General Notes

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This information was written by Mrs. Leland Maryott shortlybefore his death.

When Joel Maryott was 12 years old he ran away from home andstarted out for hi mself.  Up to the time of his running away hisname was Joel Maryett.  Joel chan ged the name from Maryett toMaryott.  Since that time the descendents of Joel h ave used thename of Maryott rather than Maryett, but the true family name isMer ritt.

As a young man Joel came to settle and live on a farm near thelittle t own of Townville, Pa.  Quite some years before the CivilWar Joel cleared the ti mber from his farm out of virgin timber.Joel married Clarissa Southwick a desce ndent of the historicalfigure, Cassandra Southwick. Cassandra was a member of theQuaker Religion.  J. G. Whittier wrote a poem entitled CassandraSouthwick. She set up a rebellion against the establishedreligion of the Puritans at Salem .  For her pains she wasflogged and spent some time in the jail back in the tow n ofSaken, Massachusetts.

Just who the father of Joel Maryott is    , but it is k nownthat one of Joel's brothers was the father of Gen. WesleyMerritt, who was t he first Govenor Gen. of Phillipines followingthe Spanish American War. Gen. M erritt was an officer in theCivil War.  Steven Maryott, Cecil French's grandfat her was acousin of Gen. Merritt, therefore Steven and Gen. Merritt hadthe same grandfather.

Following the death of Joel Maryott, the farm he had establis hedtwenty miles from Meadville and near Townville, came into thehands of his so n Aaron (aka Aarie).  Following the death ofaaron the farm was inherited by a s on Leon Maryott.  Leon hadone son named Willis.  Leon retired from the farm and it wassold, his son did not wish to take over the old home place.Leon and his wife Elva Franklin now (1954) live in the villageof Townville.  A son Willis li ves on a neighboring farm.

The Merritt family goes back to the early days of colonialAmerica.  They lived mostly around New York City, a place calledWhite Plains, also Rye and in west Chester County, in New YorkState.  They must have bee n a prominent family in that sectionfor today a beautiful highway known as Merr itt Parkway runs fromWhite Plains to New Haven, Conn.

The earliest known Mer ritt was Eadnoth, an anglo thane ofsomersetshire, England. 1050.  He was killed in Battle in 1068.His son was harding De Meriet.  There is a full pedigree ofd escendants down to 1418, when the last one, Thomas Meriet, ofStanlinch, Wlts, d issappeared.  It was one of the Merritt familywho discovered the Misaba Iron Ra nge in Northern Minnesota, hisname was Leonidas Merritt.

The old home of J oel Maryott when he was still a Merritt was ator near Pough Keepsie,  New York.  It wa s from somewhere in thisvincinity that he left home to come to Pa.

It is pre tty reliably established that the first Merritt alsocame to America in the 1630 's a few years after the May Flower.
Both Joel and Clarrisa and many children are buried in the cem.at Lyona Hollow, Crawford County, Pa.
Mary Jane Maryott See ley is buried there without a marker perJanet Fisher