Russell Marston

Boston Vigilance Committee member

Massachusetts Historical Society

Quick Facts

Significance:

Boston Vigilance Committee member, restaurateur

Place of Birth:

Marston's Mills, Barnstable, Massachusetts

Date of Birth:

October 14, 1816

Place of Death:

Centerville, Massachusetts

Date of Death:

April 27, 1907

Place of Burial:

Centerville, Massachusetts

Cemetery Name:

Beechwood Cemetery

Russell Marston, a prominent restaurateur, served as a member of the 1850 Boston Vigilance Committee.

Born to parents Clement Marston and Sarah Adams on October 14, 1816, Russell Marston grew up in Barnstable as the youngest of seven sons. At only fourteen years old, he began working at sea as a cook. By 1846, he captained his own small vessel, however, Marston ultimately decided to sell the boat. A year later, he became a co-owner of a small “eating house” at a pier on Commercial Street, which he ran until relocating to a full restaurant on Brattle Street in 1853.¹

Marston supported civil rights efforts, both personally and through his successful business enterprises. Despite negative public opinion, Marston allowed both Black and white patrons to dine in his establishment; the restaurant stood for years as the first and only one integrated in New England. In addition, Marston became a friend of William Lloyd Garrison, and participated in and donated to various anti-slavery organizations.²

Following the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, Marston joined the Boston Vigilance Committee. The committee aided freedom seekers escaping slavery on the Underground Railroad throughout the 1850s.

In 1851, authorities arrested freedom seeker Thomas Sims in Boston and prepared to return him to slavery in Georgia. Marston joined his fellow Vigilance Committee members Simon P. Hanscom and Austin Bearse to search Boston’s waterfront, where they discovered the ship Acorn at Long Wharf being prepared for Sims’ return. Because of the efforts of the trio, supporters of Sims knew where to protest and bear witness as authorities escorted him to Acorn in the early morning hours.³

Additionally, on May 24, 1851, Marston donated five dollars to the Vigilance Committee’s efforts.⁴ In the years following, Marston and his wife Sarah Crosby continued to donate to other abolitionist organizations such as the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society and New England Anti-Slavery Society.⁵

Not only an abolitionist, Marston also supported women’s suffrage. One may have seen Lydia Maria Child, Lucy Stone, and Mary Livermore dining at his establishment—a newspaper assured, “[t]hese names...will give you an idea of the cordial reunions that are always liable to take place at this pleasant civil rights restaurant.”⁶

Marston returned to live in the Cape Cod area, while still frequently attending to business in Boston. On April 27, 1907, Russell Marston passed away in Centreville, Massachusetts at ninety years old. His remains are interred at the Beechwood Cemetery.⁷
 

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Footnotes

1. “R. Marston Dead.” Boston Globe, April 28, 1907, 32; Simeon L. Deyo, History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts, (Salem: Higginson Book Co, 1890), 444-445, History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts, 1620-1637-1686-1890 : Deyo, Simeon L : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive.; Moses King, King’s Handbook of Boston, (Moses King: Cambridge, 1881), 60-61, King's handbook of Boston : King, Moses, 1853-1909 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive.
2. “R. Marston Dead.” Boston Globe, April 28, 1907, 32; Deyo, 445; “Born on Cape Cod. Russell Marston Observes his 90^th Birthday,” Boston Globe, October 15, 1906, 3.
3. Austin Bearse, Reminiscences of Fugitive Slave Law Days in Boston, (Boston: Warren Richardson, 1880), 24.
4. Francis Jackson, Account Book of Francis Jackson, Treasurer The Vigilance Committee of Boston, Dr. Irving H. Bartlett collection, 1830-1880, W. B. Nickerson Cape Cod History Archives, https://archive.org/details/drirvinghbartlet19bart/page/n3/mode/2up, 83.
5. Liberator, February 3, 1854, 3; Liberator, February 19, 1864, 3; Liberator, February 12, 1864, 3; Liberator, February 22, 1861, 3; Liberator, January 18, 1861, 3; Liberator, March 25, 1859, 2; Liberator, October 26, 1855, 3; Liberator, June 27, 1856, 3.
6. “A Boston Radical Restaurant,” Springfield Daily Republican, April 24, 1874, 5.
7. “R. Marston Dead.” Boston Globe, April 28, 1907, 32.