Benjamin (Merrill) Merrell II (1775 - 1854)

Born 1775 in South Carolina

Ancestors

Died 1854 at about age 79 in Marshall, Alabama, United States

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Biography

This biography was auto-generated by a GEDCOM import. It's a rough draft and needs to be edited.

Notes

(Research):His first wife was a Cherokee lady named

1. Nancy Thompson by whom he had
   1. 4 children.
2. He then married Margaret and they had children
   1. Rutha Emaline,
   2. Beverly,
   3. Morgan and
   4. 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 from intruders on Chickasaw lands to President James Madison, 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 and other areas. 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 the 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. 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:

1. Wade, who settled the section near present Guntersville Dam;
2. Harrison, whose land was near the Capehart place at Columbus City;
3. Edward Gunter, who settled the Dr. L. D. Lusk farm just north of the present George Houston River Bridge;
4. Merrell, who settled Merrell Mountain across the river from Cottonville;
5. Orr, who settled near the Marshall-Jackson line; and
6. 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 I. Official TVA maps still list the boundaries which the original six Indian families selected. (Information provided by Dorris McKinney)

http://www.tamu.edu/faculty/ccbn/dewitt/mckstorymerrell.htm#merrellben

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Michelle Bairfield for creating WikiTree profile Merrill-1396 through the import of 2013-10-05 ten generation Gavin.ged on Oct 5, 2013. Click to the Changes page for the details of edits by Michelle and others.