax. Against this a seal was pressed, the seal showing clearly a crude device resembling a spider.
The ancient copyist contented himself with preserving the phraseology of the instrument, literal precision in matters of spelling, and in the use of capitals, evidently being considered quite unimportant. He spelled “paid” in three different ways, and “Wherstead,” which appears six times, has five different spellings, the name of the place in each case beginning with a small letter.
The copy of the will of John Merrell (1600) is in the records of the Archdeaconry of Suffolk, book xxxviii, folio 242. For comparison the first line of the original instrument may be quoted:
In the name of Godd Amen the seconde daye of [illegible] yn the thre & ffourtyth yere of the Ragn of our Sovrayn lady
In the more legible handwriting of the recording officer these twenty-four words are given more than two lines.
In the name of god Amen the second day of December in the three and ffourtith yeere of the Raigne of our Sovaigne Ladie Elizabeth by the grace of god of Englaund and Irelaund Queene Defender of the ffaith &c. I John Merrell the elder of whersteade in the Countie of Suff: Yeoman being sicke in bodie and yet of pfect memorie praised be almightie god remembring that all mankind is mortall and the time of death is uncertaine for the satisfaccon of my mind and the quiet of my wife and children & a remembraunce of some other have and doe hereby make and declare my last will & testament in manner & fforme as hereafter ensueth that is to say ffirst and most principallie in most humble manner I comend my Soule into the hands of almightie god my maker redeemer and Sanctifier trusting by and through the merrits and obedyence of my lord and Saviour Jesus Christ that my soul shall possesse and enioy eternall life & salvacon And as for my bodie I bequeath to the earth to be buried by the discretion of my executors. Itm I will and bequeath to the poore people in wherstead aforesaid fourtie shillings to be distributed among them wthin one quarter of a yeere next after my decease. Itm I give and bequeath to Prudence my wife in pte of recompence of hir dower my parlor and larther howse pcell of my dwelling howses wth. the bedding and furniture in the same and the pasture and stover somer and winter for a Cowe upon my lands in litle belsted and whested aforesaid from time to time to have and to hold to hir the said Prudence for terme of hir natural life keeping hir sole and unmarried. Itm I give and bequeath to hir the said Prudence in further recompence of hir dower one anuitie or yeerlie rent of five pounds of lawfull englishe mony to be going out of all my lands and Tennemts in little Belsted wherested and Sprowtonne to have and to hold to my said wife for terme of hir life at two termes in the yeeres usuall that is to say at the ffeast of thaunncacon of the blessed virgin Saint Marie and Saint michaell tharchaungell by even porcons the ffirst payment to begin at such of the said ffeasts as shall happen next after my decease and yf yt shall happen the said yeerelie Rent to be behind unpayed in pte or in all over or after any of the said ffeast dayes in wch the same ought to be paid that then and at all times after yt shalbe lawfull to and for the said prudence into the said lands and Tennements or any pcell thereof to enter and Distraine and the Distresse or Distresses there fownd to lead drive carrie away and Detaine untill the said Prudence of the said yeerelie rent wth. the arrearages thereof shalbe fullie satisfied and paid. Itm I will geve & bequeath to John my sonne the moytie of my dwelling howses & the moytie of all my launds Tennemts. and heriditamts. as well free as bond scituate lying and being in wherstead litle Belsted and Sprowton aforsaid or any of them to have and to hold to the said John my Sonne his his heires and Assynes forev Itm I will give and bequeath to Michaell my Sonne thother moytie of my said dwelling howses and of all the said lands Tennements and heriditamts. as well free as bond to have and to hold to the said michall my Sonne his heires and assynes fforev. Itm I will and bequeath Itm I will and bequeath to Nathaniell merrell my Sonne ffourtie pounds of lawfull english mony to be paid to him in fforme ffollowinge vizt. wthin one yeere next after my decease xiijli. vjs viijd. And wthin two yeeres next after my decease other thirteene pounds six shillings and eight pence and wthin three yeeres next after my decease other thirteene pounds six shillings and eight pence in full paymt of the said ffourtie pounds. Itm I will and