Charles Merrell

Born 13 October 1811 in North Carolina to Nancy McCrary and Eli Merrell
Married Sarah Finley 12 October 1834 in Missouri
Charles-Charles William-Fenly-Clifford
Died 13 July 1852 in Nebraska
Buried on the plains near the Elk Horn River with no marker.  There is a stone in the Willard Cemetery with Sarah.

1850 Census 

You can read more about Charles Merrell here. The following is from the Charles William Merrell book.  There is also more infomation from other sources below.

Charles Merrell, son of Eli and Nancy McCrary Merrell, was born on October 13, 1811. In his enumeration in the Iowa 1850 Census for Pottawattamie County, he gave his place of birth as Tennessee (Iowa 1850). In another record (IGI 1988) his birth place was given as Buncombe County, North Carolina. The marriage records of Lewis County, Missouri, show he was married there in 1834 to Sarah Finley (sometimes spelled Fenley), daughter of John G. Finley and Mary Ann "Polly" Bozarth (Ibid.). Their children were: Francis Marion, Nancy, Sophia, Orson, John Finley, Sarah, Joseph, Charles William, and Mary Jane (Merrell Family Papers).

The location of Charles and Sarah's home for the first few years of their married life seems to have been in Des Moines County or Lee County, Iowa. The 1840 Iowa Census for Des Moines County lists Charles Merrell as Head of Household, with two daughters and one son under the age of five years (Iowa 1840). When that census was taken, neither the individual names nor the birthplaces were given.

The 1850 Census (Iowa 1850) indicated Missouri as the birth place of all children except the seventh child (a year-old son whose name was given as Hyrum, assumed to have been changed later to Charles William). A family group record in the Archives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gives the birth places of the first three children (in 1837, 1838, and 1839) as Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa. However, that is unlikely, as Des Moines was established as Fort Des Moines in 1843 and later incorporated in 1851 (Collier IS Encyclopedia); Polk County was not created until 1846 (Everton).

The next three children, according to the record, were born in Lee County, Iowa; and the last three in Council Point (part of Council Bluffs), Pottawattamie, Iowa (Merrell Family Papers, LDS Archives). We can assume that the last three are correct, since the family had joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints some time between their residency in North Carolina and their having settled in Iowa. The main body of the members of that church were then situated in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, just across the Mississippi River from Lee County, Iowa. When the "Mormons" were expelled from Nauvoo, Charles and Sarah and their family went with them to Council Point.

Just before the Latter-day Saints left Illinois, Charles and Sarah went to the Nauvoo Temple; their attendance there was recorded on 3 February 1846 (Nauvoo). Their son Orson wrote that his father had "worked some" on the construction of that building (Merrell Family Papers).

A letter written by Sarah in February 1845 to her mother (who was staying with Sarah's brother John in Galena, Illinois, up the Mississippi River from Nauvoo) gave information about some of their activities which helps us to know about Charles' occupation. She told the prices of some farm products-pork, from $2 - $3 per hundred pounds; wheat, 65 cents per bushel; and com, 25 cents per bushel. She wrote that their swarms of bees had done well that spring. Reporting on the Mormons, she said they were generally all well and in good spirits and that work on the temple was going rapidly.

Charles added a postscript with some business information for Sarah's brother, then asked them to send him a sack of potatoes, and mentioned that he had been to Nauvoo "this week." Sarah had signed her name to the letter twice-once using the name "Sally" and the other time as "Polly" (Merrell Family Papers, Letter). It is nice to know that Charles and Sarah could both write well, as illiteracy was commonplace at that time among the people living near the outer boundaries of the United States.

Following a six-year stay in the Council Bluffs area, the family left on July 4, 1852, for the Salt Lake Valley. One of the sons (Merrell Family Papers, Joseph Merrell) later told of the difficult conditions under which they began their trip. They first had to cross the Missouri River, which required several days' hard work and frustration in the July sun. The flatboat, or ferry, was moved upstream by hand, keeping it close to the shore as the men walked along the bank pulling the craft. They then loaded onto it as much of their cargo as it would hold, either supplies or livestock. As they paddled across the river, the boat drifted downstream, where it was unloaded. After paddling back to the eastern shore, again drifting downstream, they had to pull the boat upstream again to counteract the drifting, then reload it. The process was repeated until all of their livestock, equipment and supplies were across. The Merrells began the trip with one wagon, two yoke of steers and a yoke of cows.

