Marsh, John (New York)

Born: 1788-04-02 Wethersfield, Connecticut

Died: 1868-08-05 Brooklyn, New York

John Marsh was a preacher and Protestant pastor, temperance activist, editor, and author. After graduating from Yale College in 1804, he began preaching in 1809. In October 1824, he married Frances F. Tallmadge, with whom he eventually had at least four children. In 1828, he became pastor of the First Congregational Church in Haddam, Connecticut, a position he held for fourteen years. He quickly became active and prominent in the temperance movement, holding numerous positions in temperance societies such as the Connecticut Temperance Society, Baltimore Temperance Society, and the American Temperance Society (later renamed the American Temperance Union). He was editor of the latter's periodicals, the Journal of the American Temperance Union, and the Youths' Temperance Advocate, until 1865. He worked for the American Temperance Union in both Philadelphia and New York City, delivered many public addresses on temperance—including in the hall of the U.S. House of Representatives—and published many tracts, pamphlets, and an autobiography. He earned his Doctor of Divinity degree from Jefferson College in 1852 and was able to attain a comfortable lifestyle. By 1860, he had a personal estate valued at $2,000 and owned real estate valued at $10,000.

The Cyclopædia of Temperance and Prohibition (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1891), 416; James Grant Wilson and John Fiske, eds., "Marsh, John," Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography (New York: D. Appleton, 1887-1889), 4:217-18; Connecticut, U.S., Town Marriage Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection), October 1824, Warren County (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, 2006); U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Ward 11, Brooklyn, Kings County, NY, 240-41; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Ward 3, Brooklyn, Kings County, NY, 41.