USA > Massachusetts > Biographical history of Massachussetts; biographies and autobiographies of the leading men in the state, 1911, vol 7 > Part 15
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His eldest son, the subject of this sketch, recalled in later years his own first mechanical experiment, an attempt to make a water- wheel out of two shingles, two spools from his mother's work-basket, and a string. This was designed to operate in a dam over the brook which ran past his boyhood home. Mr. Marble recalled with vivid- ness, his difficulties in making the wheel balance, and his ultimate success, in spite of the fact that he had only poor knives for tools and common shingle nails for bearings. Another interesting rem- iniscence of his childhood and early school days in his native town was an evening promenade through the rooms of his home, trying to learn his spelling lesson and finding the greatest difficulty with the word, business. With characteristic persistence he repeated it more than fifty times until he had mastered its letters, as he after- wards mastered its principles.
In 1841, when Edwin Tyler Marble was six and a half years old, his parents moved from their home in Sutton to Worcester, Massachusetts, ten miles distant, where they lived on a farm on Vernon Street.
After a year of residence in Worcester, during which the boy attended the public schools on "the common" of the town, the family returned to Sutton, where for two years they lived in the community known as Pleasantville. The children of the family attended the district school during its short sessions and assisted in
EDWIN TYLER MARBLE
the tasks about the farm which have given such good constitutions and industrious traits to country-bred men and women. On a larger stock farm, to which his parents moved two years later in the same town of Sutton, the boy, then eleven years old, was given much responsibility and remembered with pride his success in "breaking in" a pair of steers for which he received a first premium at the annual "cattle show."
Within two years the family were again in Worcester, where the boy attended during the winter an "apprentice-school" on Bel- mont Street; during the summer months he assisted on the farm. In 1843 the Marble family moved to the southerly part of Wor- cester, then called "New Worcester," in the vicinity of what is now known as Webster Square. The education at the district schools was now supplemented by a term at the Worcester County Manual Training School, which became the nucleus later of the Worcester Academy. In the blacksmith shop of his maternal uncle, Moses Clement, the boy received manual training and showed good judgment and steady workmanship.
At the age of eighteen he entered the machine shop of Albert Curtis on Webster Street, arranging for an apprenticeship of three years, with three months' vacation to attend school during the first apprentice year. In compensation, he received fifty dollars for the first year, seventy-five the second, and one hundred and twenty-five the third year. At the Academy, during his three months, he studied hard, specializing in mathematics, philosophy, and chem- istry. In this small shop and with the crude tools of that time, he served and closed his apprenticeship with honor. With a fellow- apprentice, Joseph Cunningham, he planned and built a small steam engine which gained a diploma at the first Mechanical Fair that was held in Worcester. Every Saturday evening these two young men would walk into the city, about three miles each way, and borrow books for the week's reading from the mechanical library, later the Worcester County Mechanics' Association. Mr. Marble once said that they "not only devoured but digested everything there was in the library relating to mechanics."
After finishing his apprenticeship, Mr. Marble continued as a trusted workman with Mr. Curtis for a few months and then left this shop to enter the factory of A. and S. Thayer, builders of machinists' tools. During this period he became engaged to Miss Harriet H. Chase of Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, who was teach- ing school in Worcester. While on a visit to her home on his way
EDWIN TYLER MARBLE
to Hartford, where he was about to try his fortune as a journeyman mechanic, he was asked to remain in Shelburne Falls with the Lamson and Goodnow Company, manufacturers of tools for making cutlery. On October 23, 1850, Miss Chase and Mr. Marble were married at her father's home in Shelburne Falls.
Miss Chase was the daughter of Henry Prentice and Achsah H. (Clement) Chase. Her father was a descendant from Acquila Chase, the immigrant and pioneer. Mrs. Marble died in 1892. There were born to them four sons, Edwin H., William C., Charles F., and Albert C., and one daughter, Harriet A., who died in 1906.
