Marvin Kent

KENT, MARVIN, projector and ex-president of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad (now New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio Railroad), was born at Ravenna, Portage County, Ohio, September 21st, 1816. His father, Zenas Kent, was a joiner and carpenter by trade, who when a young man made the acquaintance of Captain Heman Oviatt. He discovered in Mr. Kent business qualifications of a very high order, and in 1815 he induced him to engage in mercantile business at Ravenna. The executive and financial ability which Mr. Z. Kent displayed, coupled with enterprise and methodical management of his affairs, soon placed him in the front rank among the reputable and successful business men of Northern Ohio. It was in his father's store that young Marvin Kent received his first and most valuable instruction in correct business methods and habits. Up to the age of nineteen his time was divided between his father's store and the school-room, wherein he combined, in the acquirement of a knowledge of books, a practical knowledge of business and dealings with men. He received such education as was afforded at Tallmadge Academy, under the instruction of E. T. Sturtevant, A. M., Principal, and Claridon Academy, under the instruction of Rev. Sherman B. Canfield. In his nineteenth year his father intrusted him with the purchase of his spring stock of goods, and for this purpose he visited Philadelphia and New York, with special instructions to buy on his own judgment, and to disregard the advice tendered by others, relative to the investments he had in contemplation. His father was pleased with his purchases, and the business sagacity displayed by his son. The year following his becoming of age, Marvin became associated with his father in mercantile business, at Franklin Mills, Ohio (now Kent), but he soon relinquished this, by reason of the precarious condition of his health, and assumed the management of a tannery, in a building erected by his father and Captain John Brown (of Harper's Ferry notoriety). While thus engaged he was married to Maria, daughter of the late Colonel William Stewart. He conducted the tannery for some time, with success, and in 1844 returned to mercantile pursuits, becoming at the same time largely interested in the manufacture of flour. ln the latter business he continued without interruption for about twenty years. In 1850, in company with others, he engaged in the manufacture of window-glass, at Franklin Mills, and erected and placed in successful operation extensive works. It was during the same year that he entered upon the most important enterprise of his life, and which secured to him a business reputation co-extensive with the inauguration and completion of a great public transportation route between the East and the West. He devised, planned, and projected, in 1850, the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad, designed to connect the Erie with the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad, thus forming a grand trunk line, with uniform gauge throughout, from New York to St. Louis. In 1851 the necessary legislation was procured, but in order to secure the charter he was obliged to subscribe for the full amount of stock required by law for the organization of the company, as well as to indemnify some of the first board of directors for the payment of one share subscribed by each to render them eligible for election, which fact furnishes a significant illustration of the want of faith in the success of an undertaking of that magnitude at that time. The organization of the new company was completed, and Mr. Kent made its first president. This position he filled with a success characteristic of his great business tact, energy, and ability, until the final completion of the road, in 1864, save an interval of three years. On the 21st of June, of that year, he had the proud satisfaction of looking back over many years of unremitting labor and anxiety at last crowned with success, and also of driving home the last spike in the last rail. In his maiden speech on that occasion, he referred to the fact that on the fourth day of July, A. D. 1853, he broke ground for the new road, by removing the first shovelful of earth with his own hands. There were none then to withhold from Mr. Kent a most generous compliment for the completion of this road, which, uniting the Erie and Ohio and Mississippi Railways, formed a grand continental line from New York to St. Louis. The construction of this road encountered, perhaps, more obstacles and greater opposition than any other in the country. Yet Mr. Kent showed himself equal to any and every emergency, and with heroic faith and one purpose, he made success possible and victory a verity. The Portage County Democrat, of June 3d, 1863, contained this truthful tribute:

"The location of the shops at Franklin Mills is doubtless due to the position and influence of Marvin Kent, Esq., the president of the road, who resides at that point. If any man ought to be gratified and benefited by the location of the shops, it is President Kent. He was not only the early friend of the road, but, if we are correctly informed, he originated the idea of its construction. In carrying forward this great improvement to its completion, he has toiled and struggled for over twelve years, amid doubt and discouragement, amidst jeers and sneers and obloquy. While others hesitated, he stood fast; when the faint-hearted turned aside, he persevered with unfaltering nerve and courage; when timid friends forsook, he succeeded in raising up other friends, and in attracting capital to this great work; and thus, with a patience, a courage, an assiduity, and unswerving fidelity to a single aim that reaches the point of real heroism, has he held on his way through twelve laborious years of fluctuations, vicissitudes, and uncertainties, neglecting or abandoning his private business, pledging or imperiling, or at least casting into the hazard of success, his large private fortune, for the benefit of his cherished enterprise. And yet he has labored all this time without general appreciation, the select few more intimately associated in official relations with him only knowing and appreciating his trials and his toils. But it is time the man to whom more than to any other the country is indebted for this great and leading road should be understood and appreciated, for every man and every community benefited by the construction of this road owes to Marvin Kent a debt of gratitude. He is to be congratulated on the success which the intelligence, the ability, and the fixed and resolute purpose which he has brought to bear on the enterprise, have accomplished. Who, under these circumstances, can grudge to Mr. Kent the location of the extensive machine-shops in the place of his residence? Who more than he, and what community than the one favored by his residence among them, can be more entitled to the benefit?"

