Essentials
Born: 25 September 1780; Simsbury, Hartford, Connecticut
Son of: Jared MERRILL and Abigail PHELPS
Married: 1. Phoebe Odell; 10 September 1802; Oneida County, New York; 2. Anna Fredriksen; 8 Nov 1862; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, UT; 3. Brita (Betty) JONSSON; 27 Jul 1867; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, UT.
Died: 25 September 1878; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

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One-minute history
Story of Anna Fredriksen

BY DARYL JAMES
JANUARY 2002
     Samuel Merrill was born Sept. 25, 1780, in Simsbury, Hartford, Connecticut, to Jared Merrill and Abigail Phelps. As a boy he moved with his family to Albany, N.Y., where he later met Phebe Odell.
     Phebe and Samuel were married Sept. 10, 1802, in Oneida County, N.Y., when Phebe was 15 and Samuel was just shy of 22. They moved into a one-room log cabin which had been built with the help of all the boys and men of the community. At this cabin Phebe bore her three eldest children. War parties of the northern Indians often passed through the area on their way to the Ohio River, and Phebe's father was killed after one encounter with the Indians. After this Phebe began helping her mother care for the youngest children (her brothers and sisters).
     In 1819 a number of Merrills and Odells moved to Genesee County, N.Y. The move was made during the winter to lessen the chances of another encounter with the Indians. Eight more children were born to Samuel and Phebe in this area. Again in 1831 the family decided to move, this time to the newly settled territory of Michigan. Samuel and Phebe built a home at Shelby's Township, Macomb County, Mich. About this time missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints entered the area. Samuel and his wife joined the Church and moved to Nauvoo or Carthage, Illinois, by 1832. Here they lived for more than 10 years.
     When the decision came to abandon Nauvoo and travel west to the Salt Lake Valley, Samuel was 67 years old. He and Phebe traveled to Council Bluffs, Iowa, but did not stay long. Their training made them valuable trail blazers. They reached the Salt Lake Valley on Oct. 1, 1847, in Captain Jacob Foutz' company. They settled in Salt Lake City and soon many of their grown children joined them in the area.
     Phebe died in Salt Lake on Jan. 26, 1862, and was buried in the Salt Lake City cemetery. Samuel had entered plural marriage in 1853 with Anna Frederickson, an immigrant from Norway (Ancestral File records list the date of this marriage as 1862, about 10 months after Phebe's death.) This couple had two children together. Records indicate Samuel also married Swedish immigrant Brita (or Betty) Jonsson in 1867 at age 86. No children are listed on this family group sheet.
     Samuel survived Phebe by 16 years and died in Salt Lake City on Sept. 25, 1878, on his 98th birthday. Apparently, he suffered a stroke at about age 88 and received care from Anna (and perhaps Brita) during the last decade of his life.

-- Sources: 1. Privately published book of family history by Janet JAMES Morrison, including a short history of Phebe Odle (author of the history is unlisted). 2. Story of Ann Fredriksen printed below.

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Story of Anna Claudia Fredriksen

AUTHOR UNKNOWN
FROM 'PIONEER WOMEN OF FAITH AND FORTITUDE'
VOLUME III, PPS. 1981-82 (1998)
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY, DAUGHTERS OF UTAH PIONEERS

     Webmaster's Note 1: The Vital Records Index of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints shows Anna Claudiana FRIDERICKSDATTER born 21 Dec 1821 in Hitra, Sor-Trondelag, Norway, to FRIDERICK ... and Christi PEDERSDR (Batch No. C426282; Film No. 126696)
     Webmaster's Note 2: The LDS Ancestral File lists Anna FREDERICKSEN's birth as 21 Dec 1831, a discrepancy of 10 years with the Vital Records Index. The biography reprinted below lists Anna Claudia FREDRIKSEN's birth as 21 Dec 1820 in Froya, Sor-Trondelag, Norway, a slight discrepancy in date and locale with the Vital Records Index.
     Webmaster's Note 3: A ship named "Athena" arrived June 9, 1862, in New York from Hamburg, Germany, but not a ship named "Athenia." The Athena carried 468 Scandinavian passengers but only two Norwegians. No Anna "Olson," "Andersen," "Fridricksdatter" or "Fredricksen" is listed on the manifest -- or any similar name.
     Webmaster's Note 4: Many children died on the Athena, but not all the children. And the ship's manifest shows no child named "Christine" (or any similar name) having died.
     Webmaster's Note 5: If Ancestral File data are correct for Samuel Merrill, then he would have been 82 at the time of his marriage to Anna, 83 when their first child was born and 85 when their second child was born. Anna would have been 30 at the time of the marriage (or 40 based on her birth certificate). These ages suggest a probability that Ancestral File records are inaccurate, but the webmaster has not yet been able to solve this riddle. In the meantime, the story of Samuel Merrill and Anna Fredriksen is offered below at face value.

     Anna came from a family of seven children. She was raised in a loving home and taught to work hard. She was nearly ten when her father, a fisherman, was lost at sea. Anna's stepfather read the Bible and said there would be a Prophet raised up for the true church.
     Anna married Christen Olson and had a daughter in about 1852. He deserted Anna and her baby. She moved from Bakken to Trondheim. While living here she heard the missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was baptized 2 Aug 1860. On 13 March 1862, Anna and her nine-year-old daughter left on the ship "Athenia." Having buried her daughter at sea, along with all other children on that voyage under the age of twelve, she arrived in New York.
     She traveled with Soren Christofferson's Co. from New York to Nebraska. She came with a wagon train arriving in the Salt Lake Valley in 1862. Anna walked all the way.
     She went to work as a houseworker for Samuel Merrill, who had just lost his wife. They married and she had two daughters. Her husband had a stroke. Anna cared for him for ten years.
     They had an orchard. Anna picked the fruit, dried it and sold it to Teasdale's store. She also sold butter and eggs, carded wool, spun yarn and made clothing for the family. She raised her daughters, and managed to save enough money to add a kitchen to the two-room home at 437 N. Second West in Salt Lake. She died at the age of sixth-five.

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Cyrena
DUSTIN
Almira
MERRILL
Lucy Ann MERRILL
Philemon Christopher MERRILL
Samuel MERRILL
Seth Adelbert MERRILL
Phoebe ODELL

CHILDREN WITH PHOEBE ODELL

CHILDREN WITH ANNA CLAUDIA FREDRIKSEN

CHILDREN WITH BRITA JONSSON