Bainbridge-Merrill Home

Marriner Wood Merrill was born Sep 25, 1832 in Sackville, Canada. In 1852, Marriner joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The following year, he joined the William Atkinson company to move to Utah. Marriner married William's daughter, Sarah Ann Atkinson, the same year. 

The Merrill family continued to live in the Salt Lake Valley, later moving to Bountiful, Utah. In 1856, Marriner entered the practice of polygamy by marrying Cyrene Standley. In 1860, the Merrill family moved to Richmond, and Marriner began building a home for each of his wives soon after.

Marriner married Almira Jane Bainbridge on April 1, 1865. The exact date when the home was constructed is unknown. However, Marriner deeded the lot to Almira in 1885, suggesting the year the house was built.1 The home mimics Marriner's home on his South Farm.

Marriner mentions the home in two of his four last diary entries.

"January 3, [1906]—Wednesday. ...We are putting in a telephone in Almira's house today so Doctor H. K. Merrill can hear from her every day without coming to Logan. She is still very ill and confined to her bed strictly.

"January 26,—One of the electric hands commenced to bard with Auntie at $5.00 per week; he is wiring our houses in town; has Auntie's wired and will get Almira's house done today."2

After Marriner's death on Feb 6, 1906, and Almira's exactly two months later, the property was deeded to their oldest child, Charles E. Merrill, and his wife, Chloe Hendricks. After Charles' death in 1931 and Chloe's in 1950, the home was deeded to their oldest child, Guy E. Merrill, and his wife, Maude Mary Clark. Records suggest that they lived in the house their whole lives, but they also built another home directly west.

Guy died in 1961, and just before Maude died in 1967, she deeded the home to her two children, Guy Jr. and Ruey Clark Merrill. They sold the home the following year to Ralph and Alta Wadsworth. They sold the house in 1973 to Norman C. and Kathleen Carter before the current homeowners, Michael G. and Jeanette Blake, purchased the home in 1994. The house has been vacant for many years.

In the 1990s, the house was threatened by the expansion of Highway 91,1 but was able to be avoided. Today, the home is the only surviving wooden Marriner Wood Merrill home left in Richmond.

The home was nominated for the National Register of Historic Places in 2004 but was not added to the registry.1

1. United States Department of the Interior. National Register of Historic Places (2004). National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Merrill, Almira J. Bainbridge, House (Korral Broschinsky). National Archive Catalog. https://collections.lib.utah.edu/details?id=2295144&page=4&q=

2. Merrill, Melvin Clarence, (1937). Utah Pioneer and Apostle: Marriner Wood Merrill and His Family, pg 294. Digital copy Internet Archive, Contributed by the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center. Internet Archive. https://archive.org/details/utahpioneerapost00merr/page/294/mode/2up