The wife of Jacob Merrell, Mary Merrell, is one of the few women with probate documents. Merrell's probate records identify a payment of four pounds for her gravestone and name Stephen Brace as her gravedigger. He was paid seven shillings to do so. Her husband Jacob Merrell was a cousin to Noah Webster, Jr. and was a farmer and weaver. He died several days after falling on a pitchfork in a farming accident, leaving his widow Mary with the care of eight small children. The epitaph on his gravestone which reads, "the finest flesh is but dust, prepare for death and follow me you must," was meant to warn others of the inevitability of death.

Mary Manley Merrill
Born 1729
Died 1792 Feb 27
Age 65 yrs
Burial Old Center Cemetery, West Hartford, CT Row 8 with her husband, Jacob.

Father William Enoch Manley, Sr.
Born 1703
Died 1788 Nov 11 Windsor, CT

Mother Mary Cater
Born 1710
Died 1773 Oct 10 Windsor, CT

Married 1758 Feb 17
Jacob Merrell.Merrill, Merrels
Born 1712
Died 1771 Mar 11 West Hartford, CT

Children

Mary Merrill Merrell
1755–

Jacob A Merrill Merrell
Born 1758 Sep 24 West Hartford, CT
Died 1837

Jerusha Merrill
Born 1760 Aug 24 West Hartford, CT

Charlotte Merrill Merrell
Born 1762 Mar 21 West Hartford, CT

Abigail Merrill Merrell Winchell
Born 1764 Apr 8

William Merrill Merrell
Born 1766 Mar 8 West Hartford, CT
Died 1828

Asa Merrill Merrell
Born 1769 Mar 19 West Hartford, CT
Died 1796

Huldah Merrill Merrell

SOURCES
Mary Merrill in the Connecticut, Hale Collection of Cemetery Inscriptions and Newspaper Notices, 1629-1934
Name: Mary Merrill
Age: 65
Birth Date: abt 1727
Death Date: 27 Feb 1792
Burial Place: West Hartford, Connecticut, USA
Spouse: Jacob
Cemetery: Old Center or North Cemetery

Mary Merrill in the Connecticut, Deaths and Burials Index, 1650-1934
Name: Mary Merrill
Birth Date: abt 1727
Age at Death: 65
Death Date: 27 Feb 1792
Death Place: Connecticut
Gender: Female
Marital Status: Married
Spouse: Jacob
FHL Film Number: 3370