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WHO WAS - W. Marion Grove
in Plum Township
Venango County, Pennsylvania
By H. W. Strawbridge

W. Marion Grove, a young resident of Plum Township who was allotted a life of only 28years, was born April 26, 1854, a son of William J. and Mary Jane McAlevy Grove whowere residents of the Wallaceville vicinity.

Marion’s paternal grandparents, Peter and Fannie Grove, had settled in Plum in 1835, andhis maternal grandparents, Miles and Elizabeth McAlevy, were early settlers in Plum, too. Miles McAlevy and his brother, George, were descended from William McAlvey, a soldierwho erected McAlevy’s Fort in Huntington County, Pa. Miles was a tailor by trade andhe died in 1874. He and his wife were charter members of the Sunville M.E. Church.

They had two children, William McAlevy and Mary Jane McAlevy Grove. The latterbeing Marion’s mother. Mary Jane and her husband, William J. Grove, lived in what is thepresent large part of the house now occupied by the Lawrence Rhoades family and J. O.Grove west of Wallaceville. It then sat in the hollow west of its present location. Williamand Mary Jane, according to record, also farmed a few years in Pinegrove Township.

William died rather suddenly in 1882 of a severe intestinal disorder, leaving his wife andtwo children: Miss Frances (Frane) grove and Marion Grove. Frane was two or threeyears older than Marion. They were taken by their uncle, James R. Grove, and they livedwith his family from then on. Marion grew up and received a good education. He was avery fine violin player. He never took any lessons and learned to play it by himself,playing by ear.

He was a well built man, having been about six feet in height and straight as an arrow. Hewas a good looking man and was well liked by everybody. He was somewhat mischievousat times but in a clean manner.

He became an oil driller and he and another fellow owned two drilling rigs with Marionoperating one and the other fellow the other one. He drilled in the Bradford area at thetime of the excitement there.

The Plum township assessments of 1876 show Marion listed as a miller. Nobody seems toknow what mill he was connected with at that time. It could have been the Wallacevilleflouring mill. The 1877 and 78 assessments list him as a laborer.

It was during the late summer of 1882 that Marion was drilling near Clarendon. He leftthere in late September and went to the state of Michigan where his uncle, James Grove,and another kinsman by marriage, George M. Winchester, were staying at the time andwere employed by a large sawmill gang as hunters to furnish meat for their tables. Marionsecured employment on the sawmill after arriving there.

KILLED IN HUNTING ACCIDENTOn the morning of Nov. 7, Marion and his relatives were hunting for deer near OgenawSprings, Roscommon County. It is said that he had shot a deer sometime that forenoon. At about 11 o’clock he became tired and sat down on a pine log, watching a runway foranother chance. He had on a suit of dark clothes and wore a small stiff-rimmed hat. While sitting, he soon leaned over with his face upon his hand and his arm resting upon hisleft leg.

A short ways away in the woods was an elderly gentleman from Ohio who had to wearspectacles in order to see to hunt. This old fellow walked to within 60 yards of Marionand, seeing Marion in his resting position and thinking him to be a bear, raised his rifle,aimed it and fired.

The impact of the shot caused Marion to spring up, raising his hands, and shout, O myGod! He then fell over dead. The ball entered his right side, passing through the fifthrib, the lungs and heart, and emerged on the left side, passing through his left arm,breaking the bone. Winchester was near him at the time and saw it. Marion’s uncle Jameswas quite a distance off and didn’t witness the tragedy. The old fellow who fired the shotwas utterly prostrated with grief.

The party was far back in the woods from habitation, and Marion’s body together with his.44 Winchester rifle was wrapped in a horse blanket and taken out of the gigantic woodsfor 40 miles with a team of horses. Then they reached a river and it was transported aways on it.

The old man who fired the fatal shot also accompanied the sad party, and on the way toDetroit he fainted several times. He went to his home in Ohio, broken down in strengthand spirit. James Grove and George Winchester feared the old man would not be able tostand the shock. Record does not indicate what happened to him.

Very Large Funeral HeldMarion’s body was sent by express from Detroit to Titusville. On the Friday following thetragedy his funeral took place in the Methodist Church at Wallaceville and was one of thelargest ever seen in that village. It was reported at the time that, If everyone who lovedhim had brought a flower, a path of flowers could have been formed from the church tohis last resting place in the church cemetery.

James Spangler of Wallaceville, who was a close friend of Marion’s and was a yearyounger, sat on Marion’s rough box in the cemetery just before the burial and read a letterhe had written to Marion a short while previous. Spangler was shocked and still viewedthe tragedy with disbelief. One corner of the letter was missing where the fatal ball hadpenetrated it where Marion carried it in his shirt pocket.

Mrs. Myrtle Seely Sweeting, 88, of Warren, Pa., can still remember seeing Marion’s shirtwith the bullet hole in it. She also remembers of Marion being at her father’s homenearby.

It is a fact that Marion’s Uncle James grove never hunted again. This sickened him of thesport. Marion’s cousin, William R. Grove, got Marion’s rifle and kept it for a number ofyears. His violin was shipped to relatives in California many years later. J. O. grove ofWallaceville, a son of the late William R. Grove, knows several facts pertaining toMarion’s short life.

Unfortunately a positive identification of a photograph of Marion could not be made dueto the passing of so much time. However, in looking through the plush album of Marion’slate sister, Frane, a kinsman had picked out this photograph which is the most likely one ofMarion. The album is owned today by Mrs. T. J. Barr of Franklin.

Facts relative to the McAlevy family ancestry of Marion Grove are in records possessedby E. S. McAlevy, an attorney in Oil City; Mrs. Alice Lupher of Franklin, and Mrs.Blanche Welsh of Guys Mill, RD 3.

After she became a widow, Marion’s mother lived below Sunville for a few years. Thenshe lived with her daughter in Oil City, she died on Memorial Day morning, 1904.

His sister, Frane, had taught schools in Oil City for many years. In her later years shemarried a Methodist minister, Rev. T. W. Douglas. After his retirement they lived inFranklin where he died, and later on Aug. 9, 1943, she died at quite a ripe old age.

Transcribed by Dr. Harry Sharp
NY & FL
patroon@ibm.net

Disclaimer:there may be errors due to transcription ofinformation from both early and late (current contributors) work.