Elizabeth Ann Chipman

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have an copy of the death certificate for James Irving Chipman (my great grandfather); he died in Poland, Maine Aug. 2, 1927 of "arterio sclerosis," aged 72y, 6m, 25d.

This death record helped me to piece together the ancestry of his mother, Elizabeth Merrill. The death record states that she was born in Norway, Maine.

Shortly before he died in 1982, I spoke with Mr. Guy Chipman of Poland. As Elizabeth Merrill would have been his own grandmother, he was able to tell me just a little bit about her (she died at a fairly young age in 1880, so he would not have even known her). He told me that after James Chipman's first wife died, he hired Elizabeth Merrill to work as a domestic at the Chipman farm in Poland, and eventually ended up marrying her. Guy Chipman also told me that when he was a young, he remembers visiting a Stephen Merrill in nearby Mechanic Falls, Maine, who he "supposed" was his grandmother's brother. He remembered a Merrill family having some connection to the town of North New Portland, Maine, located way up country. That is all that he could remember, but these were valuable clues.

Somewhere in my collection, though I can't place it at the present, and I am recalling this from memory, I had some correspondence many years ago with a town clerk (Poland?). It was a record of the marriage intention of James Chipman and Elizabeth ANN Merrill, and she was stated as being a resident of Raymond, Maine at the time.

Based on this information, that Elizabeth Ann Merrill was born in Norway, Maine, and who had a brother named Stephen Merrill, many years ago I went to the Maine State Archives in Augusta to research further.

There they have the microfilmed Norway town records, which give the birth of one BETSEY A. MERRILL, born Feb. 28, 1831, the daughter of Edmund and Susan Merrill. (Compare this birthdate to that listed in the Chipman Genealogy: March 28, 1831). Also listed in this family record is a son of Edmund and Susan, Stephen Merrill, born Aug. 20, 1825, and several other children. In the 1850 census of Norway, Betsey and Stephen are listed as still living at home, Betsey aged 19, and Stephen aged 46 (obviously a mistake). The parents are listed as Edmund (aged 50) and Susan (aged 45), and the several other children are also listed.

I feel pretty confident that this Betsey A. Merrill and Elizabeth Ann Merrill were the same lady, however I always wanted to pursue other avenues to verify this but never made it that far. One possible route you could take would be to try to locate a will of this Edmund Merrill or his wife Susan (if such wills ever existed), or land records.

The Centennial History of Norway, Oxford County, Maine, 1786-1886, by W.B. Lapham, has family records within it, from the settlers who located there on downward into the 1800's. Working our way backwards, we have:

Betsey A. Merrill, b Feb. 28, 1831.

Edmund Merrill, b. March 2, 1800, died 26 April 1855; married March 6, 1821 Susan MORRELL, born in Windham, Me. July 9, 1803, and died Dec. 3, 1863 aged 60 y and 5 m.

Edmund Merrill, b ---, died March 1, 1830; married Betsey Bancroft, who was born in Lynnfield, Mass. 1777, and died Feb. 2, 1855.

Enoch Merrill, b. Andover, Mass. in May 1750; married Martha Wood, who was born June 16, 1757.

Back in the '20's, Samuel Merrill published a comprehensive genealogical work, A Merrill Memorial. While not shedding any light on our Elizabeth Merrill, it goes into great detail about the lineage of Edmund several generations back into the 1500's in England. Many larger libraries have this publication, perhaps one near you has a copy. If not I could send you what I have, but be forewarned, it is quite lengthy. And while I photocopied what I thought was Elizabeth's lineage, I would just feel better if we could verify that our Elizabeth and Betsey were the same lady, before proceeding any further.

Source: Scott Chipman, February 10, 2002 10:21 PM, http://mlloyd.org/gen/chipman/texts/email.txt

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~