“Every object tells a story if you know how to read it.” — Henry Ford
Recently, I sat down to a conversation with Cherrish Beals, who co-owns the historic Marshall House with her husband Matt. The couple operates the beautiful house as a bed and breakfast. Its guests come from all over the world. Located in Niagara Falls, N.Y., this house is on the National Register of Historic Homes. This home was built in 1913. Its original owner, James G. Marshall (1869-1960), was an industrialist who helped build the business known as Union Carbide Corp. He started life as the son of Joseph Williams Marshall (1825-1906) and Mary Allen Marshall (1825-1912). He had five sisters and four brothers. And he was the baby of the family.
Mr. Marshall, who grew up on a farm near Bellafonte, Pennsylvania, lived his adult life in Niagara Falls, a city that was bright, shining and full of promise. There was a famous waterfalls and a canal that was an important part of the movement of goods from the east coast to the Great Lakes cities of the Midwest. Back at the end of the 19th century and into the early part of the 20th century, Niagara Falls was a thriving city. The city was also on its way to becoming the honeymoon capital of the world. It was so famous as a honeymoon capital that Jerome Bonaparte, the brother of Napoleon, took his bride there for her honeymoon.
And so, the baby of the family grew up and found a wife. And it’s the wife who is the star of today’s story. Her name was Eliza, but everyone called her Lida.
When Cherrish and Matt Beals purchased the house, they had no idea that a treasure was sitting in a steam trunk in the attic. One day, Cherrish was in the attic when she found a box.
Cherrish described the discovery. “When we got this house in January 2022, in the attic, I found in a big box, a letter from Ellen, who is the great granddaughter of James G. Marshall. The letter said, ‘Niagara University has a clothing restoration program. So, here is my grandmother’s wedding dress. Perhaps a student would want to restore it as a project.’ She had given the dress, a headpiece and veil, and two pair of shoes to the owner that I bought the house from. He had put it in a steam trunk in the attic, where it was safe, but just put away.
“I didn’t know it. I found it in the attic in the steam trunk. What a treasure! My friend Sheila Zuni is a master seamstress. She has made wedding dresses and has done all sorts of amazing things. She said, ‘I’ll take a whack at restoring it.’ And so she did. She ironed every ruffle and pleat. She helped me put it on a form.” In addition to the wedding dress packed in a trunk, there were two dress forms in the attic.
“We found the case on Facebook Marketplace. I took it to an auto dealership. They put UV protected film coating on the glass so it’s all protected.”
It was then that the plot thickened. Was the dress in the steam trunk actually the dress worn by Ellen’s grandmother?
Cherrish related that she took a look at the dress and the picture of the bride and told Ellen, “Wait a minute, this dress is not the dress in the picture. The dress in the picture doesn’t have sleeves or a high collar. It looks very different. The bottom is very different. Ellen, I think this dress is different. I don’t think it’s the dress in the picture.”
Cherrish and Ellen looked at the box and discovered that the name written on it was “Mrs. Marshall.”
“She said, ‘If it says Mrs. Marshall, that’s my great grandmother’s wedding dress. My grandmother married a Scott, so she would have been Mrs. Scott, not Mrs. Marshall.’
James and Lida Marshall had two daughters. One of their daughters was named Marion Lois. Cherrish said she believes Marion Lois went by the name of Lois. Dorothy was married to Dr. Walter Roger Scott. They had two daughters.
Cherrish and Ellen wanted to try to figure out whose wedding dress was in the steam trunk. “To help us confirm that was indeed the case, in the same box with the wedding dress and the shoes was the 1897 Longfellow calendar and a Valentine that Mr. Marshall had made for his wife, Lida. They got married in 1898, on June 22nd. That all lined up with the facts, the calendar being a year before when they were courting. That’s how we were able to connect the dots and were able to confirm that it was an 1898 wedding dress but the veil and the shoes are Dorothy’s. The assumption in there being two pairs of shoes in there is that one was Lida’s pair and the other being Dorothy’s.”
Lida and James Marshall began 1897 very much in love and looking forward to their future together.
There are many more treasures awaiting you at the Marshall House, a lovely bed and breakfast located in Niagara Falls, not far from Niagara Falls State Park, Goat Island and Three Sisters Island.
If you’d like to explore these treasures in person, go to https://www.marshallhouseny.com/, where you can book a room in the Marshall House, along with reading a bit more about this historic house.
