Deane Merrill,
dwmerrill@charter.net
June 2010
Thomas(1) Merrill b.abt.1600, emigrated about 1646 from Wherstead, Suffolk, England to Saybrook, Connecticut. Earlier, some authors stated that Thomas was a first cousin of Nathaniel Merrill b.1601, who also emigrated from the same location. That supposed relationship is now disproved. by DNA analysis.
Gary Merrill wrote on 11/23/08, "Recently, a descendant of Thomas Merrill of Saybrook tested with DNAH, and his haplotype is a perfect match for mine right across the board (43/43 markers). Since [that descendant' has a well-documented "paper trail", we now know that Thomas of Saybrook was not a cousin of -- or even remotely related to -- Nathaniel Merrill of Newbury MA, since Nathaniel was haplogroup G. It also indicates fairly conclusively that [Gary's] ancestor, Reuben Merrill, was a descendant of Thomas as well, even though the identity of [Reuben's] parents and his place of birth are still unknown. Reuben's DNA signature was established earlier by the fact that the DNA results of [Gary's] 3rd cousin are the same as [Gary's] on all 43 markers. (Reuben was the most recent common ancestor [of Gary and Gary's 3rd cousin]). So we now have 3 descendants of the Saybrook family who have been DNA tested."
As of October 2009, four descendants of Thomas(1) have been confirmed by DNA testing.
In addition, the following male Merrills, mostly deceased, are believed to be descendants of Thomas. Some of them may have living male Merrill descendants who would be candidates for DNA testing. Any help in locating living descendants of Thomas will be greatly appreciated.
Donald Loomis Merrill 1908-1909 of Pittsfield, Berkshire, MA
Lambert Merrill b.abt.1912, of Providence, Providence, RI in 1920.
Calvin W. Merrill b.abt.1878, of Lansing, Ingham, MI in 1920.
Jackie W. Merrill b.abt.1934 in Lennon, Shiawassee, MI.
Duane Merrill b.Sept.1929 in Venice, Shiawassee, MI.
Kenneth F. Merrill b.28 Aug 1937 in Venice, Shiawassee, MI.
Charles A. Merrill b.Jan 1888 in Clinton, Middlesex, CT
Ralph Howard Merrill b.1888
Robert H. Merrill b.abt.1918
George Merrill b.abt.1862 in Sumpter Twp, Wayne, MI
Ezra Merrill b.abt.1866 in Sumpter Twp, Wayne, MI
William Merrill b.abt.1870 in Sumpter Twp, Wayne, MI
Walter Merrill b.abt.1876 in Sumpter Twp, Wayne, MI
Descendants
of Thomas Merrell of Saybrook (May 2007)
Private file by Howard and Jean
Merrill. "This report covering a part of our
Database [over 52,000 individuals] was pulled together to try and give as much
info on possible living male Merrill descendants of Thomas of Saybrook
with the hope that one may be found and DNA tested to answer the question of
whether Thomas was the cousin of immigrant Nathaniel of Newbury. While
none of the data contains info on living individuals, and any of the individual
line data would be willingly shared, this report represents considerable
research on our part. [We request that it not be posted to the internet
or published.] You may use any of the data in your own
research. If you have any questions regarding this request, please
e-mail us." - Howard and
Jean Merrill, 5/6/07
Descendants
of Thomas Merrell of Saybrook. (348 persons, May 2007)
Private file from Jack Merrill.
Partially derived from Howard and Jean Merrill's research. Contact Howard and Jean
Merrill regarding information in this file.
back to Merrill Genealogy
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