Marshall H. Farnsworth (1837-1916) was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and died in Cleveland, Ohio. He grew up in Nashua, New Hampshire, where he married Mary C. Farnsworth (b. Danforth) in 1860. They moved from Nashua to Columbus, Ohio, in 1865, and then to Cleveland in 1870. Farnsworth was a hardware dealer, harnessmaker, washboard manufacturer, and traveling woodenware and metals salesman over the course of his career. In 1881 he obtained a patent for a metallic washboard plate. In 1886, Farnsworth wrote to Mary Baker Eddy on behalf of friends to inquire about the credentials of Edward E. Springer, a practitioner of Christian Science who later became a student of Eddy's.

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