Grandma's House

Charlotte A. Raymo with her maternal grandmother, Josephine (Greusel) Merrow (aged 72)

1933

Grandma Josephine

Charlotte A. Raymo and Arthur J. Raymo with their other grandmother Josephine (Greusel) Merrow (1861-1938)

Chattanooga 1925

Josephine Greusel

Margaret Merrow's mother was Josephine Gertrude Greusel (1861-1938). She was from a prominent German family of 19th century Detroit. Josephine was the daughter of Joseph Greusel (1820-1903), a German immigrant from Blieskastel, Bavaria and Margaret Doumonds (1828-1902) who was of Acadian and French descent.

Joseph Greusel was a postal carrier for the city of Detroit for more than 25 years. He would often walk more the 15 miles every day in performing his rounds. His brother, Josephine's uncle, Nicholas Greusel (1817-1896) was Union Brigadier General during the American Civil War. He saw action in the battles of Pea Ridge, Perryville, and Stones River. Another brother, John Greusel (1809-1886), was active in Michigan politics, serving in the State Senate and was a delegate to the 1872 Republican National Convention.

Joseph and Josephine

Margaret Merrow's parents were Joseph Daniel Merrow (1851-1922) and Josephine Gertrude Greusel (1861-1938). They were married on 3 August 1881 and are shown here photographed shortly afterwards. Joseph and Josephine were second cousins, both being great grandchildren of Jean Baptiste Amirault, a French Canadian of Acadian descent. The surname Merrow is an anglicization of the original Amirault.

In the span of twenty years, Joseph and Josephine had sixteen children, only half of which lived to adulthood.

The children of Joseph and Josephine, reconstructed from census records and Charlotte A Raymo's notes:

• Margaret Angeline Merrow, b. 11 October 1882, d. 21 December 1946
• Clarence Charles Merrow, b. 10 April 1883, d. sometime after 1920
• Joseph Daniel Merrow, Jr., b. 20 December 1884, d. 1886
• Vivian Merrow, b. 19 December 1886, d. September 1887
• Twin boy, died in infancy
• Twin boy, died in infancy
• Girl, died in infancy
• Josephine Gertrude Merrow, b. 23 December 1891, d. 6 October 1949
• Marie Stella Merrow, b. 3 April 1893, d. sometime after 1949
• Rachel Irene Merrow, b. 2 August 1894, d. September 1983
• Flavious Joseph Merrow, b. 10 June 1895, d. 29 September 1918
• Unknown child, died in infancy
• John Merrow, died in infancy
• Florence Virginia Merrow, b. 23 February 1898, d. 2 December 1992
• Caleb Merrow, b. January 1900, d. probably died in infancy
• Hazen Alfonso Merrow, b. 7 July 1901, d. 6 December 1978

The Merrow Family

Margaret Merrow's parents and family, photographed in Summertown, Tennessee, c.1915.

FRONT ROW: Uncle Edward Greusel (1853-1934), Margaret's mother Josephine Gertrude Greusel (1891-1938), Margaret's father Joseph Daniel Merrow (1851-1922).

BACK ROW: Jim & Reba Becket (unknown relation), sister Rachel Irene Merrow (1894-1983), sister Marie Stella Merrow (1893-    ), brother Flavious Joseph Merrow (1895-1918), sister Florence Virginia Merrow (1898-1992), and cousin Joseph Greusel.