Individual Details

Penelope married BENJAMIN MERRILL 04 Feb 1778 in Rowan County, North Carolina, son of WILLIAM MERRILL and MARY CORNELL. He was born 02 Dec 1752 in Hopewell, Hunterdon County, New Jersey, and died 10 May 1836 in Rowan County, North Carolina.

Abstract of Rev War Pension Files. S8891. Benj Merrell, NC & SC Line.
Soldier was b 2 Dec 1752 in Hunterdon Co NJ & he lived in Guilford Co NC at enlistment, & later moved to York District SC & also served there. In Nov 1780 he moved to Randolph Co NC & in 1798 he moved to Buncombe Co NC where he applied 14 Oct 1833.
In 1833 soldier’s brother John Merrell made an affidavit in Buncombe Co NC
The Merrills were very anti-British. Benjamin joined the fight for American independence, enlisting on about March 1, 1776, as a private in Captain John Collier’s North Carolina Company. He srved for about six weeks, and then moved to York District, South Carolina, where he enlisted in August of 1776. He served as a private in Captain John Anderson’s company of South Carolina troops and in a regiment commanded by Thomas Neel. On September 19, 1776, Merrill fought in a battle with the Cherokee at the head of the Tennessee River. He was discharged the following month, and then went back to North Carolina, where he soon married.
Benjamin reenlisted in February 1779 as a private in Captain William McCulloch’s company of Colonel Neel’s South Carolina regiment, and he was at the Battle of Brier Creek. In March of 1780, he enlisted yet again, this time as a private in Captain Moffett’s company of Colonel William Bratton’s regiment. He was discharged in May 1780, but in September of that year he enlisted one more time, in Captaim McCormury’s Company. After srving six weeks, Merrill moved to Randolph County, North Carolina, in November.
On February 4, 1778, Benjamin married his first cousin Penelope (Eileen) Merrill. Her parents, Capt. Benjamin and Jemima Smith Merrill, had moved to North Carolina from Hopewell, New Jersey, around 1756, and Penelope was born either just before or just after they moved. Her father purchased 1042 acres in Rowan (now Davidson0 County on the north side of the Yadkin River in 1760. He was a farmer and became a prosperous man. He became a Captain in the Rowan County militia and a leader of the Regulators. This was a group of North Carolina men who were opposed to the unjust rule of the British and their greedy, lying, thief of a governor, William Tryon. Penelope’s fther was one of a group of men Governor Tryon rounded up to be tried at Hillsborough in Orange County. Tryon’s judge sentenced Merrill to death, ordring him “to be hanged by the neck that you be cut down while yet alive, that your bowels be taken out and burn before your face, that your head be cut off, your body divided into four quarters, and be at his Majesty’s disposal.” This execution occured June 17, 1771, and Merrill’s wife and all his children, including Penelope were required to watch it.
In late 1782 or early 1783, the British raided the home of Benjamin Merrill’s parents while Ben and his brother John were out hunting. The British split the tongue of his Mother, Mary (Cornell) with a knife and carried off his aged father, William, and presumably killed him, since he was never seen or heard of again. Thus the fathers of both Benjamin and his wife were murdered by the British.
Benjamin and Penelope lived on their farm on the Rowan-Randolph County until 1798. Many of their neighbors had been moving to Fairview since the early 1790’s, and the Merrills joined in the migration in 1798, along with Benjamin’s brother John and his wife, Catherine and Penelope’s sister Anna and her husband, Boyd McCrary.

Birth	1759	Rowan County, North Carolina
Death	1830	Rowan County, North Carolina

Father	Benjamin Merrill (1730 - 1771)
Mother	Jemima Smith ( - 1803)
Sibling	Samuel Merrill (1748 - 1803)
Sibling	John Merrill (1750 - 1838)
Sibling	Andrew Merrill (1752 - 1829)
Sibling	Anna Merrill (1754 - 1828)
Sibling	William Merrill (1754 - )
Sibling	Nancy Merrill (1756 - 1837)
Sibling	Charles Merrill (1761 - 1822)
Sibling	Elijah Merrill (1763 - )
Sibling	Jonathan Merrill (1767 - )