Within a year after his marriage, an invitation came to Mr. Marble to return to Worcester and become associated with Mr. Alexander Thayer, his former employer, who had now become a partner in a new firm, Thayer, Houghton and Co. For eight years Mr. Marble was foreman in this shop where machine tools were manufactured. A fire in 1854 destroyed a part of their shop and Mr. Marble saved their tools and his own at great risk of life. When this firm was dissolved in 1859, Mr. Marble became connected with E. C. Cleveland and Co., manufacturers of woolen machinery, where he remained for three years and a half, severing his associa- tion to become partner with Albert Curtis in full charge of his shop. The firm name was Curtis and Marble; the business, established by Mr. Curtis in 1831, was restricted for many years to the manufac- ture of machinery for finishing woolen cloth. Under the impetus and determination of Mr. Marble the scope and volume of the busi- ness increased, new patterns and designs were made, and soon addi- tions were required to the buildings as well as to the working force. Mr. Marble's younger brother, Francis R. Marble, joined his energy and mechanical skill to the business which increased rapidly. Mr. Edwin T. Marble secured his first patent during his first year of association with Mr. Curtis as a partner, a patent for a Teasel Gig for raising the nap of woolen cloth. New machines and new tools added to the efficiency and success of the concern. In 1875 the business and patents of the Goddard Wool Burring Machine Works, which were sold in New York at auction, were bought by the firm, and Mr. Calvin L. Goddard, the founder of this business, came to Worcester and remained with Messrs. Curtis and Marble until his death in 1895. The breaking of the dam at the Lynde Brook Resevoir in March, 1876, caused much damage to the north end of the factory.
The firm name of Curtis and Marble was continued until Decem-
EDWIN TYLER MARBLE
ber 31, 1895, when the Curtis and Marble Machine Co. was incor- porated with a capital of $75,000. Mr. Marble had become sole proprietor of the old business and now associated with himself as President and Treasurer of the new corporation, his four sons,- Edwin H., William C., Charles F., and Albert C. In 1897 a new plant was erected on Cambridge Street, near Webster Square.
From the organization of the party, Mr. Marble was a strong Republican. He always had a deep interest in politics and served faithfully and wisely in many positions of trust. He was a Repre- sentative to the General Court of Massachusetts in 1870 and served in the State Senate in 1887 and 1888. In municipal affairs he had many honors, serving three years in the Common Council and four years in the Board of Aldermen. He was a member of the School Committee of Worcester in 1860 for an unexpired term and was elected again in 1872 and served eight consecutive years. He was later a Director of the Free Public Library for six years, and was President of this Board for a year.
Always interested in mechanies and zealous to promote such an interest among young men, he was early identified with the Wor- cester Mechanics' Association, serving as a Trustee for twelve years and as President for two years. Mr. Marble was a Trustee and Vice- President of the People's Savings Bank of Worcester, and for many years a member of its Board of Investment. His judgment in finan- cial matters was considered safe and reliable. From 1887 until his death in 1910 he was a Director in the Worcester Safe Deposit and Trust Company, now the Worcester Trust Company.
Although Mr. Marble's interest outside his business centered in his home, where he was always happy, he did his share in pro- moting religious and philanthropic life in his city. For many years he was deeply concerned in the welfare of the Home for Aged Men and was Vice-President and President, in turn, of its Board of Trustees. He served in many ways in directing the affairs of the Worcester Board of Trade. His church affiliations were very dear to him and he served Piedmont Congregational Church as Deacon for nearly thirty-five years.
With a modest, quiet manner, he was always courteous and faithful to his friends, associates, and chance acquaintances. His long and successful life was marked by incorruptible integrity, intelligent and loyal service, and high ideals in his home-life, his business, and his civic responsibilities.
Borace Guarino
HORACE EUGENE MARION
H ORACE EUGENE MARION was for forty-five years one of the leading physicians and surgeons of the Brighton district, Boston. He was descended from the best New England stock, one of his forefathers being Dr. Abel Prescott, who rode with Paul Revere in the famous ride to Lexington and Con- cord. The founder of the family of this name in New England was John Marion, who was living in Watertown as early as 1641. He married Sarah, daughter of John Eddy, of that place, and removed to Boston where he was selectman of the town in 1693. He died in 1705, and his wife in 1709. His son, Samuel Marion, born in 1655, married Mary, daughter of Edward and Mary (Hale) Wilson of Charlestown. Isaac, son of Samuel, was born in 1694 and mar- ried Rebecca Knight and was the father of Isaac 2nd, who was born in 1719, and who married at Woburn, Massachusetts, June 9, 1743, Judith Snow. Isaac Marion 3d, born at Woburn May 12, 1745, son of Isaac and Judith, married September 5, 1872, Mary Cutler of Woburn, and their son, John Cutler, born April 16, 1784, married at Burlington, Massachusetts, June 15, 1806, Martha Carter.
