By C. Kihm Richardson Walking from Strykersville ... - Fulton History

APRIL 1978 PAGE 101
A HISTORICAL SKETCH
of the
MERLE FAMILY
READ AT THEIR FIRST REUNION,
AUGUST 22, 1925
...By William J. Merle
Zion Evangelical Church, South Attica. Built 1869,
closed in 1970.
The Merle-Marley families represented at our
Reunion today are the descendents of John George
and Anna Maria Merle, who came to America 81
years ago.
Our family history is full of interest and even of
peculiar and singular events. To us who believe in
the Providence of God, we may see his guiding
hand in the various events of our history.
In tracing our history we shall go back nearly
300 years and begin with the religious persecutions
in Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries.
Before we speak of these persecutions in their
possibly remote connections with our family history,
we want to ascertain the national or racial
origin of our name.
In the Geneological Department of the Grosvenor
Library of Buffalo where I spent several hours in
making a search for the origin of the name Merle,
I found a volume written in the French language in
which no less than 17 families were given under
the name Merle with a description of their "coat
of arms." Not being able to read French I was
unable to translate these descriptions.
"Merle" is the French name of a blackbird, so
several of the coat of arms had the ensign or insignia
of a blackbird.
The coat of arms was a tunic that was formerly
worn by the order of Knights over their suit of
armor. To belong to the order of Knights was a
title of honor. It was a military order of the ancient
nobility.
In connection with the foregoing, let me refer
to a noted author and professor or church history
in Geneva, Switzerland by the name of Jean Henri
Merle (1774-1872). He wrote a History of the
Reformation in Europe in the French language. His
ancestors were French Protestants. His History of
the Reformation in 5 volumes has raised a monument
to his name. It has been translated into the
German, English and other languages. (I have the
5 volumes of his History in my library. The first
volume contains a well executed portrait of the
author).
In those days the custom was common in Geneva
and in many French provinces to join the wife's
family name to that of herhusband. In harmony
with this custom Jean Henri Merle affixed his
mother's family name - D'Aubigne (do-been-ga)
to his name. As an author he is known to us as
"Merle D'Aubigne." The family name of his ancestors
was Merle. This, with the geneological
record found in the Grosvenor Library in Buffalo
would prove thatour name was of French origin.
Another question we shall try to answer is this:
what connection, or relation has the history of the
Merle family with the persecutions and the dispersion
of the Huguenots of France in the 16th
and 17th centuries? The answer may be found in
the fact that our ancestors migrated from Holland
to Germany, probably a century of more before
their coming to America.
I remember well of hearing grandmother Merle
tell that the ancestors of grandfather Merle came
from Holland to Germany. Now there is a strong
presumption, although we cannot offer actual proof,
that our ancestors were descendents of the Huguenot
refugees who fled to Holland during the religious
persecutions in France.
We may assume, or claim as an historical fact,
that during these persecutions our ancestors with
thousands of others fled to Holland.
It may be of interest to us if our attention is
called at this time to two great occurrences in
France which caused the persecuted Huguenots to
flee to all parts of Protestant Europe. They found
refuge in England, Holland, Germany and Switzerland.
The first persecutions began with the terrible
massacre of St. Bartholemew's night, August 24,
1572 when 12 to 13 thousand Huguenots perished
in Paris alone, and in the whole of France from
(continued on page 102)