John Markillie

by James F. Caccamo, Ex Libris, May 1984 (updated May 2026)

When Lucy Markerly brought her family from England to America in 1833, she did not realize the impact that her teen-aged son John would have on the community where the family would ultimately settle: Hudson, Ohio.

John was born in England in 1814, the son of Samuel and Lucy Markerly. After his father died, John left for America, and the next year sent for his family. After spending time in New York State, the reunited Markerlys made their way to a booming town on Ohio’s Western Reserve. Once the family arrived in Hudson, John decided that it would be easier if the family surname was spelled as it sounded, so he changed the spelling to Markillie.

Life in Hudson

While he worked as a miller when he first came to America, John Markillie soon found a fascinating new profession in Hudson. He became a professional photographer, taking advantage of the raging fad of the 1850’s, the carte-de-visite. Indeed, many of the calling cards with photographs of early Hudsonites that survive bear the imprint of Markillie’s studio. “Cardomania” must have made a comfortable living for Markillie, and he saw no hesitation in getting involved with the political life of the town, including becoming the Village Clerk.

Markillie lived in a wood frame home at the current site of the Windstream office building parking lot on Main Street. His home is one of the few documented Underground Railroad stations in Hudson. Fellow abolitionist Lora Case named Markillie a stationmaster to whom he often took his “passengers”:

In July 1859 Wm. Folger started from his depot in Ravenna with seven passengers, instead of one, the usual number, aboard his train headed for the next station, which was my log cabin in Streetsboro. They arrived safely Friday at midnight with a cautionary signal that Uncle Sam with the Fugitive Slave Law was on track and to avoid a collision. I waited until Sunday P.M., then I started with them on my train for John Markilie’s [sic] station in Hudson and saw them aboard his train for Johnson’s depot in Northfield. Johnson’s train carried them safe to Cleveland and from there they went on a boat safe to freedom. -Lora Case, Hudson of long ago : progress of Hudson during the past century, personal reminiscences of an aged pioneer : reminiscences, written in 1897.

Markillie Cemetery

When his mother, Lucy, died in 1850, he was reluctant to have her buried in the Old Hudson Township Burying Ground on Chapel Street, which was already becoming crowded. Instead, he interred her on the family property, and five years later established a cemetery around her burial site.

But it wasn’t until after John’s death in 1868 that his widow, Lucinda, and their children decided to deed the cemetery over to Hudson. In 1869, Markillie Cemetery officially became a public cemetery, with control given over to a Union Cemetery Board.

And while most people in Hudson recognize Markillie’s name from the cemetery, few realize his valuable contribution to Hudson’s history via his photographs, for not only did he capture many of the town’s venerable citizens for cartes de visite, he also spent a considerable amount of time photographing street scenes and buildings, which are his true legacy, since they allow us to see the Hudson of the past that might have been lost if it weren’t for Markillie’s camera.