My Genealogy Hound

Edward Munroe Merriman, was born in Auburn, N. Y., June 11, 1843. He entered West Point Military Academy from the State of New York, in 1863, and graduated in 1867, afterward serving in the United States army, as an officer of the first regular artillery, until 1871, when he took advantage of the act of Congress, mustering out officers with one year’s pay and allowances. His services were principally in the New York harbor, at the city of New Orleans and on the Kansas frontier, protecting settlers in the latter locality, against raids of the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians. Mr. Merriman came to Arkansas on July 4, 1871, and settled at the point where the town of Conway is now located, being the oldest resident of that place. In 1873 he was appointed postmaster, and the following year was commissioned first lieutenant of Arkansas State Guards during the Brooks-Baxter trouble. He was elected mayor of Conway in 1876, and was the second official in that capacity of the town. He was first appointed justice of the peace in 1873, and in 1879 was again elected to that office, occupying the position up to the year 1882, when he was elected judge of the county court of Faulkner County, by the Democratic party. On September 6, 1884, and on September 6, 1886, he was re-elected to the same office and served in this until 1888. Mr. Merriman is a direct descendant of President John Quincy Adams on his mother’s side, and is the youngest of three children, born to Corydon H. and Mary (Adams) Merriman, of New York, the former a prominent figure in the early history of that State, and in later life president of the First National Bank, of Auburn, N. Y., with which he had been connected for over fifty years. The elder Merriman was a great friend to the Hon. W. H. Seward, whose death occurred at Auburn, in 1876. Of the Merriman family yet remaining, Truman Adams resides in New York City, and is a journalist by profession, being connected with Mr. Dana’s staff on the New York Sun. He was a prominent and brilliant Democratic politician at one time, and served as a member of Congress for six years. Corydon also resides in New York City, where he was formerly engaged in banking, but is now representing the interests of a New York millionaire. Edward Munroe Merriman was married in Conway, on September 6, 1873, to Miss Matilda Menkus, a native of Prussia, who came to this country with a brother, and is a daughter of Sidney and Elizabeth Menkus, of the same place. Mrs. Merriman’s father died in Prussia, and the mother came to the United States some time afterward, and is now residing at Little Rock, Ark. One child has been given Mr. and Mrs. Merriman, a daughter: Mary Adams (born in 1874). Mr. Merriman was one of the originators and helped to pass the law creating Faulkner County. Having resided here from its infancy to its present grand development, he has taken an active part in promoting its interests and welfare, and a good part of its prosperity is due to the efforts of himself and a few other leading spirits. He has been practicing law since 1886, and has established an enviable reputation in that profession. He has always been a Democrat in politics.