bequeath to Thomas my Sonne thirtie pounds of lawfull english mony to be paid to him in fforme ffollowing vixt. wthin one yeere next after my decease tenne pounds and wthin two yeeres next after my decease other tenne pounds and wthin three yeeres next after my decease other tenne pounds in full payment of the said thirtie pounds Itm I will and bequeath to the said Thomas my lease and terme of yeres of and in the messuage called Ampsons in wherstede aforesaid & of & in the lands thereunto belonging. Itm I will and bequeath to Marie Merrell daughter to the said Nathaniell tenne pounds to be paid to hir at hir age of eighteene yeeres. Itm I will and bequeath to Martha merrell one other of the daughters of the said Nathaniell other tenne pounds to be paid to hir at hir age of eighteene yeeres. Itm I. will and bequeath to John Merrell Sonne to the said Nathaniell tenne pounds to be payed to him at his age of one and twentie yeeres And yff any of the said children of the said Nathaniell shall Dept this life before such time as he or she is to receive the said porcon bequeathed by this my will, then I will that the pte and porcon of him or hir so Deceasing shalbe Distributed to and among the survivors of them. Itm I will and bequeath to Thoms merrell Sonne of Thoms Merrell my Sonne tenne pounds to be paied to him at his age of one and twentie yeeres. Itm I will and bequeath to Anne Merrell daughter to the said Thoms my Sonne other tenne pounds to be paied to hir at hir age of eightene yeeres, And yff eyther of those two children shall depte this life before he or shee shall receive the said porcons bequeathed then I will that the pte & porcon of him or hir so Deceasing shall remaine to the ??vivour of them. Itm I will and bequeath to Willm Smyth my ??vaunt twentie shillings & to Thomas Smyth his brother tenne shillings Itm I will and bequeath to Edward Kettle of ffreston Clerke xxs, Itm I will and bequeath to eytch of my said sonnes Nathaniell and Thoms all such goods of mine as they have in thier sevall custodies And I remytte and forgive and eyther of them all such Debts as they or eyther of them doth owe unto me All the Residue of my debts goods and Cattals whatsoev my Debts payed my legacies pformed and my funrall expences discharged I will and bequeath to my said Sohnes John and Michaell, whome I ordaine name and costitute my Executors of this my last will & Testament, And I appoint my loving friend Cristopher Wright supraviser of the same nevthelesse my will and meaning is that yff anie Default shalbe made in the payment of any legacie before bequeathed to any of my Sonnes or anie of thier Children that then the ptie from whome anie such legacie shalbe wtholden shall enter into have and hold all my said lands and Tennemets. and the same occupy and enioy untill such legacie shalbe satisfied and paid. Itm I will & bequeath to the said Thomas my Sonne my brasse pott sometime sharpes and a hundreth of bourd, And thus Revoking and renowcing all formr wills and Testamts by me made I ratifie and Confirme this and in Testimonie thereof have hereunto put my hand & Seale in the psence of Raulffe Scrivner and Cristopher wright michaell Raynold and John Raynold. By me John merrell
This will was proved 11 Dec. 1600.
Line 2 et seq. ff as an initial is the equivalent of capital F
3, 6, 8, etc. Little flourishes were commonly used at that time to mark certain abbreviations. These are described in Wright’s “Court-Hand Restored,” and other books relating to ancient manuscripts, and detailed explanations are not needed in this place.
6, Yeoman: a freeholder of land of the value of 40s. a year.
Line 23. “Parlor and larther howse pcell:” probably reference is made to the portion of the house which included the parlor and larder, or pantry.
25, stover: fodder for cattle.
26, litle belsted: now called Belstead, a parish adjoining Wherstead on the west.
29, sole: unmarried.
30-31. In 1600, when this will was written, the purchasing power of money was about ten times greater than it was three centuries later.
33. Sproughton is three miles northwest from Wherstead.
35, ffeast of thaunncacon: feast of the Annunciation,
(25 March).
Line 60, xiijli.: thirteen pounds.
72, messuage: dwelling house.
95, ??vivour: survivor.
99, Freston adjoins Wherstead on the southeast.
99, Clerke: clergyman.
104, Cattals: chattels.
Search of the Wherstead and Belstead registers discloses the following entries: [12]
Wherstead
1593/4 Jan.21. ….. Merrell, dau. of Nath! Merrell & his wife was buried.
1594/5 Feb.23. Mary Merrell, dau. of Nath! Merrell & Mary his wife was baptised.
