Digitized Content from Elizabeth Ambrose Merrill Letter | Illinois History and Lincoln Collections

The digitized content of the Elizabeth Ambrose Merrill Letter consists of a letter from Elizabeth Ambrose Merrill to Anna Burnham of Fort Towson, Oklahoma which describes an anti-abolition mob in Alton, Illinois.

Elizabeth Ambrose Merrill (1810-1868) was born in New Hampshire. In 1835, Merrill moved to Eagletown, Oklahoma, as a missionary, specifically to work with the Choctaw Nation. In 1837, Merrill traveled east through Arkansas and along the Mississippi River and arrived in Alton, Illinois. Anna Burnham (1778-1847) was also a missionary in Oklahoma and had been working with the Choctaw since the 1820s. Elijah Lovejoy (1802-1837) was a Presbyterian minister and newspaper editor who was eventually killed by a pro-slavery mob because of his advocacy for abolition.

The digitized content of the Elizabeth Ambrose Merrill Letter consists of a letter from Elizabeth Ambrose Merrill to Anna Burnham of Fort Towson, Oklahoma. Writing from October 23 to November 8, 1837, Merrill described the events leading up to the murder of Elijah Lovejoy by an anti-abolition mob in Alton, Illinois.

The Elizabeth Ambrose Merrill Letter, 1837 was completely digitized in 2025. Items are available online at the University of Illinois Digital Library. A preservation copy of the items is available to IHLC and digital preservation staff at the Library Digital Repository: https://medusa.library.illinois.edu/collections/2399.