Willis Marshall

• General Notes
  • Posted  10/5/1997
    
    Willis Marshall the ggg grandfather of this writer was born on April 27, 1796
    and died on June 1, 1852 of Cholera at "Marshall Mills" in Marion County, Missouri and is buried in the Little Union Babtist Church Cemetery of the same place. This church sits on Hwy 168 about 5 miles east of Philadelphia, Missouri on the north side of the road. The land known as "Marshall Mills" sits almost in a straight line to the north behind this church about 3/4 of a mile on the banks of the Fabius River in Marion, County. It  is now owned by a Gary Monk who can ........ I have visited there as recently as 1996 and the only evidence of the Marshall's ever having lived there is the Claybrook family cemetery which were Willis Marshall's neighbors. Willis Marshall sold his last slave to Mr. Claybrook for about $145 in payment of a debt. Her name was Liza and she was pregnant. In the later census reports after the civil war there is a black Liza Marshall with many children listed. I would be willing to believe that they are one and the same.
    
    At this writing we are still searching for the parents and origin of Willis Marshall.
    This search has been ongoing now by over three generations of his descendants without success. The search has included the states of Virginia, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. We were however recently able to take his wife Sarah Whitelaw's family back three more generations to Sterling County, Kirkland, Scotland. There is a possibility that Willis' family came from the same area, as families sometimes tended to  migrate together in those times.