Papers : 1775-1897.

Thomas Merritt (1759-1842), originally from Westchester County, New York, served with the Queen's Rangers under John Graves Simcoe during the American Revolution. After living in Saint John, New Brunswick, from 1783-1785, and later in South Carolina, he settled in New York State. From there he petitioned Simcoe, who was by then the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, for land on which to settle, and came with his wife Mary Hamilton and their children, to Twelve Mile Creek (St. Catharines, Ontario). In 1798 he received the appointment of deputy surveyor of the King's Woods, and in 1803 he became sheriff of the Niagara District. During the War of 1812, Merritt was appointed major commandant of a troop of militia cavalry named the Niagara Light Dragoons. He remained sheriff until 1820 and died at St. Catharines in 1842.

Thomas Merritt's son,William Hamilton Merritt (1793-1862), also saw active duty in the War of 1812 with the Niagara Light Dragoons and the Provincial Dragoons, taking part in the battle of Queenston Heights. He was captured at the Battle of Lundy's Lane and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner in Cheshire, Massachusetts. He married Catherine Prendegast and became involved in many business ventures as a merchant, a land agent, the owner of a sawmill, a gristmill and a distillery, and a salt spring developer. He was interested in canals, railways and suspension bridges, and is particularly well known for promoting the construction of the Welland Canal linking Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. He was involved in politics as a member of the Legislative Assembly from 1832-1836, and from 1841-1860, and as a member of the Legislative Council from 1860-1863. While president of the Executive Council from 1848-1850, he concentrated on public works and trade. His son Jedediah Prendegast Merritt (fl.1838-1897) was an historian and a literary figure.