Edwin De LaFayette Merrill

From Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah: Merrill, Edwin De LaFayette, son of Oren Merrill, born 1805, and Emily P. Merrill, born February 2, 1804, of New York, married 1825. Edwin was born January 8, 1836, Genesee County, New York. Came to Utah in 1851, Captain Williams Merchandise Train. Married Eliza Ann Perkins, daughter of Lewis Perkins, who was born 1840, married 1863, died 1872. Their children: Edwin D., born June, 1871; Emily C., born 1869, married Samuel Hargraves. Ordained elder 1862; president Y.M.M.I.A. four years. Minuteman several years; took part in several raids against the Indians; enlisted in the U.S. Service, Lot Smith Company, guard for Brigham Young. Has six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

NOTE: Although daughter Mary E. Merrill was not mentioned in the above information, she was found in a census record with Edwin and Eliza Merrill.

An 1880 census for Bennington, Bear Lake, Idaho, showed Edwin Merrill, 31, living with his two children, Emma, 12, and Edwin, 9, and "grandmother" Martha Dustin, 71. He was working as a farmer. his wife, Eliza Ann Perkins, had passed away in 1873, just two years after the birth of their son, Edwin, Jr. Not sure if Martha Dustin was, in fact, either of the children's grandmother, however, Edwin Merrill, Sr.,'s mother, Emily Phelps Merrill, had been married to Bechias Dustin after the death of her first husband Orrin Merrill in 1844. So perhaps this Martha Dustin was one of Bechias Dustin's relatives.