Daviess County MO Archives Biographies.....Givens, Capt. Merrit 1817 - June 8, 1864
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Brenda Abplanalp brendaab@grm.net March 1, 2009, 9:47 pm

Author: Virgil E. Givens, deceased,  grandson of Merrit Givens

Capt. Merrit Givens was born in 1817 in Missouri Territory in what is now 
Cooper Co., Mo.  His parents were James Givens and Susanna Graves Givens.  
Merrit's father died young and his step-father William Wallace McAfee and his 
mother Susanna raised him.  Merrit was a farmer in Sheridan Twsp. in Daviess 
Co., Mo. and was one of the original land owners in the county.  He came to 
Daviess Co. along with his family in the mid-1830s from Clay and Ray Counties, 
Mo., having moved west from Cooper Co., Mo.  Merrit served in the Mormon War in 
1838 as a Pvt. under Capt. Samuel Bogart's Mounted Volunteers along with two of 
his brothers, William and Isaac Givens, who were in the same unit.  Merrit was 
also a Civil War Union soldier, entering as a Pvt., and rising to the rank of 
Capt. 33rd Enrolled Mo. Militia, Co. G.  Merrit died 8 June 1864 in Caldwell 
Co., Mo. by friendly fire after being sent to capture some escaped Confederate 
prisoners.  Merrit is buried in the Wooderson Cemetery, Sheridan Twsp., Daviess 
Co., Mo.  On the 10 Jan. 1839 in Daviess Co., Mo.,  Merrit married Nancy Allen, 
daughter of Jesse Allen and Sebrina Splawn Allen.  Merrit and Nancy had 12 
children together:  Sebrina, wife of Daniel P. Doll; William (also a Civil War 
Union soldier); Harriet Bethany, wife of 1st Robert Creekmore, 2nd of George 
Curtis, and 3rd of David B. Manville; Isaac; Eliza, wife of 1st Elisha 
Creekmore and 2nd Harrison Westfall; Richard; Nancy; Merrit, Jr.; Daniel; John; 
Mary Ellen; and Martha Adeline, wife of John T. Goodwin.  Merrit's grandfather 
Alexander Givens was a native of Ireland, migrating to Fleming Co., Ky. and 
then to Missouri Territory around 1815 to Howard Co. (later Cooper Co.), Mo.  
Alexander Givens died in Cooper Co., Mo. in 1833.  


Additional Comments:
Virgil Givens, now deceased, who supplied the information in the 1960s for this 
biography and wrote it down was the grandson of Merrit Givens through Merrit's 
son Isaac.  Virgil had personal knowledge of the events taking place in 
Merrit's life as given to Virgil by his father, Isaac Givens, when Virgil was a 
young boy.  Everything in the biography he wrote has been documented and 
confirmed from original records such as Bible, land, court, probate, census, 
pension, cemetery, military, etc. by me.    

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mo/daviess/bios/givens147gbs.txt

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