Karl Herbert Merrill (September 1, 1900 – December 2, 1984) was an American farmer who established the Trina line of Holstein cow in 1961, beginning with Trina Redstone Marvel, or "Old Trina", which was traced back sixteen years to one of the first cows imported into the United States from the Netherlands."Mike Wilson of Wilsondale Farm Obituary" – Cowsmopolitan, June 15, 2021"New England Holstein Convention Shows Off Maine Farms" – Lancaster Farming, November 3, 2017 Today, there are thirty generations of Trina Holstein offspring.
Merrill owned Springdale Farm, in Gray, Maine, established by Merrill's paternal grandfather, George T. Merrill (died 1885), which is still in operation.Gray, Maine, Louise M. Knapp, Gray Historical Society (1999) "Wilsondale Farm celebrates 50 years with friends and family" - Lewiston Sun Journal, June 19, 2011
Life and career Merrill was born to George Edwin Merrill and Mary Evelyn Merrill (of a second Merrill family).Portland Evening Express, September 18, 1956, p. 2 He was their second known child, after George (1893–1929).
He attended school in Gray, and graduated from Hebron Academy in 1918. He went on to own Springdale Farm for forty years.Lewiston Sun-Journal, December 4, 1984, p. 2. It was renamed Wilsondale Farm when the Wilson family purchased it in 1961.Valley Farm – Pineland Farms
In 1932, the year that his father died, Merrill married Annie F. Merrill (of a third Merrill family).
Death Merrill died on December 2, 1984, aged 84. He is interred in Gray Village Cemetery, beside his wife, who predeceased him by seven years.
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