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The original copy of the manuscript was obtained by Doug Engle in 2021 from the family of James Stahr, who died in summer of 2019, he either acquired it from Emmaus, or they bound it for him. The original contains a faded photocopied print, and is in a black hardcover binding. It is presently unknown how many copies were made, or survive.
Within the original text, Anna's "mother" and "father" were decapitalized throughout, and I added possessive adjectives, and/or added capitalization where it was thought improvement on the sentence flow. Minor typos in the original are also corrected. Data in italics or otherwise set apart are added historical notes from Ancestry.com and other independent research.
==My Father and Paternal Grandfather==
===Merrill biographical additions===
In 1840, Henry T. Merrill (b. 1814 [[New York|N.Y.]] - d. 1896) was living at Maryland, Oswego, IL, and settled in Illinois in 1846, eventually near Kingston Twp., DeKalb, [[Illinois]], according to the Belvidere Daily Republican (Belvidere, IL) of Aug. 3, 1916. DeKalb County is today regarded as part of the metropolis of Chicago. Although they were living at Seward, Schoharie, N.Y. for the 1850 Census, according to Ancestry.com. The 1860 Census has Henry's family at Franklin Twp., DeKalb, IL.
The ''Portrait and Biographical Album of DeKalb County, Illinois''. (Chicago, IL, USA: Chapman Brothers, 1885) has an entry for Mr. Merrill, pp. 374-375:
"Henry T. Merrill, farmer, section 25, Franklin Township, is an apiarist and manufacturer of cider and butter. He was born Sept. 26, 1814, in Delaware Co., N.Y. His father, William Merrill, was born in Connecticut and was a shoemaker by trade, and also a tanner and currier. His marriage to Catherine Wilber took place in Delaware County, where she was born and passed her entire life, dying July 8, 1850, at the age of 62 years. She became the mother of 11 children. In 1838 the father came West and died Oct. 7, of the same year, at the residence of his daughter, Mrs. Mary Olmstead. He was 53 years of age.
Mr. Merrill was the sixth child of his parents, and was one of the four who survived their earliest youth. He was brought up and educated in his native county, obtaining a good common-school education, which he supplemented by a course of commercial study at the business college at Albany, N.Y.
He was married Feb. 11, 1839, in Oswego Co., N.Y., to Mrs. Catherine Merrill, daughter of John I. and Sarah (Lucky) Burst. Her parents were members of the agricultural class of the State of New York, and in the maternal line were descendants of the French Huguenots. They passed the closing years of their lives with their children at Franklinville, McHenry Co., Ill. Mrs. Merrill was born Oct. 9, 1815, in Schoharie Co., N.Y. She was a pupil at school in her native county, where she lived until her marriage to her first husband, John W. Merrill, by whom she had two children. Sarah is the wife of David Johnson, of Marengo, McHenry Co., Ill. She died April 6, 1867. Lewis is a farmer and resides in Kingston Township.
Of her second marriage, five children have been born: John, Jan. 29, 1849; Sanford, Jan. 13, 1852; Maria E., March 4, 1855; Mary was born Dec. 6, 1842, and married March 4, 1874, to Hiram Burchfield, and resides in Kingston Township; Clara was born Aug. 14, 1856, and was married Nov. 26, 1881, to Byron G. Burbank, an attorney and now a professional teacher, which is also the vocation of his wife. They are perfecting their knowledge of the German language at Hamburg.
In 1851 Mr. and Mrs. Merrill located in Franklin Twp., where the former established himself the business of a merchant, in which he had been engaged in the State of his nativity. He erected the first building for the exclusive purpose of mercantile business in the township, and he was the means of the establishment of one of the first postoffices in the county, which was designated Lacy. He continued its official for a period of nearly 20 years, and is the senior Postmaster in the county, as well as the longest in office. He is the owner of 101 acres of land, and attends to the several varieties of business specified at the beginning of this sketch. In political faith and connections he is a Republican, and has discharged the duties of nearly every position in his township. The family attends the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which the mother is an earnest and active member."
==Shady Hill==