Family:Nathaniel Merriman and Joan Unknown (1)

"Nathaniel (Merriman) … m Joan _____."

"The name of Nathaniel Merriman is found signed in … the next column under the 1639 [New Haven Fundamental Agreement] … His history, written by several descendants, was given in great detail in Merriman Reunion and Genealogy, published by the present writer [Donald Lines Jacobus] in 1914. Certain erroneous statements had previously appeared concerning his family in the History of Adams and Evarts Families, published by John Merriman Adams in 1894. One of these was to the effect that Nathaniel Merriman married first, in 1649, Abigail Olney, daughter of William Olney, of Killingworth, Conn., and second, in 1680, Jane Lines of Hadley, Mass. In 1906, the late James Shepard of New Britain, Conn., wrote to Mr. Adams for further information in verification of these statements, but in a long reply from Mr. Adams, no documentary evidence was adduced.

The plain fact is that, so far as contemporary records reveal, the only wife of Nathaniel Merriman was the Joan named in his will, and she survived him. There is no proof that she was mother of his children, or that he had no former wife; but Joan mother of his children, or that he had no former wife; but Joan is the only wife actually named in the records. However, the Adams statements merit little consideration, for there was no Killingworth in 1649, as that town was not settled until some eighteen years later; and when it was settled, we fail to find any Olney family there. Nathaniel's first marriage must have occurred earlier than 1649. Furthermore, we fail to find any Lines family in Hadley, though it is a matter of record that a son of Capt. Merriman married a Lines girl of New Haven."