Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Marvin Celebrate 65th Anniversary

Conneaut

June 11, 1913

For more years than it is granted most people to live, Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Marvin of the East Side have shared life’s joys and sorrows, and yesterday surrounded by children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and other relatives, the remarkable couple celebrated the sixty-fifth anniversary of their wedding day.

Miss Mary E. Darling and Alexander Marvin were united in marriage by Rev. Sullivan of Jefferson, June 10th, 1848, at the home of the bride’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. James Darling, in Pierpont, where she had resided since she was seven years of age.  The bride was in her seventeenth year when she was married, having been born in Massachusetts, December 24, 1831.  Mr. Marvin was five years her senior and he had been a resident of Pierpont for two years.  He was born in Wolcottville, Ind., April 2nd, 1826.  Mrs. Nancy Hoskins of this city, who is eighty-five years of age, is the only person who attended the wedding outside of the family, who is still living, and she was in attendance at the celebration yesterday.

Mrs. Marvin was one of nine children, eight of whom are still living. She was the eldest of seven girls and one of the two boys, James Darling, Jr., died only last year.  The other brother O. C. Darling, of this city, who has been spending the winter in Florida, is expected to arrive home today.  The six sisters are so widely scattered that it was impossible for them all to get here for yesterday.  When James Darling died, it was the first break in the family circle to occur in twenty-eight years, the mother having died that many years before.  The father’s death occurred a number of years before that of his wife.   Mr. Marvin has a brother and a sister living in Wolcottville, and there are a number of grand-children and great grandchildren residing there and in Ashtabula and Painesville.

A reunion is being planned for July and the entire family will be together at that time. The celebration yesterday occurred at the home of Mr. and Mrs. B. B. Marvin on Peach street, East Conneaut, with whom the “bride and groom” make their home.   Until last April they resided at the old home in Pierpont, but as their son and his wife had recently moved to Conneaut, leaving the old people alone, it was thought best for them to come also. 

Besides the son and wife with whom they live, Mr. and Mrs. Marvin have two children surviving from a family of eight.  They reside in Conneaut also – Charles and Fred Marvin.  They, with  their wives were present, besides Mr. and Mrs. Brantley Marvin, Mr. and Mrs. John Hannah, Mr. and Mrs. Roy Fisk and daughter, Pauline, Mr. and Mrs. Will Fuller and daughter, Ulala, Luella Marvin, Frank Marvin of Andover, Howard, George and Irene Marvin, Mr. and Mrs. Roy Darling and William Canada. 

Miss Pauline Fisk and Miss Ulala Fuller were representatives of the fourth generation.  A sumptuous dinner was served at noon and the rest of the day was spent by the young folks in playing games, and by the older ones in talking over old times.

It is hardly possible for people today to grasp the changes which have taken place since Mr. and Mrs. Marvin clasped their hands, and started out on life’s journey together.  They took a wedding trip, it is true, but it could hardly be compared with the bridal tours young couples of today enjoy.  Instead of luxurious trains, motorcars, yachts, and other modern conveyances, young people of their day were happy to be able to take a trip with a horse and wagon – even covered buggies being almost unheard of at that time. 

Mr. and Mrs. Marvin, the morning after their wedding, climbed in a “crackey” wagon, in which two chairs had been fastened, and thus drove in state to Kinsman, where they spent a three days’ honeymoon.  They returned to Pierpont, where they lived until last April.  They have not been separated, except during the year and a half Mr. Marvin served in the Civil war.

Mr. and Mrs. Marvin are a very exceptional and remarkable couple.  They both enjoy excellent health and are very active.  Until they came to live with their son, Mrs. Marvin attended to all her own household duties, and day before yesterday, she made enough delicious salt-rising biscuits, which her family say no one can make as she does, to feed the hungry gathering yesterday. 

The minds of both are wonderfully clear and bright and it is keen pleasure for their children and grandchildren to hear them tell tales of the days when they were young together.  They come from families that are noted for their longevity, Mr. Marvin’s grandfather, Seth Marvin, having lived to the age of 106.

Mr. and Mrs. Marvin both say they do not feel a bit older than they did sixty-five years ago, and they are looking forward to many more years of happy life together.

Alexander Marvin died in April 1915 at age 89, and Mary Marvin died in 1920 at age 90. Both she and her husband Alex Marvin are buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Pierpont, Ohio.