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John Marshall (abt. 1596 - aft. 1660)

Captain John Marshall
Born about in Irelandmap [uncertain]
Ancestors ancestors
Brother of
[spouse(s) unknown]
Father of
Died after after about age 64 in Westmoreland County, Colony of Virginiamap
Profile last modified | Created 9 May 2011
This page has been accessed 8,192 times.
There are disproven, disputed, or competing theories about this person's spouse. See the text for details.
US Southern Colonies.
John Marshall resided in the Southern Colonies in North America before 1776.
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Contents

Biography

John Marshall, reputed son of Thomas Marshall and Mary Fitzgerald, may have been born about 1596-1604, probably in Ireland.

It is suggested that John was born about 1596, son of Thomas Marshall, and christened on 13 Nov 1596 at St Botolph, Aldgate, London. There is no evidence this birth record refers to this John Marshall. There is no evidence he was born in England, especially not in London.[1] [2]

Secondary sources found and listed below state Capt. John Marshall was born/lived in Ireland but left there after the death of Charles I and the accession of Oliver Cromwell in 1649. They state he arrived first in Jamestown about 1650 and after settled in Westmoreland County, Virginia. No records for John in Westmoreland County have been located.

  • At the siege of Calais [1558] in Bloody Mary's time, there fought and was wounded desperately, as the army rolls of the British army show, an Irish Captain, John Marshall by name. After the capture of that port,... Capt. Marshall was retired on half-pay, and spent the remainder of his days on a small landed estate near Dublin. ... his grand son, also named John Marshall, commanded a troop in King Charles' army, at the battle of Edgehill, and after the overthrow of the power of the Stuarts, preferred seeking his fortune in the New World, rather than remain in Ireland under Cromwellian rule. He settled and died in Virginia, near Dumfries, where his tomb-stone still stood a few years before the war.[3]
  • "John Marshall, a Captain of Cavalry, in the reign of Charles I, of England. He was a zealous supporter of the, crown and of the Episcopal church. He was born and reared in Ireland. Having raised a cavalry company, he was one of the first to offer his services to Charles; and from the battle of Edgehill until the imprisonment of his sovereign, he was actively engaged in his support. Unwilling to live under the rule of Cromwell, he removed, with his family, about 1650, to Virginia. Here he was employed in the Indian Wars of the colony; and Campbell, in his history of Virginia,[4] gives him credit for the successful termination of hostilities. He may have had other children, but Thomas is the only one whose name has been handed down to us. Capt. John is not mentioned in any of the official records of Westmoreland County, that have been preserved; and Col. Green thinks that he died near Dumfries, and that his tombstone, as late as a generation ago, marked his grave."[3]
  • Captain John Marshall, who was born and reared in Ireland, commanded at the battle of Edgehill, during the reign of Charles I. He was an ardent Episcopalian, and upon the accession of Cromwell removed to America, about 1650, and settled at Jamestown, later removing to Westmoreland county, Virginia. He was distinguished in the Indian wars. His son, Thomas Marshall, born about 1655, was a farmer in Washington parish, of that county, a prominent Episcopalian, and died in May, 1704. His wife's name was Martha, and their son, known as "John of the Forest," was born 1700, died in April, 1752.[5]

Marriages & Children

John Marshall married Unknown about 1650, probably in Isle of Wight County, Virginia. No records have been found giving his wife's name. Only two sons have been attributed to John:

He did not marry Jane McCarthy or Elizabeth (Scowne) Westray, as explained in more detail in the Research Notes below. Both of those disputed spouses have been detached from this profile.

All children other than Thomas, born 1655, and possibly John, born 1660, need to be unlinked from this profile. They are either children of John Marshall of Isle of Wight County, Virginia, or not children of either John.

Death

The exact date of death of John Marshall is unknown. He was probably living at the birth of his supposed son John, born 1660, but this us unconfirmed. The will previously included here is not his, it was written by John Marshall of Isle of Wight County, Virginia.

Research Notes

Disputed Spouses

Jane McCarthy

John did not marry Jane McCarthy (abt.1596-abt.1680) about 1642 at Isle of Wight, Virginia. He was not in Virginia until about 1650. The only source naming Jane McCarthy as his wife is incorrect and possibly fictional.

