Welcome to the Marvel Website

My name is Alan Marvel. This website is a personal labor of love. It’s the story and history of my family and the families we’re connected to. I am not a professional genealogist, just an experienced amateur. I hope you get as much enjoyment and value from this information as I do.

New Marvel Family Descendant Reports

Good Afternoon

Today I have updated the Descendant Books on the Marvel Family. I have updated the information as of May 2020. I have also included the Descendant Books with sources listed for those that would like to my sources.

I hope that you are enjoying the information that my website holds.

Alan Marvel

Update on January 3rd, 2020

Wow ! It is already January 2020. If you have visited this site over the last few months, you have seen some changes and additions. It is my plan to expand several areas over the next few months. If you have any comments or items that you think that I should include on the site, please send me a comment letting me know your thoughts in the Contact section.

Thank you for visiting my site.

Alan Marvel

Updated Descendants report for the Marvel Family

I have updated the Descendants Books for the families of David Marvel Sr. – Thomas Marvel Sr – Philip Marvel Sr. – and Robert Marvel, Planter today. There have been several additions and corrections to various family connections. If you find that I have made errors or incorrect connections, please let me know so that I can check it out and make any necessary corrections.

A New Addition

I was given the book – The Marvel Family History by Robert and Muriel (Marvel) Smith. I would like to now share it with you who visit my website. In 1996, Mrs. Muriel (Marvel) Smith and her husband Robert L. Smith compiled all of the progeny of John Marvell that they could find . The information was gathered from the past generations (Reunion Minutes from 1920 to 1936) and other research done by Dr. John Everett Marvel, Mrs. Ethel (Marvel) Blomberg, and Mrs. Ella (Armstrong) Yeakel. The Smiths have also added various sketches of members of the Marvel family.

Please check it out.

Also if you have information that you would like to share and would like for me to add to the website, please let me know by sending me a comment in the Contact section at the top of the page.

Thank you again for visiting the website.

New Information March 9, 2019

I have been working on updating the Marvel genealogy and trying to make the information on this website easier to navigate and easier to find information that will be of assistance to everyone.

I have expanded the genealogy of the Robert Marvel III family to include 6 generations. I have tried to include the most current information that I have. As I find corrections and additions, I will be making the changes.

Alan Marvel

New Items Added

As of today, I have added photos of the various members of the Prettyman Marvel family and related families. I have digitized several photos that were shared with me over the years on this Marvelous Marvel family. The Prettyman Marvel families settled in various cities in Illinois.

Today’s Update 1-7-2019

I am going through the vast information that I have on the Marvelous Marvel family. One bit of information that is included in the book of information assembled by Muriel Louise (Marvel) Smith and Robert Smith. In the book is a PRODENY INDEX that was created in August of 1996. This index was computer generated and is a very good data base of the Marvel families. According to the cover page in the binder of information states – ” This document is a compilation of information on the progeny of John Marvell, who was a seventeenth century emigrant to America. One information source was a series of reports distributed at the annual reunions of the 1920 through the 1933.” “Lineage Code – (Mrs. Midred) Burwell, introduced a system of cross-referencing that (has) been invaluable….”

I was going through the Index and it reminded me of why I had such a hard time completing my early genealogical charts on my Marvel family. When I started many years ago, the only Marvel information that I knew at the time was my father (Donald L. Marvel) and my grandfather (Virgil Marvel). From there, I did as much research on line as I could. Family Genealogy information gathering has been become easier today because a lot of information and data is now located on line because of Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org. “Back in the Day”, I had to schedule trips to my local library as well as make trips out East to Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia to check out their archives.

One of the main resources for the Marvel line was a book by Nugent called Cavaliers and Pioneers. Many family trees were located on Ancestry.com and I used them in my search for my ancestors. Through many connections I found my great-grandfather – David J. Marvel. That lead to his father, my great-great-grandfather Robert Marvel. There the ‘trail’ went cold at the time. As many have found, there are a lot of Robert’s, David’s, Phillip’s, Thomas’s, and John Marvels in the Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia area during the late 1700’s and 1800’s. Several trees that I found had my Robert Marvel (III) aligned with Phillip Marvel (1758-1794) as his father and Elizabeth Short (1762-1798) as his mother. In fact, one ‘authority’ the book on the Marvel Family History by Virdin was the main source for this information. I had a problem with this association. Phillip and Elizabeth died before my Robert Marvel was born (1805 by most sources). Phillip and Elizabeth Marvel’s Robert Marvel was born in 1787. He was married to a young lady named Ester (Last name unknown) and they lived in Delaware during their lifetime.

As many know, family stories that are pasted down from generation to generation are not always ‘factual’. You have to take the stories and find ‘facts’ to back them up or find the truth.

January 6, 2019

Update

Over the last several years, I have gotten a lot of genealogy information on the Marvelous Marvel family from various sources around the U.S. I am very thankful for them sharing information with me. It has helped me on my journey through the Marvel history. I plan on donating these information nuggets to the Fort Wayne, Indiana Public Library over during this year. I would like to share with others that has been shared with me.

I am currently going through the Marvel Annual Reunion information from the 1920’s. These are the annual reunion ‘notes’ posted for the Prettyman Marvel Sr. family that located in southern Indiana and middle Illinois. I find that I have only scratched the surface with what I have gathered over the years. I am currently going through the information compiled by Ella Armstrong Yeakel in the – ANNUAL REUNION AT PEORIA – 1924. (the fifth annual reunion). The article is titled – THE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF PRETTYMAN MARVEL, SR. – Part 1 – John Marvel.

Anyone looking for a good source of information on the Prettyman Marvel family please take a look at the Marvel Annual Reunion information here – https://alan.marvelfamily.net/genealogy-welcome-page/appendix-ii/the-prettyman-marvel-family-reunions/

Please use the Contact area to share any information or thoughts on the website.