1596. Sep.21. Matthew Merrell dau. of Matthew Merrell & Mary his wife was baptised. (Sic.) 1598. ( ) Francis Merrell dau. of (???) Merrell & Mary his wife was baptised.
1599. Aug. 16. John Merrell son of Nath! Merrell & Mary his wife was baptised.
1601. May 4. Nathanaell Merrell son of Nath! Merrell & Mary his wife was baptised.
1602. Aug. 23. Rose Merrill dau. of Thomas Merrill & his wife was baptised.
1603. Apr. 3. Mychell Merrell, son of Nathaniel Merrell & his wife was baptised.
1605. Mar. 29. Elizabeth Merrell dau. of Thomas Merrell & his wife was baptised.
1628/9 Jan. 24. John Merrill & Anis Bishope married.
1595/6 Jul. 15. Thomas Merrill & Rose Pearson married.
1598. Aug. 1. Fraunces Merrell, dau. of Nath! Merrell & Mary his wife buried.
1626/7 Mar. 17. Nathaniel Merrill buried.
1602. Oct. 10. Mary dau. of John & Susan Merrill baptised.
Belstead
1603. Apr. 9. Elizabeth dau. of Nichaelis Merrill & Margaret his wife.
1604. Aug. 4. Francis Merrill, dau. of Michael Merrill & Margaret.
1607. Apr. 19. Michael son of Michael Merrill & Margaret.
1608/9 Feb. 19. John son of Michael Merrill & Margaret.
1610/1 Mar. 10. William son of Michael Merrill and Margaret.
1615. Sep. 10. Anna Merrill dau. of Michael Merrill & Margaret.
(Baptisms and burials, hiatus to 1653.)
1583. Sep. 15. Robert Andrew & Joane Morrell married.
1592/3 Feb. 27. Nathanaell Merrill & Mary Blacksoll married.
1601. Dec. 29. John Merrill & Susan Plumley married.
1602/3 Mar. 7. Michael Merrill & Margaret Scrivener married.
1637. Jul. 3. William Merrill & An. Bond married.
1608. Dec. 22. Prudence Merrill buried.
1609. 1616. Aug. 20. Michael Merrill buried.
In the light of this record of baptisms marriages and burials, aided by the evidence of relationship contained in the will given at pages 34-38, we may construct the above pedigree.
John and Nathaniel Merrell, who were baptised at Wherstead 16 Aug. 1599, and 4 May, 1601, respectively, and whose names are underscored in red in the pedigree, seem to be the John and Nathaniel Merrill who settled in Newbury, Massachusetts. Their dates of baptism are quite consistent with this theory, and they disappear from the records of Wherstead and vicinity at the time when John and Nathaniel appear in the records of Ipswich and Newbury in New England. John was mentioned in his grand father’s will:
Nathaniel was unborn when the grandfather died. Such search as has been made, however, fails to disclose marriage records, or ships’ lists, or references in wills to kindred beyond the sea, to prove that the John and Nathaniel of Wherstead migrated to New England. [i]
Will of “John Meryell” 1551 The second of the Ipswich wills to claim our attention is that of “John Meryell of Wherstead” (1551). (Archdeaconry of Suffolk, book xvi, folio 22 9b.) Like many wills of that period, this instrument bore no signature.
In Dei Nom Amen. The xiijth. day of
Decembre in the yere of or. lorde god a m??ccccclj I John Meryell beyng of the
towne of Whersted of hole mynde and good memory make and orden thys my last wyll
ffyrst I bequethe my sowle to Almyghtye god, and my body to be buryed at the
churche of Whersted before named Itm I bequethe
unto my eldeste son John my howse wyth all my londe that there unto parteyneth
bothe free and copye, & notwythstandyng I wyll that Kateryne my wyef shall
have her dwellyng in the sayde howse wyth my sone John before named and also to
have the occupyeng of the one halfe of the
aforsayde londe so long as she kepeth her a wedowe beryng the one halfe of all
maner of coste and charges for the sayde tyme, but and yf she chaunce to mary,
then I wyll that my sone John before named shall have the sayde howse and the
londe before named into hys howne hands payeng to Kateryne my
wyef xls. yerely enduryng her lyef. forthermore I wyll that Kateryne my wyef
shall have all my howsholde stuffe Itm I geve unto these my chyldren Wyllyam
Myghell Thomas and John my yongest sone Mary Margett, Alyce Katheryn and Agnes
to every of them xxs. The resydue of my goods not bequethed nor geven moveable
or onmoveable I geve to Kateryne my wyef and to my eldest sone John and all
suche dettyes as be atteynyng unto me to be equally devyded betwyxte them
dyschargyng and fulfyllyng my legacyes and bequests whome I also make myne
executours and Wyllyam Meryell and Myghell my sones supvysours upon the same/ In
wytnes herof be these here folowyng Rycharde Clarke Jarome Alderman Nycholas
Wales Thomas Cason Symon Blosse wyth dyvers other/
Line 1. In Dei Nom: In Dei Nomine, in the name of God.
