Thomas Merrick

Thomas Merrick was born circa 1620 at probably Wales. He married Elizabeth Tilley on 21 August 1653. Thomas Merrick died on 7 September 1704.

Thomas Merrick, b. in 1620, is said to have come from Wales. He married Sarah Stebbins, daughter of Rowland and Sarah, September 14, 1639. After the death of his wife, date not stated, he married Elizabeth Tilley, October 21, 1653. He died September 7, 1704. His children by his first wife were:—

1. Thomas, b. April 12, 1641, d. young.
2. Sarah, b. May 9, 1643, m. Eliakim Hitchcock.
3. Mary, b. September 28, 1645, 1. July 28, 1646.
4. Mary, -b. August 1647, m. Samuel Foot.
5. Hannah, b. February 10, 1649, m. Benjamin Knowlton.

Children by Second Marriage.

Presumably by second wife:

1. Elizabeth, b. October 26, 1654, d. January u, 1659.
2. Merriam, b. May I, 1656, d. October 4, 1684.
3. John, b. November 9, 1658, m. Mary Day.
4. Elizabeth, b. July 4, 1661, m. Thomas Day.
5. Thomas, b. January 2, 1663, m. Hannah Dumbleton.
6. Tilly, b. October 20, 1667, m. Sarah Cooley.
7. James, b. March 2, 1670, m. Sarah Hitchcock.
8. Abigail, b. September 7, 1673, m. Gershom Ferry.

From "Stockbridge, Past and Present, Or, Records of an Old Mission Station: Past and Present; Or, Records of Old Mission Station" By Electa Fidelia Jones Published by S. Bowles & Co., 1854:

Thomas Merrick emigrated from Wales to Roxbury, and thence to Springfield with Mr. Pynchon hi 1636.

From "The descendants of John Porter of Windsor, Conn. 1635-9" By Henry Porter Andrews Published by G.W. Ball, printer, 1893

Thomas Merrick came from England to Roxbury. Mass., in 1636; removed to Hartford, Conn., in 1638 ; thence to Springfield. Mass. He married (second wife) 1653, Elizabeth Tilley, daughter of William Tilley, from England in the ship "Abigail," in 1635, with his wife Alice.

Second Generation, Elizabeth Merrick, born , 1661, married Thomas Day. Thomas Day removed to Colchester, Conn., about 1705, where he died. -------------------- Thomas Merrick of Springfield by tradition, is said to have come from Wales through Roxbury, and reach Springfiled in 1636; but there is evidence that he was of Hartford early in 1638. He was very young, if he left, as is said, his native land in 1630; and no trace is seen at Roxbury of him, pr his family, nor can the name be found there before 1649. At Springfield he married July 14, 1639, Sarah, daughter of Rowland Stebbins which was the third marriage in that town, of any English "GD FSNE Freeman 1665." -------------------- Moved from Wales to Roxbury, MA in 1630 and moved to Springfield in 1636. Merrick is known in England as Mirick.

The North American branch of the Merrick family came from Bodorgan on the Isle of Anglesey. They were descendants of Llewellyn Merrick who had been the Captain of the Guard during the Coronation of Henry VIII, and later, the first High Sheriff of Anglesey. In the spring of 1636, four Merrick brothers arrived in Charlestown, Massachusetts, from Bristol on the sailing ship “James”. They ranged in age from thirty-three to sixteen, and the Merrickville branch sprang from the sixteen year old.

Thomas Merrick was the ancestor who started it all. He was a restless pioneer who was destined to make a significant contribution to the development of Massachusetts.

In 1638, when he was eighteen and married, he and his wife, Elizabeth Tilley, and seven other families founded a settlement in the wilderness that became the City of Springfield. Their grandson, Ebenezer, moved to New York State where he obtained land at Sarasota and Ballston, including land at Sarasota Springs known as the Deer’s Lick. George Washington and Alexander Hamilton visited this region in 1784, and the records show that they had ridden through an area known in earlier times as Merricks Mills. The name had been changed after the revolution.

William Merrick, the 28 year old grandson of Ebenezer, had remained loyal to the Crown during the American Revolution, and after the war he joined thousands of other loyalists at Sorel, just outside of Montreal. They were gathered there for dispersal and settlement in the wilds of Upper Canada. -------------------- Good info site: http://www.tributaries.us/secondsite/founders2-o/p4389.htm#i43885 --------------------