Marion Marvin Shearer

Marvin SHEARER

• 10.08.1871 in Jeddo, Ridgeway Township, Orleans County, New York + 05.02.1939 in Marion, Linn co., Iowa Bemerkungen:(notes) begraben: in Mogadore, Ohio [Donna Cotter 2.FTW]

Marvin carved a clock that was eight feet wide and thirteen feet high.it was called the ELECTRIC WONDER. He started this clock in 1927 and completed it in 1931. He also carved a second smaller clock.

The Electric Wonder

This exhibit took 15 months to design. It contains 7172 pieces of wood from 32 different countries, from all parts of the world.

Has nearly 1-1/2 miles of electric wire, 17 clock dials, gives time in all parts of the world.

Shows important events of United States History from 1492 to 1934.

Our Navy of 47 ships pass by according to their classification. Tells the weather conditions 24 hours in advance. Plays a reedless pipe organ, only one of its kind in the world.

Shows and gives the Funeral Marches of our assassinated Presidents.

Shows the goddess of Liberty or eternal light in memory of American soldiers who lost their lives while in service for their country. Has chimes, harps, electrical cascade, electrical railway, airship and dirigible. Also, Indian History and Arrow Heads of the lone Indians from the Battle field of Custers Last Fight.

The Electric Wonder is 13 feet high, weighs 3800 lbs. has 168 electric lights and took 19,000 hours or nearly 7 years to build.

Has been endorsed by leading electricians and engineers of today. It is a merit to its maker as well as mankind.

Born possibly in Medina, N.Y. Ridgeway or Shelby Township, Orleans Conty,N.Y. OR Jeddo, Ridgeway Township, Orleans County, N.Y. OR Lockport,Lockport Township, Niagara County, N.Y.

Marvin's name may have been Marvin Marion Shearer OR Marion MarvinShearer. He signed his name "Marvin M. Shearer". A Certified copy ofhis son Ernest George Shearer's birth certificate has father: MarionShearer.

Article in the Akron Becon Journal, June 12, 1928 page16

PAINTS MASTERPIECE

Marvin Shearer, Crippled Akron Artist, Works Three Years On Conception Of"Ben Hur"

Claiming to be the only living American associate member of the RoyalArt Academy of London, Marvin Shearer lives in a comfortable littlethree-room flat at 344 Wheeler St. Badly crippled and with his right hand practically useless, he istoday putting the finishing touches on a huge painting of "Ber Hur", 3 X7 feet in size the work of the last three years of his life. This picture which will be displayed in the near future at one of thedowntown department stores is destined for New York and eventually,perhaps, for London, Shearer says.] DESTROYED DURING THE WAR It is not a copy, although he took his main idea from the only knownpainting of 'Ben Hur" which hung in a gallery in Belgium and wasdestroyed during the was. It is possible then that this striking oil ofShearer's is the only painting on this subject now in existence. Shearer has studied the book "Ben Hur" thoroughly and has reproducedcolors, figures and costumes with painstaking reality, working entirelywith his left hand. When "Ben Hur" was playing here, he visited the showbut returned quite disappointed. "It was a fine production," he said, "But it was far from the bookstory in its details. Too much love story and Ben Hur never wore ahelmet. His chariot was black instead of white." The Metro-Goldwyn people wanted to use his picture at the time for anadvertisement but it was not finished enough to suit this careful artist. PERSISTS IN DETAILS His persistence in details is characteristic, and that he has anunconquerable spirit is demonstrated by the game way in which he has keptbusy in the face of heavy odds. The accident which crippled him happened 28 yeas ago at the plant ofthe B. F. Goodrich Co., when he was caught in a line shaft and had 14bones broken and one arm almost severed from his body. For weeks he wasa helpless invalid. When he regained health he decided to devote therest of his life to art which he had always loved. he has previously hadsome art training in Atlanta, Buffalo and Syracuse and has studiedanatomy and painting. He fitted up one room of the little three-room flat as a studio, madea desk and a bookcase for his art books and even carved many of theframes for his pictures himself. He got around his crippled condition inmany clever ways. A paint pedestal, worthy of a patient it seems,rotates and is divided into sections for his paints, with a basket-likearrangement on the top for his brushes. This saves him many steps andmuch useless searching for colors and brushes. PAINTS EACH MORNING He paints for four hours each morning and dose many pencil sketchesand pen and ink stipple drawings in the evenings. His ambition did not stop with his studio, however. He joined theNew York Art Syndicate to which he sends all of his work. "And then the idea of joining the royal Academy of London came tome," he said. "The academy, which is limited to only 56 members from allover the world, has included in the past such manes as Charles DanaGibson, Whistler and William Chase. In order to become an associatemember I had to take a stiff examination covering all branches of anatomyand perspective. For a yea, I studied for it and finally passed theexamination in Washington D. C., where I was presented with the goldMaltese cross of membership." This cross is inscribed "R. . to M. M. S., November 23, 1921," and ishis most prized possession. Still ambitious, he now wants to try for active membership in theacademy which means painting a picture over in England worthy ofexhibition in Buckingham palace. WIFE IS AUDIENCE His white-haired wife is his ardent audience. "I never try to do any housework when he is painting," she said. He always wants me to sit and criticize." Mute testimony to this was thecircle of braided rags for a rug on the table near his easel with a pairof gold-bowed glasses and the family Bible. Shearer's. 'Christ Before Pilate". another large picture was shownseveral years ago in one of the local churches, and is now in New York. "For the first time in my life I read my Bible every day for a year,"he said. "I spent an entire year looking up Biblical customs beforepainting that picture." His next undertaking will be a 9 by 12 picture of Christ on Calvary,he says. A large portrait of an Indian chief of the Seneca tribe whom he saysis his great great grandfather, is one of his best works of art.underneath hangs an old powder horn which was the property of the oldIndian. SON IS A POLICEMAN The Shearer's have six children and 1 grandchildren. A picture of ason, Ernest Shearer, of Akron police force, stands on the homemade desk. The simplicity of the little home which harbors the proud possessorof a royal Academy cross is noticeable. Homemade rugs are on floor andhomemade is the furniture, for, as Mrs. Shearer said, "My folks alwaystaught me that true value lies in homemade things." And Shearer added as a parting comment, "My pictures are not thenew-fangled modern type. I believe if you paint a dog you should painthim, every hair of him. If you paint a tomato, paint it as you see it.Not that I know it all," he added modestly.