9. free and copye: freehold and copyhold estates.
14. beryng: bearing.
23. Myghell: Michael.
28. atteynyng: due.
This will was proved 28 Jan. 1551/2.
In this will the wife Katherine and five sons and five daughters are named, as follows: John (I), William, Michael, Thomas, John (II), Mary, Margaret, Alice, Katherine, Agnes.
Of these sons John (I), William, Michael and John (II) were evidently grown up, for the first-named was appointed one of the executors, and the other three were named as supervisors of the will. It would be interesting to know if either of the sons whom we will call John (I) and John (II) were the John Merrell who made his will in 1600. Either may have been the testator of 1600; or, for aught the records tell us, John Merrell, who died in 1600, may have been a grandson of the John Meryell who died about fifty years earlier. This question of relationship must remain for the present unsettled.
Will of John Meryell 1528 The third will in which we are interested is that of another John Merrell of Wherstead, its record reference being Archdeaconry of Suffolk, book x, folio 40. This also appears to have been unsigned, though regularly admitted to probate. In it the family name is written Meryell and Moryell indiscriminately.
This interesting old document is entered in the record book under the caption “Testam Johnis Moryell.” Copied carefully, line for line, it reads as follows:
In the name of god Amen, the iij daye of Decemb in the yere of our lord god mlcccccxxviij I John Moryell of Wherstede wthin the Countye of Suff husbondman beyng seck and ffebill of bodye hooll and pfyght of rememberaunce make this my psent testament and last will under this maner of of fourme and condicion folowyng Inprimis I bequeth my soule to allmyghtie god to our blessed Ladye saynt Marie and to all the glorious company of hevyn my bodie to be buried wthin the cherch yerde of Wherstede aforesaid unto the which highe Aulter for my tythes and oblacons forgoton & unpaid I bequeth iijs. ii ijd. Item I bequeth likewise unto the highe Aulter of Belstede cherch iijs. iiijd. Item I geue un to Syr John ffulchehm my gostlie ffather and vicar of Wherstede xs. for a trentall to syng it where it shall please hym for my soule and all Crystyn soulys Item I geve and bequeth unto John meryell my oldest son my tenement in Belstede wt all my londes wt in the said towne both fre and bonde in fee symple upon this condicion that the said John my son shall paye or cause to be paid unto Anne my wiff Im mediatlie aftr my decease the yerelie ferme of the said tenement and londes the space of ij yerys and also to pay or cause to be paide unto John meryell his brother xxs. out of the said tent and londes as the said John shall nede it to his fynding to lernyng And ovyrthat I will the said John my oldest son shall kepe or cause to be kepte an obite wtin the cherch of Whersted the terme and space of v yerys next folewyng aftr my decease and evy obite to be kept to the valewe of viijs. starling money Item I geve and bequeth unto the said John my oldest son all my bargayn and pte of Goodylsforde woode and also my Cartys plowys and tomberellys wt. all the utensells to them belongyng Except horsys and Oxsen) payeng unto his brother John vjs. viijd. to receyve them att the fest of Saynt mychaell next aftr my decease Item I will yf the said John my yongest son depte the worlde or he have receyved the foresaid xxs. of myn tenement and londes before specified that than the said xxs. to be paide to Anne my wiff un to the which Anne I geve and bequeth all my stuffs and utensills of houshold. Item I geve and bequeth unto Julyan and Elyn my doughters un to evy of them xxs. starling mony to be paid att the daye of the mariage of eyther of them And yf eyther of my said doughters depte the worlde or they com to mariage than I will the survyv of eyther of them shall haue other parte and if they both departe the worlde or the com to marriage than I will the said xls. be don in dedys of charite by the discrecion of myn executors for my soule and all cristen soulys Item I geve unto Johan meryell my sonnys doughter a combe of barly The Residue of all my gooddes not be quethed this my will pformyd and dettys paid I geve and bequeth un to Anne my wyff Item I will that myn executors shall occupie my parte of my ferme that I dwelle in un to the most profight for the pformaunce of this my last will and testament whom I ordeyn and make John moryell my oldest son and Thomas Belchm my brother in lawe they to receyve my detts and pay my detts and pforme this my psent testament and last will unto the which Thomas for his labor and payn I bequeth vjs. viijd. These beyng wittnesses John Goldynghm priest Syr John ffulchehm, Vicar of Wherstede Edmunde Wyng of Belstede wt other.
