Merrill Nathaniel b. 04 MAY 1601 Wherstead, Suffolk, England d. 16 MAR 1654/55 Newbury, Essex, Massachusetts, USA

1601 - 1655

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Birth 04 May 1601 Wherstead, Suffolk, England [1]

Gender Male

_UPD 14 AUG 2009 23:54:27 GMT-5

Died 16 Mar 1654/55 Newbury, Essex, Massachusetts, USA [1, 2]

Person ID I5079 Alan Donald Vibber

Last Modified 08 Dec 2009

Father Merrill Nathaniel, b. 1571, d. 28 Feb 1627

Mother Blackwell Mary, b. 01 May 1574, d. 29 Apr 1624

Married 27 Feb 1591/92 Belstead, Suffolk, England, U.K.

Family ID F2137 Group Sheet

Family Wilterton or Wolterton Susanna

Married 23 Sep 1633 Wherstead, Suffolk, England, U.K. [1]

Children

1. Merrill Nathaniel, b. Bef 25 May 1634, Lawford, Essex, England, U.K.

, d. 01 Jan 1682/83, Newbury, Essex, Massachusetts, USA

Family ID F2136 Group Sheet

Notes	This surname was Anglicized from the French name de Merle. Merle signifies a blackbird. Its original bearer is said to have derived it from the figure of a blackbird displayed at his door. The ancient seat of the de .Merles of France was at Place de Dombes Avergne. The English Merrills are for the most part descended from a follower of William the Conqueror. Their coat-of-arms is thus described: "Or, a barrulet between three peacocks erased proper." Crest: "a peacock's head erased proper." The immigrant ancestor of the Merrils of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine was Nathaniel Merrill, who settled in Newbury, Massachusetts, about the year 1635, and died there in 1655. He came from Salisbury, England. Nathaniel Merrill, probably brother of John Merrill, came from Salisbury, England, in 1635 or 1636. and settled in Ipswich before 1642. He married Susanna Jordan, and died March 16, 1654-55. His willwas dated March 8, 1654-55, and proved March 27, 1654-55. Children: i. Deacon John, born 1632 or 34, removed to Hartford, Connecticut, before 1657; married Sarah Watson. 2. Abraham, born about 1636, died January, 18, 1700-01 ; married Abigail Webster. 3. Nathaniel, born about 1638, married, October 15, 1661, Joanna Kinney. 4. Susanna, married. October 15, 1663, John Burbank. 5. Daniel, born August 20, 1642, married, May 14, 1667, Sarah Clough; married (second), May 29, 1708, Widow Sarah (Morrill, Rowell) Page. 6. Abel, born 1644. mentioned below. vi. NATHANIEL MERRILL, b. May 4, 1601, Wherstead, Suffolk, England; d. March 16, 1654/55, Newbury, Essex, Mass. 10. NATHANIEL6 MERRILL (NATHANIEL5, JOHN4 MERRELL , THE YOUNGER, JOHN3 MERYELL, JOHN2, THOMAS1) was born May 4, 1601 in Wherstead, Suffolk, England, and died March 16, 1654/55 in Newbury, Essex, Mass. He married SUSANNAH (....) MERRILL September 23, 1633 in Wherstead, Suffolk, England, daughter of UNKNOWN ..... and SUSANNA SHEPARD. Notes for NATHANIEL MERRILL: Settled, Newbury, Mass. 1638-9. The newly found records show that Nathaniel Merrill's daughter, Susanna, was not baptised until Dec 12, 1638 in Lawford, Essex, Co., England. This tells us that Nathaniel had not left for America whith his family until late December 1638 or early 1639. In 1638 the English Government started restricting it's citizens from freely emigrating to the new continent with it's abundance of land for all, something unknown in England. The fact that brother John arranged for a homesite of four Acres in Newbury for his unnamed "brother" would indicate that the brother was not there by 23 July 1638 but was arraiging to come. Ship records, the Hector, show that Nathaniel and John did arrive in Ipswich, Mass. in 1635. Nathaniel must have returned to England to get his wife and his four children and returned in 1638-39. From "A Merrill Memorial" by Samuel Merrill, Cambridge MA 1917-1928 Nathaniel(1) Merrill was one of the earliest settlers in Newbury, MA in 1635. He was the ancestor of the vast majority of those who now bear the Merrill name in this country: it is believed, indeed, that less than one percent of the Merrills in America can trace their pedigree to any other emigrant ancestor. Nathaniel Merrill and his older brother John were born in England. The registers of Wherstead, a parish lying three miles south if Ipswich, in Suffolk County, England, contain the following entries: 1599, August 16. John Merrell son of Nath! Merrell & Mary his wife was baptised. 