San Joaquin County Biographies


This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm



JOSEPH F. MERRILL.
 
        Among the younger generation of ranchers in San Joaquin County is Joseph 
F. Merrill, a native son, who is a prosperous and enterprising agriculturist and 
vineyardist residing about three miles southeast of Lodi on Harney Lane. He was 
born at Lodi, California, on January 11, 1895, a son of Eugene and Anna Virginia 
(Whitaker) Merrill, the former a native of New York and the latter of 
California. The father came to California in an early day and was a building 
contractor and farmer and built many homes in Lodi and vicinity. The mother is 
the daughter of F. M. and M. J. Whitaker, natives of Kentucky and Arkansas, 
respectively. Grandmother Whitaker came to California with her parents in 1861, 
and they purchased a home in San Joaquin County. In 1865 Grandmother Whitaker 
purchased property and in order to obtain a clear title had to pay for it twice. 
Grandfather Whitaker came to California in 1854 and was a blacksmith by 
occupation, but followed farming later in life. He passed away in 1876 at the 
age of forty-four years. Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Merrill had four children: Mamie 
Adaline, Mrs. C. C. Wright of Chowchilla; Nellie, Mrs. Howard Gillespie; Henry 
F. of Lodi and Joseph F. The mother inherited fifty acres of the old Whitaker 
homestead and from time to time portions have been sold off until she now owns 
twenty acres, which her son Joseph F. leases and on which he resides.
        Joseph F. Merrill received his education in the Live Oak and Alpine 
district schools of San Joaquin County and became well versed in agricultural 
pursuits in his youth. On September 1, 1917, he entered the U. S. Army and was 
sent to Camp Lewis in the 363rd Infantry, where he trained for one year; then 
was transferred to Camp Fremont and while there was taken ill and was placed in 
a casual camp of convalescent soldiers, where he remained for six months and was 
then discharged November 30, 1918.
        At Stockton on October 7, 1919, Mr. Merrill was married to Miss Florence 
Margaret Bucknell, also a native of California. a daughter of Frank and Georgia 
Bucknell, both natives of the Golden State whose families were early pioneers. 
Mr. and Mrs. Merrill are the parents of three children: Margaret Virginia, 
Joseph Eugene, and Helen Elaine. Mr. Merrill owns ten acres on Harney Lane near 
where he resides, two acres of which is in peaches and almonds and five acres in 
young vines, and it is Mr. Merrill's intention to build a modern house on this 
place. He is a Republican in politics and a member of the American Legion of 
Lodi.
 
History of San Joaquin County, California � Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 
1923
p     1551     
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.