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A Brief Outline of the History
of the
Merriam Family
Originally Written by
Johnston Merriam
About the Year 1834
Rewritten by
Justice Merriam
1898
Copied verbatim 1999
G. R. Cutting
Forward
This brief history of the Merriam family was originally written, by my great grandfather Johnson Merriam, about the year 1834. The original manuscript was lost or destroyed by age. It was closely guarded for many years, by my grandfather, Justice Merriam. After he returned to Canada, following his participation in the Patriot Movement, in the year 1838, Grandfather was of the opinion, that, if some of the information contained in the manuscript, became known generally it might be detriment to the progress of himself and his family. In the year 1898, grandfather rewrote the history and the following pages of this booklet are printed exactly as written by him, in a small pocket size note book, which I have in my possession, at the present time. Grandfather was 80 years old at the time he did the writing in this note book and his hand had apparently become quite shaky, owing to this, and the fact that this little book is now 35 years old, some of the writing is not as legible as it might be, some of the words may appear to be misspelled, but, considering the facts, that, it was about 110 or 115 years ago that grandfather received his education and that the backwoods schools of that time were not likely as efficient as our educational system of to-day, and that the spelling of a great many words has been changed in the last century, it was considered advisable to print it exactly as he wrote it, without making alterations. I have been endeavoring for the past ten years, to get some member of grandfather's family to write a sketch of the history covering the period, from the time that
the family moved from Newcastle to Holland township, and of the trip itself, but they all were of the opinion that it was to big a task for people of their age. It was my intention, if I could have obtained this information, to have communicated with members of the family and requested that they contribute sketches of any interesting incidents, which they could remember, I was then going to try and have a book compiled, from this information, and the history written by grandfather.
The possibilities of accomplishing this seem to be decreasing, as time goes on.
We have decided to print and distribute, the information in my possession, in the form of this booklet, to the members of the family with whom we are personally acquainted, as a Christmas gift for the year 1933, with the hope that we may stimulate an interest in the compiling of a more complete history.
Wishing you
A Merry Christmas and a prosperous 1934
Mr. and Mrs. A. R. Merriam
The History of The Merriam Family
DEDICATION
We wish to dedicate this booklet to two of Canada's hardy pioneers. A man and his wife that succeeded in life by their love and trust in the Almighty, our grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Justice J. Merriam.
+A Sketch of the History of connection with the Merriams written by J. J. Merriam in the year 1898." (J. J. Merriam recopied this from the original manuscript composed by Johnson Merriam. The original manuscript was lost or destroyed through age.)
"they Emigrated from England in the early setelment of the Eastern States and remained there until the year 1792, when John Merriam and famely and James his brother come to Canada. they crossed
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