Reeves, Marshall T.
Summary
Father: William F. ReevesMother: Hannah M. (Gilson)
Birth: 5 Mar 1851, Indiana
Birth Source: Death Certificate
Death: 23 Dec 1924, Columbia, Bartholomew County, Indiana
Death Source: Death Certificate
Spouse1: Louisa J. McBridge, m. 17 Oct 1872, Rush County, Indiana
Narrative
Children of Marshall T. Reeves and Louisa:- Grace May/Maggie Reeves, b. c1874, m. Mr. Morris
An extensive biography was published in The Republic at his death:
M. T Reeves Died at Home North of City
Retired Manufacturer, 73 Years Old, Succumbs Early This Morning.
Funeral Set For Friday
Career Closes For Man Active In Civil Life And Noted For his Philanthropies
Marshall T. Reeves, 73, wealthy retired manufacturer, died this morning at 2:30 o'clock at his home on north Washington street, the immediate cause being a sudden illness which attacked him Friday. Funeral services will be held Friday afternoon at 2:30 o'clock at the Tabernacle Christian church, of which he had been an officer for many years, conducted by the Rev. W. H. Book, assisted by the Rev. Ralph Records, pastor of the New Hope Christian church, and the Rev. Z. T. Sweeney, pastor emeritus of the Tabernacle church. Burial will be at the Reeves lot in the City cemetery.
Mr. Reeves had been ill since last July. A few weeks ago he went to the county hospital where he underwent an operation. He had completely recovered from this operation and was planning to depart soon after the first of the year for his winter home in St. Petersburg, Fla., when he was stricken suddenly Friday. Since that time his condition gradually became worse until his death occurred.
Built Up Great Business.
For more than a third of a century, Mr. Reeves was president and general manager of the Reeves & Company's manufacturing concern here, and during that time he and his associates succeeded in building up the business from a mere blacksmith shop to a mammoth manufacturing concern which sent its products everywhere and which at one time employed approximately 1,000 men. Reeves & Company manufactured threshing and kindred machinery and at the time of the sale of the company to the Emerson-Brantingham Company, of Rockford, Ill., the annual business done by the company totalled approximately two million dollars. The price paid by the Illinois concern is said to have been approximately two million dollars.
Mr. Reeves was noted especially for three things: his success as a manufacturer, his deeply religious life and convictions, and his great benefactions to the Christian church and associated organizations. It is estimated that his benefactions, if all of them could be known, would total between three-quarters of a million and a million dollars. He was ever interested in the work of the church of which he was a most active member, and the last work that he did was to send out 8,000 packages of religious tracts dealing with vital issues now before the membership of the Christian church. He felt that this likely would be his last work for the faith he believed in and took considerable pride and interest in sending out those tracts. The last of these were mailed out only recently.
Gave $300,000 in One Gift.
A little more than a year ago, Mr. Reeves made a gift of $300,000 to the Christian Foundation, an organization formed under the laws of the state of Indiana to further the work of the Christian church. This was his second large gift to the foundation and made his total donations to this organization well over the half million mark.
According to the Christian Evangelist, the leading church paper of the denomination, these two gifts represent "the largest investment in a philanthropic coporation of this kind so far recorded in the history of the Disciples of Christ." The interest from this money will be used in ways set out by Mr. Reeves and under the direction of leaders of the church in promoting the things in the Christian church for which he stood.
Interested in Fellowmen.
Mr. Reeves was always interested in his fellow men and was continually, quietly, searching out men and movements that he could help with his money, ideas and time. Many men in Columbus and in fact in many parts of the world are indebted to Marshall T. Reeves for aid which will probably never be generally known, so careful was he to keep his gifts out of the public eye.
Since his retirement from the manufacturing business, Mr. Reeves has had three principal interests, his family to whom he was always most sincerely devoted, befitting a man of such a strong religious nature, his church and his friends. For pastime and in order to keep his mind active and alert he engaged in the sport of roque, a game similar in some respects to croquet. He was an enthusiastic devotee of this game and had an enclosed court on his farm north of the city. He was very active in the affairs of the national roque association and wrote the book of rules by which this game is played.
Mr. Reeves was a democrat , and held the office of city councilman for two terms at one time several years ago. While a member of the city council much construction work in the nature of better sanitation and general improvements was done by the city council. Other than this he never sought or held public office.
Lead in Prohibition Work.
An ardent supporter of everything that was good, Mr. Reeves early aligned himself against the liquor traffic and was one of the leaders in this section in working for prohibition. A believe in the government and its various departments, he had no time for any radical movement of any kind. He was especially opposed to methods employed by union labor organizations of some time ago, and often voiced these opinions.
Mr. Reeves, although never an active lodge man, believed in the good accompplished by lodges, and was himself a Knight Templar and Thirty-second degree Mason.
Showed Early Inventive Trait.
Mr. Reeves was born in Rush county, Indiana, March 5, 1851, the son of William F. and Hannah M. Reeves, being the eldest of a family of nine children. During the winter of 1871-2 he completed a common school education at Lebanon, Ohio, and then taught a four-months school at Red Lion, near that place. He continued teaching for three winters thereafter, presiding over schools in Rush county, Ind.
On October 17, 1872, Mr. Reeves was married to Miss Louisa J. McBridge, daughter of William J. and Nancy A. McBridge. To this union one child, Grace May, now Mrs. May Morris, was born. Mrs. Reeves passed away on March 16, 1918.
