Three prominent Chicago families involved in the insurance, lumber, and manufacturing businesses.
The Marsh family came to Chicago when George B. Marsh, of Genesse County, New York moved here with wife Sarah in 1854. Marsh was involved in lumber and manufacturing businesses. Sarah Clark Marsh was a member of the Clark family of which Clark Street in Chicago is named, and also related by marriage to Daniel Elston, an early Chicago settler, alderman, and namesake of Elston Avenue in Chicago. Their son Marshall Stuart Marsh, born in 1856, also went into the lumber business and was associated with the firm of St. John and Marsh for most of his career. He married the Bertha Smith, daughter of Albert B. and Roxana Smith, in 1881. Albert B. Smith was a pioneer in the telegraph business and was president for many years of Northwestern Telegraph Company. Marshall S. Marsh died in 1925, his wife Bertha in 1945. Katherine Stuart Marsh, daughter of Marshall S. and Bertha Marsh, was born in 1885. She married George R. Roberts in 1909. Roberts, also born in 1885, was the son of George W. and Nellie Wilkinson Roberts. He was a partner with his father in the firm of George W. Roberts & Son, which dealt in insurance. George R. and Katherine S. Roberts settled in Highland Park, Illnois and had two children, George Jr., born in 1913, and Katherine Eleanor, born in 1910. Katherine Stuart Marsh died in 1932 and George R. married twice again, lastly to Ruth Campbell. Katherine Eleanor Roberts, who went primarily by the name Eleanor, married Ralph B. Mack in 1933. Mack was a lawyer with the firm of Deneen and Massena, and they also settled in Highland Park where Eleanor was active in charity work. They had three children, Ralph Jr., Ken, and Suzanne. In the 1970s they retired to Laguna Beach, California. Ralph Mack passed away in 1981, and Eleanor in 1999.
From the description of Marsh-Roberts-Mack family papers, 1706-1984, bulk 1850-1950. (Newberry Library). WorldCat record id: 756403591
