COLONEL SAMUEL MERRILL, the seventh Governor of Iowa, the successor of Governor Stone, is among the men of the West who have been called from private life to places of trust on account of their peculiar fitness for office. He was born in the town of Turner, Oxford County, Maine, August 7, 1822. He is of English ancestry, being a descendant on his mother’s side of Peter Hill, who came from the West of England and settled in Saco, Main (now known as Biddeford), in 1853. From this ancestry have sprung the most of the Hills of America. On his father’s side he is a descendant of Nathaniel Merrill, who, with his brother John, came from Salisbury, England, and settled in Newburg, Massachusetts, in 1636.

     Abel Merrill married Abigail Hill, June 25, 1809, in Buxton, Maine. They soon moved to Turner, where they became the parents of eight children, Samuel, the subject of this sketch, being next the youngest, the fourth and youngest son in the family, and in the eighth generation from his Pilgrim fathers.

     Samuel was married first to Catherine Thoms, who died in 1847, but fourteen months after their marriage. In January, 1851, he was again married, his second wife being a Miss Hill, of Buxton, Maine. To this union there have been born four children, three of whom died young, the eldest living to be only two and a half years old.

     At the age of sixteen he moved with his parents to Buxton, where his time was mostly engaged by turns in teaching and in attending school until he attained his majority. Having determined to make teaching a profession, he set out for that purpose toward the sunny South, but, as he says, he was “born too far north” for his political comfort. Suspicion having been aroused as to his abolitionist proclivities, and finding the elements not altogether congenial, he soon abandoned the land of chivalry for the old Granite State, where he engaged for several years in farming.

     In 1847 he removed to Tamworth, New Hampshire, where he embarked in mercantile business in company with a brother. In this, as in all his business enterprises, he was quite successful. Not being satisfied with the limited resources of Northern New England, he determined to try his good fortune on the broad prairies of the new and more fertile West. Accordingly in 1856, he turned his face toward the setting sun. He made a final settlement at McGregor, Iowa, where he established a branch house of the old firm.

     During all these years of business Mr. Merrill took an active but not a noisy part in politics. In 1854 he was elected as an Abolitionist to the New Hampshire Legislature, at the same time General N. B. Baker, ex-Adjutant General of Iowa, was Governor of the same State. In 1855 he was returned for a second term to the Legislature. In Iowa he was equally fortunate in securing the good will of those who knew him. His neighbors and those who had dealings with him found a man who was honest in his business, fair in his dealings, social in his relations, and benevolent in his disposition. He took an active interest in the prosperity of the town and ever held an open hand to all needed charities. These traits of character had drawn around him, though not realized or intended by himself, a host of personal admirers. This good will resulted in his being nominated for a seat in the State Legislature, and he was the only one on his ticket that was elected. The Legislature met in extra session in 1861 to provide for the exigencies of the Rebellion, and in its deliberations Mr. Merrill rendered effective and unselfish service.

     He continued in business at McGregor until the summer of 1862, when he was commissioned as Colonel of the Twenty-first Iowa Infantry, proceeding immediately to Missouri, where active service awaited him. Marmaduke was menacing the Union forces in Central Missouri, which called for prompt action on the part of the Union Generals. Colonel Merrill was placed in command of a detachment of the Twenty-first Iowa, a detachment of the Ninety-ninth Illinois, a portion of the Third Iowa Cavalry and two pieces of artillery, with orders to make a forced march to Springfield, he being at Houston, eighty miles distant. On the morning of the 11th of January, 1863, they having come across a body of rebels, found them advancing in heavy force. Colonel Merrill immediately made disposition for battle, and brisk firing was kept up for an hour, when the enemy fell back. Colonel Merrill now moved in the direction of Hartville, where he found the rebels in force under Marmaduke, and from six to eight thousand strong, with six pieces of artillery, while Colonel Merritt had but 800 men and two pieces of artillery.

     In this engagement the rebels lost several officers and not less than 300 men in killed and wounded. The Union loss was seven killed and sixty-four wounded, five captured and two missing. The regiment performed severe marches and suffered much in sickness during the winter. It was assigned to the Thirteenth Corps, General John A. McClernand; fought gallantly at the battle of Port Gibson; and while the impetuous charge of Black River bridge was being made Colonel Merrill was severely, and reported fatally, wounded. The battle of Black River bridge, the last of the series of engagements during the campaign of Vicksburg in which the rebels fought without their fortifications, was a short but bloody combat. While Colonel Merrill was leading his regiment in this deadly charge he was wounded through the hips. This brought his military career to a close. Suffering from his wounds, he resigned his commission and returned to McGregor, but was unable to attend to his private affairs for many months.

     In 1867 he was chosen Governor to succeed William M. Stone. He was inaugurated January 16, 1868, and served till January 11, 1872, being re-elected in 1869. After the expiration of his term of office he returned to McGregor, but as soon as he could adjust his business interest he located in Des Moines, where he is now President of the Citizens’ National Bank.

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