or

October 16, 1816; removed from Lunenburg, Massachusetts, and with Stephen, Jr., bought the Buss farm, as it has since been known, at Wilton. Benjamin Franklin Marden Franklin, as he was commonly called, was a skillful mechanic. He resided at Mont Vernon and Nashua, New Hampshire. He worked also for Asa Jones, of Wilton, and later entered partnership with John Mills, tanner and shoe manufacturer. In 1837 he removed to Syracuse, New York, returning to Mont Vernon and then to Nashua. In 1846 he returned to his native town and spent there the later years of his life.

Children: 1. Sarah Luthera, born May 5, 1835, married George Averill, of Mont Vernon, where they resided. 2. Benjamin Franklin, Jr., born May 12, 1836, died at Syracuse, June 23, 1838. 4. George A., born August 9, 1839, mentioned below. 5. Frank, born at Nashua, March 31, 1841, married, at Concord, May 16, 1882, Mary Frances Biddle, who died October 14, 1885. 6. Maria Theresa, born at Nashua, March 6, 1844, married, at Mont Vernon, May 28, 1869, E. Gerry Martin, now deceased; resides at East Boston, Massachusetts; had son and daughter, and three died in infancy. 7. Hannah Catherine, born at Mont Vernon, December 16, 1846, married, at Lowell, Massachusetts, November 27, 1873, Samuel Sewall, Jr., she died August 27, 1886, leaving a son and daughter. 8. Wendell Phillips, born at Mont Vernon, May 6, 1850, married, at Concord, October 28, 1878, Melvina Drew Nutter.

(VII) George Augustus Marden, son of Benjamin Franklin Marden (6), was born in the town of Mont Vernon, New Hampshire, August 9, 1839. He was two years old when the family removed to Nashua, New Hampshire, but in the spring of 1847 returned to Mont Vernon where he attended the district school until 1850, working at his father's trade of shoemaker during all his spare hours, and also at times in the Fancy Box Factory of W. H. Conant in Mont Vernon. He fitted for college at Appleton Academy and entered. Dartmouth in the fall of 1857. He was graduated in 1861, earning all of his college expenses by working and teaching school, except the sum of five hundred dollars that he had borrowed from friends. His first school was in the village of North Chelmsford, Massachusetts, in the winter of 185758. He taught afterward in Nashua, Mont Vernon and Hillsborough, New Hampshire, and Randolph, Massachusetts. He left college just as the Civil war began in

earnest, and in November, 1861, enlisted as a private in Company G, Second Regiment of Berdan's United States Sharpshooters, one of the three New Hampshire companies raised. for Berdan's two regiments, and on the organization of his company was tendered the warrant of orderly sergeant, which he declined in favor of a member of the company who had already served three months and was, he thought, better qualified for the position. Marden was chosen second sergeant and went forward with his company, joining the regiment at the Camp of Instruction on Seventh street, Washington, D. C. Here both the First and Second Regiments were encamped during the winter, and Marden was at once detailed as clerk at headquarters to assist Colonel Berdan, who was busy in correspondence with the war department and the Governors of various states where the sharpshooters shooters were being recruited. In April, 1862, Colonel Berdan was ordered with the First Regiment to join McClellan's army on the Peninsula and the Second Regiment was sent to McDowell's army on the Rapidan. Colonel Berdan had Marden transferred to the First Regiment with which he was connected during the entire Peninsular campaign. On reaching Harrison's Landing, after the Seven Days Fight, the quartermaster of the First Regiment resigned and Sergeant Marden was appointed to succeed him and commissioned as first lieutenant by Governor Berry, of New Hampshire. With this rank he served during the remainder of the three year term of his regiment, acting during most of the time as assistant adjutant general on the staff of Colonel Berdan, who was much of the time in command of the brigade in which the Sharpshooters were serving. He took part in the battles of Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Wapping Heights, and many other engagements in which Colonel Berdan had command of the brigade. He was mustered out with the other field and staff officers, September 24, 1864.

