Born in Stowe, state of Vermont, on October 16, 1816. He migrated while a youth, and settled in Meriden, N. H., where he received a liberal common school education. In early manhood he again returned to the state of Vermont and settled in Hartland, where, in the year of 1845, he married Miss Sophia Woodward. They remained at Hartland until the year 1853, when they emigrated to the state of Iowa and settled at Palmyra, Warren county, where he engaged in the mercantile business, until the breaking out of the rebellion in 1861, when he assisted in raising Company G , Third regiment of Iowa volunteers, and was elected and commissioned first lieutenant of said company. Lieut. P. G. C. Merrill was elected to the state senate in 1863 and was a member of the Tenth General Assembly, serving one session, when he resigned and removed to Grinnell, Poweshiek county, where he resided until 1890, then removed to Stillwater, Minn., where he remained till 1895, when he removed to Des Moines.