Sacramento
County
Biographies
Samuel H. Merwin, a Sutter Township
farmer. The Merwin family are of Welsh
origin. About two and a half centuries
ago, three brothers came from Wales to this country, one of whom settled in
Connecticut, and afterward became connected
with English and Irish families by marriage. Daniel Merwin, grandfather of Samuel H., was a native of
Connecticut, and died in 1820. In his
family were four sons and one daughter who grew up, all born also in
Connecticut. Two sons, Samuel and
Lewis, were Methodist ministers. Daniel
moved to New York State when all his children were very young, and the passed
their lives there. Lewis, a farmer and
local preacher, and the father of Samuel H., married Ruth Reynolds, a native of
New York State. Her grandfather, Eli
Reynolds, was born in Ireland. In Lewis
Merwin’s family were three sons and six daughters, all born in the Empire
State. One of the daughters now resides
in that State, and the others in Los Gatos, California. Samuel H. Merwin was born in Delaware
County, New York, May 1, 1826; was six years old when his mother died, and he
was then taken care of by relatives. In
1847, during the Mexican War, he went to New York city for a year, and then was
employed upon various farms until 1856, when he came to this State. He sailed from New York on the steamer
George Law to the Isthmus and thence to San Francisco on the Golden Age,
arriving during the last of May, when the vigilance committee were hanging two
men, Casey and Cora, who had killed the editor of the San Francisco Bulletin. The voyage was unusually long and
tedious. Coming to Sacramento, Mr.
Merwin entered the hardware store of Massol, Merwin & Co., as a clerk, on J
street between Third and Fourth. That
Merwin was his brother. He remained with
them until they closed business in 1869.
He then purchased his present place, five miles from the State
House. It comprises 160 acres, and is
devoted to general farming, in which Mr. Merwin is signally successful. His is a member of the Grange at Sacramento
and of the Methodist Church. Was a
Republican until recently, being now a Prohibitionist. He was married February 26, 1863, to Sarah
P. Young, a native of Cumberland County, Maine, as were also her parents and
grandparents. Her grandfather, Nathaniel
Young, was one of General Washington’s aides in the Revolutionary War. She came to California in January,
1862. Mr. and Mrs. Merwin have three
sons and three daughters, as follows:
Ruth H., born February 7, 1864; Charles L., June 1, 1866, and died July
21, 1867; Henry, born May 25, 1870; Ella F., April 8, 1872; Wille C., August 4,
1875, and died March 22, 1886; Mary E., born February 28, 1877, and died May
19, 1877.
Transcribed
by Karen Pratt.
Davis, Hon. Win. J., An Illustrated History of Sacramento County, California. Page 503-504. Lewis Publishing Company. 1890.
©
2005 Karen Pratt.