Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/310

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

John Newton Marshall. The founding in America of this iHustrious Virginia family was the overthrow of King Charles by Cromwell. John Marshall, a captain of cav- alry in the royal army, was an ardent sup- porter of the crown and a zealous adherent of the Established church. When the Pro- tector triumohed over the King, Captain Marshall, who was of Irish jjirth, was un- willing to bow to Cromwell's rule and about 1650 came with his famil}' to \'irginia, and is recorded as having been of great service to the colony during the Indian wars of his time.

Captain John (2) ^Marshall, known as "John of the Forest," became the owner of twelve hundred acres on Appomattox Creek in Washington parish, Westmoreland county, \'irginia. He married Elizabeth Markham and was the father ol Colonel Thomas Marshall and grandfather of Chief Justice John Marshall of the United States supreme court.

Colonel Thomas Marshall, who is re- garded with veneration by his posterity, in sound judgment and in depth of native mind surpassed even his illustrious sons. He was an ardent patriot, was colonel of the Third Virginia Regiment, fought with \\'ashington, at Germantown, and for his valiant service on that day received a sword from the Virginia house of burgesses. He was soldier, statesman and pioneer, settling in Kentucky in 1780. He owned man}' thou- sands of acres in Fauquier county, Virginia, and Mason county, Kentucky, his son John inheriting "The Oaks" in Fauquier county. Colonel Thomas Marshall married Mary Randolph Keith, daughter of Parson James and Mar}- Isham (Randolph) Keith, the lat- ter being a granddaughter of William Ran- dolph, of Turkey Island, and closely related to John Randolph, of Roanoke, Thomas Jef- ferson and Richard Henry Lee.

John ^Marshall, chief justice of the United States, and son of Colonel Thomas Marshall, passed a life so intimately connected with the administrative, diplomatic and judicial history of his country, that volumes could not exhaust his wonderful life. He was born Sejjtember 24, 1755. At the bar and on the bench, in Congress and in cabinet, in the councils of war and embassies of peace, he proved himself a jurist, a states- man, a soldier, an orator and a patriot. As the expounder of the Federal constitution and laws, he laid the foundation of a oreat

judicial system and left a name revered by the nation and adored by his posterity. He died July 6, 1835, and is buried in Rich- mond. Virginia, by the side of his wife, Mary Willis (Ambler) Marshall, whom he married, January 3, 1783. His wife was a descendant of John and Elizabeth (Burka- dike) Ambler, of York, England, who came to Virginia in 1716, and of Edward Jacque- lin, who came from Kent, England, to Vir- ginia in 1697.

Thomas Marshall, eldest son of Chief Jus- tice John Marshall, and his wife, Mary Wil- Us (Ambler) Marshall, was a graduate of Princeton College at the age of nineteen years, receiving the degree of A. B. He studied law, engaged in practice at Rich- mond, and as lawyer, scholar, patriot and philanthropist, was one of the leading men of his day. He owned "Oakville," that had descended from Colonel Thomas Marshall and to that beautiful estate he retired after the failure of his health. He built up the estate to a condition of high fertility, and there his children were born and lived until war drove them apart. He was a member of the Virginia constitutional convention of 1829, over which his honored father pre- sided, but was not an aspirant for office, his delight being in the quiet seclusion of home with choice friends and the education of his children. In June. 1835, he was summoned to the bed of his dying father, the chief jus- tice, in Philadelphia. Stopping at Baltimore, he took shelter from a sudden storm by standing under the scaffolding surrounding the court house, then undergoing repairs. The building was struck by lightning and a dislodged brick fell fracturing Mr. Mar- shall's skull. Although he lived a week thereafter he never regained consciousness. He was born July 21, 1784, and died June -29- 1835. He married, October 19, 1809, Margaret W. Lewis, born at W'eyanoke, Charles City county, Virginia, in 1792, died at "Oakville," Fauquier county, Virginia, February 2, 1829, daughter of Fielding Lewis, son of Warner Lewis, son of Colo- nel Fielding Lewis, who married (first) Catherine Lewis, a cousin, and (second) Bettie Washington, sister of President Washington. Colonel Fielding Lewis was a son of John (2) Lewis, son of John (1) Lewis, son of General Robert Lewis, of Beecon. \\^ales, who came to Virginia in 1640, settling in Gloucester couiitv, Vir- ginia, (^luch discussion has raged about