Dear Mary:
                I recall that about 1868, tho it may have been a little earlier or a little later than this date, I read in the papers of     the election of Samuel Merrill as Governor of Iowa.   I venture that your recent visitor, Samuel Merrill, banker and business man of Des Moines, Iowa, is a decendant of the Governor. In response to your request that we furnish him a line upon our genealogy I have from two or three sources gathered the following information in reference to our line, and from which your Iowa acquaintance may or may not trace a connection with his own line.

                                First Generation.

                  Nathaniel Merrill and his brother John both born in England emigrated to America in 1634, and were two of the original proprietors of Newbury, Mass., in 1635. John had only one daughter. Nathaniel, born about 1610 or 1611, married Susannah Williston about the time of his coming to America, and they were parents of six children:

                                   i  Nathaniel.
                                  ii  John.
                                 iii  Abraham.
                                 iv  Susannah.
                                  v  Daniel.
                                  vi  Abel.

                                  Second Generation.

                We descended thru Nathaniel who married Joanna Nanny in Newbury in 1661.

                                  Third Generation.

                 Thru Nathaniel, son of Nathaniel of the Second Generation, who married Sarah Woodman about 1690.

                                   Fourth Generation.

                 Thru Samuel, son of Nathaniel, born July 20th, 1711, settled in Haverhill, Mass, and married Ruth Eaton in 1732, died December 29th, 1801.

                                   Fifth Generation.

                 Thru (Captain) Samuel, son of Samuel of the Fourth Generation, who married Abagail Eaton in 1754. (Captain) Samuel Merrill and wife were the parents of nine sons:

        i. Samuel, who became a farmer in Methuen, Mass.
       ii.  Jesse, who became a farmer in Peacham, Vt.
      iii.  James, who at the age of twenty-three was drowned while rafting in the Merrimac River.
      iv.  David, who became a farmer in Peacham, Vt, and Haverhill, N.H.
       v.  Evan, who became a farmer in Haverhill, Mass.
      vi.  Johnathon, who became a farmer in Methuen, Mass.
      vii. William, who became a farmer in Haverhill, Mass.
      viii. John, who became a merchant in Pembroke N.H.
       ix.  Horatio, occupation unknown, Goffstown, N.H. and Lowell, Mass.

                                 Sixth Generation.

                  Thru Evan, the fifth son of Samuel, born in Haverhill, Mass., December 8th, 1768, and died there November 10th, 1821. Married Anna Haynes, February 22nd, 1806, and they were the parents of:

          i.  Guy, born June 22nd, 1808, died at Danville, ILL. Oct 17, 1867.
          ii.  Anna Maria, born November 2nd, 1814,  died at Danville, ILL, 1902.
          iii.  George Evan, born January 16th, 1817, died in Haverhill, Mass. December 2nd, 1869.

                                 Seventh Generation.

                      Thru George Evan, second son of Evan, married Elizabeth Maria Kimball, of Haverhill, Mass., December 7th, 1847, and they were the parents of:

           i.  Elizabeth Maria, born February 3rd, 1850.

Mrs Merrill died February 9th, 1850, and her daughter Elizabeth October 8th, 1853.
George Evan married Susan Eastman Putnam of Hampstead, N.H., in July 1851, and to them were born:

                                  Eighth Generation.

            i.  Samuel, born December 19, 1852, residing in Spokane.
           ii.  Mary Putnam, born January 19th, 1854, residing Haverhill, Mass.
          iii.  Edward, born August 23rd, 1857, residing in Salt Lake, Utah.
           iv.  Emma, born October 21st, 1859, died Hampstead, N.H. September 24th, 1863.

                                     Ninth Generation.

                      Samuel, son of George Evan, married Tresa Pennington, at Denver, Colorado, August 9th, 1880, and they are the parents of:

             i.  George Edmund, born October 22nd, 1881, Denver, Colorado. Residing at Salt Lake City, Utah.
            ii.  Mary Pennington, born August 10th, 1884, Cheyenne, Wyo., Residing, at present, Portland, Oregon.
            iii.  Ruth Tresa, born October 30th,1890, Cheyenne, Wyo. At home, Spokane, Washington.
            iv.  Eleanor, born March 4th, 1894, Cheyenne, Wyo. At home, Spokane, Washington.
             v.  Helen, born January 30th, 1898, Cheyenne, Wyo. At home, Spokane, Washington.
             vi.  Samuel John, March 27th, 1899, Cheyenne, Wyo. At home, Spokane, Washington.

                                      Tenth Generation.

                       George Edmund son of Samuel, marrried June 30th, 1904, Lillian Chapman, at Cheyenne, Wyo. They are the parents of:

              i.  Dorothea, born March 30th, 1915. At their home, Salt Lake City, Utah.
             ii.  Virginia, born May 18th, 1917, Long Beach, California.

I have met in Spokane Richard and Henry, sons of John Merrill and believe that Richard lives in the immediate vicinity of Spokane still, while Henry is a resident of Alhambra, Cal.

        Years ago I met two of the daughters of the first Samuel Merrill that went to Indiana, a son or a grandson by the same name, and possibly both son and grandson are residents in southern California.

         Merrill Moors, at present a congressman from Indiana, is a grandson of Samuel Merrill.

          I have no trace of the descendents of Samuel and David of the Fifth Generation.

          The activity and highly creditable record of Captain Samuel Merrill in the War of the Revolution is pretty generally known by his descendents. I have in my posession a roster in writing of his Haverhill Company., also a conttract between him, and one Silver, of Methuem, whereby the latter released his minor son in consideration of pounds and shillings, that the son might enter the continental army. Our Grandfather Evan was a Colonel of Minute Men during the war of 1812, but we have no record of his active participation in that war.

           As a son of a Putnam, on my mother's side, I have equal reason for pride and satisfaction in the creditable records of her ancestors in war and peace that I entertain for those of my fother. The Putnams came to America at very nearly the same period as the Merrills, and settled in Danvers, Mass, in the immediate vicinity of Newbury where the Merrills first settled.

             A. Mr. Morris Merrill wrote me an interesting letter from Chicago, June 17th, 1888, stating that he had a complete record of my line, as well as that of a thousand others of the family name. Whether it would be worth while at any time to attempt to obtain this record, I shall leave to others.

              I enclose a copy of the genealogy of the Merrill family as given to me some years ago by Mr. Fred. Stewart Merrill, a native of Walton Mills, Maine, born there December 17th, 1859. He resided in Spokane for a number of years, and until his death, about three years ago. You will notice from a copy of this record that he claims descent in the Eighth Generation  from Abel, the sixth son of the original Nathaniel. His record is notable as naming six children in the First Generation of his line, eight in the Second, eleven in the Third, eight in the Fourth, eleven in the fifth, seven in the Sixth, five in the Seventh, and a measley one in the Eighth. Is this a sign of the tendencies of the time? I note also in this line the absence of a single one by the name of Samuel that appears so common in the other lines.

               If the Des Moines family can tell us something of theiur line, or are able to trace a connection with ours, I shall be glad to be informed.
                       Sincerely yours,

SM:P