Theodore Marshall Foote, 1845-1914

Inventor and Consulting Engineer

Theodore Marshall Foote was born on the 19th July 1845 in Stockbridge, son of farmer Lucius (Lucretia) Foote (1812-1889) and Lura, born Kilburn (1822-1880), married in 1840. Both parents were born in the nearby village Lee, and around 1850 they had a farm near Troy in Rensselaer County, New York, and they had five children: Mary, Ann, George, Theodore, and Honora.

Theodore M. Foote married Mary Emma, born Messick (1852-1931), on the 15th October 1874 in Brooklyn, New York. Children: Theodore Marshall Foote Jr. (1876-1961) and Emma Lura Foote Vose (1880-1974).

Theodore M. Foote worked as a telegrapher in Lyndhurst Township, Bergen, New Jersey around 1880. As an inventor Theodore M. Foote had a total of 26 American, three Canadian patents, and one British patent, to his name. The first ten American patents and one Canadian patent were filed from 1870 until 1875 with Charles Adams-Randall (1846-1923), fellow inventor born in Rochester, Plymouth County. The British patent was filed 1877 by Charles Adams-Randall in London, England.

Theodore M. Foote was as a consulting electrical engineer in 1910 living at 218 Brighton Avenue in Allston, and died at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston on the 15th October 1914 (the 40th wedding day). He was interred at Newton Cemetery, Newton, Section I-South, Range 31, Grave 26, Space 1. His wife Mary and children Theodore Jr. and Emma Lura were cremated and interred at Waterside Cemetery in Marblehead, no markers at the plot SG 16/17 except a stone for a baby girl Carolyn and Frances May Cutter (1905-1980). In 1930 Mary lived with Emma Lura at 110 Front Street in Marblehead. Emma's husband Raleigh Draper Vose (1885-1938), married in 1924, was a seaman, and he was interred at the family plot at Pine Grove Cemetery, Lynn, Massachusetts. The wife of Theodore Jr., Alfa May Price Foote (1881-1949), married in 1901, was interred at the family plot at Spring Hill Cemetery, Danville, Illinois.

On Saturday the 19th July 2025 it will be 180 years since the inventor Theodore Marshall Foote was born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

Gert J. Almind

Patents:

CA3,892 CA13,086 CA51,784 US105,060 US114,790 US114,791 US114;792 US114,793 US129,219 US152,356 US153,063 US153,064 US172,409 GB1,640 US632,707 US666,048 US685,039 US705,227 US775,560 US870,353 US886,788 US937,231 US962,082 US974,562 US986,159 US997,983 US1,101,840 US1,149,144 US1,284,289 US1,344,339