| Noteringar |
- Bio: Edward Franklin "Ed" Marcellus was born in 1856 on Lewis Street in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York County, New York, the son of Edward Franklin and Eliza Waldron (Byrne) Marcellus. He was the fourth of five sons. Thomas Jay (1849), Charles (1850), Martin Luther (1854), Edward (1856), and Peter W. (1859). Ed's mother died when Ed was young probably around 1860 and his father then married Jeanette Frichie Stoddart (FAG #177899024). Ed's father died May 16, 1868, in Manhattan, New York County, New York.After the death of his father, life was hard for his step-mother who was left with at least three of her husband's children a son from her first marriage and a daughter from her marriage with John. In the article transcribed below written several years after Ed's death it paints Ed's step-mother as "not a kind-hearted person". However in a suggestion from Find A Grave member #47747569, he states Jeanette may not have been as unkind of a step-mother as the article paints her since one of Ed's brothers; Martin Luther gave his daughter the middle name of his stepmother.Ed took advantage of the Children's Trains that were taking orphaned children west and placing them in families. He was unofficially adopted by Daniel and Mary Huston (my 2nd great grandparents) in Nemaha, Brock County, Nebraska.Ed lived with Daniel and his wife Mary and their three daughters and two sons. Eventually he became engaged to Daniel and Mary's daughter, Emma Luella Huston (1860-1877) (not Nellie as stated in the article below). but Emma died from an epidemic.Ed then married Rilla Belle Campbell on April 2, 1884, in Brock, Nemaha County, Nebraska. Rilla was born July 1861 in Indiana, the daughter of James Martin and Elizabeth (Henderson) Campbell. They had the following known children:1. Edward Winifred Marcellus (1885-1958)2. Byrne Campbell Marcellus (1888-1959)3. Jay Dolph Donald Marcellus (1891-1951)Ed first became a teacher and later a minister. Ed died May 25, 1895, in Menominee County, Wisconsin. Rilla Belle died October 30, 1959 in Evanston, Illinois.Following is an article from the Brock Bugle dated September 1, 1977, written by Lucy Ball Menchetti about Ed and the Children's train:The Children's Train by Lucy B. MenchettiAfter the Civil War, in all large cities of the East, were many homeless children who roamed the streets, sleeping in doorways, huddled together for warmth. A group of citizens formed together to send these little waifs west to sparsely settled towns and country-sides to be assimilated into the communities. It was an idea that was sound and well organized. The children were checked on later, and if the foster parents or the child were unhappy, a new home was found.In the city of New York lived Edward and Jay Marcellus. Their father was dead and they lived with their stepmother who was not a kind-hearted woman. She put Ed out on the streets as a news boy when he was six years old. He learned to read from the papers he sold and he grew wise in the ways of survival in that environment. The pennies he made were given to the step-mother.I do not know how old he was when the story of the "Children's Train" came out in the papers, but he decided that he would be on it. He made arrangements for his little brother to stay with friends of his father until he could send for him.The day the train was to be in New York City, he waited until the step-mother was away, made his clothes and Jay's into two bundles and delivered Jay to the kind people. Ed went to the gathering place and gave another name and said he was an orphan. He was processed in line with other children. Those without proper clothing were outfitted; those who needed a bath were given it--haircut and everything was done so they would look as neat as possible. Ed was clean and his clothes, while not good, were clean so he was put aboard.Can't you imagine the excitement that he must have felt going west to seek his fortune? The train started west, and at each city, people who had already been OKed by the churches were allowed to choose their child. Ed was not chosen; he was too old to be cute and too thin and undernourished for those who wanted a strong boy to work on a farm. At last in Western Nebraska, - with the train nearly empty - he was taken by a rancher. He was promptly put to herding cattle alone. He had a team and wagon. In good weather he slept in the wagon under it if it rained.Now the boy from the streets of New York was afraid of the fierce Nebraska storms, the rattle snakes, the coyotes, and the wolves howling at night, and the Indians he saw But he was self-reliant. He was not about to exchange one form of slavery in New York for another in Western Nebraska!He waited until he saw an east-bound wagon train in sight. Then he unharnessed the horses, knowing they would go home, and hitched a ride with a kindly wagon master as far as Nebraska City. There he began to look for work. He saw a farmer loading his wagon with groceries and supplies, ready to leave.Ed said, "Sir, do you need a strong boy to help with the chores?" The man was Daniel Huston, father of Frank and Ed Huston and one of the kindest of men. He looked at the thin little boy but did not miss that bright, intelligent face. He said, "It just happens I could use a boy about your size to help my children with their chores. Get on the wagon."So Ed went home with Daniel Huston and for the first time since his father's death, he experienced care and a loving home. He was treated just as Daniel treated his other children. On substantial farm food, he filled out and was a very handsome boy. He went to school and church with the Huston's and as he grew became part of the young peoples activities of Brock. He took back his name of Edwin Marcellus.He and Nellie (actually Emma Louella), Daniel's daughter were engaged to be married. But it was not to be as Nellie died in one of the epidemics that plagued the west in the early days.I do not know if Ed went to Peru or took an examination for a teachers certificate, but he became a teacher and taught in the Old Union School west of Brock. In his highest class was Belle Campbell. Several years later, when Ed Marcellus married Belle Campbell, they went to Evanston Academy in Illinois; Ed to study to be a minister and Belle to be a teacher. Their first son, Winifred, went to classes with them and slept on a pillow on his mother's desk - a thing unheard of in those days.Later, this training to teach was a blessing to Belle. Ed was preaching at Menominee, Wisconsin, and also at a country church. He had a cold but insisted he fulfill his preaching assignments by traveling with horse and buggy. He took pneumonia and died. In those days it was called quick consumption. By this time there were three little boys. Uncle Dolph Campbell went to Menominee to bring his sister & the boys to Brock. Belle was in such a state of shock he had to carry her on and off the train. However, when she got home and got stronger, she became a teacher once again. She was paid $30 per month for an 8 month term. They had a cow & the boys delivered milk in town and as they grew they worked on farms. Winifred always talked with pleasure, of the summers that he worked on the Nort Butterfield farm (Woodford's father). All three of the Marcellus boys graduated from the University of Nebraska with honors.They were devoted sons and saw that Aunt Belle had every comfort. However, the youngest brother died of a heart attack at 53 years of age. The other two brothers decided that their mother might out-live them, as they seemed to have the Marcellus heart problems, so they brought her to Evanston, to the best nursing home they could find, and set up a trust fund for her. Just as they had predicted, Aunt Belle, with the Campbell longevity, out-lived all her sons and their wives and when she passed away at age 99 it was her grandson, Edward Marcellus the Second who took her to Menominee, Wisconsin, to be buried by her husband, where he had preached and died 66 years before.Ed Marcellus and his younger (sic he was actually older) brother, Jay, met again when they were grown men, and Ed's boys kept in contact with their Uncle Jay all of the years of his life.
|
1856 - 1895 (39 år)
[1] 
