James died in The Cholera Epidemic of 1832 in Rochester. The cemetery information says that he was 36 years old at his death, and lists him as James A. Marsh. It would be interesting to know if James was a boat operator or dock worker on the Erie Canal as the cholera came to Rochester that way, and the boat operators were the first to get the dreaded disease.

James died without a will, and that is not surprising as cholera took a person within twenty-four hours. His wife, Wealthy, petitioned for guardianship of their children in Rochester, May 15th, 1833, with her own signature. There was a Jehiel Barnard listed with Wealthy as being bound to these children also; he lived quite close to the Marsh family in the 1830 census. The family lived in Gates, which is just west of Rochester. Gates runs in a line with Bergen and LeRoy where other members of James' family had been living from about 1817 to 1825. The guardianship papers said James had real property, but there was no paper in the probate file showing where land was divided among the heirs. Wealthy later married David Allen and had other children. Her cemetery record can be seen at Mount Hope Cemetery.

I wondered for awhile if Jehiel Barnard could have been Wealthy's father, but I later found a history of him over the internet for Rochester, Monroe, New York, and that put Wealthy being Jehiel's daughter, out of the question. It appears that Jehiel and his wife, Delia Scranton, were just friends of the Marshes. Jehiel did own a store in Rochester, so James A. Marsh could have had something to do with the same business. It is interesting that James A.'s son also was a store owner.

Thanks to Frank Gillespie of "Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery" for the detailed burial information. There were no burials in Mount Hope Cemetery before 1838, so whether or not James A. Marsh's remains were later moved to that locaton or a monument honoring him is simply that, is not known. James C. Marsh and Charles Vaill purchased all of lot 3 in Section V on November 5, 1856. There are two monuments on the lot. One has the surname Marsh engraved on the base. The east side reads "JAMES A. MARSH DIED AUG. 5, 1832, the west side says, "JAMES C. MARSH DIED MAY 17, 1859, and the north side reads "MARGARET ANN MARSH WIFE OF THE LATE JAMES C. MARSH AND DAUGHTER OF MOSES & ELIZABETH STAATS KENYON BORN AUG. 25, 1819 DIED APRIL 12, 1909. The south side has no inscription. The record can also been seen at Mount Hope Cemetery.

Photos special courtesy of Frank Gillespie of the Friends of Mount Hope Cemetery.

The other monument on the lot has the name of Vaill on one side and Kenyon on the other. Charles Vaill and James C. Marsh seem to have been brother-in-laws through their marriages to Kenyon sisters. Charles Vaill, and his wife, Hannah Kenyon, named a child James Marsh Vaill who died at the age of 22 (1872).

Later there were deeds found for James A. Marsh:

• 23 October 1821 - James A. Marsh purchased the north half of lot 119 on Hart Street from William and Ann Fitzhugh for $100
• 20 January 1826 - James A. Marsh purchased from Frederick and Rebecca Backus for $50.00 a strip of seven feet by one hundred and twenty on the south part of lot 120, also on Hart Street.
• On the same day - James A. Marsh sold either the same land or a piece like it off of his lot to Asa Sibley.
• 26 November 1847- James C. and Margaret A. Marsh, Harriet Marsh, David and Wealthy Allen sold to Hector Hunter for $2100 all of the above mentioned land. Each of the above three transactions were named in this last deed as well as their owner, James A. Marsh.

1. Miss Marsh born about 1821 in New York
2. James C. Marsh born 29 May 1823 in New York died 1859 of diabetes, according to cemetery records. James C. Marsh owned a lot of property; there were numerous land transactions for him in the Rochester land records, and his probate file was large. He died at the same age his father did (36). By that time, his mother was married to David Allen, James C. was married to Margaret Ann Kenyon (no children), and Harriet was married to Calvin Brooks. The relationships were stated in the will. There was a half sister not given anything, but was named on one page of the probate. Her name was Emily M. Allen Kalbfleisch. She was married to John Kalbfleisch, and the couple lived with her parents. The Mount Hope Cemetery records show that David and Wealthy had other children who died young. Emily named some of her children after her deceased siblings.
3. Harriet Marsh, born 25 November 1826 married c. 1850 Calvin (Culvin, Colvin) Brooks c. 1813 Massachusetts. Calvin Brooks must have been previously married, as in the 1850 census, there was an Amelia Brooks c. 1834 and a Wellington Brooks c. 1841 living with the newly married couple. Harriet was not old enough to have been their mother. As mentioned above, Harriet was named in her brother's will, and she was of Ellicotville, Cattaraugus, New York, at that time. She and her husband had moved to Gates, Monroe, New York, by 1860 to take over the farm that was left to her in the will. The Gates Business Directory of 1869 shows "Calvin Brooks, Rochester lot 35, grocer, and farmer, 21". Harriet was also given her brother's store, in fee, after the death of their mother, and it appears from the 1880 census, that Harriet and her husband may have moved into Rochester where the store was located. Harriet and her mother, Wealthy, had a land deal between them in 1858. The graves of Calvin and Harriet Brooks were not located in the Mount Hope Cemetery records.

   It appears that Calvin Brooks had a brother named Marsena, who was living next door to Calvin in the 1850 census in Cattaraugus County. The two were also living next door to each other in the 1840 census of Sacketts Harbor, Jefferson, New York.

   There was a Crandall Brooks (23) living with the Calvin Brooks family in the 1870 census. He was not listed with the family in other census records. After finding the marriage record of the daughter, Wealtha, over rootsweb, it seems that "Crandall Brooks" was her husband written incorrectly by the census taker. The age was just right.

1. Wealthy Brooks named for her grandmother 27 July 1850 Ellicottville, New York. She married 20 December 1869 Francis Marion Crandall (census says Frederick) born 21 September 1846 in Canadaigua, New York. She died 17 January 1943 in Rochester. The known Crandall children are Bertha Gertrude Crandall 4 Feb 1871, Frederick Marion Crandall 1 Mar 1876, Charles Francis Crandall 3 Jun 1879, and Frank Eugene Crandall 21 Aug 1881.
2. Siliva Brooks c. 1854 New York
3. Hattie Brooks c. 1855 New York
4. Fanny E. Brooks c. 1865 New York. She married 5 June 1883 A.A. B.(Bennett) Paige; he was 20 at their marriage, born in Rochester, the son of James L. Paige and Jane E. Bennett. (Rochester marriages on the web.) Calvin and Harriet were living with the Paiges in the 1900 census of Rochester. The known Paige children are Garnier Page, Nov 1887, Marsh B. Paige, Jun 1889, Leander M. Paige, Abt 1891, Victor L. Paige, Sep 1895, Mabel M. Paige, Sep 1898, Ruth L. Paige abt 1904.
4. Eunice Marsh c. 1830. Eunice was in the census for 1830 and was also listed as a two- year old that died in the cholera epidemic in Rochester. I am assuming she was the daughter of James and Wealthy.

An obituary for James Anson appeared in the Vermont Chronicle Sep. 7, 1832. "In Rochester N.Y., on the 15th, inst. of Cholera, James A. Marsh, aged 36. He was a native of St. Alban's, Vermont." The originals of the Vermont Chronicle are housed at the Middlebury College Library, Middlebury, Vermont.
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