My Genealogy Hound

Thomas Marvel, retired farmer and former school teacher, is the great-grandson of Thomas Marvel, of Sussex county, Delaware. The following historical record is quoted: “Andrew Marvel was a member of the English Parliament about the middle of the Seventeenth century and did his whole duty. There was not gold enough in the King’s exchequer to make him swerve from the right. He was an author and poet of considerable note.” It is a well known fact that the Marvels constituted a part of the colony of Sussex county, Delaware. The Marvels turned their attention to the raising of peaches and fine horses. From the first they made their brandy, which became an indispensable article for family use and public gatherings. They were fond of well-trained saddle horses and in their estimation speed was an addition to his other good qualities. No young man in all that country rode a finer horse or possessed a more richly mounted saddle than did David Marvel, who was himself dressed in the finest blue broadcloth. There was living in the same country a wealthy French family by the name of Prettyman, whose daughter was the prettiest girl in all the land. To her, after obtaining the consent of her parents, young David made suit and Miss Comfort Prettyman became his wife. Their family occupied a leading place in society, being composed of daughters, with only one son, born in 1760, whom they named Prettyman. This boy when he grew up was very small, and was an expert rider of horses, which he made profitable as a business. When he wished a wife he sought and obtained the hand of Miss Lavina Rogers, whose near relative was governor of Delaware. His cousin, Elisha Marvel, married her sister Orpha. Thomas Marvel, the great grandfather of our subject, was born about 1750. Elisha Marvel, the son of Thomas and Susannah Marvel, was born October 28, 1771, and married Orpha Rogers, who was born December 22, 1775, daughter of John and Comfort Rogers. They had twelve children, as follows: Painter, born October 20, 1793; Comfort, born October 8, 1795; Levina, born February 18, 1798; Elisha, born April 6, 1801; George, born October 28, 1803; Polly, born April 6, 1806; William, born October 22, 1808; Orpha, born May 13, 1811; Thomas, born March 20, 1814; Cenie, born December 31, 1816; John Rogers, born July 8, 1819; Unice, born March 2, 1823. All grew to manhood and womanhood except William, who died when quite young. Painter Marvel, the eldest child of Elisha and Orpha Marvel, was born in Delaware and went with his parents to Georgia at the age of five years. The family came to Kentucky from Georgia about the year 1800, or a little later. In 1811 they crossed the Ohio into Indiana, locating in Gibson county, five years before Indiana became a State. Painter Marvel, then eighteen years of age, entered the land on which the family lived. This was in the midst of the forest and he, with his father and brothers, cleared a part of the ground and began farming. He was commissioned by the first governor of the State as lieutenant of a home guard company organized for the protection of the settlers. Painted Marvel farmed all of his life and amassed a comfortable fortune. His death occurred January 18, 1864, at the age of seventy-one, and that of his wife October 16, 1857. They had seven children: Martitia, born September 13, 1823; Serelda, born January 20, 1825; James, born June 15, 1826; Eliza J., born February 24, 1828; William L., born November 2, 1829; Amanda, born February 1, 1832, and Thomas, born May 11, 1834. All are deceased except Thomas, our subject, and Amanda, who married Nicholas W. Robinson, now deceased, and is living in Ardmore, Okla. Thomas Marvel was reared on a farm in Gibson county, Indiana, where he was born. He attended the country schools, built of logs, with puncheon floors and home-made benches of split logs. There were no blackboards. The writing was done with quill pens, and the ink made of pokeberry juice. After leaving school he entered the Indiana Asbury University at Greencastle, now the DePauw University, where he was a student from 1851 to 1854. Prof. Larribee, one of his teachers, was the first State Superintendent of Public Instruction. As there were no railroads, he had to drive to Greencastle in a hack. He began teaching September 4, 1854, in the same schoolhouse he first went to as a boy. He introduced the use of blackboards. Mr. Marvel taught school at different times, and in seven different rural schools, and between times he farmed and was very successful. In August, 1904, he retired and removed to Cynthiana, and since that time has been councilman one term. Mr. Marvel has seen, many changes in his lifetime. He remembers driving oxen, then horses, and his father bought the first buggy in their neighborhood. Now he drives an automobile. He also remembers when there were no carpets or cook stoves. Mr. Marvel was raised a Whig, but from the organization of the Republican party voted that ticket until 1887, and has voted the Prohibitionist ticket ever since. He is a member of the First Christian church, in which he is deacon and moderator. On September 14, 1854, Mr. Marvel married Miss Betsie Serina Rosborough, daughter of Alexander and Lucile (Emerson) Rosborough, natives of Gibson county, where she was born and raised. They had six children: William L., born August 11, 1855; Eliza J., born September 26, 1858; Lillie B., born January 24, 1860; Alexander L., born November 7, 1864; Lemuel E., born November 8, 1870; Roberta Imo, born April 16, 1877. All are living except William L. Eliza J. married Leroy C. Wilson, and they live at Poseyville; Lillie B. married James C. Calvert, and lives at Cynthiana; Roberta Imo married Jesse J. Shelton, and they live in Posey county (see sketch of Thomas and Jesse J. Shelton); William L. married Luella Calvert, both now deceased; Alexander married Laura Stone, and they live in Owensville (see Dr. Alexander L. Marvel); Lemuel E. married Katie Fitzgerald, and they live at Clinton, Ind. The wife and mother died September 2, 1892. The second wife was Hattie Berridge, nee Cross, daughter of William and Mahala (Davis) Cross, natives of Cambridge, England, where she was born. She came to America with her parents when quite small. Both parents of Mrs. Marvel are now deceased.