16. trentall: trental; a service of thirty masses.
23. ferme: farm, revenue.
26. tent: tenement.
28. fynding to lernyng: expense of education.
28. ovyrthat: moreover.
30. obite: obit; a memorial service on the anniversary of one’s death.
34. bargayn and pte: share.
35. tomberellys: tumbrels, dump-carts.
41, 49, 52. or: before.
56. combe: four bushels.
In this will his wife Anne is mentioned, and children John (I), John (II), Julian and Eleanor. John (I) was of age; he was named as one of the executors, and he had a daughter Johan, to whom was given in the will a “combe” of barley. John (II) was probably a minor, receiving an education. Was either of these sons the “John Meryell” whose will was proved in 1551/2?
Only one child of John (I) is mentioned in the will. If John (I) had no other child in 1528, he could hardly have been the John who made his will 1551, for the latter John had ten children in 1551, four of whom, at least, were grown up. But John, whose will we are considering, was under no obligation to make bequests to his grandchildren. The fact that the bequest to Johan was four bushels of barley would indicate that Johan was not a young child, and this would strengthen the theory that John (I) may have had other children in 1528, making quite plausible the assumption that “John Meryell,” who made his will in 1551, was son of the John whose will was dated 1528.
The Reformation In the pious phrases of these wills may be read something of the history of the Reformation. In 1528, when John Meryell of Wherstead made his will, England was a Catholic country. Henry VIII was at the beginning of his long controversy with Rome over the question of his divorce from Catherine of Aragon, but the king was then, and to the end of his days, a Catholic in all doctrinal matters. Even the excommunication of Henry in 1534 did not cause him to give up the belief that private masses ought to be continued and auricular confession retained, and these and other Catholic dogmas were endorsed by Parliament in the bill of the Six Articles in 1539. The king merely repudiated papal authority. It was thus quite natural that John Meryell should bequeath his soul to “our blessed Ladye saynt Marie,” make bequests to the high altar of the church, and provide for masses for his soul.
Henry VIII died in 1547, and under Edward VI (1547-1553) the Reformation made rapid progress, especially in London and the eastern counties. The Six Articles were repealed, a Book of Common Prayer and Liturgy replaced the missal and breviary, and in 1552 the Forty-two Articles of Religion (later reduced to thirty-nine) were introduced.
It was at this time (13 Dec. 1551) that another John Meryell of Wherstead made his will. The Reformation had seemingly prevailed, but the heir presumptive to the throne was Mary Tudor, a Catholic, destined to be an object of execration through all time under the name of “Bloody Mary.” Under these circumstances it is not strange that the testator of 1551 should omit the churchly phrases which might be out of place, or unpopular, or something worse, when the will should ultimately be offered for probate. With worldly wisdom which does his memory credit he drafted a will which would meet any theological situation which might arise.
Mary succeeded to the throne in 1553, and soon after the Catholic church was reestablished. Many were imprisoned, and others burned alive, in Suffolk and elsewhere, for their Protestant faith. But this did not long continue. Elizabeth assumed the scepter in 1558, and soon brought about a return to Protestant forms and ceremonies. At the very beginning of her reign Parliament voted to abolish the mass and to reestablish the liturgy of Edward VI. The will of John Merrell of Wherstead, executed in 1600, shows no evidence of Romish sentiment, and among its many bequests are none for superstitious uses. The annuity given the widow was payable, to be sure, at the feast of the Annunciation of “the blessed virgin Saint Marie” and the feast of St, Michael the Archangel, but these were merely the “two termes in the yeeres usuall,” and had legal rather than religious significance. The Reformation had been accomplished.
