Form "Randal and Allied Families":

Born London, Engand, 1613, died Wallingford, Conn., Feb. 13, 1693/94, age 80. Nathaniel Merriman may have been one of Rev. John Davenport's London parishioners. He arrived Boston, Mass., on the "Whale", May 26, 1632. The "Whale" brought 30 passengers and 70 cows. Five members of the Puritan Plough Company were aboard, of whom the youngest was 19-year old Nathaniel Merriman. The company, which soon became insolvent, was named after the ship "Plough" which brought over the first husbandmen of the company from London. Nathaniel was not on his own resources, but "upon the adventure of Peter Wooster being now made up to ten pounds". His passage took 48 days. Upon attival, the members stayed in Boston, but soon became a weight upon the community, Betw, 1632 and March 17, 1640/41, the date of his arrival in New Haven, only one fact is known about Nathaniel Merriman: that he fought in the Pequot War.

This is revealed by the grant of land made, 1698, to his son John Merriman in recognition of his father's services in the War against the Indians of Conn. River Valley in the spring of 1637. In New Haven, Nathaniel Merriman received a small lot on what is now East Water street. In 1648 he obtained a farm in Fair Haven: "Nathaniel Meriman et al. desire to have their land on ye east sid, betwixt the red Rocke & Mr. Davenports farme", and on Nov. 20, the Court allowed that the land should be assigned to him. Abt. 1649 he received certain "meddow" and farm land, to divide with Mathias Hitchcock and Isaac Whitehead.

On July 4, 1639, the residents of New Haven held a meeting "to consult about settling civil govemment according to God, and about the nomination of persons that might be found, by consent of all, fittest in all respects for the foundation work of a church". Besides the original 63 signers, there are 48 names lower on the paper that were put there later. Nathaniel Merriman's name is among these. Other high lights of his stay in New Haven show him as taking the oath of fidelity, 1644, thus becoming a citizen "in good and regular standing" and being appointed assessor with William Russell, 1649. His church seat, indicative of his social position, was ultimately in the middle "alley" or aisle. In 1661, "Sister Merriman" had seat No. 8 "in the longe seats for women".

In 1670, Nathaniel Merriman became one of the first settlers in Wallingford, Conn., building his house on the northwest corner of the present Main and Ward streets, near where the residence of Peter Whittlescy, Esq., stood, 1870. His title of "Captain" accrued to him as head of the town's military forces, when he was appointed to raise troops, 1675, for local defense in King Philip's War. Previously, he had been Ensign in the military company in New Haven, and Lieut. of that in Wallingford. It is to his credit that Wallingford never witnessed an actual struggle with the Indians. He served as juror in the Court of the Co. of New Haven, was commissioner in establishing boundaries of towns and erecting of bridges. In 1672 he was s?? of the committee to distribute land among planters. Soon after he was town clerk and was reelected for nine years. In 1675 he was one of a committee chosen to establish a church and had church meetings in his own home. He was one of a committee to ?? a mill for grinding corn, and a trustee in deeds of land to the town of Wallingford by the Indians. He also served as magistrate, empowered to settle disputes and join young couples in matrimony. He was selectman for five years, and was nine times Deputy from Wallingford to the General Court of the Colony of Conn.