The Thomas A. Edison Papers Digital Edition

[The images for this folder are not currently available.]

These letters by Richard Pratt Marvin (1848-1906), brother-in-law of Mina Miller Edison, cover the period March 1898-March 1899. Marvin married Mina's older sister, Jane Eliza Miller (1855-1898), on April 20, 1892. Several of the letters mention the declining health of Jane, who died on November 29,1898, two weeks after her forty-third birthday. One letter expresses concerns about safety and well being of John V. Miller, who enlisted in the U.S. Navy at the start of the Spanish-American War, and Theodore W. Miller and his cousin David Marvin (Dade) Goodrich, who enlisted in the Rough Riders. (Theodore died in combat in on July 8, 1898, as a result of injuries sustained during the Battle of San Juan Hill a week earlier.) Also included is a reference to litigation involving Mount Union College, where Lewis Miller served as chairman of the Board of Trustees. The last letter contains comments about the death of Lewis Miller in February 1899, his last will and testament, and the financial impact of his death on his widow and two unmarried daughters.