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The
Merrifield name is found predominately
in the south western counties of Cornwall,
Dorset and Devon, England, and several
counties in Ireland.
There
are various spellings found, even
for our progenitor, Samuel Merrifield,
where in one document alone his name
is spelled both Marryfield and Merryfield,
and wife Mary's is spelled Maryfield.
Ancestral
files and Family Group Records of
John Rodgers Malson, 3rd great-grandson
of Samuel Merrifield, lists Samuel's
place of birth as "Croat", England.
Several other databases reference
this as well, with one referencing
Croat, Bolton-Le-Moors, Lancashire, England.
Thinking
that Croat was possibly an olde
spelling, I researched the history
of Bolton Le-Moors, now just Bolton (and a part of Greater Manchester County),
but did not find any mention of "Croat."
I did, however, find
River Croal.
RIVER CROAL
 The River Croal is located in Greater Manchester, England. It is a tributary of the River Irwell.
River Croal flows eastwards through Bolton. Most of the river is culverted through Bolton town centre, running under Knowsley Street, the Market Place and Bridge Street. Prior to 1836, the River Croal formed the boundary between the townships of Great and Little Bolton.
Click to view larger image
It
is quite possible that whoever transcribed
the original record mistook a handwritten
"l" for a "t", and therefore, Croal
was mistaken for Croat. However, when
running a surname search through Genuki
for the county of Lancashire, I found
no Merrifields so my research to verify
this continues.
Ancestral
Files and Family Group Records of
John Rodgers Malson and the Family
Group Records of Ruth Merrifield Newhouse
(now both deceased), record that Samuel
Merrifield migrated with three sons, legally
entering America on 12 August 1747.
There are also a number of databases that report Samuel Merrifield's parents as Benjamin Merrifield or Marryfield and Prudence Stanton. However, I have been contacted by a descendant of Benjamin and Prudence, who reports that in 20 years of research, he has found no connection between his line of Merrifields from Dorchester, Massachusetts and our line of Merrifields from Virginia. Therefore, Benjamin Merrifield/Marryfield and Prudence Stanton are not the parents of our Samuel Merrifield, who immigrated to colonial Virginia in 1747.
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