No letter or photograph of Merritt Brown is known. His story is told from the records below, listed by date, with what each record is and where the original is held. Images and transcriptions will be added here as permissions allow.
1836. Final decree dividing the estate of his grandfather, Benjamin Brown, with the allotment of eighteen enslaved people among the heirs. Williamson County Archives, Franklin, Tennessee.
1850. U.S. census, Marshall County, Mississippi: Benjamin F. Brown household; "Merrit," 6, attending school. National Archives.
1860. U.S. census, Shelby County, Tennessee, Collierville: Benjamin F. Brown household; Merritt, 16. National Archives.
1870. U.S. census, Shelby County, Tennessee, Collierville post office: "Brown, M. R., 26, R R Agt," with Mattie and Lena. National Archives.
1880. U.S. census, Shelby County, Tennessee, 10th District: Lena, Ida and Minnie Brown in the household of their grandmother, Catharine A. Brown. National Archives.
1861. Sylvan Academy account, May 23, 1861: six months' "tuition of son Merit," $24. Shelby County probate records.
1877–1878. Accounts of his Collierville store with Memphis wholesalers, filed as claims against his estate. Shelby County Archives.
1861–1865. Compiled service record, M. R. Brown, Company C, 4th Tennessee Infantry: enlistment at Germantown, May 15, 1861; muster rolls to April 1864; promotions to 4th and 2nd corporal. National Archives, M268, roll 129.
1863. Roll of Honor, Battle of Murfreesborough, General Orders No. 131, Richmond, October 3, 1863: "Corpl. M. R. Brown, Co. C." Official Records, Ser. I, Vol. 20, Pt. 1, p. 975.
1864. Pass issued by the 46th Iowa Infantry at Collierville, August 14, 1864: "Pickets pass Mrs. Brown & 3 children thro' the lines and return today." Morton Museum of Collierville History.
1865. Surrender at Citronelle, Alabama, May 4, and parole at Gainesville, Alabama, May 11, 1865, on the roll of Campbell's Brigade, Forrest's Cavalry Corps. National Archives, compiled service record and parole register.
1878. Account of Rowlett & Irby, druggists, Collierville, August 30 – September 3, 1878, $3.64, filed against his estate. Shelby County Archives, probate.
1878. Memphis Daily Appeal, September 6, 1878: the Collierville dispatch naming M. R. Brown, "a prominent merchant." Library of Congress, Chronicling America.
1879–1881. Claims against his estate; notice to creditors, with C. A. Brown as administratrix, Memphis Daily Appeal, March 5, 1881. Shelby County Archives; Chronicling America.
1889. Quitclaim of the Magnolia Cemetery Association to W. J. Brown for the Brown lots, February 14, 1889. Shelby County Register of Deeds.
1940. Application for headstone, M. R. Brown, Corporal, Company C, 4th Tennessee Infantry, filed January 15, 1940, by Mrs. B. M. Cowan of Collierville; stone shipped May 10, 1940. National Archives.
The story of Corporal Merritt R. Brown, the Wigfall Grays and their town is told in An Honor Unearned: From the Streets of Collierville, Tennessee, to Edgefield, South Carolina, by Michael Louis Meece. Available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle. More about the book at anhonorunearned.org.