Marsh, George P.

Born: 1801-03-15 Woodstock, Vermont

Died: 1882-07-23 Vallombrosa, Italy

George Marsh graduated from Dartmouth College in 1820 and studied law. He earned admittance to the Vermont bar in 1825 and started a practice in Burlington, Vermont. Marsh married Harriet Buel in 1828, with whom he had two children. Five years into their marriage, Harriet died from a heart condition. Marsh served as a member of the governor's council in 1835. Marsh won election to the U.S. House of Representatives, as a Whig, serving from 1843 until he resigned in 1849 to become minister resident to Turkey. He served in Turkey from 1849 to 1853, and in 1852, President Zachary Taylor put Marsh in charge of a special mission to Greece. Marsh served as fish commissioner of Vermont in 1857 and railroad commissioner from 1857 to 1859. In 1861, President Abraham Lincoln appointed Marsh as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to Italy, serving in that position until his death.

Biographical Directory of the American Congress 1774-1996 (Alexandria, VA: CQ Staff Directories, 1997), 1446; Gravestone, Campo Cestio, Rome, Italy; Sylvia B. Larson, "Marsh, George Perkins," American National Biography, ed. by John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 14:535-37.