Joshua Alexander Marsh Sr. and Aggie Mae Parrack Marsh
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J.A. and Aggie Marsh
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Biography

Most of the following was taken from a paper written by Mr. J.A. Marsh at the request of a committee from the First Batist Church in Spur, Texas with the idea of putting it in the cornerstone of the new church building.

He relates:

We first came to Spur in November, 1909, while it was mostly a tent city. It rained and there was water and mud everywhere and it was bitterly cold. My father and I worked at building houses and any other kind of buildings in demand. Aggie, my wife, and I became charter members of the First Baptist Church when it was organized by a missionary in the winter of 1909 and 1910. Several months after that we left Spur from Stonewall County and returned in 1916.

The town and church had both grown; we truly felt we had found a real home and church where we could serve the Lord in a good spiritual atmosphere in a town and church filled with good people. From 1916 until 1922 I worked as a carpenter and builder and was associated with the Miller Lumber Yard and then with the Brazelton Lumber Yard. Mrs. Marsh was busy at home caring for our six children.

Early in 1922 we had itchy feet again, sold our home, loaded our children with the household belongings in two covered wagons, took our Model T and headed for Tierra Amarilla in New Mexico. We selected our homestead near the Chama river and built a log cabin after cutting the timbers from the beautiful trees. Before we left Texas we had promises that a school would be provided. However, there was only one other family with no children in addition to a number of sheep headers. Since there would be no school, we decided to return to Texas and civilization where we could enroll our children in school, staying briefly in Lorenzo, Texas.

In October, 1922, the building committee of the First Baptist Church in Spur invited us to return there and help in the construction of the new church. Soon we were back in our real home town and church. Upon arrival in Spur the plans for the church were handed to me and I became supervisor of the construction. Architects were Taylor and Peters of Lubbock. There were no general contractors but several sub-contractors were used. Charlie Whitner was awarded the excavation and concrete work. J.L. Scott received the brick contract and the painting and decorating was done by S.C. Fallis. The carpenter work was done by members of the church who were carpenters: Brothers Emmett Lee, J.E. Sanders, Tommie J. Seale, Roy D. Baughman and me. The ladies of the church worked hard raising money for the project and they added a fine and costly touch, the stained glass windows for the entire building. Another tribute to the carpenters, from the beginning they each donated two dollars per day of their wages to the church.

The above concludes the record as written by my father and describes a labor of love. From the completion of the church building, he continued to build in Spur and the surrounding areas. He built houses in town and on farms, schools and churches as well as commercial buildings until he retired. As I recall, he retired about three times and found it impossible to be idle and returned to work on a smaller scale. As a builder he taught my three brothers, several cousins, and sons of many other parents in Spur to become carpenters and builders.

In every phase of his life, my mother aided and abetted his every effort. Most of her life was devoted to her children, nephews and nieces who lived with us at various times, to her home, community and church.

The last service held in the building dad relates the history of was his funeral. A fitting end to his service of love. Mother still lives in Saint Petersburg, Florida, but keeps her home in Spur and visits it at every opportunity. She is hearty and well and is the only surviving charter member of the church he tells of building.

The memorial plaque for the Margaret A. Elliott Museum which bears the name of Mr. and Mrs. J.A. Marsh was given by Mary Marsh Barker and her husband Alton Barker, but the sentiments expressed represent those of the remaining children of the family: Johnnye Cabral, Thelma Jackson and Roy Marsh as well.

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Name: Joshua Alexander MARSH
Born: Feb., 14, 1881
Died: Aug. 18, 1967
Father: Joseph Robert MARSH
Mother: Louisa PORTERFIELD - buried in Arkansas
Married: Angie Mae PARRACK
Born: Apr. 20, 1887
Died: Nov. 13, 1985

Obituary

Funeral services for J. A. Marsh, 86, a retired building contractor, were held Sunday at 8 p.m. in the First Baptist Church. Rev. Norris Taylor officiated. He was assisted by Rev. John Jenkins, Lorenzo.

Mr. Marsh died August 18 in Spur Memorial Hospital.

He came to Spur when the town was founded in November, 1909. He was a member of the First Baptist Church and Woodman of the World Lodge.

Survivors include his wife; Mrs. J. A. Marsh, Spur; two sons, Roy Marsh, Waco and Kelley Marsh, Fort Worth; three daughters, Mrs. John Cabral, St. Petersburg, FL; Mrs. Thelma Jackson, Williams, AZ; Mrs. Alton Barker of McAllen; one sister, Mrs. Myrle Roberts, Kress; nine grandchildren and four great grandchildren.

Interment was in Spur Cemetery.

©The Texas Spur, August 24
from the records of Lillian Grace Nay

Funeral services for Angie May Marsh, 97, were held Friday, November 16 at 2:3 p.m. at Campbell Funeral Home Chapel. Rev. Norris Taylor, Stinnett, officiated, assisted by Rev. Darwin Cox, pastor of the First Baptist Church.

Mrs. Marsh died November 13 at North Horizon Health Center, St. Petersburg, FL, following a lengthy illness. Born Aggie May Parrack on April 20, 1887 in Battle, Texas, she married Joshua Alex Marsh in Cristoval on February 7, 1905. He died August 18, 1967. A housewife, she had lived in Dickens County from 1909 to 1971 when she moved to St. Petersburg. She was a member of the Baptist Church.

Survivors include three daughters: Thelma Jackson, Williams, AZ; Johnnye Cabral, St. Petersburg, FL; Mary Barker, McAllen; 10 grandchildren and 14 great grandchildren. Three sons preceded her in death: Roy A. Marsh, J. A. Marsh, Jr. and Kelley Marsh.

Burial was in Spur Memorial Cemetery.

©The Texas Spur, November 22, 1984
from the records of Lillian Grace Nay

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