WILLIAM H. MARSTON, Huntington, Indiana. (Deceased.)
William H. Marston was the second oldest engineer on this division and one of the oldest of the entire Erie system at the time of his death from heart disease on March 25, 1899. For over forty years he had been identified with railroad life. For forty years he had performed his duty on an engine, an important factor in the daily movements of a great railroad. His career is indeed an honored one when one contemplates the vast quantity of merchandise he has hauled safely to its destination, and the thousands of human lives that have been entrusted for short spaces of time in his keeping, to be whisked at lightning speed along the shining rails by the steel monster that obeyed the motion of his hands. Mr. Marston could show many testimonials to his ability as an engineer, but these are not needed in his case. His record as an engineer shows for itself -- what he was and had been.

He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, May 25, 1833, and was the son of John W. Marston, a bridge and ship builder. Mr. Marston attended school until he was 15 years of age, acquiring a good common school education and then for awhile attended Mt. Pleasant High School. He worked some time in an upholstering shop and then acted as water boy on the Boston & Lowell for the bridge department. In 1856 he secured a position as fireman on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, running between Martinsburg and Piedmont and other terminals. He left this road to accept a similar position on the Cleveland & Pittsburg Railroad, running between Wellsville, Ohio, and Cleveland. He left the C. & P. and went to work with a construction crew on the Atlantic & Great Western, working as a track layer and spiker for a short time. In 1860 he returned to firing and in 1861 was promoted to engineer under Master Mechanic Charles Fellows at Jamestown, New York. He ran from Corry to Salamanca and assisted in constructing the line from Corry to Titusville, Meadville, Franklin and Galion to Dayton. He left the Atlantic & Great Western and in 1869 went to work on the Hannibal & St. Joe Railway, running for one year between Kansas City and Cameron Junction. He then accepted a position on the Kansas City, Fort Scott & Memphis Railway, and for two years and a half ran between Baxter Springs, Indian Territory, and Kansas City. In 1871 he returned to the East and for a while ran on the "Pan Handle" from Bradford Junction to Columbus, Ohio. He then resigned and returned to service on the Erie, and for a while he ran between Hornellsville and Dunkirk, but later was transferred to the Western end of the road from Hammond to Marion, Ohio, and for years had the run on Nos. l and 2 between Marion and Huntington. He was a member of B. of L. E., Division No. 221, and owned a comfortable residence on Bryant street. Mr. Marston was a highly respected citizen and was well liked by all who knew him.

In December, 1862, he was married to Miss Jane A. Pinkney at Erie, Pa., daughter of John T. Pinkney, a carpenter and foreman of wrecking outfit on Cleveland & Pittsburg. Two children were born to them -- both sons. George H. is an engineer on the Erie, and Gardner Clark is railroad agent at Ohio City.


Excerpted from: "American Locomotive Engineers, Erie Railway Edition," H.R. Romans Editor; Crawford-Adsit Company Publishers, Chicago, IL 1899.