Thomas Marshall (2 April 1730 – 22 June 1802) was a Virginia surveyor, planter, military officer soldier and politician who served in the

House of Burgesses The House of Burgesses () was the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly from 1619 to 1776. It existed during the colonial history of the United States in the Colony of Virginia in what was then British America. From 1642 to 1776, the Hou ...

and briefly in the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two houses of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...

and helped form the state of Kentucky, but may be best known as the father of

Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court The chief justice of the United States is the chief judge of the Supreme Court of the United States and is the highest-ranking officer of the U.S. federal judiciary. Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution grants plenary power ...

John Marshall John Marshall (September 24, 1755July 6, 1835) was an American statesman, jurist, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth chief justice of the United States from 1801 until his death in 1835. He remai ...

.Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography (1915), Vol 1, p. 284 Marshall opposed slavery in Ohio but practiced and proposed indentured servitude of former slaves.

Early life and education

Marshall was born in Washington parish,

Westmoreland County, Virginia Westmoreland County is a County (United States), county located in the Northern Neck of the Virginia, Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States census, the population sits at 18,477. Its county seat is Montross, Virginia, Montross ...

to the former Elizabeth Markham and her planter husband, John Marshall. His father was sometimes nicknamed "John of the Forest," from the estate that he owned. His name honored his Virginia-born planter grandfather, Thomas Marshall (1655–1704). His great-grandfather, another John Marshall, a captain of cavalry in the service of Charles I had emigrated to Virginia about 1650, and came to own a large plantation. The family included a brother William Marshall (1735–1809), who became a Baptist clergyman and like Thomas Marshall moved to what became Fauquier County in 1752. At some point William was arrested for illegal preaching, and moved to Kentucky in 1780 where he established the Fox River Church in Henry County and eventually died near

Eminence, Kentucky Eminence is a home rule class city in Henry County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 2,498 at the 2010 census, up from 2,231 at the 2000 census. It is home to the Eminence Historic Commercial District. Eminence is the larg ...

. Virginia having no public schools at the time, Thomas Marshall attended Rev. Archibald Campbell's school. Marshall was qualified as a surveyor by the Virginia government (such examinations being one function of the then-small

College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (abbreviated as W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III and Queen Mary II, it is the second-oldest instit ...

Personal life

In 1754 Marshall married Mary Randolph Keith, daughter of Rev. James Keith, an Episcopal clergyman of Fauquier County and Mary Isham Randolph of the

Randolph family of Virginia The Randolph family of Virginia is a prominent political family, whose members contributed to the politics of Colonial Virginia and Virginia after it established statehood in June 1788, following the American Revolutionary War. They are descended ...

, one of the

First Families of Virginia The First Families of Virginia, or FFV, are a group of early settler families who became a socially and politically dominant group in the British Colony of Virginia and later the Commonwealth of Virginia. They descend from European colonists who ...

. Mary Isham Keith Marshall gave birth to John Marshall and fourteen other children who all lived well into adulthood. Their most notable children were: Thomas Marshall (born in Fauquier County, 27 October 1761; died in

Mason County, Kentucky Mason County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,120. Its county seat is Maysville. The county was created from Bourbon County, Virginia in 1788 and named for George Mason, a Vir ...

, 19 March 1817), who served in the American Revolution, attained the rank of captain, settled in Kentucky in 1790, and was an active member of the convention that formed the second constitution of the state in 1799; James Markham Marshall, a lawyer who was a federal judge for a short time and performed diplomatic errands for the U.S. government; Alexander Keith Marshall (born in Fauquier County in 1770; died in Mason County, Kentucky, 7 February 1825), a lawyer; Louis Marshall, a physician and later an educator, as the subsequent president of two U.S. colleges and two other sons, born as twins on January 31, 1767, who also became lawyers, William Marshall and Charles Marshall. Mary Randolph Keith

Career

Marshall and

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

conducted surveying excursions in the Northern Neck Proprietary for Lord Fairfax and others. In 1753 Marshall became an agent of Lord Fairfax, collecting quitrents and otherwise superintending a portion of his estate in what had become Fauquier County. Following his military experience in the French and Indian War described below, in 1765 he moved to Goose Creek. Marshall and his family lived within the proprietary in what became Fauquier County and would after this and further military service described below receive several thousand acres of land in western Virginia (some that later became

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

and other land became

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

long after his lifetime). When Fauquier County was established, its voters elected Thomas Harrison and Fairfax as their first two (part-time) representatives in the

