Born: c. 1807
Died: December 21, 1854
Married: Ursula Lovering (or Loverin) of Loon Lake.
Children: Frances Merrill Ayers, Jennie, Ann, William
John Robertson Merrill “for whom Merrillsville was named” came from Vermont with friends at age 24, around 1831. He built the Merrill Inn, a stagecoach stop on the Port Kent-Hopkinton Turnpike, and became the first Postmaster on July 29, 1837, with his inn being used as the first Post Office in a common North Country pattern. Town meetings were also held there, and John Merrill held the offices of Supervisor (1843-4, 1846, 1851, 1854-55) and Town Clerk at different times, as well. He died in 1854, age 47. Around 1860, the inn was sold to James W. Littlejohn, and it became known as the Littlejohn Tavern. In the later 20th century, the John Merrill Inn, with the 20 acres surrounding it, was Mary Maxine Summers’ home and antique shop.
The Merrill and Paul Smith families, both from Vermont, were close friends. Paul Smith was a frequent guest at John R. Merrill’s Inn and liked the area so much that he decided to live here, first renting and operating the Loverin (or Lovering) Inn at Loon Lake.
His daughter, Frances, born about 1835, was the first white female child born in the Town of Franklin. Of William, Marjorie Lansing Porter writes "William, [was] a lieutenant during the Civil War. William went west, disappeared for a time, was in Chicago at the time of the big fire, when he was put in a well and later rescued losing his eyesight temporarily, then returned to Merrillsville to recuperate."
Chateaugay Record, March 21, 1930
[...]
John Merrill and his sons, John R., Eben Wesley, and Jeremiah Merrill, were settlers in Merrillsville during the years from 1835 to 1839.
[...]
See Merrill Family.
Comments
2012-04-08 17:16:01 The Chateaugay Record appears to have errors: the Merrills named are apparently all brothers, and Eben is Eben Wesley. See Merrill Family. —MaryHotaling
