Thomas C. Marshall (July 21, 1784 – June 29, 1835) was a

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

lawyer, planter and politician. He lived at Oak Hill plantation and represented

Fauquier County Fauquier is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 72,972. The county seat is Warrenton. Fauquier County is in Northern Virginia and is a part of the Washington metropolitan area. History In 160 ...

in the

Virginia House of Delegates The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts 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-number ...

from 1830 until his death in 1835.

Early life

The firstborn of Chief Justice John Marshall and his wife, the former Mary Willis Ambler (both families being among the

First Families of Virginia First Families of Virginia (FFV) were those families in Colonial Virginia who were socially prominent and wealthy, but not necessarily the earliest settlers. They descended from English colonists who primarily settled at Jamestown, Williamsbur ...

), Thomas Marshall was named for his paternal grandfather, the revolutionary Thomas Marshall who moved to Fauquier County and built Oak Hill, then gave it to his son John Marshall as he moved further westward into Kentucky. Thomas Marshall received a private education locally, then graduated from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

in 1803, after which he read law. He married Margaret Wardrop Lewis (1792-1829) and had sons John James Marshall (1811-1854), Fielding Lewis Marshall (1819-1902) and Col. Thomas C. Marshall (1826-1864), as well as daughters Agnes Harwood Marshall Taliaferro (b. 1819), Mary Marshall Archer (1816-1878), Ann Lewis Marshall Jones (1821-1880) and Maraaret Lewis Marshal Smith (1823-1907).

Career

This Thomas Marshall lived at Oak Hill, his grandfather's former estate in Fauquier County which John Marshall had inherited in 1803 and used as a summer retreat. He built an attached house for this Thomas Marshall in 1819, after which Thomas lived on and operated the estate, which was initially in disrepair and its soil exhausted. Like his grandfather, father and brothers, Thomas Marshall farmed using enslaved labor. In the 1820 federal census, he owned 48 slaves, as well as had a young son, two young daughters and an overseer living with his family. In the 1830 federal census, Thomas Marshall owned 64 slaves in addition to the eight white people in his household. In 1827 Fauquier county voters elected Thomas Marshall as one of their two delegates in the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, the first elected legislative assembly in the New World, and was established on July 30, 16 ...

(alongside Alexander D. Kelly) and he began his state legislative service on December 3, 1827. However neither was re-elected in 1828, voters instead choosing Mark A. Chilton and John Robert Wallace. On January 6, 1830 John Macrae resigned as one of Fauquier County's delegates to the

Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1829-1830 Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are s ...

and Thomas Marshall replaced him for the final sessions. Then Fauquier voters elected and re-elected Marshall to the Virginia House of Delegates, so he began his longer stint of legislative service on December 6, 1830, which ended with his death in 1835. He served alongside Aldridge James in 1830-31, then with Mark A. Chilton (1831–32) (James and Chilton had been the two Fauquier County delegates in the 1829-30 session). John Robert Wallace was Fauquier's other delegate in 1832-33, and for his final two terms Thomas Marshall served with James French (1833–35). Reportedly, Thomas Marshall spoke out against forced exportation of slaves from Virginia southward during legislative debates in 1831 and 1832.

Death and legacy

Thomas Marshall died shortly after taking shelter from a summer storm in the Baltimore County Courthouse then under repair in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. He and Dr. John Hanson Thomas were en route to Philadelphia to see their ailing father when lightning hit the chimney and a dislodged brick fell and fractured Thomas' skull. Thomas Marshall died without regaining consciousness a week later, on June 29, 1835, but that was withheld from his father. His remains were returned for burial beside his wife Mary (who had died in 1829) and her mother Agnes Lewis of Weyanoke, in the family graveyard at Oakhill in Fauquier County. Although Fauquier County voters elected no Marshall to succeed him in the next election, in the following election they elected his brother

Edward C. Marshall Edward Colston Marshall (June 29, 1821 – July 9, 1893) was an American politician who served as congressman from California's at-large district from 1851 to 1853, and as California attorney general from 1883 to 1887. He was a member of the De ...

as one of their two delegates, and would later elect another younger brother, James Keith Marshall (1839–41). Although this Thomas Marshall did not survive his father, he had outlived both his wife and his eldest son, and left seven orphaned children. His youngest son and namesake, Lt.Col. Thomas C. Marshall Jr., would buy Oak Hill from his elder brother John (who died in 1854), then volunteered to fight with the

Confederate States Army The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...

. Initially commissioned as a captain with the

7th Virginia Cavalry The 7th Virginia Cavalry Regiment also known as Ashby's Cavalry was a Confederate cavalry regiment raised in the spring of 1861 by Colonel Angus William McDonald The regiment was composed primarily of men from the counties of the Shenandoah Va ...

, the junior Thomas Marshall initially trained and fought in a local militia company led by

Turner Ashby Turner Ashby Jr. (October 23, 1828 – June 6, 1862) was an American officer. He was a Confederate cavalry commander in the American Civil War. In his youth, he organized an informal cavalry company known as the Mountain Rangers, which beca ...

, had become an aide to Gen. Stonewall Jackson at the

First Battle of Manassas The First Battle of Bull Run (the name used by Union forces), also known as the Battle of First Manassas

(which Col. Ashby missed), and would earn the rank of Col. as well as have six horses shot from under him and be wounded twice before dying in a skirmish in November 1864. His death (and postwar economic turmoil) caused Oak Hill to be sold out of the family. The middle son, Fielding L. Marshall, who had participated in the Virginia militia under

including after John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry survived the war,and wrote a privately published memoir, Recollections and Reflections of Fielding Lewis Marshall (privately printed perhaps in Orange Virginia circa 1911 by Maria Newton Marshall as did his brother-in-law Col. Alexander Galt Taliaferro of the

13th Virginia Infantry The 13th Virginia Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment raised in central and western Virginia for service in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. It fought mostly with the Army of Northern Virginia. Its commanders w ...

and

Gloucester County, Virginia Gloucester County () is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 38,711. Its county seat is Gloucester Courthouse. The county was founded in 1651 in the Virginia Colony and is named for Henry Stuart, ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, Thomas (Fauquier) 1784 births 1835 deaths Virginia lawyers Princeton University alumni People from Fauquier County, Virginia Members of the Virginia House of Delegates 19th-century American politicians Marshall family (political family)