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From: "Niesen" <>
Subject: [PONTIUS] Samuel Pontious Wormley
Date: Sun, 25 Mar 2001 21:41:37 -0000


Samuel Pontious Wormley of Marshall, Michigan, was born in Union, Union
County, Pennsylvania, November 22, 1819. He is one of a family of nine
children; his parents, John and Susan (Pontious) Wormley, were of Dutch
descent. Mr. Wormley's great-grandfather was one of the early settlers of
Philadelphia; his father was a farmer, who removed to Canandaigua, New York,
and then to St. Joseph County, Michigan. His mother's family were early
settlers in Northumberland, Pennsylvania. Mr. Wormley attended the schools
of Canandaigua, Geneva, and Lima. At the age of fourteen, he commenced work
on a farm, and passed two years in this occupation, and as clerk in a hotel.
Afterwards, he was employed, for eight years, as clerk and steward on the
steamers that ply from Buffalo to Chicago. From 1846 until 1848, he was
engaged by the Great Western Railroad Company, on the steamer "Mayflower,"
whose route was from Detroit to Buffalo. While engaged on the lakes, he was
messenger of the American Express Company; and, during the winter season,
was employed on their overland route, usually as special messenger for the
transportation of money. He finally grew weary of this mode of life, and
became proprietor of the Railroad Hotel in Marshall. After four years, he
gave up this business and removed to a farm four miles west of the city.
Here he remained for eleven years, giving special attention to
stock-raising, and proving himself one of the most successful farmers in the
county. In 1863 Mr. Wormley, induced by his brother-in-law, William F.
Fargo, President of the American Express Company, re-entered their service,
and took a position in the office at Marshall. He has now been in the employ
of the company longer than any man west of Buffalo, and has held many
offices of trust and honor. When the Whig party dissolved, Mr. Wormley
became a Democrat. During the war, he upheld all the measures of the
administration. He belongs to the Masonic Fraternity, and is a Sir Knight.
He is a prominent member of the Episcopal Church, with which he united in
1871. August 9, 1849, he married Marietta Fargo, daughter of William C.
Fargo, of Manlius, New York.

>From Michigan Biographies, 1878


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