Background
Samuel Merrill was the second of nine sons of Jesse and Priscilla (Kimball) Merrill of Peacham, Vermont. His first American ancestor, Nathaniel Merrill, settled at Newbury, Massachusetts, in 1635.
Samuel Merrill was the second of nine sons of Jesse and Priscilla (Kimball) Merrill of Peacham, Vermont. His first American ancestor, Nathaniel Merrill, settled at Newbury, Massachusetts, in 1635.
Samuel Merrill attended an academy at Peacham and studied for a year, 1812-13, as a sophomore at Dartmouth College. He then taught school and studied law for three years at York, Pennsylvania. In 1816 he settled at Vevay, Switzerland County, Indiana, in the next year was admitted to the bar, and soon took his place as an active member of the community.
Appointed tax assessor, Merrill made the round of the county on foot for the necessary economy; he was a contractor in the erection of a stone jail; superintendent of a town Sunday school started as early as 1817; and a representative of the county in the General Assemblies of 1819-20, 1820-21, and 1821-22. The General Assembly elected him to the state treasurer on December 14, 1822, and he held the office for four terms, till 1834. In 1824 he moved the state offices from Corydon to Indianapolis, one wagon sufficing for all the records and money. It took eleven or twelve days to cover the distance (125 miles by present highways); the road through the wilderness was impassable in some places, and a new way had to be cut through the woods. He lived henceforth at the capital. In the absence of teachers, he personally conducted a school; he acted for a time as captain of the first military company, served as a commissioner for the erection of the state capitol building, which was finished in 1835, was an early president of the Temperance Society, a manager of the State Colonization Society, a trustee of Wabash College, and the second president of the Indiana Historical Society, 1835-48. He was active in the organization of the Second Presbyterian Church (New School) and an intimate friend of Henry Ward Beecher during his pastorate. On January 30, 1834, the General Assembly elected him president of the State Bank of Indiana. In this capacity, he personally examined each of the thirteen branches twice a year. An excellent law and the efficient service of such officers as Merrill, Hugh McCulloch, and J. F. D. Lanier combined to develop one of the best of all the state banks. After two terms in the office, Merrill was replaced by the choice of a Democratic legislature. From 1844 to 1848 he was president of the Madison & Indianapolis Railroad, during which time it was completed to Indianapolis. He spent the next two years compiling a third edition of the Indiana Gazetteer and in 1850 he bought Hood and Noble's bookstore, which later, under the name of the Merrill Company, undertook some publishing and eventually entered into the Bowen-Merrill (now the Bobbs-Merrill) publishing company. He also, with others, constructed a mill on Fall Creek. He died in Indianapolis and was buried in Greenlawn Cemetery, though his remains were subsequently removed to Crown Hill Cemetery.
Throughout his life, he was the personification of traditional New England Puritanism: conscientious, industrious, and devout. He is said to have read the entire Bible every year after he reached the age of twelve.
During the existence of the Whig party, he adhered to it with a strong anti-slavery leaning and was an active party worker.
Merrill was known among his contemporaries as an able businessman and for his sound judgment and attention to detail. Although Merrill was not a skilled orator, he was an avid storyteller and a valued counselor to his peers. Merrill was a modest individual, but he could also be impulsive in his actions and outspoken in expressing his opinions. The square-cut features, tightly-closed lips, and clean-shaven face shown in most of Merrill's portraits reveal a sober, straightforward, uncompromising character. A bitter, twenty-four-page pamphlet which he published in 1827 attacking Gov. James Brown Ray illustrates the thoroughness with which he performed "an unpleasant task. "
On April 12, 1818, Merrill married Lydia Jane Anderson of Vevay, daughter of Capt. Robert and Catherine (Dumont) Anderson. Ten children were born to them. After his wife's death in 1847, he was married, second, to Elizabeth Douglas Young, of Madison, Indiana.