Holbrook line: Nathaniel Merrill 1634-1682

 Nathaniel Merrill actually was an immigrant because he came to New England with his parents as a young child.  He was born in Lawford, Essex, England sometime before May 25, 1634, which is his baptismal date.  Lawford is a small village in eastern England, and appears to be situated on an arm of the North Sea.  I found no reference to a harbor, so it's not clear to what extent the sea would have shaped the life of the residents.  In the case of Nathaniel, it probably didn't affect him a lot because his parents, Nathaniel and Susannah Wolterton Merrill, left there when he was just a young boy.  I've seen various guesses as to when they arrived in New England but Nathaniel is not included as a featured name in any of the Great Migrations volumes.  It is noted in the Directory that he wsas here as early as 1638. The young family may have stayed with John Merrill, brother of the senior Nathaniel, in Ipswich before going on to Newbury in Essex County, Massachusetts.  

Newbury was a very new village in 1638 (official founding date is 1635) and perhaps it had a "homey" feel to it, because it, too, was close to the ocean.  The Merrill family continued to grow, until the Nathaniel who is the subject of this post had at least six brothers and sisters.  And of course he had at least one uncle in the area, and probably another.  It's interesting to me that in this town at the same time, Jonathan Singletary Dunham lived.  (This name may not mean much to you, but the Dunhams are in the Beeks family line, so my children's ancestors knew each other, way back when).  

Nathaniel married Joanna, but her last name is subject to controversy.  Some say it was Ninian, some say Kinney or Kenney, and some even say Kennedy.  I've looked at the image on Ancestry and can pretty firmly say it was not Ninian.  The "K" looks like other "K's" written on the same page by the same hand.  But for the rest, I will not guess. There are records for some Kinney or Kinne families in Salem, which is about 20 miles from Newbury.

Nathaniel married Joanna on October 16, 1661 at Newbury.  Some sites say Newburyport but that town wasn't established until 1764.  It may have been in the part of the settlement that eventually became Newburyport, however.  They had at least seven children, but two girls, each named Joanna, seem to have lived very short lives.  Nathaniel was listed as a freeman in 1668 and took an oath of allegiance in 1678, but his name is not mentioned as a leader of the town, nor could I find a reference to him in the records I looked at for military records.  He would have been part of the training band of the town, but I don't know (yet!) whether he was involved in any actual military actions.  

We do know that he was considered a "planter" and that he was relatively prosperous.  His father died in 1654 and his mother in 1673, and when she died he inherited all of his father's lands and estate.  That inheritance undoubtedly helped Nathaniel and Joanna as they raised their family, and Joanna probably gave thanks for it many times when she was left a widow on January 1, 1682.  

Nathaniel was not yet 48 years old when he died and there is no indication of the cause of death.  I have noticed that a lot of people died in Massachusetts during the years 1682-1684, but whether it was of an infectious disease, or the results of a poor harvest, or something else entirely, I don't know.  Joanna lived until 1718, having buried two more of their children.  It doesn't appear that she remarried. 

Nathaniel's will and inventory have been wonderfully typed out on his Wikitree entry, with original spelling.  The estate was valued at 520 pounds, 7 shillings.  It doesn't mention any books, nor does it mention any arms or ammunition, although the spelling is eccentric enough that I may have missed something. 

Fun fact...Besides being our ancestor, he was also the ancestor of Franklin Pierce, 14th President of the United States.  We are cousins to yet another President, however distant.  

The line of descent is

Nathaniel Merrill-Joanna Kinney

Hannah Merrill-Benoni Clough

Benjamin Clough-Faith Hart

Lydia Clough-John Whittemore

Josiah Whittemore-Lucy Snow

Josiah Whittemore-Betsy Foster

Mary Elizabeth Whittemore-Joseph Holbrook

Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown

Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard

Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen

Their descendants