Marr, Charles E.

MARR, CANICK, GIDDINGS, PETERSON, WILLIS, HOLLIDAY

Posted By: Roseanna Zehner
Date: 7/23/2006 at 19:34:51

MARR, CHARLES E.

Charles E. Marr, an aged resident of Riverside township, Lyon county, was born in Maine, October 28, 1839, a son of Nathaniel and Susan (Canick) Marr. The father was born in Maine, and came to Iowa about 1870. He died in Poweshiek county at the advanced age of eighty-eight years. In early life he was a blacksmith, and combined that occupation with the labors incident to a farmer's life.

Susan Canick was born in St. John's, and died in Maine at the age of forty years. She was the mother of six children, three of whom are yet living.

The grandparents of Mr. Marr on his father's side were of New York, and from his memories of the fireside conversations in his youngest days his opinion is that the grandfather participated in the war of the Revolution, though he has never taken pains to have the matter determined.

Charles E. Marr left his eastern home at the age of twenty-two, and coming to Iowa City, Iowa, worked by the month, when he removed to Powesheik county. He was married October 14, 1861, Miss Elizabeth Giddings becoming his wife. She was also born in Maine, and became the mother of seven children, three of whom are yet living: Sarah E., the wife of Peter Peterson, and the mother of two children; Jessie I., the wife of Charles Willis; Charles F., married Lydia Holliday, and has one son, Harry. Charles F. remains at home to rent and manage his father's farm, now comprising a half section of land, which was the original purchase in 1884. It has a fine house and a large and well appointed barn. Probably no farmhouse in Iowa has a better water system. There are hydrants all over the place, and the windmill is handled with a lever from the rear of the barn. Its perfection excites the admiration of all who inspect it, it seems so like the city.

Mr. Marr settled on the place where he is now living in 1884, and his first home was an old granary, which however was soon replaced by a new and handsome house. His large barn was built about 1891. At the present time he is principally engaged in stock raising, though he does market some grain. Typical New Englanders, industrious, thrifty and honest to a fault, father and son are numbered among the leading businessmen of the county. Both are Republicans, the father casting his first vote for Abraham Lincoln, on the occasion of his second election, and the son for William McKinley in 1896.

The Marr family are associated with the Methodist church, and Mrs. Marr as a wife and mother is a representative of the very highest grade of American womanhood.

Source: Compendium of History Reminiscence and Biography of Lyon County, Iowa. Published under the Auspices of the Pioneer Association of Lyon County. Geo. Monlun, Pres.; Hon. E. C. Roach Sec’y; and Col. F. M. Thompson, Historian. Geo. A. Ogle & CO., Published, Engravers and Book Manufacturers. Chicago, 1904-1905

Transcribed by Roseanna Zehner, Darlene Jacoby and Diane Johnson