Friday, February 02, 2007

Emogene Niver Marshall and Her Civil War Memorial to Her Brother


Mrs. Emogene Niver Marshall was a well known Sandusky resident who died in 1935, at about 85 years old. She gave many years of service to the Soldiers and Sailors Home (now the Ohio Veterans Home), giving entertainment to the residents and cheering the sick in the hospital. Emogene was married to Joseph T. Marshall, who served in the 101st Ohio Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War. Though Mr. Marshall had never been a resident of the home, over four hundred persons associated with the Soldiers and Sailors Home attended the funeral service Joseph T. Marshall in 1910, to show their respect and appreciation to Emogene Niver Marshall for her service at the Home.

She had an elder brother, Edwin M. Niver, about five years older. In 1861 Edwin enlisted in the 3rd Ohio Volunteer Calvalry, before he reached his seventeenth birthday, and served in battle through Tennessee and Alabama. He was captured by Confederate forces in November 1863, and sent to the Confederate prison at Andersonville, Georgia, where he died on June 19, 1864.

In 1932 Emogene Niver Mashall wrote a book in memory of her brother and his service in the war. In this book, REMINISCENCES OF THE CIVIL WAR AND ANDERSONVILLE PRISON, you can read the letters that Edwin M. Niver wrote home to his family. Emogene writes of the dreadful conditions of the prison, and includes a lengthy poem honoring the dead heroes buried at Andersonville. In the foreword to the book, E.H. Mack, Editor of the Sandusky Register states that Mrs. Emogene Niver Marshall was called the “Angel of the Home.” To view Mrs. Marshall’s tribute to her brother, inquire at Reference Services located on the Lower Level of Sandusky Library.

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