My Genealogy Hound

Marvin W. Trask, deceased, an early settler of Crawford County, Mo., was born in Connecticut in 1794. His father, Sampson Trask, died when Marvin W. was but a boy, and the latter being bound out ran away, serving as a cook during the War of 1812. The exact date of his settlement in Missouri is not known, but certain it is he was a resident of that State as early as 1826. He was engaged in mining in Crawford County, and though beginning a poor boy he became worth some $30,000. For many years he was surveyor of Crawford County, and in 1844 was its representative in the State Legislature. Though a farmer by occupation he was an active politician, and held many offices of trust and honor. His first wife was Alice (Stewart) Steen, who was born in 1826 and died in 1852, the mother of nine children. Two years after the death of his first wife Mr. Trask married Elizabeth J. Dawson, of East Tennessee. Nine children blessed this union and were deprived of their father by death in 1865; the mother still lives. Eugene Trask, the eldest child by the last marriage, was born in Crawford County, Mo., July 16, 1855, and was reared and educated in Steelville. At the age of sixteen he began to learn the printer’s trade, and helped set the type for the first newspaper printed in Crawford County. After working at this and clerking in a drug store for some years he bought a stock of drugs in 1880, and established a business in Steelville. In 1879 he married Mary, daughter of Jorgean and Anna Johansen, who was born in Maribo City, Island of Lolan, Denmark, and came to America with her parents when a child. Mr. and Mrs. Trask have four children; they are members of the Baptist Church. Politically, he is a Democrat. Mr. Trask was elected county treasurer in 1884, and re-elected in 1886, which position he has since filled. He is a member of the Missouri State Pharmaceutical Association.