| James Griswold Merrill | |
| Birth Place: | Montague, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Resting Place: | Andover, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Alma Mater: | Amherst College Princeton Theological Seminary Andover Theological Seminary |
| Spouse: | Louisa W. Boutwell |
| Children: | Lucia Griswold Merrill, Oliver Boutwell Merrill, Mary Perley Merrill, William Fessenden Merrill |
James Griswold Merrill (c. 1840–1920) was an American Congregational minister and university administrator. He was the second president of Fisk University, a historically black university in Nashville, Tennessee, from 1901 to 1908.
James Griswold Merrill was born in Montague, Massachusetts.[1] He graduated from Phillips Academy Andover and Amherst College.[1] [2] He subsequently attended the Princeton Theological Seminary from 1863 to 1864, and graduated from the Andover Theological Seminary in 1866.[1] [2]
Merrill was a Congregational minister in Iowa, Kansas, St. Louis, Missouri, Portland, Maine and Somerset, Massachusetts.[2] He retired as minister after serving in Lake Helen, Florida from 1912 to 1917.[1] In Portland, Maine from 1894 to 1899, he was also the editor of The Christian Mirror.[1]
Merrill was the acting president of Fisk University, a historically black university in Nashville, Tennessee, from 1899 to 1901,[1] and its second president from 1901 to 1908.[3] An article in The Nashville Globe noted that he spent most of his time fundraising away from Nashville.[4] It also explained, "Dr. Merrill's interest in the education of the Negro springs not from a love of the Negro as a Negro, but from the love of the Negro as one of God's children; and this is simple Christianity."[4]
Merrill married Louisa W. Boutwell.[1] He died on December 22, 1920, in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey.[1] [2] He was buried in Andover, Massachusetts.[1]