My Genealogy Hound

JOHN W. MAREAN, retired blacksmith, Le Roy; the subject of this sketch was born in the city of Frederickton, British Provinces, July 10, 1821; his father, Aaron Marean, was born sixteen miles north of Portland, in the town of Standish Cumberland Co., Me., where he lived and followed blacksmithing (with the exception of five years when he lived in the Provinces from 1818 to 1823) until his death, which occurred in 1834; John W. removed from the place of his birth with his parents to their native place, Standish, when he was two years of age; here he spent the days of his boyhood; attended the common schools during the winter and worked at blacksmithing during the summer until 17 years of age, when he finished his trade, which he followed in Standish until 22 years of age, when he removed to Portland, where he lived one year, then to Lewiston two years, and, in 1846, removed to Richmond on the Kennebec River where he followed his trade until he emigrated West, when he located in Bloomington, McLean Co., Ill., in the spring of 1856; in the spring of 1857, he removed to Le Roy and followed his trade until August, 1862, when he enlisted in the 94th I. V. I.; he was mustered in as Corporal of Company G; he with his regiment went to St. Louis, and was engaged in the campaign through Missouri and Arkansas; then to Vicksburg and New Orleans, and, in the fall of 1863 was detailed to return to Le Roy and recruit for the regiment, remaining here through the fall and a portion of the winter; he returned to his regiment, then at Brownsville, Texas, and in the spring of 1864 went via New Orleans to Ft. Margan, Alabama, and, after capturing the above fort, remained there during the winter, and, in the spring, he was detailed to assist in making up a pontoon train, going to Mobile, from which place he marched across the country to Baton Rouge, on the Mississippi River; after the surrender of Lee, an order being issued for all soldiers on detailed duty to report to their regiment, he made his way back to Mobile, Ala., and joined his regiment having, with a companion traveled a distance of upward of eight hundred miles upon a capital of 50 cents, being often placed in peculiar circumstances; the writer of this article is inclined to the belief that the rebel element with whom he was contending, involuntarily contributed liberally to their support during this tedious and perilous journey; in June, 1865, he was forwarded to Galveston, Texas, where he received a sunstroke which came near proving fatal, and his partial recovery may be attributed only to the careful nursing and skillful medical attention which he then received; after recovering sufficient strength, he came via New Orleans and Cairo to Springfield, Ill., where he was mustered out of service in August, 1865. Mr. Marean served in the army three years; and has his health much impaired from the effects of the hardships and exposure of army life, but more especially suffers from effects of the sunstroke received while in Galveston in the summer of 1865; to such an extent has he suffered from the latter cause that he works but very little at his trade, devoting his attention to fine stock. His marriage with Emily Wilson was celebrated in Portland, May 18, 1846; she was born in Westbrook Cumberland Co , Maine, June 18, 1818; three children were the fruit of this union - Sarah A., born March 12, 1847 (now Mrs. J. V. Smith, of Le Roy); George Edgar, Sept. 9, 1849 (now living at home); Annie Wilson, Nov. 14, 1851, died Aug. 24, 1852, in Richmond, Maine.