Sacramento County
Biographies
RALPH ELLIS MARSH
RALPH ELLIS MARSH.--A very experienced poultryman,
whose success has contributed to the advancement of an important industry in
California, is Ralph Ellis Marsh, the enterprising proprietor of the Hatchery
and Poultry Farm situated on the Galt road, about two and one-half miles east
of Galt. He is a native son, having been
born in historic Vallejo, on November 17, 1870. His father was Archibald Marsh, a native of New York State, and a descendant of Sir
Francis Drake; he migrated to Illinois when he was fourteen years old, and in 1852
came out to California as an emigrant, traveling
by means of the prairie schooner and the ox team. He reached Placerville without even a shoe to
cover his worn feet, and there mined until 1868, when he removed to Vallejo, to work in the
navy-yard. He married Miss Melville McConnaha, a native of Illinois, from an old family of the Prairie State, originally a branch of the
Wagners; and she also came to California, in 1851, accompanying her
parents, while crossing the plains. Her
father settled at Volcano, in Amador County, where he had a hotel. In 1872 Archibald Marsh removed to Santa Clara, and there followed the
carpenter trade, doing considerable contracting; and there he died at the age of
seventy-nine. His Good wife is still
living in Santa Clara, enjoying
her eightieth year.
The
worthy couple had eight children, the eldest of whom Frank, died in infancy, as
did also George, the second-born. Bruce
H. lives in Nebraska; Asa L. is at Santa Clara; Ralph E. is the subject of
this sketch; Zadie E. has become Mrs. William M.
Abbott, and lives at San Francisco; Archie W. is at Santa Clara; and Carl O. is at San Francisco.
Ralph Marsh attended the Santa Clara grammar school. At the age of eighteen he began to make his
own way in hotel work at Tacoma, Wash., continuing thus for three years. He then went to the new town of Everett,
where he worked for a year, and after that he was at Spokane for a short time,
and then in Portland for a year and a half, doing hotel work.
Returning
to Santa Clara, he learned the house-painting trade and followed that until
April, 1912, when he bought ten acres two and one-half miles east of Galt,
which he at once began to develop, and where he has resided ever since. This ranch is devoted to poultry-raising and
the hatching of baby chicks, and Mr. Marsh has twelve incubators, and disposes
of his choice chicks rapidly at wholesale.
He built all the structures, and made all the improvements on the place
himself, so that he may take pardonable pride in what he has accomplished. He hatches about 14,000 chicks a season. He belongs to the Grangers of Galt, and is a
member of the Poultry Breeders’ Association of California, the American Farm
Bureau and the Chamber of Commerce, of Galt.
At Santa Clara on February 1, 1903, Mr.
Marsh was married to Miss Blanche E. Harper, who was born on the old Ingleson Ranch, on the Alviso-Milpitas
road, seven miles north of San Jose, the daughter of Francis
and Mary (Ingleson) Harper. Her father was born and reared in Santa Clara Valley; and Grandfather Ingleson was an early pioneer who came from Maryland to California. Her folks were berry growers in Santa Clara County. Blanche Harper, the second in order of birth
in a family of ten, was sent to the Alviso school. Frank is
deceased; Lulu, the third-born, is Mrs. Fischer, of Berkeley; May is Mrs. McCreedy, of Lancaster; Gertrude is next; Charles is also deceased;
James lives in Oakland, where live also Walter,
and the youngest of the family, Lois, or Mrs. Pearson. Mr. Harper died in 1919, aged
sixty-nine. Mrs. Harper now lives at Oakland. Two sons have been born to Mr. and Mrs.
Marsh; Ralph Ellis, Jr., and Orton Worth.
Mr. Marsh is an Odd Fellow, and belongs to the Lodge and Encampment at Santa Clara; and he is also a member of
the Woodmen of the World of that place.
He is a member of the Galt Lodge of Masons, while Mrs. Marsh belongs to
the Eastern Star. In national politics
he is a Republican, and he is a trustee of the Brown School district. Mrs. Marsh belongs to the Neighbors of
Woodcraft and to the Women’s Civic Improvement Club of Galt.
Transcribed by Suzanne Wood.
Source: Reed, G. Walter, History of Sacramento County, California With
Biographical Sketches, Page 671-672. Historic Record Company, Los Angeles, CA.
1923.
© 2007 Suzanne Wood.