ARTICLE IN THEAKRON TIMES PRESS JUNE 27, 1928

PAINTING BY AKRON MAN IS EXHIBITED

WORK BY MARVIN SHEARER WILL BE SHOWN IN WASHINGTON AND NEW YORK

The painting, " Ben Hur's Chariot Race", done by Marvin Shearer,Akron artist and associate member of the Royal Arts academy of London,now is on exhibition at the Old Book Store, 29 S. High Street. It isbeing displayed here previous to going on exhibition at the Nationalacademy, Washington D. C. and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New YorkCity. Reproduction of the painting was printed in the Beacon Journal onJune 12 at which time prediction was made that it would be displayed at ametropolitan museum. Shearer was then just completing the work uponwhich he has worked for the last three years. ONLY ONE HAND Shearer has the use only of his left hand, having been injured in anaccident at the B. F. Goodrich Co., 28 years ago in which his right handwas crippled almost beyond use. "Christ before Pilate," another of Shearer's works, was exhibitedseveral years ago in North Hill Methodist church and is now in New York. His picture now on exhibit is three feet by six feet. It is said tocontain completeness of detail that is unsurpassed in a picture of itskind. He had been offered $2, 600.00 for the picture, he says. Shearer lives at 344 Wheeler St. in an apartment he has convertedinto a studio particularly suited to one working with his handicap. Familien (families) Kinder (children) 1.Ehegatte: (1st spouse) Gertrude Belle WILHELM

• 13.07.1872 + 10.05.1935 in Akron, Summit County, Ohio oo 27.09.1891 in Akron, Ohio Curtis Wilhelm SHEARER * 1892 in Akron, Ohio, + 1974 in Akron, Ohiol Ernest George SHEARER * 1896 in Akron, Ohio, + 1947 in Akron, Ohio Clarence Maxwell SHEARER * 1898 in Wadsworth, Ohio, + 1985 in Vancover, Washington Frances Almeda SHEARER * 1900 in Akron, Ohio, + 1983 in Berkeley Springs, WV Helen Daisy SHEARER * 1903 in Akron, Ohio, + 1970 Robert John SHEARER * 1908, + 1957 in Akron, Ohio

	Bemerkungen:(notes) Quelle: [oo] Elmer Shearer's genealogical research papers dated 1962 to 1983 gven to me Betty Shearer Reeser in 2002 Quelle: [oo] Donna Cotter 2.FTW ( Quellmedium: Andere )

Eltern (parents) Geschwister (siblings) Vater: (father) Hiram SHEARER + in Wadsworth, Ohio William SHEARER * 1862 Manley SHEARER * 1863 Minnie SHEARER * 1871, + 1874 Mutter: (mother) Amelia DAILEY + in Hartland, Nigara County, New York