Abner Marion, son of John Cutler Marion and his wife Martha, was the father of Dr. Horace Eugene Marion. In his day he was a well-known stage proprietor, operating the Boston and Lowell stages. He also carried on a large farm at Burlington. March 13, 1834, he married Sarah Prescott, who was born February 25, 1810, a daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth (Brown) Prescott. Her father was of the sixth generation in descent from John and Mary (Platts) Prescott, the second in line being Captain Johnathan Pres- cott, who married Elizabeth Hoar; the third, Dr. Johnathan, who married Rebecca Bulkley; the fourth, Dr. Abel, who married Abi- gail Brigham; the fifth, John Prescott, who married Grace Potter, and was the father of Samuel named above. It was Dr. Abel Prescott who rode with Paul Revere to carry the news of the British advance on Concord.
HORACE EUGENE MARION
Dr. Horace E. Marion was born in Burlington, Massachusetts, August 3, 1843. He died in Boston February 8, 1914. For fifteen years, until his father's death, he remained on the farm. His ele- mentary education was obtained at Warren Academy, Woburn, Massachusetts, the Howe School at Billerica, Massachusetts, and the Atkinson Academy, Atkinson, New Hampshire. He matricu- lated at Amherst College, but the outbreak of the Civil War changed his plans, for in July, 1862, he enlisted for nine months as a private in Company G, Fifth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, under the command of General J. F. Foster. He took part in the actions at Little Washington, Plymouth, Tarboro, Kingston, White- hall, and Goldsboro, North Carolina, serving until July, 1863, when the regiment was mustered out. The following year he enlisted as Sergeant in the same Company and Regiment for one hundred days' service.
The interval between enlistments was spent at Dartmouth Col- lege and on his return to civil life he resumed his place as student there and was graduated from the scientific department in 1866.
He immediately began the study of medicine under Doctors Dick and A. B. Crosby of Hanover, New Hampshire, two famous sur- geons, and continued under their preceptorship while attending Dartmouth Medical College, from which he graduated in 1869.
The following year he settled in Brighton, Massachusetts, where with the exception of a part of 1878-9 which was spent in a special course in medicine and surgery in Berlin and Vienna, he con- tinuously practiced his profession.
Dr. Marion not only built up a large and lucrative practice but achieved a wide reputation as a skillful physician and surgeon. He was a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, was Presi- dent of the South District Medical Society, was a member of the Boston Society of Medical Sciences, the Obstetrical Society, and of the Boston Medical Improvement Society. He was professionally connected with the Massachusetts State Militia as surgeon of the Fifth Regiment and of the Fourth Battalion. He was medical director of the First Brigade on the staff of General Herbert Moore. Dr. Marion was also for many years Coroner of his district.
Dr. Marion was a prominent Free Mason. He belonged to the Bethesda Lodge, A. F. and A. M. of Brighton, to Cambridge R. A. Chapter, and to De Molay Commandery of Boston. He was Past
HORACE EUGENE MARION
Deputy Grand Master. He was also a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery of Boston, and of the University and St. Botolph clubs.
Dr. Marion almost alone started the agitation against the slaughter houses in connection with the sale of cattle which had died from disease, opposition against him being so strong that for quite a period of time he was furnished with a bodyguard to conduct his regular practice. His efforts were so strenuous that in time the old-fashioned slaughter houses were compelled to go out of business and the large and properly regulated Brighton Abattoir came into operation. He was physician to the Overseers of the Poor for a period of over twenty years, and was school physician under Dr. Durgin for many years and during the last term, just previous to his death, he personally examined over 1700 school children besides attending to his regular practice.
Dr. Marion was married to Katherine Louise Sparhawk of Brighton, Massachusetts, on January 14, 1880. There were born three children, two of whom survive: Eva Prescott, born October 17, 1880; and Gardner Sparhawk, born December 14, 1884. Ben- jamin Cobb Marion, born August 3, 1887, died January 13, 1908.
Dr. Marion was an Independent in politics, preferring principles to party. He was actively interested in everything that concerned the moral and material betterment of the community, and won and retained its good will and confidence. He was the beloved physician, bearing on his heart the well-being of many a home in all walks of life and bringing to it the most skillful and devoted service. His character was so strong that cheer and strength and peace followed his visits.
