As I’ve mentioned before (*1), my grandfather, Harold Granger Pierpont,
was the youngest of eight children of Wilson Pierpont and Annie Merrill in
1898. Annie passed away due to complications from childbirth. There has been
extensive research into the Pierpont side of that family, but little written
about the Merrill line. I’d like to make a small dent into that part of my
family in this blog.
Annie’s parents were Nathan Frisbie Merrill (1823-1909) and Eunice
Almira Hoadley (1822-1894). Nathan had the Frisbie middle name (which his
father also had as a middle name) from his paternal grandmother, Sarah Frisbie
(1756-1842). Sarah’s father was Elijah Frisbie (1717-1800). But Eunice’s mother
was also a Frisbie – Alma Frisbie (1798-1880) and Elijah was her grandfather as
well. Thus, Nathan and Eunice were 2nd cousins, and would have known
that. But their ancestry is not the main point of this blog.
When you submit your DNA to ancestry.com, one of the features is what
they call DNA Circles. These are where they collect a number of DNA samples
that are linked because the people who submitted them all have a common
ancestor. There are now nine people in the Nathan Frisbie Merrill DNA Circle,
of which I am one.
Nathan and Eunice had four children – Charles (1848-1900), Mary Elvira
(1850-1927), Ellen Taylor (1856-1927), and Annie (1858-1898). I have documented
a total of 22 grandchildren attributed to these four children (3, 3, 8, and 8
respectively), with most of the DNA submissions being from the descendants of
Ellen Taylor Merrill. These are primarily coming from individuals who would be
my 3rd cousins since our common ancestor is our
great-great-grandfather, Nathan Frisbie Merrill.
Ellen Taylor Merrill married William Leroy White (1857-1927). Their
younger children were born in Waterbury, CT (which is where I was born as
well), but around 1890 the family moved to the Midwest and their two youngest
daughters were born in Wisconsin. By 1900 the family had moved to Chicago, then
by 1910 they settled in Detroit. I have not traced all of them, but will
concentrate on two of their children.
Alma Anna White (1890-1985) (note the carrying forward of the name Alma
from a prior generation) married Robert Beauvais. One of their grandchildren is
Jeanne Beauvais, a third cousin of mine who lives in Michigan and with whom I
have an ongoing relationship through ancestry.com ever since our DNA connection
was established a few years ago.
Recently Jeanne and I were both notified of a new DNA connection from a
lady named Cheryl where the connection was a 2nd cousin of Jeanne
and a 3rd cousin of mine. I contacted Cheryl through ancestry.com
and found that the DNA sample was from her husband, Brian White. This led me to
start examining yet another of the children of Ellen Taylor [Merrill] and William
White.
Just like Alma [White] Beauvais was given her first name from an
ancestor, her brother Merrill Washburn White (1887-1951) was given his first
name from the last name of his mother. Merrill married Freeda Alexander
(1899-1975) and they had two children, Betty Ellen (1921-1960) and Merrill
Alexander (1923-2004). Note that their son was given his first name from his
father’s (being passed down from his ancestors) and his middle name from his
mother’s last name.
My new 3rd cousin, Brian White, was the child of Merrill
Alexander White. In my initial conversations with Brian’s wife, Cheryl, who was
maintaining their family tree in ancestry.com, she indicated that they were
looking to find any information on Merrill Alexander’s sister (and Brian’s
aunt), Betty White. I decided that I’d do a little of the genealogy work that I
enjoy and help Brian and Cheryl out.
When working with more recent generations, one must use a variety of
resources. Ancestry.com and other genealogical sites can help with building a
context, but information about living individuals is best found using other
resources. I’ve honed my research skills over the past several years and know
where and how to look (the latter being even more important than the former).
I’ll not bore you with all the details of my research (nor give away
all my secrets as well as all the false leads that I had to follow before
finding what I was looking for), but here are the results of my research.
Betty Ellen White married a man by the name of Harrison Graves. Betty
died at the age of 39, having been ill for the last several years of her life.
However, she and her husband had two sons early in their marriage – thus making
them around my age. After she passed away, Harrison remarried a woman by the
name of Yvonne Maresh. Harrison and Yvonne had several more children and
grandchildren. Harrison passed away in 2000, but Yvonne was still living. I was
able to locate a phone number for her as well as information on one of her
sons-in-law (her daughter had been killed in an automobile accident in 2003). I
called Yvonne and she was able to give me a little information about the two
sons of Harrison and Betty, i.e. her two step-sons (noting that while all
family members still live in MI, they are scattered and with several of these
individuals being in their 70s, they do not see each other on a regular basis
nor have regular communication). I then was able to locate one of the sons,
David, as well as to communicate with him via Facebook (like many people from
the north who are retired, he and his wife are “snowbirds” and spend the winter
in Florida so calling them at home in MI would not have been fruitful).
While Yvonne is not a true relative, being the 2nd wife of
the man who married my 2nd cousin, once removed, it was still
enlightening to talk to her. But David is a blood relative, my 3rd
cousin, as well as the 2nd cousin of Jeanne Beauvais and the 1st
cousin of Brian White who wanted to locate him.
David’s reply on FB to me was interesting as it said (bracketed
comments are mine), “I know very little, I was young [about 14] when my mom
passed. I do remember Uncle Merrill. And grandma White [Freeda [Alexander]
White] lived in Coral, Michigan with her mother and father. Their last name is
Alexander.”
All in all it was a profitable day, with only an hour or so of
investigation needed, plus a short phone call, a Facebook message, and this
blog to write. And now I know quite a bit more about the Merrill/Frisbie/White
part of my family tree that I didn’t know before. I may never meet any of these
Michigan cousins since my wife and I do not travel there as much as we used to,
but who knows…..
Notes:
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