My Genealogy Hound

WILLIAM S. MERRISS, former and market gardener, post-office Carthage, comes originally from Franklin county, Ohio, where he was born Nov. 17, 1810. In 1836 he immigrated to Illinois, settling in Morgan county, where he bought and improved a farm. He was married there Feb. 27, 1840, to Miss Eliza Hamilton, also a native of Ohio, who died two years later. He moved to Fulton county, Ill., in the fall of 1840, and bought and improved a farm upon which he lived until 1872. He then sold out and came to Jasper county, Mo., and embarked in the grocery and provision trade in the city of Carthage, remaining in that business four years. He purchased the farm upon which he now lives in 1882. It is nicely situated, one and one-half miles southeast from the public square of Carthage. He is engaged in raising fruits and vegetables for the Carthage market, for which purpose the place is well calculated. He was married to his present wife, Mrs. Parthena Wadsworth, maiden name Hubbard, a native of Tioga county, N. Y., Dec. 24, 1843. They are the parents of two sons, John P. and Henry A., and one daughter, Eliza S. Mrs. Merriss’ first husband was William Wadsworth, son of Major James D. Wadsworth, a well-known New York soldier of the War of 1812. They were the parents of one daughter, Clarissa A., wife of Henry Cline, of Jasper county, Mo.