Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

(V) Amasa Abraham Marks, son of
Levi Merwin and Esther Tolles (Tuttle)
Marks, was born April 3, 1825, in Wa-
terbury, Connecticut. He left school at
sixteen, and at an early age became an
expert in the teaming industry. He was
employed in farming until the age of
twenty, and then engaged on his own
account in the woodworking business.
He left the farm and went to New Haven,
where he secured a large order for making
hubs for carriage and wagon makers, etc.
He rented a mill and hired an expert
woodturner, whom he watched until he
had learned the business. He was a very
persistent young man, and his initiative
and determination soon won for him suc-
cess.
In 185 1 Mr. Marks went to New York
City, where he engaged in business on his
own account, and in 1853 formed a part-
nership with his elder brother, David B.,
and engaged in the manufacture of artificial
limbs. David Beecher Marks had
devised a plan for an improved artificial
leg, on which the United States Government
issued letters patent, bearing date of
March 7, 1854. The rubber foot was
later invented by Amasa Abraham Marks.
The brothers worked with enthusiasm,
and the inventions were put into practical
use, achieving ultimate success. For a
few months the labors of the firm met
with little recognition, and the elder
brother, becoming discouraged, withdrew,
resuming his former profession of dentis-
try. The younger one, however, with
characteristic tenacity, adhered to his
purpose, enlarging the scope of his endeavors,
and through all adversity and
rivalry cherished the hope that his labor
and genius would in time improve
the condition of the maimed and deformed.
His heart and his energies were
devoted to one purpose, and in a few brief
years he had amassed more experience,
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
12
conceived more ideas, originated more
systems, and accomplished more for the
relief of the maimed than had been
achieved by the combined efforts of all
who had preceded him.
The field which Mr. Marks had selected
offered ample opportunities for the genius
which he possessed. At that time arti-
ficial limb making was but the relic of
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Prosthesis had not yet become a modern
art, and in making it such this indomitable
and benevolent New Englander was des-
tined to play a prominent part. A leg
manufactured by him in 1856 received the
highest award at the American Institute
Exhibition in 1859. I* was a marvel
in its day, and in i860, when the Japanese
embassy visited New York, Kawasaki,
of the embassy, having expressed a desire
to visit an American manufacturer of
artificial limbs, was conducted to the es-
tablishment of Mr. Marks. In referring
to this incident a New York daily paper
said
:
The proprietor showed the doctor through his
manufactory and explained the mechanism of his
apparatus, with which the Oriental visitor ap-
peared very much gratified, stating that nothing of
the kind was known in his country. During the
interview Mr. Marks took occasion to present the
Japanese doctor with "one of his most beautiful
legs," at the same time expressing the wish that
his visitor might never have occasion for it per-
sonally other than as one among the pleasant
memories of the United States. The leg was ac-
cepted with great pleasure and many thanks.
The improvement which Mr. Marks
effected by attaching his rubber foot
immovably to the invention known as
the Count de Beaufort leg was the be-
ginning of the construction of artificial
legs with rubber feet. It was the begin-
ning of a new era in prosthesis and has
brought untold relief and comfort to
limb-wearers, more completely removing