1564109

"Fifty Puritan Ancestors"
WFT-Vol. 7, No 4331
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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 nathaniel became 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 time before
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 this he 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, but soon moved to Salisbury, MA. By 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 Parker 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.
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Nathaniel and Susanna Merrill
Husband:
Nathaniel Merrill Baptized: in Wherstead, Suffolk, England, 4 May 1601.
Died: in Newbury, MA, 16 March 1654/5.
Parents: Nathaniel and Mary (Blacksoll) Merrill.
Wife:
Susanna ----- Born: Place and date unknown.
Died: in Newbury, MA, 15 January 1672/3.
Parents: Unknown.
Married: probably in England, circa 1630.
Susanna (-----) Merrill married (2) Stephen Jordan.

The surname of Nathaniel's wife, Susanna, is somewhat in question. Nothing is known about her ancestry. The name Wolterton (sometimes spelled Wilterton) has been generally assumed to be her name because Gregory Wolterton of Hartford, CT, made Susanna's "second son, John Merrill, his residual legatee and principal heir, and Wolterton would not have made an Essex County, Massachusetts man his heir unless there was a strong relationship between them and so he was evidently John Merrill's uncle and brother of Susanna." Mary L. Holman, "Ancestry of Charles Stinson Pillsbury and John Sargent Pillsbury", Vol 1 (1938); Vol. 2 (1938), p. 1037. Also, we find the suggestion that John Merrill, a young man of 19 years of age at the time of the death of his father, went to Hartford, CT, and was adopted by Gregory Wolterton. "It seems unlikely that John would have made such a (long) journey, separating himself for a lifetime from home and kin, unless to make a home with another kin." Samuel Merrill, "A Merrill Memorial", p. 160. But none of this is conclusive, and assigning the name Wolterton to Susanna is purely speculative at the moment.

Nathaniel and his older borther, John, came to America sometime about 1635. That John and Nathaniel were brothers who came from Wherstead in England is supported by the fact that their names disappear from Wherstead, England records at the time they appear in the records of Ipswich and Newbury, MA. It is believed that John and Nathaniel were among a group that settled in Ipswich, MA, then called Agawam. "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." Samuel Merrill, "A Merrill Memorial", p. 55.

Newbury, MA, originally included what is now Newburyport and West Newbury. The first settlement was at Oldtown on the Parker River. The earliest grants of land to John and Nathaniel were on the "neck" south of the Parker River. In the Proprietor's Records, a grant appears, "to John Merrill an house-lott of four acres on the neck over the Great River..." Then under the date of 23 July 1638, "There is granted to John Merrill's brother four acres in the neck for an house-lott next his brother Jno. Merrill." Samuel Merrill, "A Merrill Memorial", p. 57.

Nathaniel and his wife Susanna (Wolterton?) Merrill had six children, all except the first child born in Newbury, MA:

Nathaniel, Jr. b. ca. 1632; m. Joanna Nunny.
John, b. ca. 1635; m. Sarah Watson.
Abraham, b. ca. 1637; m. Abigail Webster.
Susanna, b. 1640; m. John Burbank.
Daniel, b. 20 Aug. 1642; m. (1) Sarah Clough; m. (2) Sarah (Morrill) Rowell Page, widow of Philip Rowell and of Onesiphorus Page.
Abel, b. 20 Feb. 1643/4; m. Priscilla Chase.
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Nathaniel Merrill was baptized on May 4, 1601, in Wherstead, England. He married Susanna ?, not Wolverton as sometimes recorded. She outlived him and married second Stephen Jordan. She died Jan 25, 1672/73. He and his brother John came to Ipswich in 1633 and settled in Newbury about 1635 or 1636 and both were granted land there in 1638. In 1646 the homesteads reverted to the town because of the unfavorable sites. He owned five acres of plowed land next to his brother John He died Mar 16, 1654-55 in Newbury. His will was proved Mar 27,1655, mentioning his wife Susanna and five children. (his will)

Their children were:

1. John Merrill 1634/5-1712 (He removed to Connecticut)
+Sarah Watson

2. Abraham Merrill 1637 - 1722
+Abigail Webster

3. Susanna Merrill 1640 - 1690
+John Burbank

3. Daniel Merrill 1642 - 1717
+Sarah Clough
*2nd wife of Daniel Merrill
+Sarah Morrill

4. Abel Merrill 1642/43 - 1689
+Priscilla Chase 1648/49 - Aft 1689

5. Thomas Merrill 1648 -

6. Nathaniel Merrill 1634 - 1681/2
+Joan Kenny