MOCA Code OxBrf03
Location: 43.92840, -70.94231, Excepted from R10-010-000
From its intersection with Old County Road, drive northeast on Merrill Corner Road 0.2 miles. The cemetery is on the left (northwest) side of the road.
Historical Information:
This is a very early cemetery containing many of the first settlers of the Merrill Corner area. Many of them attended the Free Will Baptist Church that was next to the cemetery to the west. Richard Marden was an early minister there and his first wife, Miriam Marden, is buried in the cemetery.
This cemetery contains the grave of Nathaniel Merrill, who was one of the original settlers of Fryeburg, ME, a selectman of Fryeburg in 1777 and served in the American Revolution June to November in 1775. He later joined his son Nathaniel Merrill Jr at his farm on Old County Road. He was an accomplished surveyor and his maps of Brownfield are of great help to historians.
This cemetery has an original section of fieldstone marked graves, set at an angle different than the rest of the graves. Some of these have initials crudely carved into them, such as infant John Otis Merrill. A slightly newer row of Merrills is along the front of the cemetery. A large obelisk in the back marks the Col Walter Edgecomb plot.
Previous records also list the Thaddeus Broad family being buried here, though their original looking stones are now located in Pine Grove Cemetery. A handwritten note by the record indicates that the Broads were moved there. In the southwest corner of Merrill Cemetery is a plot that once had iron bars around it (they are now in a pile on the ground). There appear to be three deep grave depressions that could have been where the Broads were buried before they were moved to Pine Grove. Another previous record lists a separate cemetery called the Thaddeus Broad Cemetery, which is probably a typo. In the back middle of the cemetery are at least three excavated graves, most likely belonging to the Simeon Gatchell family, who now have gravestones in Pine Grove Cemetery.
This cemetery was excepted from the deed of sale from Doris B. Walker to Howard C. and Geraldine P. Saturley on September 23, 1971 and continues to be excepted from the deed in the latest sale (2002).
Condition (8/17/2024):
This cemetery was restored in August 2024 by volunteers led by Jess Davis. Two broken stones required aluminum braces, two stones were set in their slotted bases in sand mortar, and many more tablet stones were cleaned and reset. Spring and fall clean ups are done by the grounds are now being maintained by a professional landscaper hired by the town.