Adelbert Clinton Merritt hails from a long-established New York family. His grandfather, Stacy Merritt, was a versatile tradesman and farmer in Penfield, part of a large family with brothers named Isaac, Charles, David, William Henry Harrison, Hudson, and Lester. Stacy married Elizabeth Cass, who passed away in 1863, and they had several children, including Electa, Oliver C., William H., Eliza, Ellen, and Jane.
William Harrison Merritt, born in 1820 on a Penfield farm to Stacy and Elizabeth Merritt, worked as a millwright and carpenter. He served as a corporal in Company G of the One Hundred and Fortieth Regiment during the Civil War, participating in the Battle of Fredericksburg before being honorably discharged due to illness. He married Olive M., who passed away in 1909, and they had several children, including Adelbert Clinton and Rose V., who married Richard Johnson and had multiple descendants.
Adelbert Clinton Merritt, born on April 8, 1847, in Penfield, was the eldest son of William Harrison and Olive M. Merritt. Educated locally, he spent fifteen years as a millwright before venturing into the meat market in Rochester in 1870. After returning to Penfield, he engaged in farming and later moved to Marion in 1887 to raise stock and cultivate fruit. By 1900, he was operating a milling business in Manchester Center, where he also ran a grocery store. He married Mary E. in 1878 and had four children.