Edgar L. Goldthwait

    As one of the old families of Grant County there are numerous references to the Goldthwaits in the historical volume of the Centennial History and also the sketches f the other branches of that family, so prominently identified with the business and civic life of the community. The following is a brief outline of the ancestry and career of Edgar Louis Goldthwait, who has been best known in Grant county as an editor and publisher.

    The founder of his family in the Untied States was Thomas Goldthwait, who was born at Goldthwaite, Yorkshire, West Riding, in 1683. The first ancestor married Rachael Leach of Salem. From this ancestor the line is traced as follows:

  • Samuel, son of Thomas, was born in 1637, and died in 1714, and lived his life at Salem.

  • Samuel, son of Samuel, was born in 1668 and died in 1748, and also spent his life in Salem.

  • Thomas, of Petersham, Massachusetts, born 1738, served all through the Revolutionary war, after several years service in the French-Indian wars.

  • Thomas, a son of the latter lived form 1768 to 1829, his birthplace having been Long Meadow, Massachusetts. In Fairfield County, Ohio he married Mary Crawford, who lived from 1785 to 1847. when a widow with seven children she emigrated to Marion, Indiana, in 1836.

    The father of Edgar L. Goldthwait was Oliver Goldthwait, who was born in 1812 and died in 1872. He was married April 11, 1847, to Marilla Ellen Eward, who was born at Carlisle, Kentucky, September 22, 1830, and died December 31, 1862. Oliver Goldthwiat was a carpenter by trade, a man of high moral character, was liberally educated, and was devoted to his church. His wife, Ellen, was a diligent student, and omnivorous reader, and especially charming in conversational ability. Her ancestors were among the earliest settlers of Kentucky and of Scotch stock.

    Edgar L. Goldthwait was born in Grant county, August 7, 1850. When twelve years of age he began an apprenticeship at the printer's trade, and was connected with that trade and the business of publishing and editorial work for forty years. Mr. Goldthwait is especially remembered for his long connection of sixteen years as editor of the Marion Chronicle. In politics he has always been a Republican, and his church is the Congregational.

    In December, 1886, Mr. Goldthwait married Candace Zombro. She was born in Urbana, Ohio, February 19, 1860, a daughter of John Thomas and Rebecca (Brown) Zombro. Mr. and Mrs. Goldthwait are the parents of a fine family of eight children, all of whom are living, and whose names and dates of birth are as follows:

  1. Mary Agnes, October 21, 1887

  2. George Edgar, October 18, 1889

  3. Margaret, January 15, 1892

  4. James Sweetser, March 27, 1894

  5. John Louis, March 19, 1896

  6. Rebecca, March 7, 1898

  7. Robert Stuart, March 30, 1900

  8. Marilla Ellen, June 11, 1905

    Mr. Goldthwait is of the eighth generation of the family in the country.

Centennial History of Grant County Indiana 1812-1912. The Lewis Publishing Co., 1914.

 

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