Marcus C. Illions

Marcus Charles Illions was born sometime between 1865 and 1871 (sources vary) in present-day Vilnius, Lithuania, which was part of Russian territory at the time. 

In 1885, Illions immigrated to England and began carving for carousel and fairground equipment manufacturer Savages Works, run by Frederick Savage. He immigrated again to New York in 1888 and worked as a circus wagon carver and started doing freelance carving in Brooklyn, NY in 1892. During this time, Illions did work for Charles Looff and likely other carousel manufacturers in the area. 

In 1900, Illions started carving carousel horses and menagerie figures for William F. Mangels, who produced carousel mechanisms. He opened his own factory, M.C. Illions & Sons Carousell Works, on Coney Island and began manufacturing his own mechanisms in c. 1914.

Illions stopped producing carousels around 1927 when orders dried up, but continued doing carousel refurbishments and completing miscellaneous carving work up until the 1940s.

M.C. Illions died in Brooklyn, NY in 1949.