Source: Tri-Weekly State Gazette, Austin, Texas, Monday, March 20, 1871; Pg. 2, Column 4

Add'l. Info:

Hon. Franklin H. Merriman.

He was the son of Olcott and Sophrone (Hitchcock) Merriman, and born in Southington, January 13, 1813. He was a brother of Samuel G. Merriman.

In his boyhood he indicated that strength of mind and character which subsequently gave him such high rank. Without the means to pursue a liberal course of study, he applied himself closely in availing himself of the few resources at hand. He read, and thought, and
labored, until he felt able to enter a law office. He enrolled himself as a student with Romeo Lowrey.

He entered the Law School in New Haven, but did not graduate. In 183Y he was admitted to the bar, and entered the office of the late Hon. Isaac Toucey, of Hartford. Here he remained for two or three years, when, in 1839, he removed to Galveston, Texas, where he soon acquired an extensive practice, and became a leading lawyer of that state. He was several times a member of the House and Senate, and also held other important offices, as United States district attorney, and judge of the higher courts of the state. He several times refused the office of judge when offered him by executive appointment. He was married October 15, 1850, to

He died at Galveston, Texas, March 17, 1871. He is spoken of as "a ripe scholar, and thoroughly grounded in a knowledge of his profession; * * * * of good humor, great conversational powers, possessing a winning gentleness of manners and sympathetic kindness of heart, and having those qualities of mind and heart that endeared him to all who knew him." «

The high esteem in which he was held in his adopted state, and the honor he reflected on his native town, appear from the resolutions passed in the Galveston District Court, the Supreme Court of Texas, and the United States Circuit Court, at the time of his death.

Source: Ecclesiastical and other sketches of Southington, Conn., by Timlow, Heman Rowlee, 1831-1892., published by Hartford, Press of the Case, Lockwood and Brainard Co., 1875.; Pg. 451

NOTE: Transcribed as published.