JOHN
W. MERRIFIELD, deceased, settled in Dallas
county in 1849, but was a native of Kentucky,
born near Louisville March 12, 1823, a
son of John and Sarah Merrifield, both
of whom were born in the blue-grass regions
of Kentucky.
John
W. Merrifield, was brought up on a farm
and upon his removal to Texas in the fall
of 1849, he was thoroughly familiar with
all the details of the business. He at
once located on a farm which he had previously
secured about five miles west of Dallas,
where he assisted his father, who had
also come to this section, in improving
the land. After remaining with his father
until 1853 he embarked in the grocery
business, to which his attention was devoted
for two years. He then turned his business
over to the management of a clerk, and
upon a tract of 320 acres of wild land
he began the task of improving.
He
was married August 18,1859, to Miss A.
E. Hern, a native of Clay county, Missouri
and a daughter of William and Elizabeth
(Sloan) Hern, Tennesseeans by birth, who
were of French and Irish descent respectively
and who removed to Missouri in an early
day. The Herns came to Texas in 1844 and
settled in Red River county, where they
resided four years; then he came to Dallas
county, arriving May 10, 1849, where the
father died in 1859, at the age of fifty-two
years, the mother being still a resident
of Dallas.
After
their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Merrifield
settled on the headright he had purchased
and he soon after closed up his business
in Dallas and began giving his entire
attention to agricultural pursuits, which
he followed until his death. They became
the parents of six children, five of whom
still survive: 1. Sarah Elizabeth Merrifield,
the wife of James Freeman, 2. William
Jefferson Merrifield, 3. Thomas Alexander
Merrifield, 4. John Samuel Merrifield,
who died in 1878 at the age of eight months.
5. Charles Boone Merrifield, 6. Rachel
J. Merrifield.
