Penelope Merrell

Born 1759 to Jemima Smith and Benjamin Merrell
Married Benjamin Merrell 4 February 1778 in North Carolina
Penelope-Eli-Charles-Charles William-Fenly-Clifford
Died in 1830
Buried in Buncombe County

Penelope was likely born a few years after her parents, Jemima and Benjamin, moved to North Carolina from New Jersey.  When she was about 12 years old her father was executed by the British and Penelope and her mother and siblings were forced to watch.  Her mother remarried a few years before Penelope married Benjamin Merrell.  According to family tradition, Benjamin's father was also killed by the British at the end of the Revolutionary War. 

Penelope and Benjamin moved to Fairview, North Carolina in 1798 where many of their neighbors from Rowan County had already moved.  Penelope's sister Anna and her husband Boyd McCrary also moved with them.  Over the next ten years Benjamin acquired over 1300 acres of land and Penelope and Benjamin lived near their relatives.  Penelope died in 1830 and was buried in the Merrell-Patton Cemetery.  She had 15 children, 13 of whom survived childhood.