Jacob Morrell was a merchant and grocer in Chatham, New Jersey. His home was said to be one of the most lavish in Chatham, and General Washington was a guest during the war of the revolution.

Dr. Calvin Morrell moved from Chatham New Jersey to an area that would become Butler County, Ohio, about 1789. He was the head of a family of five persons in 1790. In 1805, Dr. Morrell converted to the Shaker religion and resided at Union Village in Lebanon Ohio. When the Whitewater Shaker Village was established in Crosby Township in 1824, Dr. Morrell was appointed overseer and was one of the first elders, residing there until 1832, when he returned to Lebanon, a year before his death.