. Marshall won re-election, but then resigned to accept the post of Fauquier County sheriff. After serving in that post for a year, he won election again to the part-time delegate position, but resigned in 1773 to become clerk of the new Dunmore County. His son James Markham Marshall won the Fauquier seat in 1775 (in what became the last session of the House of Burgesses). Both Marshalls came to condemn the encroachments of the crown's representative upon Virginians' liberties. After Lord Dunmore suppressed Virginia's legislature, both Thomas Marshall and James Scott won election as Fauquier County's representatives to the first four Virginia Revolutionary Conventions (with James Marshall as a third representative to the First Revolutionary Convention). After neither elected Fauquier representative actually showed at the Fourth Convention (in Marshall's case possibly because of further military responsibilities), Martin Pickett replaced Marshall in the Fifth Convention. In 1773 Marshall purchased "The Oaks" plantation (now the historic private home Oak Hill) in Leeds parish in the northern part of Fauquier County. He would farm that plantation using enslaved labor, as would his sons. He gave his firstborn son, John Marshall, one slave after he returned from the War. Thomas Marshall owned other slaves by the 1787 Virginia Tax Census after he moved to Kentucky as described below, probably including 7 adult slaves and 12 enslaved children in Fayette County, Kentucky as well as 11 horses and 27 cattle.

Military experience

A lieutenant in the Virginia militia during the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War, 1754 to 1763, was a colonial conflict in North America between Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of France, France, along with their respective Native Americans in the United States, Native American ...

, Marshall participated in the

Braddock Expedition The Braddock Expedition, also known as Braddock's Campaign or Braddock's Defeat, was a British Empire, British military expedition which attempted to capture Fort Duquesne from the French colonial empire, French in 1755 during the French and Ind ...

against

Fort Duquesne Fort Duquesne ( , ; originally called ''Fort Du Quesne'') was a fort established by the French in 1754, at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers. It was later taken over by the British, and later the Americans, and developed ...

, under George Washington. However, since Washington detailed him to command one of the garrison at Fort Necessity, Marshall was not present at the defeat. In 1775, on the summons of

Patrick Henry Patrick Henry (May 29, 1736 ld Style and New Style dates, O.S. May 18, 1736une 6, 1799) was an American politician, planter and orator who declared to the Virginia Conventions, Second Virginia Convention (1775): "Give me liberty or give m ...

, Marshall recruited a battalion and became major of a regiment known as the " Culpeper Minutemen." He afterward became colonel of the

3rd Virginia Regiment The 3rd Virginia Regiment was raised on December 28, 1775, at Alexandria, Virginia, for service with the Continental Army. The 3rd Virginia's initial commander was Colonel Hugh Mercer, who was quickly promoted to brigadier general. Its second ...

. His sons Thomas Marshall and John Marshall also became officers. At the Battle of Brandywine, Thomas Marshall's command was placed in a wood on the right, and, though attacked by greatly superior numbers, maintained its position without losing an inch of ground until its ammunition was nearly expended and more than half its officers and one third of the soldiers were killed or wounded. The safety of the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...

on this occasion was largely due to the good conduct of Colonel Marshall and his command. The House of Burgesses voted him a sword. At Germantown, his regiment covered the retreat of the Continental Army. He was with Washington at

Valley Forge Valley Forge was the winter encampment of the Continental Army, under the command of George Washington, during the American Revolutionary War. The Valley Forge encampment lasted six months, from December 19, 1777, to June 19, 1778. It was the t ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. He was afterward ordered to the south, and was surrendered by General Lincoln at Charleston in 1780. When paroled Marshall took advantage of the circumstance to make his first visit to Kentucky on horseback over the mountains, and then located the lands on which he subsequently lived in Woodford. After returning to Virginia, Marshall resumed his command and held it until the close of the war. In 1781 he was for a time in command at York.

Kentucky

In 1783 Marshall was appointed surveyor general of the lands in

due to officers and soldier of Virginia's Continental Line. He established his office in Lexington. Two years later, Marshall left his Fauquier County farm in the hands of a son and removed the rest of his family to Kentucky. In 1787 and 1788 Fayette County voters elected Marshall represented in the

.Leonard p. 164 In the latter year he was also a delegate to the convention in Danville to consider the separation of Kentucky from Virginia. He was appointed by Washington collector of revenue for Kentucky. He and his immediate family were all Federalists.

Death and legacy

Marshall died in

in 1802. In addition to his sons who served in the Virginia House of Delegates, a grandson also named Thomas Marshall (the son of his son John Marshall), also served in the Virginia House of Delegates and Alexander Keith Marshall (son of Louis Marshall) served one term in the U.S. House of Representatives.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, Thomas 1730 births 1802 deaths House of Burgesses members Members of the Virginia House of Delegates Surveyors from the Thirteen Colonies Continental Army officers from Virginia People of the French and Indian War

Thomas Thomas may refer to: People * List of people with given name Thomas * Thomas (name) * Thomas (surname) * Saint Thomas (disambiguation) * Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church * Thomas the A ...

Virginia Federalists Kentucky Federalists People from Westmoreland County, Virginia People from Mason County, Kentucky Politicians from Lexington, Kentucky John Marshall 18th-century members of the Virginia General Assembly