1601, May 4. Nathanaell Merrell son of Nath! Merrell & his wife Mary was baptised. There are reasons for believing that these entries are the record of baptism of John and Nathaniel Merrill of Newbury. These reasons will be given at length in another place. Nathaniel Merrill and his brother John settled in Newbury in the spring of 1635, having passed a year or two in Ipswich, MA., (then called Agawam) with most of the Newbury settlers. In 1638 nathanielbecame one of the "proprietors" of Newbury. It is supposed that Nathaniel Merrill was married before leaving England. No record is found of his marriage in America. If the marriage took place here it was probabley at Ipswich, in the short timebefore the settlement in Newbury. His wife's name was Susanna. Savage, in the "genealogical Dictionary of New England" (published in 1861), says that Nathaniel Merrill married Susanna Jordan. In thishe was no doubt following Coffin's "History of Newbury" (published in 1845), and the statement has been frequently copied. From "Merrill Genealogy" by Paul V. Merrill, The Merrill Newsletter, Vol 4, Issue 3. Nathaniel and his brother John came to America in 1633, supposedly on the ship Hector. [Ed note: it is not know that John came first and Nathaniel at some later date.] They landed at Ipswich, MA, butsoon moved to Salisbury, MA. My 1635 Nathaniel moved to Newbury, MA. He owned land in Ipswich, MA in 1636 and received a grant of land in Newbury, MA on the "Neck" south of the Tarker River, May 5, 1638. Children, John, Abraham, Nathaniel, Susanna, Daniel, Abel and Thomas. Nathaniel died- Mar 16 1654/44 in Newbury, MA. His wife died Jan 15 1872. Nathaniel was probably a farmer and is ancestor to all the Merrills in the U.S.A.. His brother John and wife had a daughter but no sons. Notes for SUSANNAH (....) MERRILL: Susannah ........, also known as Susannah Wolterton, was the wife of the emigrant, Nathaniel Merrill. For many years she was thought to be the sister of Gregory Wolterton of Hartford, Conn. Later research shows that she is the daughter of Gregory's wife, Susannah Sheppard by a previous marriage. From "A Merrill Memorial" by Samuel Merrill, Cambridge, MA 1917-1928 After the death of Nathaniel Merrill his widow married Stephen Jordan (or Jourdain). Nathaniel Merrill, son of Nathaniel and Susanna Merrill, gave a deed, under date of 16 Aug 1661, to Peter Godfrey of Newbury, in which the phrase occurs, "after the decease of my mother Susanna Jordan," and out of this fact the error regarding the maiden name of Nathaniel's wife grew. The conjecture has been advanced, and it has even been stated as a face, that the wife of Nathaniel Merrill was Susanna Wilterton (or Wolterton.) Gregory Wilterton of Hartford was childless: Susanna Merrill of Newbury was a widow with five sons and a daughter, most of them in their minority. It would have been natural for Gregory Wilterton under these circumstances to write to his kinswoman in the Massachusetts Bay Colony and offer a home and modest fortune to one of the boys. But Gregory Wilterton may have been a more distant relative, ormerely a friend. Until other evidence is brought forward the conscientious genealogist must say that the maiden name of Nathaniel's wife in unknown. Children of NATHANIEL MERRILL and SUSANNAH MERRILL are: 13. i. NATHANIEL7 +MERRILL, b. Bef. May 25, 1634, Lawford, Essex, England; d. January 1, 1682/83, Newbury, Essex, Mass. 14. ii. JOHN *MERRILL,b. Bef. February 16, 1635/36, Lawford, Essex, England; d. July 18, 1712, West Hartford, Hartford, Conn. 15. iii. ABRAHAM +MERRILL, b. Bef. April 9, 1637, Lawford, Essex, England; d. November 28, 1722. 16. iv. SUSANNA MERRILL, b. Bef. December 12, 1638, Lawford, Essex, England; d. October 10, 1690, Sufffield, Hartford, Conn. 17. v. DANIEL +MERRILL, b. August 20, 1642, Newbury, Essex, Mass; d. June27, 1717, Salisbury, Essex, Mass. 18. vi. ABEL +MERRILL, b. February 20, 1643/44, Newbury, Essex, Mass; d. October 28, 1689, Newbury, Essex, Mass. vii. THOMAS MERRILL, b. 1648, Newbury, Essex, Mass; d. Unknown.

Sources

[S266] http://www.jmerrill.net/HISTORY.HTM (Reliability: 2).
[S152] Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of the State of Massachusetts, William Richard Cutter, William Frederick Adams, (Name: Lewis historical publishing company, 1910;), 1773 (Reliability: 3).