
"In the beginning..."
All of the above photographs are the property of Craft Bookbinding Company, Clifton, Tennessee and used with permission.
All of the above photographs are the property of Craft Bookbinding Company, Clifton, Tennessee and used with permission.
John H. Merville and his wife, Phoebe (Ward), are the “beginning” of the Merville family of Herkimer County, New York, because, at this moment in time, I know nothing of his origins or ancestry other than a vague reference in a 1918 biography of a great grandson, Ernest4 (Euphrates3, Abel2, John1) that “The Mervilles were of French-English descent.” However, it appears that no one else knows either. The first legal document that I've discovered refers to John as a witness to a deed in 1805.
Click here or the image above to view other beginnings.
From page 4 of my copy of Jennie Ward Hoffman's typescript, I’ve transcribed it as she typed it:
“All dead and thier ch, but Grandchildren & Great Grandchildre stil living. I very much desire this record printed before all old Bibles & papers are|lost. I am now 67 years old and relize that Iwill not be here much longer, Iam the Mother of M Gazell Hoffman who is a member of your Soity , Iam not use to using type-writer so you will find many mistakes. but I know if this work is every done i will have to do it.”
Click here or the image above to view more of the Ward Family typescript.
The third iteration of a complaint lodged with the Supreme Court of Otesgo County, New York in 1911 identified 131 descendants of John and Phebe Merville. Click here or the image to read more.
Town of Litchfield, Herkimer County, New York Circuit Steward’s Book (M E Church), contained reports of Quarterly Meetings of the Methodist Episcopal Kingdom Society which named "John Marville" [Merville] as a member. Click here or the image to read more.
Edgar Jackson Klock (1863-1940), a life member of the Herkimer Historical Society and avid antique book collector, documented an entry for Phebe Ward and her husband, an “Elijah Mervill”. This is the only reference to John Merville being called Elijah. John and Phoebe gave two of their sons the name Elijah. Click here or the image to read more.
With no intent of causing distress among John and Phebe Merville's descendants, DNA test results suggest the possibility that the Merville surname may have been Marble or there are Marble descendants whose ancestors were once named Merville. Which came first—chicken or egg, Merville or Marble? If you wish to see how the Y-DNA test results of the Merville male descendant compares to Marble male descendants click here.
The results of the DNA testing for 111 markers plus "Deep Clade" testing are completed and it appears that one male Merville descendant (a 3 times great grandson) was assigned to the Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) CTS606, a subclade of the Catalan R1b-SRY2627 which originated in eastern Iberia some estimated 2,000 to 3,000 years ago.
I'd welcome the testing of other Merville males who are in a direct male line of descent from John H. Merville and one of his 8 sons. Contact me here.
The DNA image is attributed to Arek Socha from Pixabay.
If you stumbled upon this site looking for the Merville Battery or information about Herman Melville or the Merville Beach Hotel in Mauritius you’ve accessed the wrong site. However, in doing so, you can appreciate the frustration I’ve experienced since I began in 2009 researching the genealogy of my wife’s family using the internet.
For the curious the following is a description of the content of the six photographs in the banner on the Home page (from left to right):
HENRY2 LAWRENCE HERTER MERVILLE (John1) was one of 10 sons and 3 daughters born to John1 H. and Phebe (Ward) Merville. He marries first JANE BRINK (1817-1863) then CLARISSA A. RUNYON. Henry and Jane have 3 sons: GEORGE3 DOUGLAS MERVILLE, WILLIAM3 H. MERVILLE and ADAM3 BRINK MERVILLE. The photograph of Henry is courtesy of Tom Lathrop.