HOW ARE THEY RELATED TO CAPTAIN BENJAMIN MERRILL?
Penelope Merrill, the daughter of Captain Benjamin Merrill and Jemima Smith, married Benjamin Merrill, the son of Captain Benjamins brother William. Benjamin and Penelope settled in Buncombe County, North Carolina following the Revolutionary War. Many of their children were part of the wagon train that headed west around 1827 and stopped in northern Missouri to settle. From Missouri, many of the Merrell clan spread out over the mid-western and western states. Of Benjamin and Penelopes children, Nimrod, Eli, Benjamin, and David all settled in Texas. David lived in San Saba, Texas and it is his son David Alexander that homesteaded near Quitaque. Carolyn Merrell Jones, a descendant of David Alexander and who attended the 2007 Captain Benjamin Merrill Reunion in North Carolina, is the fifth cousin (once removed) from those of us that are of the eighth generation from Captain Benjamin (except those descended from Penelope, to whom the relationship would be closer). WHERE THE HECK IS QUITAQU