  • "Florence McCarthy, of Clodane, had a daughter Jane, who married John Marshall, son of Thomas Marshall who came to County Kerry in the expedition of Sir Charles Wilmot, 1602, and married Mary, daughter of Maurice Fitzgerald, of Ballymac Adam Castle, and settled there. John Marshall was driven out by the Irish in the great rebellion of 1641, but returned as captain in Cromwell's army. These were ancestors of the Markham and Pursell families (Burke's Landed Gentry, p. 1340.) Florence McCarthy of the family of Donough (or Daniel) McCarthy, of Drishane, descended of the noble family of Muskerry. Members of this line came to Virginia, as did, also, the Marshalls, Markhams, Pursells and Fitzgerald's."[6]
    • Major errors appearing in this book, 1) Florence McCarthy and wife Elana had only four known children: Teige dsp Tower of London, Donal McCarthy, Finnegan McCarty (Florence), Cormac; all sons and no daughter Jane;[7] 2) the statement that John Marshall, purportedly Jane's husband, was a Captain in Cromwell's army. All other sources state he was captain in the army of Charles I; 3) discrepancy as to date of John's birth whereas most researchers use 1596, this source states John's purported parents were not married until 1602 or later.

Jane is said to have been born in 1596, too early to be the mother of the only known or suggested children of John Marshall of Westmoreland County, Virginia.

Elizabeth (Scowne) Westray

John was also not married to Elizabeth (Scowne) Westray (abt.1630-aft.1666). Elizabeth had at least one son, John Marshall, and possibly second son Humphrey Marshall. It is obvious she was married first to Unknown Marshall, but no records have been found giving his first name. It is not possible for her to have been married to this John Marshall as she was never in Westmoreland County. She has also been linked to John Marshall of Isle of Wight County, but he was still living when her second husband William Westray died in 1664.

Additional Notes

NOTE: "The Marshalls are a difficult family to navigate due to conflations. Their progeny became very prominent, in war, politics, and jurisprudence, i.e.,Judge John Marshall, an early Supreme Court Justice.

NOTE: A free space page for Disambiguation of conflated John Marshalls has been created. Please refer to this page before making any edits to this profile. (Strutton-11 21:25, 27 April 2023 (UTC))

Sources

  1. "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NL2D-TLH : 5 February 2023), John Marshall, 1596.
  2. Hardy, Stella Pickett. Colonial families of the Southern States of America;... Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1965. Page 241
  3. 3.0 3.1 Paxton. W. M. The Marshall Family, or a Genealogical Chart of the Descendants of John Marshall and Elizabeth Markham, his wife... Cincinatti: Robert Clarke & Co., 1885. Pages 7, 9
  4. Campbell, Charles. History of the Colony and Ancient Dominion of Virginia. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott and Co., 1860. Page 210; Campbell names only "Captain Marshall" so it is not certain he is referring to this John Marshall.
  5. Tyler, Lyon Gardiner. Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1915, Vol. 5. Pages 1035-1036
  6. Saunders, James Edmonds. Early Settlers of Alabama. Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc. Baltimore, Maryland. 2010. p. 407. (search Google Books, Thomas Marshall and Mary Fitzgerald)
  7. Florence MacCarthy

See also:





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Comments: 28

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Marshall-28215 and Marshall-1210 do not represent the same person because: Different birth/death dates; different locations
Ok, I've started a Disambiguation Free Space Profile to sort out the two, at least, John Marshalls on this page. I won't be making any additional edits to this, or related, profiles until I've finished the Disambiguation and it has been approved by US Southern Colonies Project.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:John_Marshall_Disambiguation

Well, I'm running into conflation problems. Will be attempting some disambiguation. We seem to have two John Marshalls on this profile. One descended from an Irish family who served as Capt. of Cavalry in the Royal Army of Charles I, came to Virginia about 1650 and settled in Westmoreland County. The second came to Virginia about 1640+- and settled in Isle of Wight County. Disambiguation may involve unlinking John from father Thomas, not sure yet. Watch this space.
Source references to Find A Grave have been deleted. The Memorial has been removed from FindAGrave website by another individual. Memorial for his wife, Jane McCarthy, has also been removed.
Please note, I will be removing middle names for John and his wives unless documentation found to prove they actually had a middle name.
I note that no changes have been made to this profile since 2021. Is it necessary to still have the warning in red about edits, etc.? I also have noticed several areas that could use additional research including links that lead to pages that can't be accessed or are incorrect. There are questions about the birth dates of John (1596) and his brother Robert (1595) Marshall. A source cited on the profile of father Thomas states he did not marry Mary Fitzgerald until 1602 or later. Would really like to spend some time on this and related profiles if no one has any objections.
I agree, three years is plenty of time to have completed any work in progress and I think it would be great if you want to spend some time improving the profile. I will remove that language.
posted by Scott McClain
Thanks Scott. I will be working on this, and related profiles, for a while I think. I do enjoy fixing problem profiles from this era :)

If anyone else wants to contribute as well, be welcome.

Hi! I'm trying to sort out the multiple profiles attached as husband to Martha Jane (McCarthy) Marshall (1596-abt.1680).

