Merrion Genealogy Project

(Last Update: January 25, 1999)

ABOUT THE PROJECT

Welcome to the MERRION GENEALOGY PROJECT. The purpose of this page is to describe the project and to solicit your assistance in generating the additional information needed to complete the project.

Although it was my original intent to research the genealogy of the Merrion Family, of which I am a member, I have discovered that the spelling of the name has varied from time to time and from family to family, often resulting in several members of the same immediate family spelling the name quite differently. In fact, there are many instances where I have discovered the same person's name spelled differently in different documents. Accordingly, in addition to the MERRION spelling, I have since expanded the research to include the following spellings of the name: MERION, MERYON, MARYON, MARION, MARRION. I also note the occasional spelling as MERIAN, MERRIAN, MARIAN or MARRIAN and include them as I find them. I expect that I will find that there are other variations in spellings and I intend to include them as I discover them. However, when reconciling different spellings of the name with regard to one particular person, I will attempt to treat the spelling consistently.

When I began this project, I had only the names and dates associated with various members of my own immediate family. However, as my research progressed, and I began to accumulate additional names and miscellaneous information, I decided to store the information in an electronic database. This has allowed me to add records as I discover additional information, as well as to revise the family "trees" as additional information becomes available. This format also allows me to easily post updated information on the WebSite, and to control the nature of the information made available to outside parties. (See SECURITY.)

It is my practice to create a new record for each person I identify in my research as a potential ancestor or descendent. I will then merge records together as (and when) I am able to determine that the information describes the same person. Otherwise, I leave both entries as separate persons. Thus, while this policy allows potential duplication of one or more names in the database, I have determined that this is eminently more advantageous than the potential problems associated with the random attribution of facts to one or more persons already in the database.

Currently, I have 1,525 names in the database. Of these, I have identified 916 names to one of seven family "branches." It is my goal to eventually be able to track all of these different "branches" into one family "tree." However, until I am able to document the connections, I have elected to treat them as separate families.

I have also solicited contributions of family "trees" from many of the persons I have identified in my research as potentially members of the Family. Their contributions have helped me tremendously and I hope that each of them will benefit from my efforts as well.

If you are interested in the research outlined in these pages, either because you think you belong here, or are just interested, please feel free to contact me directly. (See also: Contacting the Project Manager.) I would also welcome any assistance you may be able to give me.