Merritt Alonzo Salls

     Merritt Alonzo Salls was born on 22 August 1839 at Noyan, Missisquoi Co, Quebec.¹ He was the son of Isaac Salls Jr. and Mary Melissa Derick. Merritt Alonzo Salls was baptized on 29 January 1840 at St Armand Methodist Church, St Armand, Missisquoi Co, Quebec.¹ He married Lydia Maria Young, daughter of John Young Jr. and Emerline Patterson, on 24 February 1858 at Clarenceville, Missisquoi Co, Quebec.² Merritt Alonzo Salls was buried on 12 March 1906 at Woodlawn Cemetery, Clinton, Worcester Co, Massachusetts.³ He died on 12 March 1906 at Clinton, Worcester Co, Massachusetts, at age 66.⁴ His estate was probated on 3 April 1906 at Worcester Co, Massachusetts.⁵
     He appeared on the census of 1861 at Clarenceville, Missisquoi Co, Quebec;      Merritt Alonzo Salls was listed as a farmer and a Methodist. For several years after that the family resided at Fort Covington, New York were Merritt was a member of the Presbyterian Church. They later moved to Stanstead, Quebec for about eight years and the 1891 census of Stanstead indicates the Salls family was now Congregationalist. They finally settled in Clinton, Massachusetts about 1900.
There, Merritt had a door-to-door butter and egg business before building a combination home and grocery store on High Street in Clinton. In 1904, Merritt's ill health forced him to sell his business to his sons, Herbert and Claude. He appeared on the census of 23 June 1870 at Fort Covington, Franklin Co, New York; Merritt Salls, 30, Lydia 32, Ella 10, Francis 8, Margarette 6, Judson 4, Hubbard 2, and Lydia 3/12. All were born Canada except Hubbard and Lydia which was written as New York.⁶ He appeared on the census of 1 June 1875 at Fort Covington, Franklin Co, New York; Meritt A. Salls, 35, Liddy, 37, Ella, 16, Frances, 14, Margret, 12, Judson, 10, Hubert, 8, Eliabeth, 5, and JOhn, 3.⁷ As of 1880, Merritt Alonzo Salls was also known as Emmett Sauls. He and Lydia Maria Young appeared on the census of 11 June 1880 at Fort Covington, Franklin Co, New York;      "Emmett Sauls", 41, farm laborer, both mo and fa born Canada; wife Lydia M., 42; Margaret, 17; Judson, 15; Haerbert, 12; Elizabeth, 10; John, 8; Lilian, 5; and Claud 1. Merritt, Lydia, Margaret and Judson were born Canada; the rest of the children were born in New York.⁸ Merritt Alonzo Salls appeared on the census of 21 April 1891 at Stanstead, Stanstead Co, Quebec;      Merritt Salls was 53, wife Lydia 54, son John, 17, dau Lillian 15 and son Claude, 11. They were Congregationalist.⁹ He was naturalized on 26 October 1895 at Clinton, Worcester Co, Massachusetts; At the time, Merritt was living at 238 High Street, Clinton.¹⁰ He appeared on the census of 4 June 1900 at Clinton, Worcester Co, Massachusetts;      Merrit A. Salls, 60, Lydia N., 63 and Claude J., 21. They had been married 42 years, and Lydia had nine children, with nine still living. Merritt was a grocer, and they had come to the US in 1888.¹¹ He left a will on 25 May 1904 at Worcester Co, Massachusetts;      Merritt left $5 to each of his children as a remembrance, and all other property, personal or real, to his wife Lydia Maria.⁵ The obituary for Merritt Alonzo Salls appeared in the newspaper;      According to his obituary, Merritt Salls died of "stomach troubles". He was born in Clarenceville, Quebec where he lived 27 years. He had married Lydia Maria Young and had four children there, before moving to Stanstead where he lived eight years, and then moved to Clinton, Mass. Mr. Salls had been a member of the Presbyterian Church at Fort Covington. He left brothers, William H. and Napolean N., both of Derby; Enoch of NY; sisters, Eliza of St Johnsbury, VT, Edith of Worcester, MA, and Martha of Clarenceville. The bearers were his four sons, Judson, John, Herbert and Claude along with M.J. Young, brother of Lydia, and Merritt's brother, W.H. Salls.