Of those who have recently become citizens of Bunker Hill none is
held in higher esteem than the Rev. William D. Marburger, headmaster of
Bunker Hill Military Academy. He was born in Hamburg, Pennsylvania, on
the 4th of February, 1880, being the only child of M. L. and Lucy A.
(Becker) Marburger. The father, who was a merchant, was also a native of
Hamburg, of German extraction, his people having come from one of the
Rhine provinces. He passed away in 1906, but the mother still survives.
Reared at home William D. Marburger acquired his elementary
education in his native town, after which he was sent to private schools
in different parts of the state, completing his education in Franklin
and Marshall College at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, from which institution
he was graduated with the degree of B. A. in 1902. He acquired his
master’s degree in the same college, after which he pursued a
theological course being graduated as a bachelor of divinity in 1908.
Immediately thereafter he was made head of an educational institution at
Dakota, Illinois. From there he went to Orangeville, Illinois, where he
was pastor and principal of a school, and in 1910 he came to Bunker
Hill, purchasing the interest of the former superintendent in the
military academy. It is his ambition to make of this one of the finest
private schools for boys in the United States. He is a man of
progressive and high ideals, and it is his purpose to so correlate the
mental, moral and physical training of his cadets that they will
supplement each other. The motto of the school, “Knowledge is Power,” is
to find its highest fulfillment in instilling noble purposes and high
ideals which can only thrive and develop in a body with every muscle and
nerve controlled by a mind whose every thought is directed along clean,
pure channels, seeking the good, the noble and true. Mr. Marburger left
his own boyhood such a short while ago, that he is able to fully
understand and sympathize with those impulses of youth, whose
mischievous pranks, oftentimes attributed to viciousness, are the result
of superabundant vitality, which if rightly expended would have brought
as great satisfaction to the instigator and at the same time have
redounded to his benefit. During the brief period of his superintendency
Mr. Marburger has given marked evidence of his fitness for the work he
has so enthusiastically undertaken. He has made some extensive changes
in the school and has largely added to the attendance. He has purchased
for the new management an additional twenty acres of land adjoining the
present campus and it is his intention in the near future to erect a
fifty thousand dollar building there. The simple, regular, healthful
life, government and supervision, together with the high standard of
scholarship maintained make it an ideal place to send a youth to during
the formative period. It fits him for life, the practical, upright,
active life every American citizen is supposed to lead. It exacts
courtesy to equals and respect to superiors and elders without
subserviency or loss of dignity. The regular life quickly inculcates the
fundamental principles of system and a recognition of the value of time;
two most essential factors for success in any vocation, commercial or
professional.
In 1902 Mr. Marburger was united in marriage to
Miss Mary Swords of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and to them there have been
born two children, the elder of whom died in infancy; but they have a
little son, David, who is now two years of age. Mrs. Marburger is a
musician of more than average ability and in this capacity very ably
assists in the work of the school.
In matters of religious faith
both Mr. Marburger and bis wife affiliate with the Reformed Church in
the United States, of which organization he is secretary and treasurer
in the state of Illinois. Fraternally he is identified with the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he also belongs to the Post Order
Sons of America. His political support he accords to the republican
party, to whose principles he is a stanch and enthusiastic adherent.
During the period of his residence in Bunker Hill Mr. Marburger has won
many friends and both he and Mrs. Marburger are held in high esteem and
regard by all with whom they come in contact.
Extracted 15 Nov 2018 by Norma Hass from History of Macoupin County, Illinois: Biographical and Pictorial, by Charles A. Walker, published in 1911, Volume 2, pages 425-426.
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