On returning home he spent the fall and winter months in the study of law at Mont Vernon. In the spring of 1865 he entered the law office of Minot & Mugridge in Concord, New Hampshire, as a student and clerk. He became interested in newspaper work in Concord through writing and reporting from time to time for the Concord Monitor. He acquired a liking for journalism, and when two of his Dartmouth classmates who had settled at Charlestown, Kanawha county, West Virginia, requested him to take charge of a weekly

newspaper at Kanawha, the Republican, he accepted the position. When he found that he was expected to swing the paper into the support of President Andrew Johnson, he gave up the task in disgust and returned to New Hampshire in the spring of 1866. He was next in the employ of Adjutant-General Natt Head, afterward governor, to edit the histories of the several New Hampshire military organizations which had served in the war, for the adjutant-general's report. He also did some work for the Concord Monitor and became the New Hampshire correspondent of the Boston Daily Advertiser. January 1, 1867, he was called to Boston to become the assistant editor of the Advertiser and was succeeded as correspondent by Dr. Gallinger, now United States senator from New Hampshire. During the summer of the same year, while visiting in Lowell, he became by merest chance interested in a proposition for the sale of the leading daily newspaper of that city, the Lowell Daily Courier, and also the Lowell Weekly Journal. In partnership with his college classmate and comrade in the Civil war, Major E. T. Rowell, he purchased the newspapers of Messrs. Stone & Huse, taking possession September 1, 1867. Mr. Marden took charge of the editorial department and his partner of the counting room, under the firm name of Marden & Rowell. (See sketch of Mr. Rowell elsewhere in this work). This partnership continued exactly twenty-five years. The business was incorporated in 1892, the interests of the two partners in the company remaining equal, however, and their relative positions the same. The Courier Publishing Company and the Citizen Company, which published the Lowell Daily Citizen, were consolidated December 1, 1894, Mr. Marden retaining his position as editor-inchief of the Daily Courier and Weekly Journal.

Mr. Marden had a brilliant career in political life. He was an earnest and active Republican and early became one of the leaders of his party. He was elected representative to the general court for 1873 from Lowell. He was defeated for re-election, but had become so popular in the house of representatives that he was chosen clerk of the house for 1874 and was re-elected each year until 1883, when he was again elected representative from his own district and was chosen speaker; was reelected speaker the following year, and was exceedingly popular as a presiding officer during two very important sessions. He was state senator the following year in a close dis

trict, but was defeated for re-election. In the fall of 1888 he was nominated for treasurer and receiver general of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and re-elected five years in succession, the limit allowed by the Constitu

tion.

In 1880 he was elected a delegate from the Lowell congressional district to the Republican National Convention at Chicago, and was one of the famous three hundred and six constituting the "Old Guard" that voted for General Grant for a third term. His associate as delegate was Governor George S. Boutwell. In 1886 Mr. Marden was appointed by Governor Ames trustee of the Massachusetts Agricultural College, but he resigned when elected state treasurer. In April, 1895, he was elected vice-president of the Hancock National Bank, of Boston, as an active executive officer, but resigned after one year.

Mr. Marden was an effective public speaker and took part in every campaign after coming to Lowell. In 1896 he was one of the Union veterans who made a stumping tour by rail in the states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and New York. The tour was arranged by General Russell A. Alger, of Michigan, and the other speakers were General O. O. Howard, of Vermont, General Daniel E. Sickles, of New York, General Thomas J. Stewart, of Pennsylvania, Major J. W. Burst, of Illinois, and Corporal James Tanner, of Washington. He has delivered many addresses on formal occasions before various organizations. He was the speaker at the annual dinner on Forefathers' Day of the New England Society of New York City on two occasions. He has been the poet at Commencement for the Phi Beta Kappa Society and for the Society of the Alumni of Dartmouth College, also at the Reunion of the Veteran Soldiers at Concord, New Hampshire, of the Amoskeag Veterans, of the Society of the Army of the Potomac at Buffalo, New York, and of the Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity conventions at Boston, Rochester and New Haven. He was the first comman、 der of Post No. 42, Grand Army of the Republic, of Lowell, and was a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion, Massachusetts Commandery. He died at his home. in Lowell, December 19, 1906.

