MARRS, STARLIN MARION NEWBERRY (1862-1932). S. M. N. Marrs, educator, was
born on January 2, 1862, in Gauley Bridge, West Virginia, to Francis Marion
and Catherine Lloyd (Paddleford) Marrs. He graduated with a B.S. from the
National Normal University in Lebanon, Ohio, and moved to Texas in the early
1880s. In 1885, after teaching for several years, Marrs became
superintendent of public schools in Stephenville. He subsequently held the
same position in Hamilton (1888-90), Cleburne (1890-93), and Terrell
(1893-98). He was chief clerk at the Texas State Department of Education in
1898-99 and then superintendent of schools at Terrell again until 1919. He
moved to Austin in 1919 as chief supervisor for the state's high schools,
and from 1921 to 1923 he served there as first assistant state
superintendent. He was then elected state superintendent of public
instruction (see TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY), a post he held from 1923 until his
death in 1932. He also served on the state board of examiners from 1905 to
1910.
He was remembered as a champion of rural and financially weak school
districts. He argued that the state should appropriate a sum from its
general revenues to be used as an equalization fund for financially
disadvantaged school districts. He advocated increased professional training
of teachers and prompt payment of their salaries. He also supported school
consolidation, the strengthening of county school administration, and the
provision of transportation to high school for students who otherwise would
be unable to attend. He also promoted the mandatory use of English as the
basis of instruction in all public and private schools. This, he thought,
would "fortify national unity, promote commercial prosperity, and strengthen
individual loyalty."
Marrs was a Democrat and a Baptist. He held memberships in the National
Council of Education, the National Educational Association, and the
Southwest Political Science Association. He was also a life member of the
Texas State Teachers Associationqv and served as its president in 1907. He
married Annie Ross Heslep of Hawks Nest, West Virginia, on August 1, 1886.
They had four children. Annie died in 1904, and Marrs married Ina Caddell of
Denton, Texas, on June 9, 1909. Like Marrs, she was involved in education
and educational reform. She was president of the Texas Congress of
Parent-Teacher Associations from 1920 to 1924 and in 1928 served as
president of the national chapter of that organization. She survived Marrs
and died in California in 1960. Marrs died of a heart attack at College
Station on April 18, 1932, and was buried in the State Cemeteryqv in Austin.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. M. N. Marrs, Educational Miscellany (Terrell, Texas: Reeves
Brothers, 1909). Vertical Files, Barker Texas History Center, University of
Texas at Austin. Who's Who in America, 1926-27.
Ada Ferrer
Nanci Presley-Holley
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