Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/373

 MERRICK

MERRICK

phy, S.J. He held the office until 1891, when he was tran8ferre<l to Boston college, Mass., where he remaiued till the year 1805, when he was at- tached to St. Lawrence's church, afterward better known as St. Ignatius Lxjyola's church, New York city.

MERRICK, Bdwin Thomas, jurist, was born in Wilbraliam, Mass., July «, 1809; son of Thomas and .\niiii (Brewer) Merrick ; grandson of Lieut. Jonathan Merrick, and a descendant of Thomas and Elizaln^th (Tilley) Merrick. Thornjis Merrick, a native of Wales, came to America in 1680. and settled in Springfleld, Mass., in 1688. His father, a farmer, died when he was a boy, and he was sent to Springfield, N.Y., and brought up in the family of his mother's brother, Samuel Brewer. He pursued a classical course at Wil- braham academy. 1828-32, removed to New Lisbon, Ohio, in 18^)2, and was admitted to the bar in 1833. He practised in Carrollton, Ohio, 1833-34 ; took cliarge of the practice of his uncle, Col. A. L. Brewer. New Lisbon, Ohio, 1834-39 ; and practised in Clinton. La., 1839-54. He was elected judge of the 7th judicial district of

Louisiana in 1854, removed to New Or- leans in 1856, and was chief justice of tlie supreme court of Louisiana, 1855-71. He rendered the de- cision which first gave the Myra Clark Gaines case a stand- ing in the U.S. courts. He opposed secession, but when the state seceded, joined the Confederacy. In a decision rendered in 1863, he held that so long as any part of the state was not in the hands of the U.S. troops, state authority could be maintained. He was a delegate from Louisiana to Marshall, Texas, to confer concern- ing the affairs of the trans-Mississippi depart- ment, and on his return to New Orleans in 1865, he was debarred from practising in the Federal courts of the United States, because he refused to take the " lawyer's test oath " on the ground that it was unconstitutional. He was elected a trustee of Centenary college at Jackson, La., in 1845, and received the degree of LL.D. from there some years afterward. He was president of the New Orleans Academy of Sciences, and a member of the American Association for the Ad- vancement of Science. He was married, in 1840, to Caroline Elizabeth Thomas (q.v,), dauglit«r of Capt. David Thomas, of Eo^t Feliciana, La. Judge

Merrfck*t omm are included in the Louisiana Annual Re|X)rts, volumes X-XVI. He died in New OrUauM. I^i., Jan. 12, 1897.

MERRICK, Frederick, educator, was born in Wilbraliam, Mass., Jan. 29, 1810; son of Noah and SUitira (Hays) Merrick ; grandson of Deacou Chileal) B. and Lucina (Smith) Merrick, and a descendant of Thomas and Elizabeth (Tilley) Merrick, 1030. Frederick Merrick was brought upon his fatlier's farm, attended Wecleyan acad- emy, Wilbniham, Mass.. and matriculated at Wes- leyan university, Middletown, Conn., in the class of 1834, but left just before graduation. He was married, in 1836, to Fidelia S. Gri.swld,of SufHeld, Conn. ; was principal of the Conference seminary at Amenia, N.Y., 1836-38, and profes- sor of natural science in Ohio university, 1838-42. He joined tiie Ohio conference in 1841, was sta- tioned at Marietta, Ohio, 1842-43, and was finan- cial agent of Ohio Wesleyan university, 1843-45, having been one of the first advocates of a Meth- odist Episcopal college in Ohio, and an organizer of the university opened in 1844. He was pro- fessor -of natural sciences there, 1845-51 ; profes- sor of moral philosophy, 18.'51-60 ; and president of the university, 1860-73, when he resigned owing to failing health and was made professor emeritus. He was auditor of Ohio Wesleyan uni- versity. 1845-85, a tru-stee, 1877-94, and a lecturer on natural and revealed religion in the uni- versity, 1873-94. His influence and effort secured Thompson Chapel, a library building valued at $15,000, a library book fund of flO.OOO. the Prescott cabinet, valued at $10,000, and a large tract of land near the campus. He was a mem- ber of Committee of Revision of Hymn Book in 1848, a delegate to the general conference of the Methodist Episcopal church in 1860, 1864 and 1876, and a trustee of the Ohio State In- dustrial school for girls, 1869-78. He received the degrees : A.M. from Wesleyan university, 1837, and M.D. from Starling Medical college, 1850, and declined that of D.D. offered by Wee- leyan university, 1860, and that of LL.D., by De Pauw, 1864. He contributed to the Ladies* Repository; edited : Sermons on MiaoeUaneous Subjects by the Bishops of the Methodist Episco- pal Church and Senior Preachers of the Ohio and North Ohio Conftrenee (1847), and is the author of Forma/wm (1865); Religion and the State{ld76)^ and reports of the Reform School for Girls (1869- 78. He died at Delaware, Ohio, March 5, 1894.

MERRICK, James Lyman, missionary, was born in Monson, Mass., Oct. 11, 1803; son of Gideon and Beulah (.Stebbins) Merrick ; grandson of Obed and Mercy (Stebbins) Merrick, and of JesHe and Elizabeth Stebbins, and a descendant of Thomas Merrick, 1630. He was graduated at Amherst college, A.B., 1830, A.M., 1833 ; studied