Family of Isreal MERRILL and Nancy FARMER

Husband: Isreal MERRILL

Wife: Nancy FARMER

Child 1: Sophia MERRILL Maria

Note on Husband: Isreal MERRILL

Israel, eldest son of Nathaniel and Mary (Young) Merrill, was born June 24, 1788, in Manchester, where he was a farmer, and died March 31, 1872. He settled on the east bank of the Merrimack river, just below Amoskeag Falls, and was employed by a boating company on the river, and subsequently on his own account, covering a period of many years, and was universally known by the title of Captain Merrill. It is said that he possessed a more comprehensive knowledge of the Merrimack river, its depths and currents, between Lowell and Concord, than any other man of that period. There is a record of a boat race—his boat and another—covering the entire distance from Boston to Concord, and Captain Merrill won the contest by only the "length of a boat or so." He was pilot of the steamer which made its first trip to Concord, in 1817. A man of great muscular strength and wholly without fear, he rescued numerous persons from drowning, to the imminent danger of his own life. The Massachusetts Humane Society presented him an elegant and valuable gold medal, suitably inscribed, for saving the lives of two men and a boy on one occasion. This is still preserved by his descendants. After boating on the river was superseded by the railway, he purchased a farm on the Merrill road, in what is known as the Harvey district of Manchester, where he resided until his death. He was a devoted member of the Congregational Church, and was warmly interested in the general welfare and prosperity of his home town. He was married January 30, 1816, to Nancy Farmer, of Manchester, who died July 15, 1854. Their children were: Mary Ann, Henry Clinton (died young), infant daughter died young, Israel,

Plenry Clinton, Eliza Jane, Sophia Maria, William Parker and Ann Johnson.

Note on Wife: Nancy FARMER

Israel, eldest son of Nathaniel and Mary (Young) Merrill, was born June 24, 1788, in Manchester, where he was a farmer, and died March 31, 1872. He settled on the east bank of the Merrimack river, just below Amoskeag Falls, and was employed by a boating company on the river, and subsequently on his own account, covering a period of many years, and was universally known by the title of Captain Merrill. It is said that he possessed a more comprehensive knowledge of the Merrimack river, its depths and currents, between Lowell and Concord, than any other man of that period. There is a record of a boat race—his boat and another—covering the entire distance from Boston to Concord, and Captain Merrill won the contest by only the "length of a boat or so." He was pilot of the steamer which made its first trip to Concord, in 1817. A man of great muscular strength and wholly without fear, he rescued numerous persons from drowning, to the imminent danger of his own life. The Massachusetts Humane Society presented him an elegant and valuable gold medal, suitably inscribed, for saving the lives of two men and a boy on one occasion. This is still preserved by his descendants. After boating on the river was superseded by the railway, he purchased a farm on the Merrill road, in what is known as the Harvey district of Manchester, where he resided until his death. He was a devoted member of the Congregational Church, and was warmly interested in the general welfare and prosperity of his home town. He was married January 30, 1816, to Nancy Farmer, of Manchester, who died July 15, 1854. Their children were: Mary Ann, Henry Clinton (died young), infant daughter died young, Israel,

Plenry Clinton, Eliza Jane, Sophia Maria, William Parker and Ann Johnson.