Andrew Jackson Merchant was an American Methodist minister.
Background
Merchant was born on his father"s farm in Napoli, New York, on December 23, 1831. He was the grandson of Truman Merchant, a Revolutionary War soldier and cousin of Vice-President Aaron Burr, and was descended from Captain John Marchant, who died along with Sir Francis Drake in his 1595 campaign.
Career
A so-called "circuit rider," he preached in many locales across western Pennsylvania, southwestern New York State, and northern Ohio, including charges in Punxsutawney, Cleveland, and Meadville, where he died November 20, 1899. Review Merchant sat on the Board of Control of Allegheny College, was a presiding elder and delegate to the General Conference of the Methodist Church in 1896, and served as treasurer of the Erie Conference Educational Association. He was the father of Frank West. Merchant, a noted newspaperman in Pittsburgh between 1898 and 1931.