In my childhood in South Orange, New Jersey, I always knew that Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts was the place where my grandfather was born and spent his childhood. But my grandfather never took the time to take me there, and I had never even seen a photograph nor consulted a map to determine the location of Shelburne Falls. That was curious indeed, since I attended nearby Deerfield Academy and later Williams College. My grandfather, Charles Arthur Merrill 1875-1968, was graduated from Arms Academy in 1893 and from Amherst College in 1897. He took me to see Amherst, hoping to persuade me to select his own Alma Mater, but still he neglected the short side trip to show me his birthplace! In retrospect I think his lack of interest in Shelburne Falls was related to his taste for big-city life. Around 1900 he left Shelburne Falls for New York City, and later settled in northeastern New Jersey.
I and my father, Deane Whitney Merrill 1908-1987, were both named after my great-grandfather Cordeanio Harley Merrill 1840-1908. The source of the Italian-sounding name Cordeanio is a mystery. In our living room in New Jersey hung an oil portrait of Cordeanio as a young boy, painted above the Deerfield River around 1845. Family records and other artifacts were packed away in trunks, but we never thought to pull them out and discuss them while my grandfather was still living. To an active young family, the past is never as interesting as the present! After I had left home, I was aware that my father was busily researching our family history, but I never gave another thought to Shelburne Falls.
In 1996 I was a research scientist in Berkeley, California, contemplating retirement. My wife Chris had come from the mountains of North Carolina, and we were both tired of struggling with the traffic, expense, and crime of urban America. I was in close touch with my younger brother Jon, who continued studying the family history after my father's death in 1987. Jon loved driving around the Northeast and photographing the homes where our ancestors had lived. A few years earlier he had come to Shelburne Falls to photograph the house at 22 Mechanic Street, where Cordeanio had lived. The house was sold after the death of Cordeanio's widow in 1940. On Jon's visit, he brought with him an 1898 photograph of the house, which he shared with the family which was then renting the second floor. They exchanged addresses, and when the house was offered for sale in 1996 the family notified Jon.
Jon sent me photographs of the house - present day and 1898. I was astonished by its size and its former beauty - totally unlike what I had imagined. I learned that Shelburne Falls, far from being a defunct New England mill town, is a charming, vibrant community on an upward path. My wife had long cherished a dream of creating a Bed and Breakfast. From California we learned the condition of the house - sadly neglected but not beyond hope. I could hardly sleep until our offer was accepted, dreading to let the seller know how desperately I wanted this house that had once belonged to my family. We settled on a price at long distance, from California. Driving into Shelburne Falls for the first time in March 1997, I was surprised and overwhelmed by the lovely streets and unblemished 19th century homes. Tears were in my eyes as I first stepped into our new house - the 15-room ancestral home I had never seen. The next 18 months were a delirious blur - I finished my research, juggled mortgages and wrote endless checks from Berkeley, while Chris and her mother Laura endured clouds of dust and supervised renovations for the future Bed and Breakfast. Bear Haven B&B is named in honor of Chris' many Teddy Bears, who arrived amidst sixteen tons of other belongings. We received our first guests in August 1998.
The reason for this article is my exciting discovery of the Merrill family history in Shelburne Falls. In California I continued the research done by my father and my brother Jon. I published Jon's genealogy database on the World Wide Web and began to receive inquiries from distant cousins. One message came from Ted Merrill of Shelburne Falls, who I learned is my ninth cousin. On the Internet, I studied other databases and continued to "grow" my family tree. Jon bought a scanner, and we added family photos to our Web pages. I visited the local Mormon library (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) and studied old Census records. I found dozens of Merrills in Shelburne, most of whom I could not connect to my family tree. I bought all the back issues of a Merrill newsletter. I was visited by Howard and Jean Merrill of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who have spent years cataloging every known Merrill, living or dead, in the United States.
Right after moving to Shelburne Falls, I located all the Merrill gravestones in Arms Cemetery. (Doris Wheeler has transcribed every inscription, in an enormous volume which has yet to be indexed). The 1845 portrait of Cordeanio, painted above the Ravine at the end of Mechanic Street, hangs again in its original home. In Pratt Memorial Library I found vital records for all the towns of Massachusetts through 1849. I learned how the Merrills are related to other Shelburne families, including Severance, Barnard, Whitney, Hardy, Bardwell, Howard, Coleman, Childs, and Purinton. I visited the library in Shelburne Center, and the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association library in Deerfield. I poked through land records and the probate records at the County Court House in Greenfield. Further afield, I visited genealogical libraries in Springfield and Boston.
