William H. Merritt

William Hilton Merritt (September 12, 1820 – July 23, 1891) was an American politician and newspaper editor, who served as mayor of Des Moines, Iowa, from 1880 to 1882.

Early life Merritt was born on September 12, 1820, in New York City, to Jesse and Harriet ( Hilton) Merritt, His father was a physician and merchant. He was educated at the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary in Lima, New York.

Career In 1838, he came to Rock Island, Illinois where he clerked a few months for Naylor and Myers, who sent him to Ivanhoe, Iowa in 1839 to manage a branch store. In 1840, he closed the store and moved to Burlington to accept his appointment as enrolling clerk in the Iowa Territorial Council, after the Council's adjournment he returned to Linn County, Iowa and in 1842 moved to Buffalo, New York, where he engaged in the mercantile business. He was married to Marcia Maria Sutherland on January 6, 1846. and went on a government survey in the northern part of the state. In January 1849, the news of gold discoveries in California attracted his attention and he then made the journey there via the Isthmus of Panama. He returned to Iowa in March 1851 and joined W. A. Jones in the purchase of the Miners' Express and become editor of the paper again. In August 1854, he was appointed surveyor of the port of Dubuque.