Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 07.djvu/374

 MERRICK

MERRICK

at Princeton Theological seminary, 1830-31, and was graduated at Columbia Tlieological semi- nary, S.C, in 1833. He was ordained as a Presby- terian evangelist, April 15, 1834, and was ap- pointed missionary to Persia, by the A.B.C.F.M., and served at Tabriz, 1835 and 1837-41 ; at Shiraz, 1836, and at Urumiali. 1841-45. He was married, March 11, 1839, at Tabriz, to Emma, daughter of Nathaniel and Maria Taylor, of Ports- raoutli, England. He was pastor of the Congre- gational church. South Amherst, Mass., 1849-64, and an instructor in oriental literature at Amherst, 1852-57. He willed his property to the four institutions in which he obtained his edu- cation, stipulating that it be used to endow four Persian scholarships. He left manuscript trans- lations into Persian, and published : Pilgrim's Harp, poems (1847); The Lifk and Religion of Mohammed, translated from the Persian Hydb-id- Kuloob (1850); Kieth's Evidence of Prophecy, translated into Persian (1846): and Genealogy of the Merrick Family (1850). He left in MS. A Treatise on the Orthography of the English Language with a new Alphabet of Forty Letters. He died in South Amherst, Mass., June 18, 1866. MERRICK, Samuel Vaughan, pliilanthropist. was born in Hallowell, Maine, May 4, 1801 ; son of John and Rebecca (Vaughan) Merrick, and grandson of Samuel Vaughan, a London mer- cliant. Joliu Merrick was educated for the

Unitarian ministry.

came from England in 1798. and settled in Hallowell, Maine, where he married and led a life of leis- ure, and received the honorary degree of A.M. from Bowdoin college in 1807. Sam- uel Vauglian Mer- rick attended the

rRA>^KLIN lAJSTITUTE.. pubUc SCllOols of

Hallowell, removed to Philadelphia, Pa., in 1816, and entered the employ of his uncle, Samuel Vaughan, a wine merchant. He re- signed his position in 1820, and studied me- chanical engineering. He engaged in manu- facturing improved fire engines under the firm nam(> of Merrick & Agnew, and introduced his steam fire engines into Philadelpliia. He was married, Dec. 25, 1823, to Sarah, daughter of Na- thaniel Thomas, of Philadelphia. In 1835 he established the Southwark Iron foundry in Phil- adelphia with Mr. Towne, who retired in 1849, when he took into partnership his eldest son, J. Vaughan Merrick. The firm continued as Mer- rick & Son, and after 1852 as Merrick & Sons, which title it retained after he retired in 1860.

He built the iron lighthouses erected along the Florida reefs, which included some of the largest in the world. His firm also constructed steam hammers, sugar refining apparatus and the machinery of the U.S.S. Mississippi, PiHnceton^ San Jacinto, WabnsJi and numerous others. The most notable achievement of the firm, however, was the construction of the New Ironsides, the first armor-clad war vessel ever built. He was a member of the city council when the matter of introducing illuminating gas was before that body, and was commissioned to visit Europe in 1834 to examine into and report the method of its manufacture. On his return he superintended the building of the Philadelphia gas-works, which were completed in 1837. He was the fii*st presi- dent of the Pennsylvania railroad, 1846-49 ; of the Sunbury and Erie railroad, 1856-68 ; and was influential in establishing the Catawissa railroad on a firm basis. He was a founder and for many years president of the Franklin Insti- tute and of the Union League club, a member of the American Philosophical society, 1833-70. and gave large sums to the sanitary commissions, and to the cause of education in the south. He en- erected and endowed the Episcopal hospital and aided in the erection of the Episcopal residence. Hediedin Philadelphia, Pa.. Aug. 18, 1870.

MERRICK, William Duhurst, senator, was born in Annapolis, Md., Oct. 25, 1793, son of Thomas Duhurst Merrick, a native of England, who settled in Aimapolis, Md., and died there in 1794. He received an academic education, held several town and county offices in Maryland, and served as a captain in the war of 1812. He served two terms as a representative in the state legislature and was elected to the U.S. senate from Maryland as a Whig, to take the place of Joseph Kent, who died in office, and was re- elected in 1839 for a full term, serving 1838-45. He is credited with first proposing cheaper post- age. He was a member of the state constitu- tional convention of 1850, and was again a rep- resentative in the state legislature. He was married to Catherine Romes, and of their sons, Richard Thomas (1826-1885), was a celebrated lawyer in Washington, and William Matthews (q. V.) was an able jurist. Senator Merrick died in Washington, D.C., Feb. 5. 1857.

MERRICK, William Matthews, jurist, was born in Charles county, Md., Sept. 1, 1818; son of William Duhurst and Catherine (Romes) Mer- rick. He was graduated at the University of Georgetown, D.C., in 1831, studied law in the University of Virginia, and was admitted to the Baltimore bar in 1839. He settled in practice in Frederick in 1844, was deputy attorney-general for Frederick county, 1845-50, and removed to Washington, D.C., in 1854. He was associate