There is no complete record of who that first Maricle ancestor was. However, through baptismal records it is thought to have been Fredrik Maricle and his wife, Barbara who arrived in the second massive migration of the Palatine refugees. Eight children of Fredrik and Barbara were christened as follows:
Baptized at West Camp:
Johan Adam Merkel Dec. 26, 1711 born aboard the ship Globe
Maria Elizabetha Merkel Feb. 16, 1713
Baptized at Kingston Old Dutch Church:
Barent Merkel June 15, 1715
Wilhelmus Merkel September 25, 1720
Petrus Merkel Feb. 14, 1725
Petrus Merkel Feb. 14, 1725*
Petrus Merkel Sept. 25, 1726
Annatjen Merkel May 15, 1729
*The first Petrus probably died in infancy.
At first, Fredrik worked with the other settlers on timber for the Royal Navy. For this his family received "substenance" from the Crown. He also worked and prospered on his own. In 1715, according to the "History of Suagerties", a tract of 84 acres near the Katsbaan Church was deeded to Fredrik Merkel. It is described as being on the west side of the "King's Highway" and on the south side of the "Churchland" (large acreage belonging to the Kingston Dutch Church." Here, then, at Katsbaan, was the first property in America owned by a Merkel.
In recoreds there is mention of two other Merkel families. Louwerens Merkel and Zivilia Keel were married in Kingston Church on April 6, 1724. Baptism records show that the couple were parents of three daughters. Also shown by the church record is the information that another husband and wife Matheis Merkel and Margriet Keel, were parents of nine boys and girls. The relationship between Fredrik, Louwerens and Matheis is not known, but it could be that two older sons had come with Fredrik and Barbara from Palatine.
Historical records show that there were 5 Merkels among the 800 Americans, under Gen. Nicolas Herkimer, who fought the Battle of Oriskany (near Utica, NY) on August 6, 1777. Among the dead were Jacob Merkel, Wilhelm Merkel, and William Merkly. William Markell and Jacob Markell survived. The american victory was one of the decisive points in the Revolutionary War.
The family story, as handed down by word of mouth, led Paul V. Merickle, Tenafly, NJ-1975, to understand that Jacob Markel was in the firect line of descent to his branch of the family. No evidence has been found to support this. Factually, Jacob's tombstone in Shandaken Cemetery indicates Jacob was born August 21, 1766. If he was the son of Johannes, Wilhelmus or Petrus (the brothers of Barent) then he was Fredrik's grandson but was not in Paul Merickle's direct line.
As to Paul Merickle's Jacob, he was married to Sally Higgens, of Higginsville, on October 20, 1795 in the Old Dutch Church at Kingston. Sally was about 20 years old at the time. Abigail, daughter of Sally and Jacob, was married to Col. William E. Risley (Reistler). Abigail's first son, born November 9, 1816, was baptized Jacob Marrikel Risley in the Dutch Reformed Church at Woodstock, New York.
Early generations of Merkels lived in those parts of Ulster County where yet flow the Esopus and Rondout Creeks. In addition to Saugerties and Kingston, they settled in the now thriving towns of Stone Ridge, Marbletown, Rosendale, High Falls and the villages of Rochester Township (not to be confused with the city of Rocehster). the villages still exist--Accord, Alligerville, Metacahonts, Mombaccus. other descendants lived in the villages of Shandaken Township and Olive Township, part of the latter is now under the waters of Ashokan Reservoir.
Gradually, the spellings of the name changed slightly to become more in accord with the actual pronunciations. So, in Ulster County today it is spelled many ways-Marakle, Maricle, Markel, Mirakle, Mericle, as well as our Merikle. Names like Marcle and Markle come from the old "Mare-Kil" pronunciation without the extra syllable.
In other parts of America, where the original German name has not been crossed with the Dutch, it is still spell Merkel and pronounced Murkel. Families having names with the extra syllable are nearly all descended from the one ancestor, Fredrik Merkel, who sailed to America and settled among the Dutch along the Hudson River more than 260 years ago.
We should not forget that Dutch and German immigrants also came to live together in William Penn's Pennsylvania and the Carolines. The Palatines formed in North Carolina by King Charles II finally led to large numbers of settlers from Virginia and South Carolina while thousands of Scotch Highlanders, Scotch Irish, and Germans entered the colongy. The Scottish and Irish also tend to roll their R's and could explain the extra syllable in the name and provide other roots for the many spellings of the Maricle-Markel-etc., name. To date, I have compiled some 28 spellings of our name and firmly believe they are all related.
The foregoing was mainly from a copy of "The Mericle Family", 1710-1967, by Paul V. Merickle dated 1975 as edited by Jim Maricle, March 14, 1995.
Johann Henrich Merkel born on the ocean, married Margaritia, dying in 1809 no doubt is the same as the "source" probate person, namely, henrich Markell. As his death date falls right between the will date and the probate date as it should be. Both he and his wife have the equivalent names with different spellings. Of particular note is the fact that they had a son Jacob.
Church birth and christening records around the calculated birth date for Jacob Merkel (Maricle) of 1770-71 include the following Jacobs:
Jacob Merkel, ch. 13 May 1770 to Johan Henrich Merkel/Margretha (note spelling)
Jacob Maerkel, b. 6 Jun 1772, Dewalt Maerkel/Maria Eker
Jacob Merkel b. 18 Sep 1774, Henrich Merkel/Maria Elisabeth
Of the three above Jacobs, Dewalt's can be excluded because his gravestone was viewed by Ralph E. Maricle and found to have a wife buried next to him that is not Polly Ladd. Henrich/Maria Elisabeth's Jacob was born on the wrong Henrich Merkel and the date (18 Sep 1774) is a fair stretch from 1770-71. However, Henrich/Margaretha's Jacob makes a reasonable fit. In addition to having been born in the right location as are the other two, he appears to be born in nearest the right time of the three. His birth date agrees with the Jacob we are linking up with, especially when our Jacob's birth date hangs on a newspaper article that said he was 88 when he died 7 Aug 1859. The above Jacob would have been 89 by August 7,1859. The news article could have easily missed the age by one year.
In the notes on Jacob, you will see that in the History of Broome County, H.P. Smith, Syracuse, NY, D. Mason & Co. Publishers 1885, Smith said that, "Jacob the father of Lodovick removed to the state of Iowa in 1856 and died in 1858." Using this data, his birth would be an exact fit for Henrich/Margareth's Jacob born in 1770.
Another note by this author, is that the xerox copies of the family bible pages are nearly all written by the same hand and very likely could have been inscribed from memory at some date removed from the death date of Jacob. The age could have been remembered incorrectly and even so with the death year. Sufficient to say, taken as a whole, the data says that the Jacob Merkel Maricle married to Polly Ladd was the son of John Henrich Merkel and his wife Margaretha.
Above by James A. Maricle
