Marlon E. Greene was born on April 24, 1845, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to William and Susan Greene. He grew up and attended school in Raymond, New Hampshire, and his father died of consumption on June 30, 1850. His mother earned a living as a “domestic,” and by 1860, she owned $1,000 of real estate and $250 of personal property. He moved to Salisbury, Massachusetts, and worked as a “dealer in fur goods.” By 1870, he owned $2,000 of personal property.
He married Mary E. Jaques on July 6, 1871, and they had at least four children: William, born around 1873; Louis, born around 1875; Harry, born around 1879; and Ralph, born around 1883. They moved to Amesbury, Massachusetts, in the 1870s, and his wife died there on July 12, 1894. He returned to his mother’s household in Raymond in the late 1890s. He died of asthenia in Raymond on March 24, 1915.