He married, December 10, 1867, Mary Porter, daughter of Deacon David Fiske, of Nashua, New Hampshire, and his wife Harriet (Nourse) Fiske, who was a lineal de

scendant of Rebecca Nourse, wife of Francis Nourse, condemned to death and hanged for witchcraft at Salem, Massachusetts. Children: 1. Philip Sanford, born January 12, 1874, graduated at Dartmouth College in 1894, and at the Harvard Law School. He married, June 12, 1902, Florence S. Shirley. 2. Robert Fiske, born June 14, 1876, graduated at Dartmouth in 1898. He married, June 12, 1901, Ella Pope.

(For first generation see James Marden 1.)

(II) James Marden, son of MARDEN James Marden (1), was born about 1670. He married, October 23, 1695, Abigail Webster, born in Haverhill, May 27, 1676, the daughter of Stephen and Hannah (Ayer) Webster. Stephen Webster was the second child of John and Mary (Shots well) Webster, and was born at Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1637; married, March 24, 1663, Hannah Ayer, and lived at Haverhill. John Webster, born in England about 1600, married Mary Shotswell, and emigrated to America about 1635. (See Webster family). James Marden resided at Newcastle where he died prior to 1726. Children: 1. Stephen, born August 25, 1699, in Newcastle, mentioned below. 2. Thomas. 3. Ebenezer. 4. Rachel, married Job Chapman. 5. Abigail, born in Newcastle, married (first) George Foss, (second) Nathaniel Drake. 6. James, born September 25, 1697. The foregoing are not in the order of their birth.

(III) Stephen Marden, son of James Marden (2), was born at Newcastle, August 25, 1699. He was a cordwainer by trade. His house was near Charles B. Odiorne's at Little Harbor and he was the owner of a ferry to Great Island, now New Castle. He married, 1722, Charity Long. Children, born in Rye, New Hampshire: 1. Hannah, born March 13, 1723. 2. Benjamin, August 9, 1729, married, January 31, 1754, Rachel Dowrst. 3. Ruth, December 8, 1731, married, October 11, 1753, Levi Tower. 4. Elizabeth, April 12, 1734. 5. Stephen, September 27, 1736, mentioned below. 6. Abigail, July 23, 1739, married (first) Daniel Philbrick; (second) William David

son.

(IV) Stephen Marden, son of Stephen Marden (3), was born September 27, 1736; married, August 28, 1760, Elizabeth Webster. He settled in Chester, New Hampshire, living on lot No. 14, second division, where Thomas Fernald lived and where Thomas Lane lived later. Marden was a petitioner for the settling

off and incorporation of the town of Raymond. He died at New Hampton, where many Chester people settled. His death was caused by a falling tree, June 19, 1781. His widow was taxed in Chester as late as 1785, but the family all removed from that town. They had nine children between 1760 and 1781 in Chester. One was born September 29, 1781, after the father's death, and the widow had a struggle to support her children. Children: Stephen, mentioned below; James, Benjamin, John, born February 18, 1779, mentioned below.

(V) Deacon Stephen Marden, son of Stephen Marden (4), was born at Chester, New Hampshire, September 23, 1771. He removed to Palermo, Maine, with his brother, John Marden, in 1793, and took up a tract of land on what is now called Marden Hill. They had adjoining farms and their brother Benjamin had a farm later adjoining theirs. He married Abigail Black, of Palermo. He was one of the town wardens in 1804. He was a prosperous farmer and had the distinction of owning the first wagon ever in the town of Palermo. He had twelve children.

(V) John Marden, son of Stephen Marden (4), and brother of Deacon Stephen Marden (5), was born at Chester, New Hampshire, February 18, 1779. He wrote an account of the early settlement of the town of Palermo, which has been published in pamphlet form with other matter, and from which we quote:

"My mother was left a widow in poor circumstances, with the care of eight children, and one added to that number (after her husband's death by accident) on the twenty-ninth of September following. It being in the time. of the Revolutionary war, she had many hardships to encounter, having but little but her hands and good economy to support her family, yet she bore her trouble with a good degree of christian patience. In the year 1783 a treaty of peace was signed between the United States and Great Britain which gave her some relief. In the year 1790 my eldest brother moved her and the younger part of the family to the town of Canterbury, New Hampshire, where she spent the remainder of her life in comfortable circumstances to the day of her death, November 3, 1830, aged about ninetyone years.

