Marsch, Paul A.
1889-1976 | Businessman and City Councilman
Paul Marsch served on the Anchorage City Council for a single term (1936-1937).
Paul Albert Marsch was born in Portland, Oregon on June 21, 1889, to German immigrant parents Rudolph Marsch and Mary Shoemaker (Schumacher) Marsch. His father, Rudolph, was a barber. He grew up in Portland, Oregon.[1]
Marsch first arrived in Anchorage about 1917, where he was hired as a lumber inspector by the Alaskan Engineering Commission (AEC), the federal agency in charge of construction of the Alaska Railroad. By 1920, he was a clerk for the AEC.[2] He worked for the AEC for a number of years and then was hired by W.J. Boudreau Company, a wholesale grocer.[3]
On February 23, 1918, he married Eleanor C. Welch in Seattle, Washington. She was born in Minneota, Minnesota in 1884. Paul and Eleanor Marsch arrived in Anchorage sometime between 1918 and 1922, although the exact date is not known.
In the April 7, 1936 general election, Marsch was elected to a two-year term on the Anchorage City Council. He received a tally of 319 votes out of a total of 674 votes cast in the election.[4] In 1941, he went to work at Elmendorf Field north of Anchorage until he retired in 1957, and left Alaska the following year.[5]
Eleanor Marsh was instrumental in founding the Ladies Auxiliary of Jack Henry Post No.1, American Legion. She served as department president of the American Legion Alaska Department in 1938-1939.[6] During World War II, she headed up the Selective Service Commission in Anchorage.[7]
Paul Marsch died on March 13, 1976 in Pinellas, Florida. Eleanor Welch Marsch died in 1978, and is buried in the Pioneers section of Anchorage's Angelus Memorial Park. The couple was survived by their daughter, Peggy Marsch Enberg (1918-1999), and son Burton Marsch (1924-2003). Paul Marsch and Peggy Marsch Enberg had their ashes scattered.[8]
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Endnotes
[1] Rudolph Marsch, Portland, Oregon, City Directory, 1893, in U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line], http://ancestry.com (accessed August 22, 2016).
[2] Paul A. Marsch, 1920 U.S. Census, Seattle, King County, Washington, ED 200, stamped page 203, National Archives Microfilm Publication T625, Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920, Roll 1928, 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line], http://ancestry.com (accessed August 22, 2016).
[3] Draft registration card, Paul A. Marsch, Local Board No. 7, Precinct 160, Seattle, WA, June 5, 1917, National Archives Microfilm Publication M1509, World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, Roll WA32, in U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards 1917-1918 [database on-line], http://ancestry.com (accessed August 22, 2016); and Obituary, “Paul A. Marsch Dies in Florida,” Anchorage Times, March 14, 1976, A-2.
[4] History of Mayors and Assembly Members, 1925-1985 [“Mayors and Councilmen of the City of Anchorage, Alaska, 1925-1985”], Clerk’s Office, Municipality of Anchorage, Anchorage, AK; and "Herbert Brown Wins Race for Mayor; Marsch, Roach and Johnson are Elected," Anchorage Daily Times, April 8 1936, 1 and 8..
[5] John Bagoy, Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1935 (Anchorage: Publications Consultants, 2001), 225.
[6] “Department Head on Way to Attend National Session,” Alaska Miner (Fairbanks), October 25, 1938, 25, https://Newspapers.com (accessed April 12, 2016); “Names of Auxiliary Staff, PDP’s,” Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (Fairbanks, AK), September 6, 1939, 5, https://Newspapers.com (accessed April 12, 2016); and “American Legion Auxiliary Achieves Fine Work,” Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, September 7, 1939, 5, https://Newspapers.com (accessed April 12, 2016).
[7] John Bagoy, Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1935, 225.
[8] Ibid.
Sources
This biographical sketch of Paul Albert Marsch is based on an essay originally published in John Bagoy’s Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1935 (Anchorage, AK: Publications Consultants, 2001), 203. See also the Paul A. Marsch file, Bagoy Family Pioneer Files (2004.11), Box 5, Atwood Resource Center, Anchorage, AK. Edited by Mina Jacobs, 2012. Note: edited slightly by Bruce Parham, August 22, 2016.
Preferred citation: Mina Jacobs, ed., “Marsch, Paul A.,” Cook Inlet Historical Society, Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1940, http;//www.alaskahistory.org.
Major support for Legends & Legacies, Anchorage, 1910-1940, provided by: Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, Atwood Foundation, Cook Inlet Historical Society, and the Rasmuson Foundation. This educational resource is provided by the Cook Inlet Historical Society, a 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt association. Contact us at the Cook Inlet Historical Society, by mail at Cook Inlet Historical Society, Anchorage Museum at Rasmuson Center, 625 C Street, Anchorage, AK 99501 or through the Cook Inlet Historical Society website, www.cookinlethistory.org.