The HORSE DRAWN Papers #4

T h e   B L A C K S M I T H

I never knew C. D. Maranville, but I spent my teen-age years in his house.

Charlie Maranville's house as it appears today. (Edited)

Everyone needed a blacksmith.  The problem is that today, no one really knows what the blacksmith did.  We know from pictures that it involves fire, steel or iron, an anvil, and a hammer.  We may have wanted decorative hinges, or a wrought iron fence, or nails.  Maybe your horse needs new shoes...

What we need to remember is that outside of industrial wagon factory, the wagonmaker had to have an integral knowledge of smithing in order to fit irons and the blacksmith needed to know a thing or two about wagons, more than likely, he needed to know how to put a new tire on a wagon wheel.

Charlie Maranville was Alexandria's blacksmith, or so I thought.  In an 1866 Alexandria Business Directory lists Charlie as a maker of carriages, turning, and trunks.  By the 1870 Federal Census, Charlie is listed as a Journeyman Halter Maker.  In the 1880 and 1990 Federal Censuses, he continues as a harness maker.

Little is known of him beyond his vital statistics.  We know he was born on June 8, 1836.  We just don't know where, some say New York, some say New Jersey, others say Ohio.  We do know he died on April 11, 1904, and is buried in Alexandria's Maple Grove Cemetery.   Charlie married Julia A. Twining, whose history is more definitive.  Julia was a local girl and is listed in Alexandra and St. Alban's Census Records from 1850 on.  In her final years, she lived in Newark with her son on Robbins Drive.  She died in the Newark Hospital from a severe stroke on July 1, 1919, and was buried beside her husband two days later.

Frank Maranville's house on Robbin Drive where Julia spent her final years.

Charlie is listed as a harness or halter maker in the 1870, 1880, and 1900 Census records. (The 1890 Census was lost to fire.)  By comparison, Alexandris had six blacksmiths in 1870.  By 1880, there were twice as many, and by 1900, eight blacksmiths were still available.  Charlie and Julia had two sons, Frank W. and Fred C. Maranville.  Frank moved to Newark near the Rugg factory while Fred remained in Alexandria.  Downtown Alexandria seemed full of craftsmen.  In fact, in 1880 one of Julia's brothers was listed as a tinsmith as was his neighbor John Scuraman.

So, was Charlie a blacksmith?  I just don't exactly know.  While this is possible, it appears that in the latter half of his life, Charlie worked leather into harness.  What I do know is that Alexandria needed a blacksmith and by 1880, the village had three blacksmiths and four journeymen blacksmiths.  All I know about Charlie is that I don't know much.