Grant as Postmaster General of the United States, a position he held until 1876. Jewell was also a presidential candidate at the 1876 Republican National Convention and served as the chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1880 until 1883. Having returned to Connecticut, Jewell became a wealthy merchant, having invested in the Hartford Evening Post and the Southern New England Telephone Company. He died in 1883 in New Haven, Connecticut, and was interred at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Hartford, Connecticut. Early life and career Marshall Jewell was born in Winchester, New Hampshire on October 25, 1825. His father, Pliny Jewell, native of Hartford, was a prominent tanner and currier. His mother was Emily Alexander. His elder brother was named Harvey Jewell. The young Marshall received a limited education at common schools. At an early age Jewell apprenticed for his father in the tannery business working as a day laborer until the age of 18. Jewell moved to Woburn where he learned the skill of being a currier. Jewell returned to his father's tannery business in Hartford where he worked in the currier shop for two years. In 1847, Jewell grew tired of the tannery business and having good business sense learned the telegraphy trade working in Boston, Rochester, and Akron. As a highly skilled telegrapher, Jewell was put in charge of the Louisville and New Orleans telegraph line working in Columbia, Tennessee. Early political involvement In 1848, while working as a telegrapher, Jewell became interested in national politics becoming a Whig. Jewell supported Zachary Taylor for President of the United States. Jewell's political opinions would later draw him into the Republican Party formed in the mid-1850s In 1849, Jewell returned north and was elected Superintendent of the telegraph line between Boston and New York living in New York City. Tanning partnership established While Jewell was working as a telegrapher, Jewell's father Pliny's tanning business had increased substantially. Having left the telegraph business, moving back to Hartford, Jewell entered into partnership with his father's tanning and belting business on January 1, 1850. Jewell, who had good business sense, for the next eight years increased his father's business and gained a positive reputation in the Hartford community. Between 1852 and 1857 Jewell traveled widely throughout the United States to promote his manufactured leather product business. World travels and the American Civil War From 1859 to 1860, Marshall went on a trip