Upon the successful completion of this road, Mr. Kent substantially retired from active business, to the enjoyment of private life. Upon the death of his father in 1865, he became his successor as president of the Kent National Bank, which position he has held ever since. In October, 1875, he was elected State Senator from the Twenty-sixth District of Ohio, and he served his constituents with credit and ability. Mr. Kent is a gentleman of varied experience and of varied business qualifications—equally capable as an engineer or as financial manager to conduct a great public work. He has remarkable tenacity of purpose, and once resolved as to the value of an enterprise, no ordinary obstacle can prevent him from carrying it out. He is a man of liberal views and generous impulses, and has, in a great variety of ways, aided in advancing the material welfare of those among whom he lives. He has been a generous promoter of every business enterprise in the city of Kent, which bears his name. There are enduring monuments of his public spirit on every hand in the community in which he lives, such as public and private edifices, business blocks, mills and factories, and about them all there is an evidence of permanency and durability, of exactness in details, and adaptability to the uses designed. As an evidence that Mr. Kent has been disposed to serve himself last, he has just completed one of the most elegant and palatial private residences in Northern Ohio. Within and without there are evidences of a cultured taste in art and adornment—but never at the expense of utility and the every-day uses of domestic life. Mr. Kent has in every respect been a successful man, and prominent among the secrets of that success is untiring energy, methodical methods of work, and strict integrity.

Bibliographic information:

• Title The Biographical Cyclopædia and Portrait Gallery with an Historical Sketch of the State of Ohio ...County and regional histories of the "Old Northwest.": Ohio
• Volume 2 of The Biographical Cyclopædia and Portrait Gallery with an Historical Sketch of the State of Ohio, Western Biographical Publishing Company (Cincinnati, Ohio)
• Contributor Western Biographical Publishing Company (Cincinnati, Ohio)
• Publisher Western Biographical Publishing Company, 1884
• Original from The Ohio State University
• Digitized Aug 1, 2014
• Page 322
• https://books.google.com/books?id=Y85CAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA296-IA1&lpg=PA2...

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CHILDREN OF ZENAS AND PAMELIA 46 (LEWIS) KENT.

114. i. Harriett, was born June 6, 1812, and died January 4, 1887. She married, September 1, 1831, Charles Clapp.

115. ii. Henry A., was born October ar, 1814. He has been twice married. First, to Sarah M. Wells, June 2, 1845; and second, to Mrs. Amelia C. Russell, of Middletown, Conn., in June, 1866. He is a man of exceptional business ability, was for years a merchant in New York, and has acquired a large fortune. He resides in Brooklyn, N. Y.

116. iii. Marvin, was born September 21, 1816. He married, December 24, 1840, Maria Stewart. He resides at Kent, Ohio, where he is interested in large business enterprises. He was one of the original projectors of the Atlantic and Great Western railroad (now the New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio railroad), and it was largely owing to his boldness, and his indomitable energy, that the road was built. He now enjoys a large fortune as the result of his life of active labor. His children are as follows:

1. Henry L., was born February 14, 1843. He married, October 12, 1864, Josephine A. Collins. Henry L. Kent has two daughters:

1. Grace Emily, who was born October 28, 1865, and married, October 9, 1889, Charles E. Curtis. They have one child, a great-grandson of Marvin Kent, named Marvin Kent Curtis, who was born October 10, 1890.

2. Ella Southwick, who was born September 7, 1867, and is unmarried.

2. William Stewart, was born August 24, 1847. He married, October 19, 1875, Kittie M. North, who died May 28, 1886, leaving no children.

117. iv. Charles H., was born August 12, 1818, and died February 28, 1887. He married, January 14, 1841, Mary E. Burritt.

118. v. Louisa, was born September 19, 1820, and died in infancy.

