My Marshall Ancestors

Roberts-Marshall Line
Surname Saturday
By Don Taylor

Name Origin[i]

Marshall is an occupation name whose origin is from the Frankish mare (“horse”) + skalkoz (“servant”). It is commonly found as a surname but may also be used as a given name. It is also an old Scottish surname meaning ‘Love of Horses.’ It is also an anglicization of the German and Ashkenazic Jewish surname ‘Marschall,’ meaning ‘keeper of horses’ in German.[ii]

John Marshall (1755–1835) was the fourth chief justice of the Supreme Court. He descended from John Marshall, who came from Ireland and settled in Virginia during the 1600s. It will be interesting to find out if I descend from him.

A German form of the surname is Marschall.

Geographical

About 55% of the people with the Marshall surname lived in the United States. The highest density of Marshalls is in Barbados.

Most Marshalls in the US live in Texas, California, and Florida. The greatest frequency of the Marshall surname occurs in Virginia, where one in 801 people have the surname.[iii]

Direct Marshall Ancestors

• Grandfather: Bert Allen Roberts (1903-1949)
• Great-grandfather: Hugh Ellis Roberts (1882-1908)
• 2^nd Great-grandmother: Patience Anna Marshall (1845-1919)
• 3^rd Great-grandfather: [FNU] Marshall (c. 1823-bef. 1849).[iv]
• 4^th Great-grandfather: William Marshall (c. 1795-___).[v]

My Marshalls in History

At the start of the Civil War, Patience was married to Thomas Dean. Thomas died in 1863. I don’t know if it was due to military service. In any event, Patience married Asa Ellis Roberts in 1865 and received a pension because of Asa’s service.

William Marshall was too old (60-70) to have fought during the Civil War. I need to research further to determine if he fought during the War of 1812. (He would have been between 12 and 23 years old then.)

Locations of my Marshall Ancestors

Illinois – Patience Anna (Marshall) Dean Roberts was born, lived her entire life, and died in Illinois.

Tennessee – Patience’s father {FNU] was born in Tennessee.

Famous Marshalls

Wikipedia shows many famous people with the Marshall surname, including two Supreme Court justices, generals, businessmen, and some 18 cities and towns in the United States.

Surname Studies

Family Tree DNA has 637 members in the Marshall Surname Study. The Family Search Wiki has a page about Surname Studies and can direct researchers to several dozen surname studies and groups, including the Marshall Family Tree on Facebook.

Cyndi’s List – Surnames, Family Associations & Family Newsletters, includes three Marshall Genealogy pages.

My Direct Marshall Descendants

I have 221 known descendants of William Marshall in my tree; 47 are Roberts, 12 are Harts, 9 are Childers, and 9 are Derringtons. I have written 14 blog posts about four of them.

• 34. FNU Marshall
  – – – Searching for Patience Marshall’s Father
• 17. Patience Anna Marshall (1845-1919)
  – – – *Amanuensis Monday – Patience A. Roberts – Birth Record
  – – – *Amanuensis Monday – Patience A Roberts – Death Record
  – – – Ancestry’s ThruLines – Part 4 – Patience A Marshall
• 8.  Hugh Ellis Roberts (1882-1908)
  – – – Hugh Ellis Roberts – A Second Look
  – – – Happy Birthday Hugh Ellis Roberts – 2 July 1884
• 4. Compulsive searching – Bert Allen Roberts (1903-1949)
  – – – Bert Allen Roberts – Date of Birth Proof
  – – – Bert Allen Roberts & Franklin County, Illinois Births 1900-1904.
  – – – Research Plan 
  – – – Where were Bert & Essie Roberts in 1931 & 1932?

Ancestor Photographs

Sources

• Ancestry Surname Page: https://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts.
• Family Search Surname page.
• Forebears Surnames Page: https://forebear       s.io/surnames.
• Genealogy Bank Page: https://www.genealogybank.com/last-name-meaning.
• Ancestry – Don Taylor’s Roberts-Brown tree on Ancestry, accessed 27 Dec 2023.

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Endnotes

[i] Common surname origins include:

• Occupations (such as “Farmer”
• Physical characteristics (such as “Short”)
• Places or landmarks (such as “Hill”)
• Patronymics, derived from father’s name (such as Johnson from ”son of John”).

[ii] Internet: Genealogy Bank – Surname Meaning – Results of search: Marshall.

[iii] Internet: Forebears – Surname Marshall.

[iv] I have not had the opportunity to personally research these individuals. As such, their names and dates are tentative and/or speculative.

[v] I have not had the opportunity to personally research these individuals. As such, their names and dates are tentative and/or speculative.