Individual Details

http://thomaspaulmerrill.com/Benweb/Merrill%20Lineage%20by%20Dorris_McKinney.htm

Benjamin Merrill was not of Indian blood, but his first wife Nancy was a Cherokee. Benjamin was the son of Charles and Elizabeth Merrill, and Charles was the son of Captain Benjamin Merrill hung by the British in 1771.
Research done by Don and Nelda Kirk, Dorris McKinney, Family knowledge, Family bibles, Census Records, National Archive Records, Cherokee Historian. Genealogist Richard Smallwood, Huntsville, Alabama.

House of Representatives (House Journal 24th. Congress, 1st. Session Dec. 7, 1837 M285 Fiche 1 page 65
“Mr. Chapman presented the memorial of Benjamin Merrill and Nancy, his wife, of the Cherokee Tribe of Indians, within the limits of Alabama, praying for authority to sell their reservation of land.”
From 1-Foreman, Grant, Indian Removal, University of Oklahoma Press, 1932

INDIANS GIVEN LAND TO HOMESTEAD
When the Cherokees ceded their lands in the treaty of 1835, the U.S. Government in turn gave each the option to settle on a 160 acre tract of land of their choice, or move out West to reservations. The Cherokees were given this choice before the white man was allowed to move into the newly ceded territory north of the Tennessee River.
Six Indian families assumed English names and acquired the lands by right of preemption. They were: Wade, who settled the section near present Guntersville Dam; Harrison, whose land was near the Capehart place at Columbus City; Edward Gunter, who settled the Dr. L. D. Lusk farm just north of the present George Houston River Bridge; Merrell, who settled Merrell Mountain across the river from Cottonville; Orr, who settled near the Marshall-Jackson line; and Robinson whose section was near the present Guntersvill Dam. It is interesting to note that one or two full-blooded Indian families remained in Marshall County as late as World War 1. Official TVA maps still list the boundaries which the original six Indian families selected.

Mr. Bell, From the Committee on Indian Affairs, reported the following bill:
A BILL
For the relief of Benjamin and Nancy Merrill
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That Benjamin Merrill and Nancy his wife be, and they are hereby authorized to sell the reservation of Six Hundred forty acres of land taken by them under the treaties of 1817 and 1819
between the United States and the Cherokee tribe of Indians and being in the State of Alabama, upon the condition, that the contract for the sale of the same be examined and approved by the district attorney of the United States for the district of North Alabama, and upon the further condition, that they remove to the country assigned to the Cherokee Indians west of the Mississippi River, and that the expenses of such removal be defrayed by themslves.
Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, tht this act shall not be held or construed to guaranty the title which the said Benjamin and Nancy Merrill set up to the tract of land mentioned in the foregoing section.

NO 65 BENJAMIN MERRILL Parch Corn Cove Page 132
1. —Improvements occupied by James Anderson - consisting of one Cabin $20.00
2.—One Smoke House $10.00
3.—One Corn Crib $ 5.00
4. -- One Log body of a house $15.00
5. —One Corn field -- 6 acres replowed—good fence $60.00
6. —One corn field Tennessee Bottom - 4 acres with 4 acres connected partially
cleared $60.00
Improvements at Blue Rock Ferry consisting of:
7.—One Log Cabin $25.00
8.—One old Smith Shop - log- $15.00
9.—One cornfield - Tennessee Bottom 4 acres - good fence $48.00
-----------
TOTAL $258.00

Researched by Dorris McKinney, Richard Smallwood, Genalogist from Huntsville, Alabama. Land Records Alabama, Congressional Records, NARA, Court Records Marshall County, Alabama, and Patty Woodall.
BENJAMIN MERRILL was a blacksmith and gunsmith. His first wife was a Cherokee lady named Nancy Thompson by whom he had 8 children. He then married Margaret ? and had Rutha Emaline, Beverly, Morgan and Martha Jane.
He acquired 640 acres of Cherokee land through his marriage to Nancy Thompson, which was called the Merrill Reservation. He was listed as being one of the population of Sims settlement and signed the petition to President James Madison from intruders on Chickasaw lands, dated 5 September 1810, Mississippi Territory, Elk River, Sims Settlement. While there was a Sims settlement of about 100 families on Elk River, the settlers who signed the petition had settled on other tributaries of the Tennessee in present-day Limestone County, Alabama, and Giles County, Tennessee—Shoal, creeks. some even appear to have been in Madison County, and of course there were others.
More than 50 of the original 1810 petition signers, 16 of whom had been removed from their homes in 1809, did not abandon their original intention to live in this new land and are listed in the Limestone County census. Some of them had bought land in Madison County before returning to Limestone county. Others seem to have survived all the removals and ultimately secured their place in the new county. When civil government was organized, Benjamin Merrill and Thomas Redus became justices of the peace and James Slaughter became sheriff.

Benjamin married (1) NANCY ( NANNIE) THOMPSON, daughter of JOHN THOMPSON and NANA MERRILL. She was born 1804 in Alabama. He married (2) MARGARET Abt. 1835 in Alabama. She was born 1802 in Alabama, and died in Alabama.
1830 & 1840 & 1850 censuses in Marshall Co, AL. Widow Margaret can be found there in 1860 and 1870.

Book 5, page 302. 28 December 1854. MARGARET MERRELL applied for Letters of Guardianship for BEVERLY MERRELL, MORGAN MERRELL and MARTHA JANE MERRELL, infant heirs of BENJAMIN MERRELL late of said county deceased: RUFUS WEST and WILLIS STPEHENS, sureties. On 4 October 1856 MARGARET MERRELL made another bond with NICHOLAS STEPHENS AND WILLIS STEPHENS, sureties. Page 306 show “MORGAN H. MERRELL and the receipt of BEVERLY MERRELL signed December 10, 1856.

Children of BENJAMIN MERRILL and NANCY THOMPSON are:
105. i. ELIZA7 MERRILL, b. Abt. 1821.
ii. ELIZABETH MERRILL, b. Abt. 1822; m. DAVID W. IVEY, 09 Aug 1838, Marshall County, Alabama.
iii. WILLIAM MERRILL, b. Abt. 1823; m. NANCY WALKER, 07 Dec 1844, Marshall County, Alabama.
iv. SALLIE MERRILL, b. Abt. 1824, Alabama; m. HENRY CORNELIUS PARRIS.
v. NANCY MERRILL, b. Abt. 1825, Guntersville, Alabama; d. Aug 1891.
vi. MARY ANN MERRILL, b. Abt. 1826.
vii. BENJAMIN MERRILL, b. Abt. 1827.
viii. MARGARET MERRILL, b. Abt. 1835, Alabama; m. JOHN THOMAS BRACKETT.

Children of BENJAMIN MERRILL and MARGARET are:
ix. WILLIAM BEVELY7 MERRILL, b. 16 Dec 1836, Alabama.
x. RUTHA EMALINE MERRILL, b. 1839, Marshall County, Alabama; d. Alabama. [must have died young - she's not in the above guardianship proceedings after her father's death]
xi. MORGAN MERRILL, b. 1841.
xii. MARTHA JANE MERRILL, b. 1846; m. WILLIAM R. STEPHENS, 12 Jan 1872, Marshall County, Alabama; b. Abt. 1853, Guntersville, Marshall County, Alabama.

Birth	1791	South Carolina
Death	1853	Marshall County, Alabama

Father	Charles Merrill (1761 - 1822)
Mother	Elizabeth [Merrill} ( - 1843)