Milford chronicle., 1930-10-17
JOSIAH MARVEL
DIED SATURDAY
[Continnsd from Fira Paael

NnC puUAAC oNAOOAo VI 0uooCA NNAAAe -
! where he afterwards taught school
and at later date was teacher anC
n headmaster at st. Johns School fol
Boys.
Mr.. Marvels family is of English
D origin but has been American in
5 both branches for many generations
being among the earliest settlers
in this country. The original Marvel
homestead was on tract of land at
Georgetown granted by King George
III, and the family lived there for
six generations. Mr.. Marvels mo-
ther was a descendant of Thomas
Jefferson, the father of American
Democracy, and of the Rodney fam
lily of Delaware.
Deciding to take up the study of
the law, Mr.. Marvel, registered as
student in the office of Judge
George Gray in Wilmington. Work
ing by day, and studying by night,
Mr.. Marvel succeeded in qualifying
for his examinations and was ad-
mitted to the Delaware Bar in 1894.
In the same year he opened his
offices in Wilmington and practiced
alone until four years later, in
1898, when his brother Judge David
T. Marvel, retired from the Della
ware Supreme Court to join him in
forming the law firm of Marvel and
Marvel. Josiah Q. WOlcOtt, now
Chancellor of Delaware, Joined the
firm as a partner in 1899, and re-
mained until he was elected to the
United States Senate. Caleb S. Lay
ton joined the firm in 1912, and
| James H. Hughes, former U. S. Dis
trict Attorney, in 1916. The present
| firm, with offices in the DUPONT
Building, was Marvel, Morford and
| Ward, and was composed of Mr..
Marvel, as senior partner, James r.
Morford, former Attorney General,
and Christopher L. Ward, Jr. Judge
Marvel, although not an active
member of the firm, was retained as
counsel.
Always active in the Democratic
party in this State, although he
never ran for office until this year,
when he sought his party's nOmiua-
tion for U. S. Senator, Mr.. Marvel
first made his power felt in 1908 |
when he urged the nomination of
Judge Gray for president, as chair
man of the George Gray presiden-
tial committee, upon the DemOcra-
tic National Convention, at Denver,
Colo. A supporter of Bryan at the |
convention said that if six men like |
Mr.. Marvel had worked against Mr..
Bryan, the latter would never have
received the party's nomination.
Mr.. Marvel served as u member
of the finance committee of the
Democratic National Convention in
the 1908 campaign and was urged
as the party's nominee for Congress
in Delaware in 1910, but refused.
He was selected as the temporary
chairman of the Democratic State
Convention in that year and deliv-
cred the keynote speech. He served
as chairman of the Democratic
County Finance Committee for sew
eral campaigns and took an active
part in the last presidential cam
paign as acting Democratic Nation
al Committeeman for Delaware.
Mr.. Marvel was also noted as an
orator and as an authority on the
Constitution, delivering addresses
en- this subject before groups Of
lawyers and laymen i'll all parts of
the country. Only recently, shortly
after his election as president of the
American Bar Association, he deliv-
cred an address on the Constitution
over a nationwide radio network.
Mr.. Marvel was four times elect
ed president of the Delaware Bar
retiring from that po-
sition on January 1, 1927. He held
many important positions in the
American Bar Association before
his elevation to the presidency, hav-
ing been a member of the executive
committee, judicial councils, Amer
lean citizenship end conference on
bar delegates.
Among the important civic posts
which Mr. Marvel has held during
his long and useful career are: first
president of the Wilmington Cham
Der of Commerce, chairman of the :
and Delaware Camel
Committee, chairman of the Battle
ship Delaware Committee, chairman :
)f the Peoples Settlement Building
Committee, president of the Mems
Ilub of Trinity P. E. Church, presi- u
lent of the Wilmington Council Boy
Scouts of America, member of the !
State Highway Commission, Tenn Il Il
)orary Food Administrators, chair
nan of the Committee on Patriotic :.
Var Addresses, chairman of a Red =
ross Drive, chairman Of the Vic e
ory Loan Campaign, trustee of the
Delaware Hospital, chairman of the
State Fair Horse Show Committee,
irector of the State Fair and trus-
ee of Tower Hill School. C
Mr.. Marvel established a loan H
und for the aid of students at the d
of Delaware. He drafted
he State Inheritance tax and child cl
abor laws and supervised the draft M
ng of the income tax and State fC
ighway laws. He promoted the
Housing Company cl
Mr.. Marvel was q member of the fir
Club, the Wilmington
ountry Club, Delaware Grange, at te
Iewport, the Wilmington Rotary M
lub, member and past president of
he Lincoln Club, of Philadelphia, 81
lember of the Farm Bureau of New hi
astle County, of Wilmington Lodge Sc
10. 307, B. P. o. E., the Vicmead m
Lunt Club and the Metropolitan and dc
acquet Clubs, of Washington, D. bl