My continuing challenge is to disentangle the origins and connections of the Merrills who lived in Shelburne. The definitive Merrill genealogy, the 1928 Merrill Memorial, contains little about the Shelburne Merrills. Local records mention at least two Merrills in Shelburne at the time of the Revolution: Joseph Merrill 1773-1844 who married Lucinda Whitney 1776-1857, and Thaddeus Merrill 1777-1855 who married Achsah Severance 1784-1872. The two wives were first cousins, and the origins of their families are well known. Although firm evidence is lacking, I believe that Joseph and Thaddeus Merrill were first cousins once removed, both descended from John Merrill 1706-1741 of Haverhill.
Joseph Merrill, my great-great-great-grandfather, was the first postmaster of Shelburne Falls. In the 1830's he operated a tavern on present-day Bridge Street, then on the stage route between Boston and Albany. Joseph had eight children and at his death owned five properties in Shelburne and Buckland. One daughter, Emily, married the banker Jarvis B. Bardwell. A son, Joseph Jr., married Martha Bardwell and built the Shelburne Falls Hotel in 1851. The youngest son, my great-great-grandfather Moses Whitney Merrill 1817-1859, worked in the hotel with his brother Joseph Jr., and in 1852 purchased from his brother-in-law Jarvis Bardwell the property that would become 22 Mechanic Street. The hotel tradition continued with my great-grandfather Cordeanio Merrill, who managed the Crawford House hotel in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and with Cordeanio's brother Henry Whitney Merrill, who managed hotels in California, and now with our Bear Haven Bed and Breakfast!
Thaddeus Merrill 1777-1855 fathered eleven sons and two daughters in Shelburne Falls. His wife Achsah Severance Merrill was the granddaughter of the Indian fighter Martin Severance 1718-1810, who built the first cabin in Shelburne Falls. The house where Achsah was born is the oldest residence still standing in the Village. A newspaper article relates that in her seventies she won the female equestrian competition at the county fair, and that her hair had not a trace of gray. Thaddeus' son Ira Merrill 1803-1866 followed in his father's footsteps and became a prominent stone mason in Shelburne Falls. Ira patented innovative techniques for the quarrying and finishing of stone. Two other sons, Solomon Fellows Merrill 1820-1898 and Martin Severance Merrill 1818-1887, along with Jonathan Nims b.1817, formed in 1835 the Shelburne Falls Military Band, which has continued uninterrupted until this day. Other early Merrill band members were my ancestors Moses Whitney Merrill and Cordeanio Harley Merrill.
Appropriately for a master stone worker, Ira's grave site in Arms Cemetery, Shelburne Falls, is an imposing pink granite monument, surrounded by smaller markers for many of his family members. Ira and his sons built dozens of major stone structures in western Massachusetts between 1850 and 1900, including banks, hotels, churches, libraries, and bridges as far away as Williamstown and Northampton. Most prominent of Ira's sons was George Gilson Merrill 1836-1912, whose name appears on the 1890 iron bridge which crosses the Deerfield River at Shelburne Falls. The most prominent building in Shelburne Falls today is the former Shelburne Falls Hotel, constructed by Ira Merrill for Joseph Merrill Jr. In the late 19th century, the Shelburne Falls House was renowned for its unique dance floor, which was supported on springs! Another local attraction is a stone fire observation tower on the summit of nearby Mt. Massaemet, which was constructed in 1909 by George Gilson Merrill's son Roy Stanley Merrill, who was graduated from Dartmouth College in 1902.
I would like to hear from other persons who know about the Merrills of Shelburne Falls, or other families related to them. What I have learned so far is available on the Internet, at http://www.bearhaven.com/family. More generally, I am interested in the history and genealogy of all the families of Shelburne Falls, and I invite others with similar interests to contact me.
Deane Merrill, 22 Mechanic Street, Shelburne Falls, MA 01370. Tel: 413-625-9281. Email: merrill@crocker.com
dennie:\\d:\massaemet\990901\roots.html 9/8/99 2300
Cordeanio Harley Merrill 1840-1908
at The Ravine, Shelburne Falls, ca.1845
Moses Whitney Merrill 1817-1859 and Cordeanio Harley Merrill 1840-1908
in Shelburne Falls Military Band, ca.1855
22 Mechanic Street, Shelburne Falls, ca.1898
Moses Whitney Merrill homestead, 1852