"January, 1793, I came into the district of Maine, at the age of fourteen years—in the county of Lincoln (now Waldo) and took up my residence at a place called the Great Pond settlement at the extremity of Sheepscot Pond. I had many hardships to encounter, being the

only youth in the place. The nearest mill was twelve miles, through a lonely wood, with but little better than a foot path and spotted trees. Yet with pleasing prospects I looked forward to the time when this good land would be settled; when school houses and mills would be built and roads made, and this wilderness would become a fruitful field. I took great pleasure in visiting my friends in New Hampshire once in every three years, although I had to travel the distance of two hundred and twenty miles on the frozen ground in the month of November or December.

"I worked with my brother, Stephen Marden, until I was twenty-two years of age, when I bought the farm on which I now live (1855) with the barn then built and a log house thereon. April 23, 1801, I was united in marriage with Mary Bagley, of Liberty, Maine, and moved on to the farm that spring. with a pleasing prospect of enjoying happiness. For three of four years we were favored with good health and our crops came in bountifully, and all things bespoke prosperity.

"January 22, 1805, I was severely wounded by the falling of a tree. Then my sufferings were very great. Yet my mind was happy in the Lord, and I could truly say, 'Though he slay me, yet will I trust in Him.' On the third day of February I had my left leg amputated above the knee, which was very expensive at that time, so that my future prospects of happiness in this world began to decay. In April following we chose our town officers for the first time. I took a part with them in collecting taxes and serving precepts, etc. This year with the past will long be remembered as a season of great religious excitement in this town and vicinity. A Baptist church was organized that season and many were added thereto. I was baptized and added to the church at the next August conference. On the tenth of September my companion was taken sick and died on the sixteenth—with rash and putrid fever-aged about twentytwo. My little son died on the twenty-first, aged three and a half years. I had two children left to the mercies of the people, a daughter Eliza, two years old, and a little son Hiram, six days old. Then was my house left to me desolate and everything of this world's was clothed in gloom. All my future prospects gone and the lonely graveyard was the pleasantest place that I could visit.

* * *

I disposed of my children where they were nursed with tenderness and care. I left my house and attended to my business in town that fall. In the winter I went to New Hamp

shire to visit my friends. I returned in the spring and finished my collecting and engaged in town business again. In the year 1805 I let out my farm to Elder Robinson and Dr. Pratt with but little expectations to pay the bills and save the farm. I earned what I could. I found that I had many friends to encourage me and made me some presents. I was encouraged to try and pay the bills and save the farm. This season I formed an acquaintance with Mrs. Eunice Ward of Harlem (now China) who was left a widow about the same time—and near the same age, with three children, two daughters and a son, the eldest six years and the youngest seventeen months. with about seven or eight hundred dollars worth of property for their support, she a professor of religion and a member of the Baptist church in Harlem. We were united in marriage on August 24, 1806, and moved home and commenced keeping house that fall. She assisted me to pay the bills and stock the farm. I was encouraged to pursue a course of farming for a living and attend to the town business and such labor as I could do. Soon after this I was chosen town clerk and kept the records, which was continued about twenty years. In the year 1816 I was appointed second postmaster in Palermo, which was continued about seven years. Having the company and the assistance of a prudent and industrious companion I have enjoyed much peace of mind for many years and have witnessed much of the goodness of the Lord. We were members of the First Baptist Church in Palermo forty-five years. We took much satisfaction with our christian friends, both in prosperity and in adversity. In the year 1850 my companion was taken sick and died Februáry 28, 1851, aged seventy years and four months. * We had nine children. Where I reside is about twenty miles northeasterly of Augusta, then called Fort Weston. The inhabitants east and north of my residence were but few at that time. Several small settlements were made in the woods, and generally called after the name of the first settler or by the old Indian name of ponds and streams. The land was very good for crops of corn and rye. Each settler made his choice for a farm. No taxes were called for at that time. There were no framed buildings east or north of my residence for the space of twelve or fifteen miles, and three or four miles to the south and west until the next April, 1793, when two barn frames were put up, to the great joy of the settlers, but more so to the owners. He describes the growth and de

