Orsamus Cook Merrill
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Orsamus Cook Merrill (June 18, 1775 - April 12, 1865) was a U.S. Representative from Vermont.
Born in Farmington, Connecticut, Merrill completed preparatory studies and moved to Bennington, Vermont, in 1791. He studied law, and was admitted to the bar.He served in the War of 1812 as a major of the Eleventh Regiment, United States Infantry and a lieutenant colonel in the Twenty-sixth Infantry and the Eleventh Infantry. After his armed forces service, he became Register of probate in 1815 and served as clerk of the courts in 1816.
Merrill was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Fifteenth Congress (March 4, 1817-March 3, 1819). He presented credentials as a Member-elect to the Sixteenth Congress and served from March 4, 1819, until January 12, 1820, when he was succeeded by Rollin C. Mallary, who contested his election.
He then served as delegate to the State constitutional convention,served in the Vermont House of Representatives, as judge of the probate court, as State's attorney 1823- and as member of the State executive council 1824-1827. He served as member of the Vermont State Senate, and as Postmaster of Bennington for several years. He resumed the practice of law there, where he died April 12, 1865. He was interred in the Old Cemetery on Bennington Hill.
