We have a short note which reads, “The family name appears in Norfolk county, England as early as 1343 in records.
The name of Merle appears on the preceding page with a short article dealing with the life in France on or before 1600. Aisne province, France is a spot of hard fighting during the first Great War as the names of St. Quentin, Chauny, Laon, Soissons and Chateau-Thierry are in that province. Possibly our ancestors’ farms were some of the territory where thousands of men died 1914–18. Many miles of barbed wire were strung, many miles of trenches dug and large rooms excavated to further the defense of the territory.
Our earliest history names Stephen Paine I as coming from Great Ellington, England, Norfolk County in 1638, and after living for five years in Plymouth County, Mass., moved to Rehoboth, Bristol County, where he died in August, 1679, leaving two sons, Stephen Paine II and Nathanial Paine. Stephen II was born in England in 1629, came to the New World with his father, when he was 9 years, grew up in Plymouth and Bristol counties, served in King Philip’s War in the U.S., and died in 1678 leaving 9 children of whom Stephen III was the oldest. He was born at Rehoboth, Sept. 29, 1654, was twice a representative in the Colonial Parliament and died in 1710, leaving two sons, Stephen IV and Edward. Stephen was born 1707, moved to Bolton, Ct., was soldier in the French and Indian War was too old to enter the Revolutionary War, but sent six sons. He died in 1797, leaving ten children of whom Edward Paine was the fifth.
Edward V is being taken as the immediate originator of the Avon Merrill and Airdrie Switzer families. He was the great, great, great grandfather of our children. Born at Elllington, Ct., January 27, 1746, he married three times and fathered ten children. His first wife, Elizabeth (King) Paine was married to him at Bolton, Ct., Sept., 7, 1769. To them were born 7 children of whom the youngest was of direct lineage to us. He was Charles Henry Paine, born Feb. 13, 1788 at Amenia, O., and married Parthenia Mason May 19, 1817 at Painesville, O., the town which his father had previously founded.
He and Mrs. Paine migrated Monmouth, Illinois, 30 miles north of Macomb, nine years later, taking their four daughters with them of whom the youngest, Lucretia Deborah Paine, was born at Freedom, O., the lineage here is a little vague, but we believe she was married to Frederic Henry Merrill I October 7, 1847 at Denny, near Monmouth, Ill. She was my paternal grandmother.
From this point on, our ancestors on my father’s side were all named Merrill, but the paths of the Merrills and Paines crossed twice as a generation and half previously Horace Merrill had married Lucretia Paine. We assume the two families had great respect for each other as a member of one family married the daughter of his cousin.
I should quote excerpts of Edward Paine’s life before leaving this line of thought:
“He was a man of great strength of character, enterprise and public spirit. He entered the Colonial Patriot army in 1775 and later became Brigadier General Paine. After the war, he removed to Amenia, Duchess county, N.Y., and later followed the tide of migration to western New York and settled at Aurora, Cayuga county, N.Y., from where he represented his district in the state Legislature in 1788–9. March 3, 1800 he travelled with a large party to northeastern Ohio, where he stopped and founded Painesville, O., and was elected to the Territorial Legislature by receiving 38 of 42 votes cast in October 1800. He died Aug. 21, 1841, at the age of 96.”
These excerpts were taken from Chart No. 3 of the ancestry and descendants of Gen. Edward Paine, founder of Painesville, O., by Rev. Jason L. Paine of Fayette, Ia., a great grandson of the General. Rev. Paine passed away Aug. 9 1844, but it has been in the Merrill family since then, our source was my cousin, Bertha Merrill Lillie of Avon, Illinois.