He has done much to leave after him a better and stronger generation. As a physician he was one of the best. As a soldier he was brave. As a citizen he helped every cause that ministered to the public welfare. In the charmed circle of the family where he was best known he was best beloved.
JAMES CROMBIE MELVIN
J AMES CROMBIE MELVIN was born at Concord, Massa- chusetts, April 17, 1848.
He was descended on both his father's and his mother's side from the best New England stock. His ancestors were prominent in Colonial affairs. Captain David Melvin (1690-1745) commanded a company at Louisburg and Captain Eleazer Melvin commanded a company at Crown Point. Another ancestor, Lieutenant Simon Davis, was present at the Battle of Brookfield and had other expe- riences in King Philip's War.
On his mother's side, John Heald 2nd born in 1689 was a Sergeant. John Heald's son, great-grandson and great-great- grandson, all bearing the same name, were Lieutenants. Another ancestor, Amos Melvin, rang the alarm-bell on the memorable 19th of April, 1775.
His father, Asa Melvin, a farmer, well-esteemed for his honesty, frugality, and industry, died when the boy was ten years old and his mother, who before her marriage was Caroline Heald, survived him only five years.
The boy had to perform the hardest kind of manual labor and early made up his mind that farming was not for him. He believed that he could achieve a better success in business than by continuing the work of his father and grandfather.
At the age of fifteen he began working in a store in Concord with wages of thirty-five dollars a year. Following the example of his three brothers who enlisted at the beginning of the war, at the age of sixteen, against the wishes of his guardian, he enlisted for service in the Rebellion as a member of Company E, Sixth Regi- ment, M. V. M.
After returning from the war he established a small periodical store on the Milldam. Later he became bookkeeper for a storage- warehouse in Boston. His remarkable business ability and his sturdy honesty of character attracted the attention of Josiah and Edmund Quincy and they engaged his services as the manager of
James 6, Melvin
JAMES CROMBIE MELVIN
what was then known as the Clinton Street Warehouse, the present site of the Clinton Market which was founded through his enter- prise. In 1878 he was appointed managing trustee of the Quincy estate and agent of the mercantile Market and retained these re- sponsible positions until his death.
In 1881 he organized the Quincy Market Cold Storage Com- pany and continued as its Treasurer and Manager until 1903, when it was sold to a syndicate. More and more responsibility was heaped upon him until at one time he was Director of no less than sixteen different corporations, including the Mexican Central Rail- road and the Massachusetts Loan and Trust Company; and Direc- tor and Treasurer of both the Mercantile Wharf Corporation, and of the Clinton Market Company, the G. H. Hammond Company, the Hammond Packing Company. He was President of the last two for several years. He was for many years Vice-President of the Fourth National Bank.
During his residence in Concord he was First Lieutenant of the Artillery and was Chief Engineer of the Fire Department in the days when "the hand-tub" was in its prime. He was a Curator of the famous Concord Lyceum and contributed largely to its brilliant success. He counted among his friends such men as Judge Hoar, Frank B. Sanborn, Grindall Reynolds, R. W. Emerson, A. B. Alcott and his daughters, Louisa and May, and many others.
When the celebration of Centennial of the Concord fight was proposed he was a member of the Committee of arrangements and one of the most active in carrying the celebration to fulfillment.
In 1883 he married Clara M. Wilbur, daughter of George B. Wilbur, Esq., of Newton, and two years later removed to Boston, where he resided during the last twenty years of his life. He was a Free Mason. He was an active member of the South Con- gregational Church and contributed liberally to other churches of the Unitarian denomination in Concord, West Newton, and Boston, as well as to numerous charities. He was a strong Re- publican. He had memberships in the Union, the Merchants, and the Unitarian clubs. While automobiling was a form of recreation that he enjoyed, his chief sport was gunning, a sport that he in- dulged in regularly up to within a short time before his death.
He took an active interest in the affairs of the Grand Army of the Republic and many times entertained the veterans at the Con-
JAMES CROMBIE MELVIN
cord reunions. When they came as his guests, instead of marching at the head of the line, he modestly fell to the rear so as to attract no attention. If he suspected that any, through pecuniary in- ability, would be kept from coming, he quietly slipped a ticket into the envelope carrying the invitation.
