Catharine Merrill was an American educator, writer, and American Civil War nurse from Indiana who became the second female university professor in the United States. She is best remembered as a talented educator and admired for her modesty and kindness. In 1869 Merrill accepted the appointment as the first Demia Butler Chair of English Literature at North Western Christian University, now known as Butler University, and began her fourteen-year career as a university professor during the 1869–70 academic year. Merrill resigned the professorship in 1883, but continued to offer private instruction at her home until shortly before her death. In addition to becoming a teacher, Merrill was a published author, although it was not her primary goal. Articles describing her travels in Europe from 1859 to 1861 were published in Indiana newspapers. She also anonymously wrote The Soldier of Indiana in the War for the Union. The Man Shakespeare and Other Essays (1902) was published posthumously. Merrill is buried at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.

Samuel Merrill, a native of Peacham, Vermont, was an early lawyer and leading citizen of Indiana, who served as state treasurer from 1822 to 1834. Merrill attended Dartmouth College, and in 1816 settled in Vevay, Indiana, where he established a law practice and served in the Indiana General Assembly as a representative from Switzerland County (1821–22). Merrill resigned his position as state treasurer in 1834 to become the president of the State Bank of Indiana (1834–44); he also served as the president of the Madison and Indianapolis Railroad Company (1844–48) and head of the Merrill Publishing Company, which later became the Bobbs-Merrill Company. In addition to his government service and business ventures, Merrill was the second president of the Indiana Historical Society (1835–48), a founder and trustee of Wabash College, and an elder in the Second Presbyterian and Fourth Presbyterian churches in Indianapolis.