Daniel Webster Marsh (August 15, 1838 – June 27, 1916) was a businessman and 4th mayor of

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...

, Canada. He was born in the United States, at

Hudson, New Hampshire Hudson is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. It is located along the Massachusetts state line. The population was 25,394 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-largest municipality (town or city) in the state, by population ...

to Enoch Sawyer March and Margaret Whittier. Marsh spent his youth in

Nashua, New Hampshire Nashua is a city in southern New Hampshire, United States. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 91,322, the second-largest in northern New England after nearby Manchester. Along with Manchester, it is a seat of New Hampshire's most populous ...

, attending the public schools, and starting his working career there. As a young man, he served with the 30th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment and was a part of the

Dakota Territory The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of N ...

Indian campaigns. By 1876 Marsh was managing a small general store in

Fort Benton, Montana Fort Benton is a city in and the county seat of Chouteau County, Montana, United States. Established in 1846, Fort Benton is the oldest continuously occupied settlement in Montana. The city's waterfront area, the most important aspect of its 19 ...

, after which he joined the Fort Benton firm T. C. Power and Bro and in 1876 moved to

Fort Walsh Fort Walsh is a National Historic Site of Canada that was a North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) fort and the site of the Cypress Hills Massacre. Administered by Parks Canada, it forms a constituent part of Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park. The fo ...

(in

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

) to manage their store, remaining at that post until 1883. As the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canad ...

moved west, Marsh saw the opportunity to open up new stores for the company; he opened a store in Maple Creek, Saskatchewan in 1883, and opened a Calgary branch in 1884, remaining as manager of that post until 1893. He arranged for his nephew, Horace A. Greeley, to manage the store in Maple Creek. Marsh became a prominent moneylender soon after his arrival in Calgary. In 1887 he married Julia Wood Shurtliff, the widow of

North-West Mounted Police The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian para-military police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert’s Land and North-Western Territo ...

superintendent Albert Shurtliff. They had one daughter. T. C. Power and Bro. sold the Calgary store to Marsh in 1893, and he continued operating it until 1901. Marsh served one term as mayor of the town of Calgary, winning by acclamation in the 1889 election and serving from January 21, 1889, to January 20, 1890. Upon his death in Calgary, his estate was appraised at $351,000. The majority of his estate was left to Julia, who died two years later.

References

External links

Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marsh, Daniel Webster 1838 births 1916 deaths Mayors of Calgary People from Fort Benton, Montana People from Hudson, New Hampshire American emigrants to Canada Union Army soldiers 19th-century Canadian politicians