Merrick was an African American man residing in Beaufort County, North Carolina. According to John Simpson, Merrick had formerly been enslaved to a Major Clark at Ocracoke, but then was sold to Nathaniel Blin of Bath, North Carolina. Both Clark and Blin were seafaring men, and it's likely that Merrick too had experience on ships. In 1775 rumor spread that Merrick, along with an English ship captain, had laid the plans for a mass rebellion of enslaved people in the area of Beaufort and Pitt counties. The rebellion was foiled, but it is unclear just how widespread the revolt actually was, or how exactly Merrick was involved in it. No trial records relating to this incident have been located. He may be the same enslaved individual named Merrick that Mary Blin granted to her son William in 1776. If they are the same individual, that would make Merrick born in about 1751.