Surviving the deceased in addition to the daughter, who has been her father's constant companion since the death of the wife and mother, are the two brothers, M. O. and G. L. Reeves, two granddaughters, Mrs. Ransom D. Perry and Mrs. Clyde Marr, and three great grandchildren, James Glanton Perry, John Morris Marr and Henry Marshall Marr.
Early in life his inventive turn of mind made itself apparent. One day while still a young boy he was plowing corn on his father's farm, the farm his grandfather had entered from the government. He was using the old conventional double shovel plow. The day being hot and the task not a pleasant one, the youth began thinking in terms of labor saving machinery whit the result that he devised a plow on which two double shovels were fastened, one a right hand and the other a left. He then was able to plow a row of corn at one operation instead of merely a half row as he had done in the past. With the aid of his father the device was improved and manufactured. This was the beginning of his career as a manufacturer and inventor.
Plow Original Invention
The invention which started him in the manufacturing world was the "Hoosier Boy Corn Plow," which was devised by him in 1869. This was later improved and patented and in 1875 he, with his father and uncle, A. B. Reeves, formed a company known as the Hoosier Boy Cultivator Company, and began the manufacture and sale of this plow at Knightstown, Ind. In the fall of the same year the company moved to Columbus and located its plan at the present site of the Emerson-Brantingham Company.
About 1879, the company's name was changed to Reeves & Company and consisted of Marshall T. Reeves, his two uncles, Alfred B. and Milton M. Reeves. The father of Marshall T. Reeves was also interested in the company at that time.
In 1881, the Reeves Straw Stacker, another invention of Marshall T. Reeves, was placed on the market and this met with good success. From this invention the company entered into the field of threshing machinery and later made separators, traction engines, corn shellers, clover hullers, and the like. Other articles manufactured included sawmill devices, steam gang plows and similar machinery, most of which Mr. Reeves either was the sole inventor or co-inventor with other members of the firm. In 1888 Reeves & Company was incorporated with Marshall T. Reeves as president and general manager.
While he was in the manufacturing business he was most active in his work. It is said that whenever the whistle blew for his factory to begin work in the morning he was there to see and help the men get started in their duties, excepting, of course, when he was out of the city. His inventive turn of mind did not render him less capable of executive duties, and in this he was declared by those with whom he was associated to have been especially gifted. One man, who knew him and worked with him for many years, said his ability to handle enthuse and inspire men was one of his greatest, if not his greatest asset.
Started Reeves & Co. in 1888.
In 1888 at the same time Reeves & Company was incorporated, the Reeves Pulley Company was incorporated with Marshall T. Reeves as president. Associated with him in this enterprise and since that time have been his two brothers, Milton O. Reeves and Girnie L. Reeves. The father of the three men was interested in the company for a time, also. Marshall T. Reeves, when the company was young, spent some of his time in the office in charge of affairs, but later had to devote practically all his attention to the Reeves & Company's plant. However, he always maintained his interest in the Pulley Company and throughout its existence was its president. He acted always as a counsellor and in an advisory capacity for his two younger brothers.
So interested was he in his religion and the work of his church that he always mixed them with his work, no matter if others of his time felt it inadvisable to do so. At one time it is said a series of catalogs published by Reeves & Company, contained sermons of doctrinal type as written by the Rev. John S. Sweeney, brother of the Rev. Z. T. Sweeney, of this city. It was said of him by one of his former associates that he lived his religious life twenty-four hours a day, seven days in the week. He was never too busy to help on a religious enterprise.
Deeply Interested in Religion.
During the last ten years of his life his energies were devoted almost entirely to his religious interests. He was continually searching out new means and methods of aiding churches, religious movements and deserving individuals. His benefactions he always kept secret and preferred that no mention be made of them with the result that no one knows just how extensive his giving really was.
It is known that he maintained three native missionaries in Japan for a number of years in addition to supporting the work of the Rev. C. D. Cunningham in Japan in a generous way. He was greatly interested in the organization a few years ago of the Cincinati Bible Institute, an institution of the Christian church, and has supported one member of the teaching staff of that institution since its founding.
Several years ago he was instrumental in the organizing of Indiana for missionary work and at that time bought six automobiles which were presented to the six district superintendents engaged in the work.
Was Active in Florida.
For the past twelve years he had been spending the winter months in Florida. There he organized Manistee county, in which St. Petersburg is located, for missionary work. He was a member of the board of elders of the Christian church at St. Petersburg and was known there as the advising or consulting elder. He had been a member and officer of the Tabernacle church here for many, many years, and several years ago this church made him an elder for life, a distinction seldom conferred. He was a supporter of many Bible colleges of the Christian faith and held honorary positions on directorates of several of these. He was a member of the board of directors of Butler college and had held that position for years.
Research Notes
Sources
Birth: Death Certificate, Marshal T. Reeves, 1924Marriage1: Indiana, Marriage Index, 1800-1941 (Ancestry)
Death: Death Certificate, Marshal T. Reeves, 1924
The Republic, 23 Dec 1924
1880 Census: Bartholomew County, Indiana
1900 Census: Bartholomew County, Indiana
1910 Census: Bartholomew County, Indiana
1920 Census: Pinellas County, Florida