FANNY JONES MARSH was the third daughter and child of Major Ezekiel and Lucinda Ransom. She was born at Shelburne Falls, then Hampshire, now Franklin Co., Mass., Jan. 7, 1796. It is said that Major Ransom went to Townshend, Windham Co., Vt., about 179o, which is quite probable, as he was married there in 1791. That being the case, the home of Fanny J. was a remote settlement scantily supplied with the belongings of a comfortable community. Shelburne Falls, the nearest point of any importance, had been much longer settled than Townshend. It had been Ezekiel's home for many years. His father and mother were still there, so that it is probable that he was there with his wife during the exigency for better security and care than could be had at the Townshend home. Certain it is, that the daughter was reared at the Fletcher farm, so called, which the Major had traded for with General Fletcher soon after his marriage to the latter's daughter, Lucinda, and no young woman could have the advantage and wholesome influence of more correct companionship and refined associations than did the daughter, Fanny. In fact, Townshend had been peopled by a class of settlers far superior to the average im-migrants that first made their way to the grants that had been laid off on the hillsides and in the valleys of Vermont. She was, therefore, trained under the best conditions that her watchful parents could command, and was early schooled in the exercise of those graces that most adorn the true and cultured woman. She received the best education that the remote district where she had her home could afford; at the common school of Townshend and the academies at Brattleboro and Westminster. This, with a thorough familiarity with all the duties incident to the domestic situation thoroughly equipped her for the requirements of the home and home circle to which as a wife and mother she brought the devotion and tender affection that characterized the true-hearted New England matron of the early days.
She married John P. Marsh at Townshend, Vt., Dec. 7, 1817, and for a time afterwards resided at Brattleboro, where her husband had a store. Subsequently they came to East Townshend, establishing his business at that place. He continued in the mercantile trade until 1825, when he disposed of the concern, bought the old homestead farm at West Townshend from his father-in-law, who had operated it for many years. There they remained until 1833, when the attractions of distant Michigan induced them to emigrate and bid a lasting adieu to the rocky hillsides of old Vermont. They settled on Grand Prairie, a few miles west of the present city of Kalamazoo, where John P. bought a quarter section of virgin prairie land, which his enthusiasm and industry soon transformed into one of the best of farms. There he continued to plow and plant until the necessity of supplying his growing family of boys and girls with better educational advantages induced him to sell his farm property and to move into town, where they could attend the excellent schools which it had been the first care of the Eastern people who founded the place to establish.
Leaving the farm, Mr. Marsh again engaged in business pursuits until 1863, when a number of his children having located at Chicago, it was deemed the better plan that the "old folks" should follow and make that city their home during their remaining lives.
John P. Marsh was born in Rockingham, Vt., Dec. 9, 1792. He was at an early age placed in a store to learn the mercantile trade. He made a successful merchant but preferred to be a farmer. He was a man of large attainments. That, coupled with unswerving integrity and sound common sense gave him high standing and wide influence in the community where he lived. John P. died Nov. 1, 1864, and Fanny J. the devoted wife, Jan. 16, 1878, at Chicago, and are buried at Graceland Cemetery near that city. Rarely is recorded the kindly, interesting and useful lives that illustrated the career of this most exemplary and respected pair. Historical outline of the Ransom family of America