Joseph Merritt met a young widow, Mary A. Thorpe, nee Jones, who had moved to Jones County, Iowa. Mary Thorpe was not a native American, having been born in 1815 in London, England, where her father, Connolly Jones, had worked as a printer for the newspaper the Morning Herald. Mary emigrated to the U.S. with her parents. They lived initially in St. Louis, Missouri, where her father worked for the St. Louis Gazette. In 1818 the family moved to Shawneetown, Illinois, where Connolly Jones worked for the Galena Gazette. In Shawneetown young Mary met and married William Thorpe, but Thorpe died in 1838 when Mary was but twenty three. After moving to Jones County, Iowa, the widow met Joseph H. Merritt and the two were married in the town of Fulton, Jackson County, on July 6, 1846.

Mention should be made of Mary Thorpe's brothers, for they were part of the frontier too. James Jones settled near Bellevue in Jackson County in 1836. A second brother, Edward C. Jones, first settled in Bellevue and then moved to Texas in 1855. Another brother, Charles, went to Texas where he was killed while "on frontier service" for the U.S. Government. Finally, Mary's brother William settled in Jackson County where in later years he would work for his new brother-in-law, Joseph H. Merritt.

The marital union of widower Joseph and widow Mary resulted in a succession of children, Four born in Jones County: Charles Edward, born on April 23, 1847; John Connolly, born on February 4, 1849; Absalom Dennis, born June 16, 1850 and Joseph Richard born December 8, 185. One son, Francis Marion born in Jackson County Iowa. The crops grew well in the fertile Iowa soil, and the marital unions of the pioneer brothers were equally fruitful.