MERRELL, Nathaniel A.

MERRELL, SANFORD, MOMAM

Posted By: Administrator
Date: 12/9/2001 at 09:18:12

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF De Witt TWP.
From the book "The History of Clinton County Iowa" by L. P. Allen (1879) pgs 736-751

NATHANIEL A. MERRELL, attorney, De Witt; born in the village of Copenhagen, Lewis Co., N. Y., in 1829. His parents, Seth and Mabel Sanford Merrell, were from Connecticut. His paternal grandfather was a soldier of the Revolution; his father was a soldier in the second war with England. From the time he was 16 years of age until 22, he divided his time between farming, teaching and attending school; he then began the study of law with an elder brother, Eliada S., who was then residing at Copenhagen, now a resident of Lowville, and Judge of Lewis Co.; he was admitted to the bar at Watertown, Jefferson Co., July, 1855, and the next spring came to De Witt and worked up a good reputation as an attorney; his professional career has been one of marked success; he is a fluent speaker, and, in any reasonably just cause, carries the jury with him. Mr. Merrell entered the army in the fall of 182, as Captain of Co. D., 26th I. V. I.; he was severely wounded at the battle of Arkansas Post, Jan. 11, 1863. He was Mayor of De Witt two years, and a member of the Lower House of the General Assembly during its fourteenth session, and of the Senate during the fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth sessions. He has been a life-long Democrat, but does not "give up to party what was meant for mankind." He was an earnest supporter of the administration in its efforts to suppress the rebellion. He married at Lowville, N. Y., July 17, 1855, Mrs. Mary A. Momam Merrell, the widow of his brother; they have three children living; have lost two.