Wherstead, a Parish in Suffolk
Ipswich, in England, is about seventy miles northeast from London. It is situated at the head of the estuary of the Orwell, just as Ipswich, in New England, stands at the head of tide water on the Ipswich River. The Massachusetts town in three hundred years has grown to a population of 6272, while the population of the English town in the same period has increased from about 6000 to 75,000.
Wherstead village lies three miles south of Ipswich. It is an ancient settlement, and from its soil the plow has brought to light many evidences of occupation by Romans and by early Britons. In Doomsday Book the place is described under the names Querstede and Wervesteda. The name of the village and parish is in our day generally pronounced Wersted or Warsted by the residents, the a in the latter case having the sound of a in father.
A short ride by electric railway through Ipswich streets carries one to Bourne bridge, which marks the boundary of Wherstead parish. Near the bridge, on the Wherstead side, stands the Ostrich Inn, as it stood at the time of the New England migration. In those days, however, oysters were still found in Orwell waters, and the name “Oyster Ridge” had not been corrupted to the name of the exotic bird whose effigy now adorns the swinging signboard of the roadside tavern.
A walk of fifteen minutes from Bourne bridge, along the macadamized highway leading southwest to Manningtree and London, brings one to the village. The road is shaded much of the way by oaks and other trees. High untrimmed hedges or bank walls often hide the fields.
The fields, when in view—as I saw them shaded by the threatening clouds of a gloomy day in June, 1910--showed deep shades of green, brightened sometimes in the foreground by the hectic flush of wild poppies. The soil is light loam: the chief crops wheat, barley and roots.
Wherstead
village is a scattered array of cottages lining a crooked lane which branches
off from the high road on the east. The village is devoid of stores or public
house, and the only industry, aside from agriculture, is carried on in a modest
smithy The Church The Wherstead church is not seen from the high road, nor
generally from the village. It stands apart, near Wherstead Park and “the
Mansion,” where the owners of many of the broad acres of the parish have
lived. The church shows a mixture of Norman and Gothic architecture, and is
believed to date, in some of its parts, from about 1100. It is built of small
stone, mostly of a flinty character, with gray sandstone trimmings, and has a
red tile roof. The square tower, ivy-grown, dating from about 1400, contains
three bells, one of which is about five centuries old. The newest bears the date
1675. The church is small, seating only 122 people.
I was looking through some old engravings in a book shop in Ipswich, in search of nothing in particular, when I came upon the picture of Wherstead Church which is reproduced on the previous page. Extensive restoration and repairs were made in the old edifice in 1863, but without changing its character in any material respect. As represented here the building must have been familiar to all who knew Wherstead in the time when the foundations were laid for the New England beyond the sea. The churchyard, attractive and well kept, is entered by a stile. In the center is the church, while around about—
“Each in his narrow cell forever laid
The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.”
Nobility and gentry, clergy and humble rustics, many in graves now unmarked, lie in the same soil, social distinctions effaced at last.
The site of the church is 150 feet above the Orwell. The view from this point, up and down the stream, is called one of the finest in the Eastern Counties. Its picturesqueness is enhanced in no small degree by the little spots of color furnished by the red and brown sails of the “straightie barges”—freight-carrying vessels of moderate size engaged in coastwise traffic. The picture on the opposite page is taken from Zincke’s book on Wherstead parish. The tower, in the distance at the right, is in the parish of Freston. It has been a conspicuous landmark since before the time of the Newbury settlement.
Rev. F. B. Zincke Wherstead parish was fortunate in having a talented vicar, who, as curate and vicar, served the parish from 1841 until his death in 1893, and who became its historian. Rev. Foster Barham Zincke, chaplain to the Queen, was a gentleman of studious tastes, possessing industry, imagination, and genial good-nature, and he produced a history whioh is instructive and readable as few such works have ever been. Most historians would have recited the facts which, in the aggregate, would have constituted the history of the humble parish, and would have considered their work finished. But Mr. Zincke always goes a step farther, and seeks to ascertain the reason why. Why are the birds and animals in the parish less numerous than in earlier times? Why has the number of land owners decreased in such marked degree? These and many other questions relating to the territory of the parish, the church and its vicars, the customs and language of the people, he answers in an interesting way.
