Elijah P. Marrs was born near Lexington, Kentucky in 1840. Despite being a slave, he did learn to read and write. He also attended church and became a Christian at an early age. With the onset of the Civil War, he and several other slaves escaped to join the Union army. At the conclusion of the war, Marrs began teaching, first in Simpsonville, Kentucky, and later in New Castle, Kentucky. Marrs also felt called to the ministry. He decided to attend Baptist College in Nashville, Tennessee in 1874 and was officially ordained the following year. Continuing in his dual careers of teaching and preaching, Marrs eventually founded a Colored Normal and Theological Institute with his brother in 1879. During this period, he also was involved in local and national politics. In 1876, his wife of five years became ill and died. In 1880, he became pastor of Beargrass Baptist, a church he and a few others had recently formed. Marrs served as pastor there until 1885, with the exception of one brief hiatus, when he returned to teaching and completed his Life and History.

Very little of Marrs's Life and History (1885) is about his early life in slavery. Instead, he discusses his experiences during the Civil War, his teaching, and his ministerial career. Marrs includes correspondence and other documents vouching for the validity of his claims of success and achievement, particularly regarding his work in the ministry and his educational credentials.

Work Consulted: Smith, Jessie Carney, ed., Notable Black American Men, Detroit: Gale Research, 1999.

Monique Prince