Perhaps it was the extreme exertion of the crossing which weakened Charles enough that his resistance to disease was low. On July 13 he was taken ill with cholera and died after the company had traveled about fourteen miles during the day. His funeral was conducted that evening by Elder John Taylor, apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and he was buried near Elk Horn, Nebraska.

The sad party moved on the following day after crossing the Elk Horn River (Ibid.) Because Sarah was sick most of the way crossing the plains and her team was not gentle, Elder Taylor sent her a pair of oxen, which the two older boys, Orson, age II, and John, age 8, could manage along with the other oxen and the cows. The family were met on arrival in the Salt Lake Valley on October 12, 1852, by the oldest son Marion, who had left Iowa earlier with a family who needed some help driving their wagon. He was accompanied by a Mr. Chaffan, who took the family to his home to stay temporarily (Ibid.).


The following comes from interviews with Francis Merrell II in the 1950s:

Charles married Sarah Finley on October 12, 1834. She was from Grayson County, Kentucky. The couple lived in many places and in one they were apparently converted to Mormonism. There next settlement was near the mouth of the Des Moines River, in Lee County Iowa. This was adjacent to the Mormon community of Keokuk and right across the river from Nauvoo, Illinois. Nauvoo was the center of Mormonism at that time.

Sarah Finley Merrill became very "wrapped" up in the church during that time. Charles also joined the church and as long as the Mormons were in Nauvoo, he would go over there in rowboat with products for the market across the river.

Charles' son Francis Marion (I) was the oldest child of the Merrill family and would accompany Charles on many of these trips. Charles on the trips to "Zion" related this oral history to his son Francis Marion (II). He said that he usually took over something to the home of Joseph Smith, the Mormon Leader, and many times he saw the "Prophet of God" and would speak to him.

One time, as they were leaving the Smith home, Charles asked "How is Sister Smith this day?" The Prophet replied "She says but little and knows but little". Francis asked his father want this meant and his father told him "It is true, Brother Smith has taken more wives than one".

At this time there were two young men running a little newspaper, the Nauvoo Expositor. The paper printed one issue - denouncing plural marriage. The printing press was destroyed and the press was thrown into the street. This started the communities outrage against Joseph Smith.

Charles and his son were in this Mormon town the day following and Francis and the other town's boys filled their pockets with type from the broken press.

The Mormons felt they had to migrate further West - and though Charles Merrill wanted to quit the whole thing, his wife would have none of it. When they fled Illinois the Merrills went with them.

The Mormon families started leaving Illinois in 1846 and the community was nearly emptied by 1850. The Merrills planned to leave as soon as they sold the family land, but the land was hard to sell in 1850-51. They did not leave until 1851 and the farm was sold for only $1200. The farm was resold again in a very few years for $40,000. But as refugees the Mormons could not demand much for their land.

They sold all their belongings and moved towards West along the Mormon Trail. As they came along, they found vegetable gardens that had been planted by the Mormon trains that had gone on the season before them.

They caught up with the some of the other Mormon refugees and new converts at Council Bluffs, Iowa. This was called "winter quarters" and the Mormons built semi-permanent cabins for the migrants to use.

Then in the spring of 1852 the family made ready to cross the Missouri River, "As soon as the grass grew and the water ran" - this was a mighty step - they left the United States and civilization behind and headed west.

Charles Merrill (41 years old at the time), took his family across the mouth of the Platt River where it enters the Missouri River - a place called Elkhorn Ferry. He and many others became very ill there. He died and the death was attributed to Cholera. His body was wrapped in blankets and hastily buried in the road - the soil was compacted, and timbers drug over the grave to keep wild animals from the newly made graves.

Sarah and Charles had nine children - the last, Mary Jane, was born at Winter Quarters, just three months before Charles' death.