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Below is a family biography included in the book,  Portrait and biographical record of Lehigh, Northampton and Carbon counties, Pennsylvania published in 1894 by Chapman Publishing Company.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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HON. RICHARD N. MERRILL. Within the limits of Northampton County, or indeed of the entire state, no better representative of honest and industrious manhood can be found than the gentleman with whose name we introduce this sketch, and whose history has for many years been intimately associated with that of Mt. Pleasant. Beginning in life without means or influential friends, beset on every side by obstacles, hampered by poverty, he nevertheless worked his way to the front, and has long occupied a position among the foremost men of the county.

On his father’s side our subject is of French descent, and his maternal ancestors were of German origin. The Merrills were early settlers of New Jersey, where our subject’s father, Richard, was born. The latter came in an early day to Northampton County, and settled in Lower Mt. Bethel Township, where he died in 1850, at the age of eighty-three. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Nye, and who was a native of Northampton County, bore him several children, but our subject is the only survivor. He was born in Northampton County, August 15, 1817, and at the age of three years settled with his parents in Mt. Pleasant, where he has resided the most of the time since. The years of boyhood he passed upon a farm, and in attendance at the public and pay schools of the neighborhood.

When eighteen years of age our subject began to learn the trade of a shoemaker, which he followed continuously for twelve years. He then for five years engaged in the mercantile business at Mt. Pleasant. In 1855, upon the Democratic ticket, he was elected Treasurer of Northampton County, and served for a term of two years. Previous to this, in 1853, he had been elected Justice of the Peace of Lower Mt. Bethel Township, and was re-elected to this office in 1858. In 1861 he was chosen Associate Judge of Northampton County for a term of five years, at the expiration of which he was re-elected, serving in that capacity for ten years. In 1872 he was again chosen Justice of the Peace, but through a clerical error was not commissioned. The following year he was once more chosen for that office, to which he was re-elected in 1878, 1883, 1888 and 1893. He has held this position for more than forty years, a longer period than any Justice of the Peace in the county.

In 1838 Judge Merrill married Miss Jane, daughter of Philip and Margaret Shull, of Lower Mt. Bethel Township. Unto them eleven children were born, as follows: Margaret, deceased; Mary; John C., an attorney of Easton, Pa.; Hon. Irvin Merrill, a prominent resident of Bangor, Pa.; Rev. Philip S. Merrill, D.D., pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Rochester, N. Y.; Oscar; Elizabeth, wife of Stephen Brittain, of Lower Mt. Bethel Township; Laura, who married Daniel Jacoby, of Upper Mt. Bethel Township; Jane, Mrs. Howard A. Eilenberg, of Easton, Pa.; Sarah, wife of Dr. William Mcllhaney, of South Easton; and Richard C., of Philadelphia.

For forty-six years Judge Merrill followed the business of auctioneering all kinds of sales, and was one of the most successful men in that line throughout the county. He is identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church at Richmond, and has served for years as District Church Steward. His first wife died in 1882, and the following year he married Mrs. Sabina Sandt, widow of Theodore Sandt, of this county. Socially he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, belonging to the lodge at Mt. Bethel. He is also connected with the Senior Order of American Mechanics at Centreville, Pa. In politics he is recognized as one of the leading Democrats of Lower Mt. Bethel Township. For five years, from 1847 until 1852, he served in an infantry company, belonging to the Independent Battalion of Northampton County, and was duly commissioned Captain by the Governor. For a quarter of a century he served as Secretary of the Board of Trustees of the Churchill Cemetery in Lower Mt. Bethel Township. He enjoys an extended acquaintance throughout this section, and his popularity among all classes is unquestioned.

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This family biography is one of the numerous biographies included in the book, Portrait and biographical record of Lehigh, Northampton and Carbon counties, Pennsylvania published in 1894 by Chapman Publishing Company. 

View additional Northampton County, Pennsylvania family biographies here: Northampton County, Pennsylvania Biographies

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