Merrow, Henry

Battle:Battle of Dunbar in Dunbar, East Lothian, Scotland
Ship/Arrival:Unity, Dec 1650
Prisoner and List:
Name Variations:
Residences:
Other SPOW Associations:
Every attempt has been made to ensure accuracy; please independently verify all data.

Published: 16 Jan 2015, Updated: 09 May 2019
Page contributors: Margaret “Meg” Curry, Dr. Andrew Millard, Teresa Rust


Henry Merrow, #64 on George S. Stewart’s Captured at Dunbar List1


IMPORTANT UPDATE! (Jul 2018)
According to, Christopher Gerrard, Pam Graves, Andrew Millard, Richard Annis, and Anwen Caffell, in, Lost Lives, New Voices: Unlocking the Stories of the Scottish Soldiers at the Battle of Dunbar 1650, (England: Oxbow Books, 2018),2 on page 251, Henry is categorized as:

Probable [that he is a Dunbar prisoner transported on the Unity]

Merrow [Merre?], Henry. Residences: Woburn, MA and Reading, MA. Appears: 1661. B.c.1625?. D.1685. [Exiles; DR; SPOWS; Ch.7 & 8; App.B]34156

For explanations of the category, abbreviations and references see List of Dunbar prisoners from Lost Lives, New Voices.


Surname Variations: Merrow, Merow, Merey, Merre


First Generation in the New World

1. HENRY¹ MERROW, was born in Scotland, c.1625 and died at Reading, Middlesex, Massachusetts on 5 Nov 1685. He married at Woburn, Middlesex, Massachusetts on 19 Dec 1661, widow, JANE (LINDES) WALLIS.

Biographical Notes: See, Margaret “Meg” Curry’s Henry Merrow Sketch.

Children of Henry and Jane (Lindes) Merrow:
2. i. DANIELL² MERROW, m. ELIZABETH STIMPSON
2. ii. JOHN² MERROW,
2. iii. HENRY² MEROW, Jr., b.1662; m. MIRIAM BROOKS
2. iv. SARAH² MERROW,
2. v. HANNAH² MERROW, b. at Reading, Massachusetts on 5 March 1668/9
2. vi. SAMUEL² MERROW, b. at Reading on 9 Oct 1670; m. MARY PAGE
2. vii. MARY² MERROW, b. at Reading on 22 Apr 1673
2. viii. ELIZABETH² MERROW, b. at Reading on 20 Jul 1674
2. ix. JOSEPH² MERROW, b. at Reading on 31 Dec 1675
2. x. DEBORAH² MERROW, b. at Reading on 11 Oct 1677
2. xi. JANE² MERROW, b. at Reading on 15 Oct 1680

Second Generation

2. i. DANIELL² MEROW, m. ELIZABETH STIMPSON.

Soldiers in the expedition to Canada in 1690
By Walter Kendall Watkins

2. ii. JOHN² MERROW,
2. iii. HENRY² MEROW, Jr., b.1662; m. MIRIAM BROOKS.
2. iv. SARAH² MERROW,
2. v. HANNAH² MERROW, b. at Reading, Massachusetts on 5 March 1668/9

2. vi. Dr. SAMUEL² MERROW, was born at Reading on 9 Oct 1670 and died at Rochester, New Hampshire about 1740. He married at Reading, before 1673, MARY PAGE.

Biographical Notes:
Dr. Merrow also lived in Oyster River Parish in Durham, New Hampshire.~Submitted on 6 Sep 2018, by Meg Curry a descendant of Henry Merrow through Dr. Samuel Merrow.

2. vii. MARY² MERROW, b. at Reading on 22 Apr 1673
2. viii. ELIZABETH² MERROW, b. at Reading on 20 Jul 1674
2. ix. JOSEPH² MERROW, b. at Reading on 31 Dec 1675
2. x. DEBORAH² MERROW, b. at Reading on 11 Oct 1677
2. xi. JANE² MERROW, b. at Reading on 15 Oct 1680

Sources and Notes:

Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850
Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2016).

Merrow Family of Reading, Mass.

Middlesex County, MA- Probate File Papers, 1648-1871 (2)
Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1648-1871.Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. (From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives.)

“By 1660, Nicholas [Wallace] had died or left the scene; Jane had remarried. Her new Scots husband was Henry Merre of Woburn, a former war prisoner from the Battle of Dunbar, who had arrived in Massachusetts in 1651 on the Unity.[73] Merre appeared in Middlesex County Court in Cambridge in April, 1662, to answer for “his cruell beating [of] John Wallis, his wives child, ab[ou]t 4 years old.” He was sentenced to pay a considerable bond, 20 pounds. Apparently Merre reformed in his role as stepparent, and was “released from his bond for…good Behavior” at the next court session.[74]” From American Ancestors.org “Scots for Sale”

Henry Merrow at Geni.com


For additional help, please go to the:
Descendants and Researchers List and the Facebook Group.
(Our small website team is unable to help with further research.)


  1. Stewart, George Sawin. The Bartlett Collection. New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts. /george-sawin-stewart-documents/ [] []
  2. Gerrard, Christopher M.., et al. Lost Lives, New Voices: Unlocking the Stories of the Scottish Soldiers at the Battle of Dunbar 1650. Oxbow Books, 2018, p. 251. []
  3. Stackpole, Everett Schermerhorn. Scotch Exiles in New England. 1922. Coll. 733 & 831, Collections of the Maine Historical Society, Portland ME. []
  4. Rapaport, Diane. Working List of Early New England Scots. 2015. []
  5. “Dunbar Prisoners of War Profiles.” The Scottish Prisoners of War Society, Teresa Rust, 18 Feb. 2019, scottishprisonersofwar.com/battle_of_dunbar_pows_america/. []
  6. Gerrard, Christopher M.., et al. Lost Lives, New Voices: Unlocking the Stories of the Scottish Soldiers at the Battle of Dunbar 1650. Oxbow Books, 2018. Ch. 7, 8, Appendix B, p. 257-284. []