Henry Merrill

There he met and became acquainted with several notable early Wisconsin settlers, including future territorial governor James Duane Doty, future congressional delegate Morgan Lewis Martin, entrepreneur Daniel Whitney, and pioneer Ebenezer Childs.

[1] Ultimately, he established a supply route for shipping his goods to Fort Winnebago up the Fox River from Green Bay.

He helped conduct the 1840 United States census within the Wisconsin Territory, and was clerk of court in Portage County in 1842.

In 1848, Merrill was elected as a Whig to a two-year term in the first and second sessions of the Wisconsin State Senate,[2][4] defeating Democrat and future Governor James T. Lewis.

In 1857, Merrill witnessed a mob attempting to lynch John Baptiste DuBay after he shot and killed William S. Reynolds in Portage.