John S. Marvin
John S. Marvin, dealer in lumber, Ravenna, was born in Lancaster, Niagara (now Erie) Co., N. Y., May 30, 1831. The family are descended from the well-known Marvins, first settlers at Saybrook, Conn. His immediate ancestors for four generations were residents of Litchfield County, Conn. His great-grandparents died of small-pox contracted from Burgoyne's Army, then passing through the country. His mother died in Lancaster, N. Y. , when he was four years of age, and his father returned to Connecticut, where he resided until his death. Our subject learned the shoe-maker's trade under the old apprentice system, in Litchfield County, Conn., and came to Ravenna, Ohio, June 25, 1855. After spending two years in traveling in Kentucky and Tennessee, he finally settled here in 1857, and was in the boot, shoe and leather business until 1867. Here he married, November 20, 1859, Miss Sarah M. Woodruff, daughter of Chancy and Perlina Woodruff, who came in 1830 from Hartford, Conn., to Atwater Township, this county, where Mrs. Marvin was born April 30, 1837. To our subject and wife have been born eight children: Anna L., Fannie C. (deceased), Charles L., Lydia Perlina, John C, Edward W., Rollie Hutchuson, William Bray. Our subject and wife have resided in Ravenna since their marriage, with the exception of fifteen years (1867 to 1882) spent on a farm in the western part of the township. Mr. Marvin purchased an interest in the lumber yard with Robert Smith in 1874. Our subject, wife and eldest daughter are members of the Universalist Church. Mr. and Mrs. Marvin were kindly remembered by their numerous friends on the twenty-fifth anniversary of their wedding, November 20, 1884, on which occasion they received many beautiful and valuable presents.
From History of Portage County, Ohio, Warner, Beers & Co., Chicago, 1885