We are most interested in making connections to earlier Marshall families. Sue Keller has spent many hours searching records and tracking backwards to find the parents of John Marshall but has run into a dead end. We are hoping someone out there has information on these families that will provide the missing link. Elroy Christenson has a connection to the earlier Virginia relatives that we believe are our mutual ancestors. (See Elroy's Thomas Marshall)
One of the other Marshall researchers, John G. Marshall of Salt Lake City responded to the query that Sue wrote in 1992. We include the following letter that may be of interest to other Marshall researchers.
| January 8, 1992 Sue Keller 3502 South Mason, 4E Tacoma, WA 98409 Dear Sue, The Marshall line I have information on is descended from Robert Marshall who immigrated from Dumfries, Scotland to what is now Prince Edward Island, Canada in 1776, and then moved to Nova Scotia, Canada in about 1777. We have fairly complete information on all of his descendants until we get into the 1900's, so I do not think that the individuals you are researching are connected into this line. Just for your information, I might pass on to you that about forty years ago the president of the Utah Scottish organization told me that when I did my Marshall genealogy I would find that my Marshall ancestors came from Dumfries, Scotland. I asked him how he knew that, and he replied: "Because all the Marshalls in the world come from Dumfries." I do not know if that is correct, but it did turn out that my most remote ancestor that we have been able to identify did come from Dumfries. Dumfries is located in the lowlands of Scotland on its border with England. I have seen instances where there were Marshalls living in northwestern England who probably went there (across the border) from Scotland. When the Marshalls came to the New World, they are thought to have come to three principal locations: Nova Scotia -- which is where my line came from. Most of the descendants of Robert Marshall (my ancestor) have stayed in Canada, principally in Nova Scotia. However, some came to the United States, settling principallly in the West. My father was born at Gladstone, Michigan, just as the family had crossed into the united States. However, the family continued on west and settled in Nevada. Another branch of the same family settled in Oakland, California. Pennsylvania (in the area of Philadelphia) -- when the Revolutionary War started, these Marshalls were loyalists (they may have been an English branch), and most of them moved to Canada. However, they did not go to Nova Scotia that I know of, and they did not mix into my line that immigrated directly from Scotland to Nova Scotia. Virginia -- This is the line that Chief Justice John Marshall of the United States Supreme Court came from. The people of this line did not all stay in Virginia, and I am aware of at least one or two people who came from this line via Texas. If your ancestors have been in the United States since the Revolutionary War, it is most probable that they came through this line. I hope that this general explanation will help you focus on the line you came from. However, I think that sooner or later, all of the lines will lead back to Scotland. If there is anything further in which I can assist you, I will be happy to do so. Sincerely, |
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