Marrett family papers

Historical/Biographical Note

Historical/Biographical Note

The Rev. Daniel Marrett (1767-1863) was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and his family moved to Lexington, Massachusetts, when he was four years old. He graduated from Harvard College in 1790, and in 1796, he was ordained as the Congregational minister of the Old Red Church in Standish, Maine. Also at the time of his ordination, he married his first wife, Mary Muzzy of Lexington, and moved into what is now known as the Marrett House in Standish, becoming the third owner of the property. Mary died in 1810, leaving Daniel with six children. Daniel remarried soon afterward to Dorcas Hastings, also of Lexington, with whom he had eight more children.

Daniel's small minister's salary was bolstered by gifts and favors received from his parishioners, services he provided, and items he leased. Daniel was a farmer as well as a minister, and it is said that he introduced grafting to the community. During the War of 1812, gold from the banks of Portland, Maine, was stored in the Marrett House, for which the foundations were strengthened and extra locks installed. By 1834, a division in the congregation had arisen, and Daniel was asked to leave the Old Red Church. He did, and with seventy-three followers he moved into the then new Congregational Church of Standish.

Of the children of Daniel Marrett who survived infancy and youth, most left the "Old Homestead." Daniel M. Marrett became a trader in Portland, Maine, and Mary Ann Marrett (who married Warren Duren) moved to Woburn, Massachusetts. Lorenzo Marrett studied at Bowdoin College (graduating circa 1833) and went to Cambridge, Massachusetts, to study law. It was in Cambridge that he married Eliza A. Winzor of Providence, Rhode Island, and became the trustee of many estates at the Savings Bank and Lechmere National Bank of East Cambridge. Twin sons of Daniel, Samuel Hastings Marrett and Dane Appleton Marrett, married twins Frances W. Lock and Eliza Ann Lock. The two couples both moved to the Cambridge/Somerville, Massachusetts area where Samuel was a trader and Dane dealt in wholesale groceries. Mary Elizabeth Marrett moved to Nantucket, Massachusetts, in 1892 to become the third wife of Myron Samuel Dudley, a minister. When she returned to the Standish home after her husband's death (ca. 1930), she brought with her the furniture from the Nantucket house, some of which had been purchased by Dudley's first and second wives. Henry Weston Marrett left Standish to live in San Francisco. Avery Williams Marrett remained in Standish with his father. In 1847, Avery became the legal owner of the Standish house and property. He became a respected farmer renowned for his apple orchard. Avery married Elizabeth Bancroft Weston, the daughter of the Rev. James Weston, the Congregational minister in Lebanon, Maine, from 1824 to 1836, who was also active in the Lebanon Temperance Society. Avery and Elizabeth had six children.

Helen Maria Marrett, daughter of Avery and Elizabeth, was highly educated, as were her sisters. She lived in the Marrett House for most of her life teaching in women's classes and becoming superintendent of the Sunday school. Walter Hastings Marrett, son of Avery and Elizabeth, attended Bowdoin College (graduating in 1876), received a master of science in 1879, and took classes at Dartmouth Medical School. He became a travelling salesman for a medical publishing house, and in the early 1890s he returned to Standish, where he ran a large stable and became the editor of American Horse Breeder. In 1897, he moved to a fox farm near Juneau, Alaska. He returned to Maine for his fiftieth reunion at Bowdoin in 1926, and he returned permanently in 1937. Caroline Louise Marrett, daughter of Avery and Elizabeth, also remained at the family home in Standish for most of her life. The house's garden was her joy, and she designed it following the plan of a garden she had seen in Salem.

Frances S. Marrett, daughter of Avery and Elizabeth, graduated from Abbot Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, in 1885, and she pursued a career as a teacher at the Perkins Institute for the Blind. It was probably at Perkins that she met her companion Sarah M. Lilley, who also worked at Perkins. It was also while she worked at Perkins that Frances became acquainted with Helen Keller. In addition to her work at Perkins and her involvement with the Howe Society, Frances also made at least one trip to Europe. In 1928, she and Sarah Lilley retired to their home at 102 Gainsborough Street, Boston. Frances's ties with her family remained strong, and in 1936 she became the executrix of the estate of Esther Sargent, the old family nurse. Frances was also a member of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, and at Caroline's prompting, she bequeathed the property, house, and its contents to the Society in 1944.

Sources

Foster, N. A History of the Old Red Church. Undated brochure.
Hudson, C. History of the Town of Lexington, Middlesex County, Mass. from its First Settlement to 1868, Volume 2. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913.
Jones, H. G. Sebago Lake Land: In History, Legend, and Romance. Portland: Bowker Press, 1949.
Sinnett, C. N. Historic Lebanon, Maine, and the Grand Work of its Congregational Church. Haverhill, Mass.: C. C. Morse & Son, 1903.