The St. Nicholas of Bari painting in the St. Nicholas Chapel is dedicated to the most distant ancestors we’ve found for any of our memorials in the church to date. Given by sisters Geneva Febiger Brinton and Frances Febiger Marrack, it honors their great grandparents – Christian Carsen Febiger (1787-1829) and Hannah Gibson Lea (1794-1881).
As with any story that covers a family over multiple generations, it’s a little tricky to follow. Take a deep breath and consult the family tree if you get lost! There’s many more stories about the Febigers than can fit here, but here’s a few of the highlights.
Christian Carson, born 1787 in Philadelphia, was the son of Dr. John Carson and his wife, Agnes. Dr. John Carson was a prominent early physician in colonial Pennsylvania, but that’s a whole different story. Click here to read about Dr. Carson’s illustrious career.
Christian, who was one of many children, was only 7 when his father died in 1794. He was likely named after Christian Febiger, the husband of John Carson’s sister, Elizabeth (Christian’s aunt). According to the family history, Elizabeth Carson met her future husband, Colonel Christian Febinger when he was a guest at her father’s inn, the Hawk and Crown, in Philadelphia (Wikipedia).
Now pay attention because this is when it gets really confusing! Colonel Febiger, a Danish immigrant known as “Old Denmark”, was a highly decorated Revolutionary War veteran and a close confidant of General George Washington. He was said to be the only solider in the Continental Army that served in every major battle of the war – starting with Bunker Hill and ending with the surrender at Yorktown. His entire story is also too long to retell here. Click here if you want to read more about Old Denmark. There’s lots about him on the internet.
Elizabeth and Colonel Christian Febinger never had any children of their own, so sometime after the death of her brother (John Carson), Elizabeth and Christian Febinger formally adopted their nephew Christian and made hims his heir. By this time Christian was apparently already an adult and married. In 1808, long after his uncle/adopted father had died, Christian Carson legally changed his name to Christian Carson Febiger through an act of the Pennsylvania Assembly (Statutes at Large).
Christian Carson (eventually Febiger) had met his future bride in Pittsburgh. Her name was Hannah Gibson Lea (and she is the other person this painting is given in memory of). Hannah’s father, James Lea Jr. (1759-1825) was a prominent merchant in Delaware who owned a “fleet of eight or ten ships engaged in the Irish and West Indian trades.” His business was apparently ruined by the U.S. embargo of 1807 (you can look that up online, but basically President Jefferson put an embargo on trade with the British due to a series of unfortunate events – this destroyed the companies of many who were in the business of trade and eventually helped to lead to the War of 1812) (Wikitree).
But I digress! After his business failed, James Lea moved his family to Pittsburgh to start over. It was in Pittsburgh that Christian Carson met Hannah Lea and they were married in 1817 (Newspaper Extractions). This was problematic because James and his family, including Hannah, were Quakers and Christian was a Presbyterian. Quaker meeting records noted that:
“Hannah Gibson, Febiger, late Lea, has violated our testimony…to produce a just sense of her transgression, tender labour has been bestowed, but without the desired effect, so that we no longer consider her a member of our Religious Society.” (US Quaker Meeting Records).
In 1822, James Lea and his family (including Christian and Hannah Lea Febiger) went by boat down the Ohio River where Lea “built up a prosperous business only to be again ruined by the acts of a near relative whom he had taken into his business.” (Wikitree) The sources do not say who that relative was, and we can only hope it wasn’t Christian Carson Febiger.
Christian Carson Febiger stayed in Cinncinnati until his death in 1829 at about the age of 42. Hannah, who was only 35 and had five children under the age of 10, did what most women in that day and time had to do – she remarried (U.S. Census Records). Eventually Hannah and her second husband returned to her birthplace of Wilmington, Delaware and she lived there until 1881 and died at the age of 87 (Find A Grave).
Two generations of Febigers later, Colonel Lea Febiger (a lifetime career army officer) and his wife, Harriet, had two daughters (Geneva and Frances). And this is the connection to St. Mark’s.
The sisters lived with their parents in San Francisco (their father had a long military career in the army which ended in San Francisco). Frances married Reverend Cecil Marrack, an Episcopal pastor from Australia, and a 1901 graduate of Stanford, who served at both St. Luke’s and St. Stephen’s parishes in San Francisco. The Febiger’s attended St. Luke’s, so that’s likely where Frances and Cecil met (They married in Haste).
The couple were married by Bishop Nichols just after the great San Francisco earthquake. Like many couples during the pandemic, they cancelled wedding plans and married privately.
“The earthquake has shaken many people apart, but, thank God, it shaken a few together,” said Bishop Nichols. Apparently the couple had to drive around the destroyed city trying to find the Marriage License Bureau and then to a dozen jewelry shops to find a ring that would fit. The ceremony was performed at the home of Bishop Nichols, and the newlyweds had a one-day honeymoon at Fort Baker before returning to St. Stephen’s Church to perform relief work for the many victims of the earthquake (San Jose Mercury).
Sadly Rev. Marrack died in a horrific car accident in Ross, CA on June 5, 1911. Marrack was part of the Episcopal “Monday Club” of pastors who met for lunch every Monday at a different Episcopal church. The group was taking a ride on a new fire engine when it skidded off the road and crashed into a tree. Marrack was killed and 11 other Episcopal pastors were injured (including Dean Gresham of Grace Cathedral) (San Francisco Call).
Frances had two daughters (aged 2 and 3) and gave birth to a third (Cecil) three months after her husband’s death. Cecil was born in Mindanao, the Phillippines where Frances had traveled to stay with her parents (her father was stationed there in command of the 6th infantry) (Colonel Lea Febiger). The family returned to the United States in August of 1912 when Colonel Febiger became the commandant at the Presidio. By 1918, Frances moved with her children to Palo Alto, first living on Bryant Street and later in a beautiful house at 530 Melville. She worked as a real estate agent to support her family (U.S. Census Records).
It’s not clear when Frances joined St. Mark’s, but she died in October of 1962 and her service was held at 11 am October 8th at St. Mark’s (San Francisco Examiner).
Frances’ sister, Geneva, married an international judge (Jasper Brinton) and lived in Egypt and London. Possibly it was Geneva who obtained the painting that the sisters eventually donated to St. Mark’s in memory of their great grandparents, Christian Carsen and Hannah Lea Febiger. Phew!
Col Lea Febiger and Harriet (known as “Hattie”) Cook Arnold Febiger were my Great grandparents. I never knew him as he died long before I was born. I do have photos of my sitting on my Great Grandmother’s lap in 1941.
I am very impressed by the facts you have brought together in this article. I was close to my Grandmother, Frances Pleasants Febiger Marrack having twice lived at 530 Melville Ave with her before going with my Mother, Elizabeth Febiger Marrack, to Europe to join my Father, Col Charles G Dodge, US Army. I also knew each of her siblings, my Aunt Geneva Febiger Brinton and her husband, Jasper Yeates Brinton, and Uncles Col (US Army) George Lea Febiger, Col (US Army) Paul Carson Febiger and his 3rd wife, Hariotte, and the youngest, Uncle Lea Febiger.
Family history has been passed down in stories shared often about many in the family as well as many items that contribute to our understanding of who our ancestors are.
I look forward to being in contact with you. Thank you for the special job of writing this up. May the Lord bless you and this most interesting work you are doing for our enjoyment.