diff --git a/io/io/src/TFileMerger.cxx b/io/io/src/TFileMerger.cxx
index 6946eafc29701..51095b37e2cf1 100644
--- a/io/io/src/TFileMerger.cxx
+++ b/io/io/src/TFileMerger.cxx
@@ -542,7 +542,8 @@ Bool_t TFileMerger::MergeOne(TDirectory *target, TList *sourcelist, Int_t type,
             keyname, keytitle);
       return kTRUE;
    }
-   Bool_t canBeFound = (type & kIncremental) && (current_sourcedir->GetList()->FindObject(keyname) != nullptr);
+   Bool_t canBeFound = (type & kIncremental) && (current_sourcedir->GetList()->FindObject(keyname) != nullptr) &&
+                       (target->GetList()->FindObject(keyname) != nullptr);
 
    // if (cl->IsTObject())
    //    obj->ResetBit(kMustCleanup);
@@ -806,7 +807,8 @@ Bool_t TFileMerger::MergeOne(TDirectory *target, TList *sourcelist, Int_t type,
          delete ndir;
       }
    } else if (!canBeFound) { // Don't write the partial result for TTree and TH1
-
+      if (gDebug > 0)
+         Info("MergeOne", "Writing partial result of %s into target", oldkeyname.Data());
       if (!canBeMerged) {
          TIter peeknextkey(nextkey);
          status = WriteCycleInOrder(oldkeyname, nextkey, peeknextkey, target) && status;
diff --git a/io/io/test/TFileMergerTests.cxx b/io/io/test/TFileMergerTests.cxx
index 66329320dc781..5f299c4f82d04 100644
--- a/io/io/test/TFileMergerTests.cxx
+++ b/io/io/test/TFileMergerTests.cxx
@@ -219,3 +219,39 @@ TEST(TFileMerger, ChangeFile)
    gSystem->Unlink("file6640mergerinput_2.root");
    gSystem->Unlink("file6640mergeroutput.root");
 }
+
+// https://github.com/root-project/root/issues/9022
+TEST(TFileMerger, SingleHistFile)
+{
+   auto filename1 = "f1_9022.root";
+   auto filename2 = "f2_9022.root";
+   auto outname = "file9022mergeroutput.root";
+   {
+      TFile f1(filename1, "RECREATE");
+      TH1F h("h1", "h1", 1, 0, 1);
+      h.Write();
+      f1.Close();
+      TFile f2(filename2, "RECREATE");
+      TH1F h2("h2", "h2", 1, 0, 1);
+      h2.Write();
+      f2.Close();
+   }
+   {
+      TFileMerger filemerger{false, false};
+      filemerger.SetMaxOpenedFiles(2);
+      filemerger.OutputFile(std::unique_ptr<TFile>{TFile::Open(outname, "RECREATE")});
+
+      filemerger.AddFile(filename1);
+      filemerger.AddFile(filename2);
+
+      filemerger.Merge();
+   }
+   {
+      TFile file(outname, "READ");
+      EXPECT_NE(file.Get<TH1>("h1"), nullptr);
+      EXPECT_NE(file.Get<TH1>("h2"), nullptr);
+   }
+   gSystem->Unlink(filename1);
+   gSystem->Unlink(filename2);
+   gSystem->Unlink(outname);
+}