San Joaquin County
Biographies
MICHAEL MARNELL
MICHAEL MARNELL, proprietor
of the St. Lawrence Stables, Channel street, Stockton, was born in Tipperary,
Ireland, in 1846, a son Michael and Margaret (Kenney) Marnell, both living, the
father being about sixty-five, and the mother sixty-three. The grandparents,
Walter and Bessie (Dunne) Marnell, were both long-lived, dying one week apart,
and nearly at the same age, seventy years.
The subject of this sketch received some
schooling, and was brought up to the care of horses. Emigrating to America at
the age of eighteen, he arrived in Philadelphia May 13, 1864, and there worked
as private coachman to Mr. John Hulme about five years. In 1869 he came to
California, reaching Sacramento by rail, and San Francisco by boat. After a
brief stay of one month in that city, and two in San Rafael, and again a short
time in San Francisco, he came to Stockton, before the close of 1869. He worked
seven months in the Weber stables on Center street, and afterward engaged in
farm work in Stanislaus County, for wages, two years at dairying and eight on
threshing-machines and in general farming. Meanwhile he bought a home in this
city in 1875, and a few years later took up permanent residence here. About
1878 he bought a small express business with an outfit of one horse and wagon,
and worked in that line some four years. He then bought two hacks and carried
on the business of a hackman five years. With a partner, under the style of
Gough & Marnell, he conducted the St. Lawrence Stables from May 1, 1887, to
May 1, 1889, and since then as sole proprietor.
Mr. Marnell served some time in the
volunteer fire department of Stockton, and was a member of the Emmett Guards,
also of this city, six or seven years. He was married in Philadelphia in 1868,
to Miss Margaret Wilson, born in Ireland, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ezekiel
Wilson. The mother died young; the father, a physician, came to America,
settling in Louisville, Kentucky, and died at the age of sixty-five.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Pages 524-525. Lewis Pub.
Co. Chicago, Illinois 1890.
© 2009 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
Biographies
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
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