* *

velopment of the town and state, giving a good picture of the pioneer days. "These settlers were all laboring men, engaged in their several occupations, such as clearing land, raising crops, putting up buildings and fences in the summer and fall. In the winter and spring all engaged in lumbering, hunting and sugar-making, which was much of it done in the forest at that time. These settlers were all very poor, but as 'happy as clams' and as friendly to each other as monkeys." Of his fellow-pioneers he writes (1855): "The few that are left are worn down with age and infirmities too numerous for me to name; some with the loss of sight and hearing; some with the loss of their limbs; some with palsied hands; and others with general debilities, etc. And but very few, if any, are able to take care of themselves, but have mostly given themselves up to the care of their children or grandchildren or the town to provide for them." He died August 25, 1860, aged eightyone years.

(VI) Benjamin Marden, son of Stephen Marden (5), was born in Palermo, October 26, 1798. He married Hannah Carr, of the same town. Among their children was Stephen P.

(VII) Stephen P. Marden, son of Benjamin and Hannah (Carr) Marden (6), was born at Palermo, March 3, 1820, died January 4, 1888. He married Julia A. Avery, a member of an old Essex family, and had children: Willie E., July 4, 1850, died March 20, 1871. Oscar Avery, see forward. Frank Webster, see forward.

(VIII) Oscar Avery Marden, son of Stephen P. (7), and Julia A. (Avery) Marden, was born in Palermo, August 20, 1853. He was educated in the district schools, with an occasional term in the high school and Westbrook Seminary. He worked on the farm of his father until he was seventeen years of age, commencing to teach school during the winter terms from the early age of fifteen years. He had charge of the English department of Dirigo Business College, at Augusta, Maine, in 1871 and 1872, and in the spring of the latter year came to Boston and accepted the position of bookkeeper for the New England office of the Victor Sewing Machine Company of Middletown, Connecticut. He remained with that concern until the fall of 1874, when he entered the law office of Samuel K. Hamilton, in the old Barristers Hall, Court Square, as a student. At the same time he commenced a course of study in the law school of Boston University. He was awarded his degree of

LL.B. in June, 1876, and the following fall was admitted to the bar. He began legal practice in Boston, where he has had his law offices for the greater part of the time, in the Rogers building. He made his home in Stoughton, where he also had law offices, and where he held a commission as trial justice from 1877 to 1891. When the district court of Southern Norfolk was established in the latter year he was appointed judge. This district includes Stoughton, Canton, Sharon and Avon, and Judge Marden has filled the office until the present time. He has been a leading member of the Norfolk Bar Association for a number of years, and was secretary from 1886 to 1891. He was a Democrat in politics but not an active partisan, and has enjoyed the confidence and respect of his fellow townsmen regardless of their political views. He was a member of the Stoughton school committee from 1886 to 1889, and from 1892 to 1894. He has been president of the Stoughton Grenadier Association since 1880. He is

prominent in the Order of Odd Fellows, and was grand patriarch of the Grand Encampment of Massachusetts in 1893, and president of the Encampment Deputies Association in 1894. He is a member of the Pine Tree State Club, which is composed of natives of Maine resident in Boston and its vicinity.

Judge Marden married, October 19, 1882, at Stoughton, May Theresa Ball, daughter of Francis M. and Rosetta A. Ball. Mrs. Marden died April 4, 1890. Their children were: Edgar Avery, a graduate of Dartmouth College, and now a student in the Harvard Law School. Oscar Herbert, born September 3, 1887, died June 15, 1891, aged about four years. Judge Marden married (second) Caroline Averv. No issue.

(VIII) Frank Webster Marden, third son and child of Stephen P. (7), and Julia A. (Avery) Marden, was born in Palermo, May 25, 1855. His early education was acquired in the district schools and the high school, and this was supplemented by attendance at a business college in Augusta, Maine, for two years. He remained on the farm of his father until he had attained the age of twenty-four years and then decided to make his own way in the world. He went to Boston, Massachusetts, arriving in that city May 6, 1879, and entered the office of Rufus G. Norris, his uncle, who was a dealer in foreign and domestic oils. He was thus employed for a period of seven and a half years, until the death of his uncle in January, 1886. Mr. Marden then, in association with George H. Leonard, purchased the