One of James C. Melvin's most notable contributions to the beauty of Concord is the memorial monument which he erected in the old Sleepy Hollow Cemetery as memorial to his three brothers who lost their lives in the Civil War. One brother died while a prisoner at Andersonville; another in a Virginia hospital; the third was killed in the Battle before Petersburg. The monument, a work of the Concord sculptor, Daniel Chester French, is made of pink Knoxville marble and is placed in a most picturesque part of the beautiful grounds.
Mr. Melvin died quite suddenly on Tuesday, the nineteenth of January, 1915, at the Copley Square Hotel in Boston, where he made his winter residence. He was buried at Concord in the fam- ily lot not far from the Memorial to his brothers.
His death called forth many appreciative notices. One friend of the family in a letter to a Boston paper said :
"In his work, play, love, and worship, he was so keenly sensitive to the proper place and appreciation of each, so rounded out in the fulness of their results, it may well be said that he possessed that completeness of life approached by many but realized by few."
All accounts agreed as to his integrity, his wonderful business judgment and ability, his untiring energy in carrying every enter- prise to triumphant success, his faithfulness to all trusts, his gift for friendship, his unostentatious charity, and his appreciation of the work of others.
Having no children of his own-his only son having died very young-he was sympathetic with youth and entered into all their joys and sorrows with remarkable power of insight.
Few men in this country have ever accomplished more in spite of early obstacles. His large fortune was made honorably and was regarded as a sacred trust. His was a career that should be an inspiration to all the young in the land.
Joeyhypo
JAMES JEFFERSON MYERS
J AMES JEFFERSON MYERS came of old Mohawk Dutch ancestry through the paternal Meyers and Van Valkenburg families, and of Puritan stock through the maternal Stevens and Tracy lines. His grandparents on both sides were among the pioneer settlers in Western New York.
Mr. Myers was born on the twentieth of November, 1842, in Frewsburg, New York, and died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on April 13, 1915. His father, Robert Myers (born 1818, died 1884), the son of John and Catherine (Van Valkenburg) Myers, was a farmer and lumberman, known among his neighbors as an industri- ous citizen and a generous friend. He was noted for hardy endur- ance, kindness of heart, easy good nature, fondness for companion- ship and games, and love of animals. His mother, Sabra (Stevens) Myers (born 1820, died 1882), was the daughter of Wait and Polly (Tracy) Stevens.
Mr. Myers's great-grandfather, Elias Tracy, was a "brave sol- dier in the Revolutionary War and a man of unusual force of char- acter and of unconquerable will."
In boyhood Mr. Myers was fond of all kinds of out-of-door life. This freedom amid the atmosphere of the country and the broad expanse of nature opened broader views and developed a hardihood and enterprise which were of eminent service in after life. He had, moreover, such daily tasks as would naturally come to a lumberman's and farmer's boy. He felt this service was of great value to him in affording him physical strength and in forming his habits. Many a man has proved there is no better place in which to bring up a family of children than on a farm in the country.
The moral side of his nature found a rare development through his mother's influence. This was also potent in moulding his atti- tude towards others. He met difficulties in acquiring an education
JAMES JEFFERSON MYERS
and would have been far less the man that he was had he not experienced them. But his difficulties were not much greater than those of most hoys similarly situated.
He attended the Fredonia Academy and the Randolph Academy in Western New York, and entered Harvard College in 1865. Here he distinguished himself by his scholarship. He won the Boylston Prize for Elocution for two successive years; and he kept himself in good physical condition by rowing. He was a member of the so- called "Third Crew," which beat the Class Crew, winning the prize in 1868. He received the degree of A.B. in 1869. After taking his degree, he entered the Harvard Law School. During one year of his course he taught mathematics in the College; he also spent a year abroad at about this time; but in spite of interruptions, he was graduated with his class in 1872, receiving the degree of LL.B. While preparing for college he spent a portion of his time each year in lumbering on the Ohio and Allegheny rivers, making long trips by raft, thus building up a strong physique and acquiring a knowledge of the country and of human nature.
After graduation from the law school he spent some time in teaching and traveling, and then commenced the practice of law in New York City. The profession of law was entirely of his own choosing. Home influence, that of school and especially his col- lege friendships, and the men with whom he was brought in con- tact in active life, contributed greatly to mould his character and fashion his tastes.
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