HISTORICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ILLINOIS.
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District from 1873 to '83, was a Representative in the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth General Assemblies, and, in 1897, was appointed, by President McKinley, Pension Agent for the State of Illinois, with headquarters in Chicago. Thoroughly patriotic and of incorruptible integrity, he has won the respect and confidence of all in every public position he has been called to fill.
MERRILL, Stephen Mason, Methodist Episcopal Bishop, was born in Jefferson County, Ohio, Sept. 16, 1825, entered the Ohio Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in 1864, as a traveling preacher, and, four years later, became editor of "The Western Christian Advocate," at Cincinnati. He was ordained Bishop at Brooklyn in 1872, and, after two years spent in Minnesota, removed to Chicago, where he still resides. The degree of D.D. was conferred upon him by Ohio Wesleyan University, in 1868, and that of LL.D. by the Northwestern University, in 1886. He has published "Christian Baptism" (Cincinnati, 1876); "New Testament Idea of Hell" (1878); "Second Coming of Christ" (1879); "Aspects of Christian Experience" (1882); "Digest of Methodist Law" (1885); and "Outlines of Thought on Probation" (1886).
MERRITT, John W., journalist, was born in New York City, July 4, 1806; studied law and practiced, for a time, with the celebrated James T. Brady as a partner. In 1841 he removed to St. Clair County, Ill., purchased and, from 1848 to '51, conducted "The Belleville Advocate"; later, removed to Salem, Ill., where he established "The Salem Advocate"; served as Assistant Secretary of the State Constitutional Convention of 1862, and as Representative in the Twenty-third General Assembly. In 1864 he purchased "The State Register" at Springfield, and was its editor for several years. Died, Nov. 16, 1878.-Thomas E. (Merritt), son of the preceding, lawyer and politician, was born in New York City, April 29, 1834; at six years of age was brought by his father to Illinois, where he attended the common schools and later learned the trade of carriage-painting. Subsequently he read law, and was admitted to the bar, at Springfield, in 1862. In 1868 he was elected, as a Democrat, to the lower house of the General Assembly from the Salem District, and was re-elected to the same body in 1870, '74, '76, '86 and '88. He also served two terms in the Senate (1878-'86), making an almost continuous service in the General Assembly of eighteen years. He has repeatedly been a member o
