Resident looking for historical information

To the editor:

Earlier this year I wrote to the Banner-Graphic describing an earlier use of the building which now houses Moore's Bar.

In the 1880s it was occupied by the music store of Emmanuel Marquis, who was originally from Germany. Mr. Marquis had previously taught German, French and music at DePauw when it was Indiana Asbury University.

I also noted that his daughter taught violin for a time at DePauw, and that her photo is in Phillips and Baughman's illustrated volume of DePauw history.

A few days ago I received a phone call from David Ehrick, who is a relative of Mr. Marquis and who lives in California. Somehow he had seen my letter and is interested in any other information about Marquis and his family, especially if anyone still lives in the area who is a relative.

I said to Ehrick that someone from here had known more about Marquis and had told me that there was more information, but that I could not remember who it was.

(Was it perhaps someone who voted at the VFW in the May primary, when I was working the polls?)

Could that person, or anyone else with additional information about Mr. Marquis or his family, please contact me at 653-6376? I could then pass that on to Mr. Ehrick.

David Ehrick is the great grand-nephew of brothers Emmanuel Marquis and Siegfried Marcus (Marquis may have changed the spelling to "frenchify" his name, though the brothers were born in the duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, northern Germany).

Some interesting facts about Siegfried Marcus (1831-1898): that he was a technician who was an early pioneer in the invention of the internal combustion engine, and that he held about 130 patents on various devices.

He lived most of his life in Vienna and was well-known in his lifetime. Since he was Jewish, the Nazis erased all monuments to him which remained in Austria.

Mr. Ehrick also noted that Rosa Marquis taught violin at DePauw until 1896, when she moved to another Methodist-founded institution in Alabama. He also knew that Emmanuel Marquis and his son Emmanuel Jr. were listed in Greencastle in the 1900 census, and that Emmanuel Sr. died in 1901. Emmanuel Jr. lived in another state by the time of the 1910 census.

Any information which you could give me about Emmanuel Marquis would be welcome.

James Rambo

Greencastle