James Westley Merritt (1810 - 1840)

Born Dec 1810 in Georgia, USA [uncertain]

Ancestors

Husband of Mary Elizabeth (Bennett) Merritt — married 30 Aug 1832 in Jones County, Georgia

Descendants

Died 5 Sep 1840 at age 29 in Jones County, Georgia, USA

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Biography

James Westley Merritt, Sr. was born in 1810^[1].

He married Mary Elizabeth Bennett on 30 Aug 1832 in Jones County, Georgia.^[2][3] In the eight years they were married, James and Mary had four children: Reuben W. Bennett Merritt, James Wesley Merritt, Jr., Elizabeth Louisa Merritt, and William Owen Merritt, the last one born after James was deceased.

On 4 Aug 1840, James Westley Merritt, Sr. attended a Friends of Harrison and Reform meeting in Clinton, GA at the Jones County Courthouse for the purpose of nominating delegates to the convention to be held in Macon, GA on the 13th of August that year. Colonel Robert V. Hardeman gave a 2-hour address to those attending, encouraging not only the chosen delegates, but all present who desired to attend the convention to go to Macon^[4].

James Westley Merritt, Sr. chose to attend with many others, and unfortunately was badly injured when the masses in attendance overwhelmed the speaker's stand, causing a portion of it to collapse^[5]. He was transported to his father's home in Clinton, Jones County, GA^[6], suffering grievously for over three weeks before dying on 5 Sep 1840, leaving very little for the family according to his obituary^[7].

Despite an article indicating his wife, his father, and their attorney, R.V. Hardeman (the same Colonel Hardeman who had encouraged James' attendance at the rally) applied for letters of administration regarding his estate^[8], a search of Jones and Jasper County records in 2016 did not produce a will or any other record of the estate of James Westley Merritt, Sr.^[9] Clerks in those counties suggested such records might have been destroyed by advancing Union troops during the Civil War, but it was also noted that the records from that era were in disarray in those counties^[10].

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Sources

1. ↑ 1840 Census, Jones County, GA and Obituary in Milledgeville Southern Recorder, 29 Sep 1840
2. ↑ Jones County Clerk's Office, Marriage Book B
3. ↑ Georgia, County Marriages, 1785-1950," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KXVV-96L : 22 December 2016), Westley Merritt and Mary Bennett, 30 Aug 1832; citing Marriage, Jones, Georgia, United States, county courthouses, Georgia; FHL microfilm 454,228.
4. ↑ Political article in Georgia Journal, 18 Aug 1840[1]
5. ↑ News article about his injury in Georgia Journal, 18 Aug 1840[2]
6. ↑ Location of father's home from advertisement for return of iron gray filley in Milledgeville Southern Recorder, 12 May 1840[3]
7. ↑ Obituary in Milledgeville Southern Recorder, 29 Sep 1840; [4]
8. ↑ Notice in Milledgeville Southern Recorder regarding letters of administration, 29 Sep 1840; [5]
9. ↑ Personal knowledge of Ted Wesley and Robin Heindelsman Merritt
10. ↑ Personal knowledge of Ted Wesley and Robin Heindelsman Merritt