Why is this profile not a duplicate of Marshall-1210 & if they're not duplicates, did she really marry two men named John Marshall? If they're not the same man, and she did not marry two different men named John Marshall, she needs to be detached from one of them.

Thanks!

posted on Marshall-4212 (merged) by Liz (Noland) Shifflett
Thanks for your work on Martha's family Lynden! Now that Marshall-1210 has been clarified as her husband, I've added PPP. If you need it removed for any reason as your work continues, let me know.

Cheers, Liz

posted by Liz (Noland) Shifflett
Hi! I'm trying to sort out the multiple profiles attached as husband to Martha Jane (McCarthy) Marshall (1596-abt.1680).

Do you have any support for middle name/dates/marriage to McCarthy that you could add to this profile? (A link to the FindAGrave memorial would be a start, and details about what info is from "IGBI".)

Thanks!

posted on Marshall-20248 (merged) by Liz (Noland) Shifflett
Lynden - it appears that all of the profiles attached to Martha Jane (McCarthy) Marshall (1596-abt.1680) as husband are intended to represent the same person.

Please update the warning at the top of this profile. This Marshall profile, which also appears to be her Marshall husband (and she only had one Marshall husband, right?) is the lowest-numbered profile, so not being able to merge into it is holding up progress.

Thanks!

posted by Liz (Noland) Shifflett
I’ll work on this tomorrow. I’ll see what I can do.
GIven potential confusion with others by the same/similar name from this era and location, I recommend this profile be project protected.
posted on Marshall-20248 (merged) by Jillaine Smith
I'm not seeing that this profile is for a different person than the other profiles attached as husband of Martha Jane (McCarthy) Marshall (1596-abt.1680). What am I missing?
posted on Marshall-20248 (merged) by Liz (Noland) Shifflett
I concur that I *think* that all the dupes represent the same man, but there appears to be disagreement around his name. If you don't think PPP is warranted, at least PMP so we can keep an eye on him (post merge, of course)?
posted on Marshall-20248 (merged) by Jillaine Smith
Thanks & sorry! I got so distracted by the multiple husbands, I forgot to add the project account.

Cheers, Liz

posted on Marshall-20248 (merged) by Liz (Noland) Shifflett
Due to concerns previously expressed about the accuracy and potential confusion regarding this family, I recommend it be project-protected. I've added the project box and will ask a Leader to add the US Southern Colonies project account and PPP.
posted on Marshall-4212 (merged) by Jillaine Smith
I've added the project account. I think that Marshall-1210 might be the profile to PPP though - it seems to me that all four profiles attached as husband may be intended to represent the same person.
posted on Marshall-4212 (merged) by Liz (Noland) Shifflett
Marshall-7609 and Marshall-1210 appear to represent the same person because: Consent for a merge of these two profiles has been granted, on the condition that the information from Marshall-1210 be used. Please keep this in mind. Thank you, lcr
Marshall-7609 and Marshall-1210 are not ready to be merged because: The father's are not for certain, needs more research.
posted by John Floyd
Marshall-4212 and Marshall-1210 are not ready to be merged because: See note on Marshall-4212 profile, looking closely at wife's profile, discrepancies in too many spouses and she would have been in her 60's having children. Merging now would cause and inaccurate and messy profile.
posted on Marshall-4212 (merged) by Cheryl (Stone) Caudill
Marshall-4212 and Marshall-1210 are not ready to be merged because: See note on Marshall-4212 profile, looking closely at wife's profile, discrepancies in too many spouses and she would have been in her 60's having children. Merging now would cause and inaccurate and messy profile.
posted by Cheryl (Stone) Caudill
Marshall-4212 and Marshall-1210 appear to represent the same person because: The dates on these two profiles are uncanny. Please check them out, and if they are the same, merge them. Thank you, Lynden Rodriguez
DNA is showing much of this is wrong. Please don't merge any more without serious research. Everyone seems to want to connect to this "Captain John" and the "US Justice John" and the Justices family line is extremely isolated genealogically and by DNA. Most Marshall in fact are not connected to the US Justice and if in the same main haplogroup I, they are separated by 100's of years.
posted on Marshall-4212 (merged) by J A Marshall
Marshall-4932 and Marshall-5563 appear to represent the same person because: Appear to be the same person, because they have the same birth and death date and other vital information look the same.
posted on Marshall-4212 (merged) by John Floyd
Marshall-4932 and Marshall-4212 appear to represent the same person because: Appear to be the same person, because they have the same birth and death date and other vital information look the same.
posted on Marshall-4212 (merged) by John Floyd

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Categories: Westmoreland County, Virginia Colony | Virginia Colonists