John Marshall 1795 – 1859

Source – Entry #182 in Paxton’s Marshall Family
(written circa. 1885)

John  Marshall, b. at Washington, Ky.,January 1, 1795, d. at his home on Mill Creek, Mason Co., Ky., September 3, 1859, = 1818, his cousin, Lucy Marshall, b. at “Walnut Grove,” Mason Co., Ky., September 17, 1796, d. January 24, 1835. Uncle John  was  a  gentleman  of  native  intellect  and  cultivated mind.

Upon  his marriage;  his father  gave him his Clark’s Run  estate, four miles west of  Washington,  Ky. Here  he  lived  in  the  indulgence of his literary tastes and hospitable nature until 1838, when his re­duced fortunes required him to sell.    He  then removed  to his wife’s property on Mill Creek.    He  was at  times  intemperate,  but  during the latter  years of  his life he refrained  from  liquor, and seldom  left home.

He was a Democrat in politics, and though his party was in a decided minority in the County, yet his personal popularity, on one occasion, came very near electing him to the Legislature. His infor­mation was varied, his reading general and his judgment sound. He read every book that came in his way.  His  proficiency in history philosophy, politics any other branches of information, made him an interesting and instructive companion; but from indolence, his ca­pabilities were never improved, so as to raise  him  to  distinction. His brilliant talents and independent fortune caused him to prepare for no profession, and the man that might have adorned the bench, the bar or the legislative forum, spent his life in privacy.

Aunt Lucy was an amiable and interesting lady, an indulgent. mother and a discreet housekeeper. From  my  father’s  death, in 1825, until the family removed to Mill . Creek, in 1833, the orphan children of my parents found a home beneath the roof of Uncle John and Aunt Lucy, and a warm place in their hearts. Both  were in­ terred on the “Hill,” at Washington, Ky.