Under the title “Some Materials for the History of Wherstead,” Mr. Zincke reprinted, in 1887, a series of articles which he had written, and which had first appeared in an Ipswich newspaper. Much enlarged, especially by a number of chapters on “Wherstead in Domesday,” this work appeared in a second edition in the year of its author’s death. It tells much of the causes which gradually brought about the changes which
have taken place in the rural life of England, and its perusal would nterest anyone of studious tastes, even though a stranger to Wherstead and its affairs. A copy of the second edition of this work may be found in the Boston Public Library.
Land Ownership in Wherstead At the time of the great migration, in which the foundations of New England were laid by the sturdy and enterprising colonists from Old England, Samuel Sames was vicar of Wherstead. Like many other clergy and laymen of his time and neighborhood he was a Puritan in his beliefs and practices. He died in 1657, after fifty-four years’ service in the parish.
“We can imagine the old man,” says Mr. Zincke in his history, “for he must have lived to beyond eighty, sunning himself in the warm vicarage grounds. . . . In whatever direction, north, south, east or west, he had looked in those days, he would have seen the houses of substantial land-owning neighbors, for they were around him on every side. But now there is no representative among us of any one of them. Their descendants, one after another, were bought out; and where may be the descendants of those who sold the inheritance of their fathers, or whether indeed they have any descendants at all, no man knows.” [13]
It would be vain to look to Wherstead today for representatives of the families of the seventeenth century. The parish contains 2264 acres, and with the exception of the glebe—a small tract belonging to the church—and a half-acre belonging to a certain farmer, the entire parish was, in 1893, according to Mr. Zincke, a part of a single still larger estate. “It is a significant illustration of the action of our land system that at this day there is not one householder of any class in this parish who is residing in the house in which he was born, and that of all our resident householders only two are natives of the place.
A century and a quarter after the first settlement of Newbury, Massachusetts, there were ten or more landed properties in the parish of Wherstead, the owners in a number of cases being people of some social distinction. Less than a century later, according to Mr. Zincke, these families had djsappeared so completely that even “tradition is dumb as to where in the parish they respectively lived.” In view of this fact it would obviously be futile, at this late day, to seek the site of any Merrell homestead occupied three hundred years ago.
The Founders of New England The earliest settlers of New England were chiefly from the great middle class of the English rural population. Few were of the aristocracy. Secure in their property rights and social privileges, and close adherents of the established church, the aristocracy had every reason to remain where the continued enjoyment of these rights and privileges was best assured. On the other hand, few were of the lower strata of the social structure. Some pecuniary means, and an even greater measure of enterprise and ambition, were needed to induce families to leave the assured conditions of an established community for the uncertainties of a wilderness, in which even the beginnings of a commonwealth were yet to be laid.
We are wont to think of the early settlers of New England as victims of hardship, giving up comfortable homes in the mother country to subject themselves to the privations incident to life in a forest. To a certain extent this was true, but it was less so in the case of those coming from rural England than in the case of those from the large towns.
Zincke, 1st ed. p. 52 2d ed. p. 67 Populous tracts in Suffolk, England, of considerable extent, were inaccessible to wheeled vehicles for more than a hundred years after Newbury was founded, and such roads for wheel traffic as there were were of a primitive character, deeply rutted, and the many places where mud made passage difficult were mended with faggots, if mended at all.
The England of today, a land of hard broad highways, over which motor vehicles race in competition with the steam-drawn trains of the railways, is very different from the England which Nathaniel and John Merrill left, to build their homes among the Indians beside the River Parker. For generations after Nathaniel Merrill’s time the guards of English mail coaches carried blunderbusses and pistols to protect the passengers under their care from the lawless men who infested the country roads throughout the kingdom. The Indians of Massachusetts ceased to be a source of danger to travelers long before the Dick Turpins of England were forced to retire from the sinister profession of highway robbery.
Quascacunquen Newbury was settled by a company of Englishmen largely from Wiltshire, who arrived in Boston on the ship Mary and John in May, 1634. The party, numbering about one hundred, at once removed to Ipswich, then called Agawam, where they remained through the following Winter. Ipswich had been settled the previous year. Perhaps it already seemed crowded. At all events, in the Spring of 1635 the General Court granted liberty to the new-comers to remove to Quascacunquen, and their settlement was given the name Newberry.
Quascacunquen, or Wessacucon, was the Indian name for the waterfall on the Parker River, in the Byfield parish of Newbury, and the