119. vi. Edward, was born August 2, 1823. He married, October 24, 1849, Artimesia Streator, He was formerly a merchant in New York, and now lives near Brooklyn, N. Y.

120. vii. Eliza A., was born May 18, 1825, and died July 4, 1864. She married, March 4, 1845, John Poag, who was a merchant in New York, and at one time a partner in business with Henry A. Kent.

121. viii. George L., was bom May 13, 1827, and died at New York City, December 22, 1884. He married, first, June 1, 1852, Matilda Rockwell. He married, second, Virginia G. Tryon, June 6, 1866. He also was for several years a merchant in New York.

122. ix. Frances E., was born November 19, 1830. She married, August 27, 1851, George W. Wells. She now resides at Arlington, Colorado.

123. x. Emily, was born August 13, 1832. She married, September 3, 1872, Robert B. Dennis, and resides at Cleveland, Ohio.

124. xi. Amelia, was bom October 23, 1834. She died in infancy.

125. xii. Amelia L., was born September 26, 1837. She married, October 4, 1863, Joseph W. Shively, and resides at Washington, D. C.

Bibliographic information:

• Title Book VXIII. of the Genealogy of the Lewis Family
• Author Simeon Dunham Lewis
• Publisher C.W. Moulton, 1891
• Original from the University of Wisconsin - Madison
• Digitized Apr 16, 2007
• Length 66 pages
• Pages 19 - 26, and 41
• https://books.google.com/books?id=KOswAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA13&lpg=PA13&dq=...

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MARVIN 8 son of Zenas,7 Zenas,6 Daniel,5 mar. Dec. 24, 1840, Maria (b. Franklin, now Kent, O., Aug. 25, 1821), dau. of Col. Wm. Stewart. Marvin Kent was brought up in the mercantile business in his father's store, and continued in that business for many years on his own account. Subsequently he became extensively engaged in the tanning and currying business and in the manufacture of window glass, also in the manufacture of flour. At one time he was manager of a tannery in a building erected by his father and Capt. John Brown of Harper's Ferry notoriety. His chief undertaking and the crowning effort of bis life was the inception, projection, and inauguration of the Atlantic & Great Western R.R., of which organization he was President from July 8, 1851, to Sept. 30, 1864, excepting about three years. After being changed to the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio Railroad it was leased to and finally purchased by the Erie Railroad Company. In 1865 he became President of the Kent National Bank, which position he still occupies (1897). In 1875 he was elected State Senator; and served two years, declining a renomination.

Marvin and Maria Stewart Kent had two sons, viz. :

I. Henry Lewis,9 b. at Kent Feb. 14, 1843 ; d. N.Y. City Apl. 21, 1873. Before reaching legal age he served as Assistant Paymaster of the Atlantic & Great Western R.R. He was afterwards engaged in the mercantile business and became Vice-President of the Kent National Bank. He mar. Josephine A. Collins of Akron, O., Oct. 12, 1864, who d. Springfield, Mass., Oct. 9, 1896, and by whom he had two dau. :

• 1. Grace Emily, who mar. Charles E. Curtiss, and has 2 chil. : Marvin Kent, b. Oct. 10, 1890, and Josephine Collins, b. June, 1892.
• 2. Ella Southwick, who mar. John Reed, and has one child, Eleanor S., b. June, 1895.

II. William Stewart,9 b. Ravenna Aug. 24, 1847 ; mar. Oct. 19, 1865, Kittie M. North, who d. May 28, 1886. He was a merchant, and for many years Vice-Pres. Kent Nat. Bank. No living children.

Bibliographic information:

• Genealogies of the Different Families Bearing the Name of Kent in the United States Together ...
• by Lloyd Vernon Briggs
• Published 1898
• Publisher Rockwell & Churchill press
• Year 1898
• Pages 387
• Possible copyright status NOT_IN_COPYRIGHT
• Language English
• Digitizing sponsor Google
• Book from the collections of Harvard University
• Collection americana
• Page 218
• Identifier-access http://www.archive.org/details/genealogiesdiff00briggoog

Additional biographical links:

https://books.google.com/books?id=POI-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA17&lpg=PA17&dq=...

https://books.google.com/books?id=fz0VAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA613&lpg=PA613&d...

https://books.google.com/books?id=8_UtAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA36&lpg=PA36&dq=...

https://books.google.com/books?id=YfvhVln0D20C&pg=PA1167&lpg=PA1167...

https://www.kentohio.net/kent-history/kents-house-up-on-the-hill

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvin_Kent