Thomas Merritt III
Thomas Merritt III
Thomas Merritt III was born in 1884 in Rye, NY and married Mary Underhill [b. 1731] sometime before 1731.
Their children included:
Thomas Merritt, born 4/22/1729 at Blind Brook, Rye, NY, married Amy Purdy, daughter of Capt. John Purdy in 1758 in Bedford, Westchester Co, NY. This Thomas bought 54 acres on King St., in Rye on 11/15/1753; noted in prov. Troops in 1758 –had ruddy complexion, was 5’6”. His home was confiscated in Rye and he was later living in St. John, NB and was mentioned in Dubeau’s book. Thomas was interred on 3/23/1821 in St John, NB.
Robert Merritt, born 3/10/1731, in Hempstead, LI, NY married Elizabeth Robinson in 1762 in Hempstead, LI, NY. Robert died in Hampstead, NB in 12/1802.
Nathaniel Merritt, born 1/4/1733 in Rye, NY died 2/10/1746 in Rye.
Thomas’ wife, Mary, died in 1735. Thomas died in 1749 in Rye, NY. His aunt became the housekeeper and cared for the three boys She performed these duties until a year after Thomas died and her own ill health compelled her to return to her own people for care in NB. This occurred in 1749 when Thomas was 20 and Robert was 18. Their younger brother, Nathaniel, died in 1746. After Thomas III died in 1749, the two remaining sons closed the house and each went their own way. Robert settled in Hampstead, NY> He married there and had 6 children, moving to Shelbourne, Canada in 1783. About 1784 they came to Parr Town[St John[ and settled on the west bank of the St John River which later became Hampstead, Queens Co, NB. He was a Loyalist and a carpenter from Westchester Co. NY and was on the ship, Montague, in Unit 7.
NOTES:
Thomas Merritt, the eldest son [of Robert?], was sent early to school, he being destined for the medical profession, and was, in due time, transferred to Harvard College, the nearest institution for pursuing the higher studies of his intended career. But the troubles of the times soon put an end to all peaceful avocations, and, following the military traditions of the family [his maternal grandfather having held a commission as Captain under George II, in the conquest of Canada], he entered the regiment of Simcoe’s “Queen’s Rangers” as a Coronet. In the moving of the division to the south in 1779, he fell in love and married Mary Hamilton of South Carolina. They had two children, Caroline and Honorable William Hamilton Merritt, MP. Being the oldest of three orphan children, he occupied the acknowledged position of guardian, but was unable to divert the rest of the family from the new opinions and parties which resulted in the revolution in later years.
]I’m having a hard time w/ this info as Peter writes at top of page that Thomas married Amy Purdy, then down in this latter paragraph, states it was a Mary Hamilton. Plus he refers to the revolution in ‘later years’, but his division went south in 1779, well after the Revolutionary War had begun [1775-1783]. Sorry, just not making sense.]
Thomas Merritt, like the rest of his kin, resided upon a farm between Bedford and Long Island Sound, two miles from the latter and it was called “Mile End” in 1875, from a square mile of land that had been granted to his father, Thomas [Sgt] Merritt, for surveying at an early date the county of Westchester, of which it is the extreme limit southeast from NY state.
There is evidently a question re his wife’s name. If it was Mary, then the family name, Underhill, is still in question evidently. Douglas Merritt’s book [what is that?] shows Thomas’ wife as Elizabeth.