Introduction

Biography

Elizabeth was daugh­ter of Na­tha­ni­el Clark Smith and Char­lotte Strong, and wife of Ol­iv­er Mar­cy, LL.D., Pro­fess­or of Na­tur­al His­to­ry at North­wes­tern Uni­ver­si­ty, Ev­an­ston, Il­li­nois.

She was ac­tive in the Wo­man’s Chris­tian Tem­per­ance Un­ion, the Wo­man’s Home Mis­sion­ary Soc­ie­ty, and the Wo­man’s For­eign Mis­sio­na­ry So­ci­ety, and found­ed the Eli­za­beth Mar­cy Home in the Bo­he­mi­an Dis­trict of Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois.

She was des­cribed as a re­mark­able wo­man, full of orig­in­al­ity in thought and ex­press­ion, and known through­out Me­tho­dism as a writ­er in verse and prose, and as a speak­er who can make ev­en a pro­sy theme po­etic.