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John Merrill (?–1861)

John Merrill was sentenced to life imprisonment at the Huntingdon Assizes on 7 March 1807. He arrived at Sydney aboard the Anne in February 1810. He married Mary Picket on 31 May 1813. On 28 February 1818 he placed an ad in the Sydney Gazette claiming that he would not be responsible for his wife's debts as she had left him. In July of that year he arrived at Hobart on the Sophia. His wife also arrived at Hobart in that year. She died there a year later. Her parents requested an inquest entertaining 'much suspicion against a young man with whom she cohabited' — it is not known if the man was her husband. The inquest found no evidence of foul play.

Citation details

'Merrill, John (?–1861)', People Australia, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://peopleaustralia.anu.edu.au/biography/merrill-john-30169/text37447, accessed 29 March 2024.

© Copyright People Australia, 2012

Life Summary [details]

Alternative Names
  • Merrell, John
  • Murrell, John
  • Merriott, John
Death

29 May, 1861
New Norfolk, Tasmania, Australia

Cultural Heritage

Includes subject's nationality; their parents' nationality; the countries in which they spent a significant part of their childhood, and their self-identity.

Passenger Ship
Occupation
Convict Record

Crime: unknown
Sentence: life