Samuel Ingham Merrill (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Samuel Ingham Merrill was a noted California businessman and philanthropist, known particularly for his involvement in Christian benevolent work. He is credited with founding the YMCA of Oakland, and later, the YMCA of Los Angeles in 1882, which celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2007. Merrill was born in Buffalo, New York, on November 15, 1856, son of Jerome Bonaparte Merrill and Jane Hughes. He was educated in the public schools of Buffalo and took employment with a Buffalo grain dealer. Due to his younger brother's health issues, Merrill accompanied his brother and their mother to California for treatment, arriving in Oakland on September 11, 1876. In 1888, he married Sarah DeEtta Dearborn in East Oakland. They had three children: Grace Edith (Jensen), Charles Arthur, and Wallace Dearborn.