Thomas the builder of Marshall Hall Marshall

• General Notes
  • First Marshalls of Maryland
    
    Thomas Marshall, the builder of Marshall Hall on the Potomac, was not a first son or the first of his line in the colony of Maryland. His father died when he was 4 years old leaving older brother William 410 acres, and Barbara, Thomas, and Richard each an inheritance of 100 acres on the Wicomoco River in Charles County. This land was once part of a much larger tract patented in 1651 as “Marshall” by his grandfather William Marshall, an emigrant from England; who, before his death in 1673, had accumulated 1,870 acres.
    
    Thomas may have been raised on the Wicomoco land, but he also had several ties to people in the vicinity of his future Potomac tract. His mother, Elizabeth Hanson Marshall, was the daughter of Randall Hanson who had patented “Hansonton” and “Charley.” On November 18, 1696 Randall Hanson sold John Fendall and, Thomas’s uncle, Joshua Marshall 500 acres of Hansonton and 360 acres of Charley. Under a deed of partition dated November 24, 1696 Fendall kept the Hansonton section and Marshall kept Charley. This was followed on September 11, 1700 by a deed of confirmation signed by John Ackatamaka, described therein as “Emperor of the Piscataway,” consenting to the deed transfer from Hanson to Fendall and Marshall. This may have been a requirement during the resurveying effort, following the peace treaty with the Piscataway. It is probably this deed that later contributed to the persistent legend that Marshall Hall land was granted to the Marshalls by the Piscataway.
    
    In 1698, soon after the death of Thomas’s father (William Marshall II) his mother Elizabeth married John Fendall. It is quite possible that at that time William III, Barbara, Thomas, and infant Richard moved to Hansonton on the Potomac. It is known that when Uncle Joshua died in 1702 without heir, Fendall served as executor of the Charley property for William Marshall III.
    The Building of Marshall Hall
    
    With newfound peace in the area, patent claims 60 years earlier by men such as Randall Hanson were finally being developed. James Stoddert, a county surveyor, was first on the scene in the new wave of land speculation to claim pieces others had overlooked. When Stoddard died in 1726, Thomas Marshall married Elizabeth Bishop Stoddert that September. On January 7, 1727 Thomas applied for a survey of “Mistake.” By patenting Mistake in 1728, Thomas laid the foundation for the development of the estate that would eventually become Marshall Hall. He proceeded to build a mansion on the bank of the Potomac, east of the “Greenwich” tract patented by Randall Brandt. The house was started around 1730, but there are no specific records to confirm its date of construction. Thomas Marshall married the widow Stoddert when he was 31 years old, and may have owned a home before their marriage. Marshall did own other land and Stoddert had a dower claim of life use of one-third of Southampton Plantation. By custom, she could have resided there with her Stoddert children and new husband as long as she wanted.
    
    Thomas was a justice of the peace of Prince George’s Co. from 1737 to 1748, when the boundary between Charles and Prince George’s moved and he became a legal resident of Charles County. Records indicate that in large, the Marshalls were only involved in politics at the county level. In colonial society, however, this office was powerful and prestigious. Justices, appointed by the governor, ran the county government, decided tax rates, hired sheriffs, and allocated funds. They sat in courts of law deciding local land disputes and registering deeds. In 1759 Thomas Marshall died and was survived by his two children: Sarah Marshall Dent and Thomas Hanson Marshall, who inherited the estate. Brother and sister were married to brother and sister - John and Rebecca Dent - whose father, Colonel George Dent, was Chief Justice of Maryland.
    
    Sarah’s husband, John Dent, rose to the rank of general during the American Revolution. Their daughter, Ann Herbert Dent (born October 30, 1756) married Captain William M. Wilkinson of the Revolutionary War. Ann's daughter, Jane Herbert (Dent) Wilkinson, was born July 23, 1798 on Truman's Place plantation near the Patuxent River in Charles County. Jane married Doctor James Long and went on to fame as the "Mother of Texas." Their sons, Thomas Marshall Dent and George Dent, became captains in the Revolutionary War. George served in the Maryland Legislature, becoming Speaker of the House before federal election to Congress for two terms as a supporter of Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Marshall Dent, born October 22 1761, was the maternal grandfather of Confederate Lt. General James Longstreet - General Robert E. Lee's "Old War Horse."