Part of the Indiana Biographies Project
Swain Marshall
Wayne county was exceptionally fortunate in the character of her pioneers, who, save in rare instances, possessed the pluck, fortitude and genius of the true Anglo-Saxon,—that race which appears to delight in difficulties, because thereby an opportunity is afforded to conquer them. The founders of this county were God-fearing, law-abiding citizens, patriotic and true to their native land, and conscientious in the discharge of every duty toward their fellow men.
Of such a stamp were the ancestors of the subject of this sketch. His grandparents, Miles and Martha (Jones) Marshall, were natives of North Carolina, the former born in 1789 and the latter in 1792. They removed from Tennessee to Wayne county, Indiana, in 1812, at first locating on Green's Fork, near the present town of the same name, but after a few months had passed the family returned to the state whence they had come. In the fall of 1814 they came back and made a settlement on Elkhorn creek, in what now is Boston township, and about two years later they came to the present township of Green. In the autumn of the same year Mr. Marshall bought eighty acres of land in Perry township, here making a permanent home. Both he and his wife were consistent members of the Society of Friends, their lives being governed by the noble principles of that sect. Mr. Marshall was recognized as a man of superior ability, and frequently was called upon to serve in local positions of trust and responsibility. For fifteen consecutive years he served as a justice of the peace, and for two years he was a member of the Indiana legislature. His beloved wife died in 1854, and the following year he went to Dallas county, Iowa, where he died in 1868. Only three of their ten children survive. They were named as follows: Thomas; Mitchell, who died in 1846, aged thirty-three years; Myra, who has been dead many years; Maben, who was born in 1817, died in 1898; Minerva, born in 1820, died in 1898; Margaret, who died in infancy; Calvin, born in August, 1824, and now living in Dallas county, Iowa; Collins, born in 1826, was killed by the bushwhackers during the war of the Rebellion; Miles, born in 1830, died in the fall of 1898;- and Martha, born in 1832, is a resident of Dallas, Iowa.
Thomas Marshall, the eldest child of his parents, was born in Knox county, Tennessee, December 8, 1811. He has been a resident of Perry township for eighty-three years, and for sixty-eight years has lived upon his homestead, which was entered from the government by his father. For one so well along in years, he enjoys remarkably good health, and is sound in mind and body. No one in his part of the county is more thoroughly esteemed, and his life record is without stain or blemish. For twenty-two years he was a trustee of his township, but he has never sought public office, preferring to lead a retired life. By marrying the lady of his choice, one outside the Quaker church, he was promptly excluded from membership; but, firm in his conviction that he was in the right, he pursued the pathway he had marked out for himself, and has prospered in every way. It was on the 3d of November, 1833, that his marriage to Miss Cynthia, daughter of Sylvanus and Rhoda (Worth) Swain, was celebrated. She came from North Carolina to this county with her parents in 1824, and her death occurred December 31, 1851. The second marriage of Mr. Marshall took place on the 19th of March, 1854, when Miss Elvira Macy became his wife. She is a daughter of Isaac and Eleanor (Thornburg) Macy. By the first union there were born five children, namely: Clayton, Rhoda, Swain, Alonzo and Orlando; and of the second marriage, two children were born,—Cynthia Ellen and Elmer Ellsworth. Three of the sons, Clayton (now a resident of Nebraska), Swain, and Alonzo (the present auditor of Wayne county), were Union soldiers in the great civil war.
Swain Marshall, whose birth occurred at the old homestead so long owned by his father, October 18, 1839, has been numbered among the worthy citizens of Perry township during his entire life,—three-score years. He early learned the various details of agriculture, and as he approached manhood he earnestly followed the stormy tide of events which were leading up to the civil war. During the summer which followed the firing upon Fort Sumter he was plowing in the field with oxen, when a neighbor came to him and they entered into discussion upon the subject of enlisting to fight for the Union. History repeats itself, as the old saying goes, and young Marshall immediately left his plow in the field and went to town, where he enlisted, August 20, 1861, becoming a member of Company G, Eighth Regiment of Indiana Volunteer Infantry. Owing to the circumstance related above, he received the sobriquet of Putnam, and was so called by his comrades in the ranks. He was mustered into the service in the following month, and was sent to Springfield, Missouri, to serve under command of General Fremont, in the spring of 1862. After taking part in the battle of Pea Ridge, in March, he and his regiment went with General Curtis on an expedition through Arkansas. This march was a long and hard one, and Mr. Marshall proceeded much of the distance with bare feet, as many of his comrades likewise were compelled to do. In October, of the same year, the regiment was sent from Helena up the Mississippi river, and thence upon another tour of Arkansas, being recalled to participate in the famous siege of Vicksburg. May 1st it was actively engaged in the battle of Grand Gulf; May 14th in that of Jackson; Champion Hills on the i6th, and the fight at Black River Bridge. The regiment joined Grant's forces at Millikin's Bend, and were among the first to invest the Confederate stronghold. Mr. Marshall was a participant in the famous charge on the enemy's works on the 22d of May, his regiment suffering the loss of one hundred and sixteen men. Soon after the surrender of Vicksburg, the gallant Eighth was sent to New Orleans, and in the following October proceeded to Texas. In January, 1864, when their term of enlistment expired, Mr. Marshall and those of his comrades who desired to continue in the service of their country as long as they were needed, re-enlisted at Indianola, Texas, and were permitted to return home for a short time on a furlough. This prevented their taking part in the unfortunate Louisiana campaign under the leadership of General Banks. Returning to New Orleans, the Eighth regiment veterans were sent to Washington in August, 1864, and thence to the front, where they were actively engaged in General Sheridan's Shenandoah valley campaign. They were in the battle of Winchester, September 19th; Fisher's Hill on the 22d, and in the famous Cedar Creek engagement, where Sheridan, though "twenty miles away," arrived in time to turn the tide of defeat into victory for the Union army. At the close of the campaign in that region, the Eighth was placed on transports and sent to Savannah, Georgia, to await the arrival of Sherman and the brave men who were on the march to the sea, and in that vicinity continued to do garrison duty until the end of the war. Soon after his first enlistment, Mr. Marshall was made a corporal, and later served as a sergeant. He was commissioned first lieutenant by Governor Morton, July 19, 1865, and was mustered out as such August 28 following, his honorable discharge being dated September 24, at Indianapolis. The young man's army record was of the best, and during the long four years of his service for his country he was never absent from his post of duty, and though he was actively engaged in every encounter which his regiment had with the Confederates, and went on hundreds of miles of weary marches, he escaped going to the hospital. When on his last long march, from Augusta, Georgia, to Darien, on the sea-coast, he received a sunstroke, from the effects of which he has suffered more or less ever since.
On the 4th of March, 1871, Mr. Marshall married Miss Cynthia Swain, who was born in this township, March 11, 1847. Soon after their wedding was solemnized the young couple went to Dallas county, Iowa, where relatives of Mr. Marshall were living, and there the wife died, on the 8th of March, 1874. Their two children are still living, Thomas Worth, the elder, being a successful civil engineer, and Harry Swain, the younger, being an able assistant to his father in the care of the homestead. Returning to Wayne county, Mr. Marshall resumed farming in Perry township, and has since devoted himself to agriculture, with good financial results. His marriage to Miss Lucinda Swain, a sister of his first wife, was celebrated on the 23d of October, 1875. She was born April 25, 1832, her parents being Elijah and Mary Swain, honored early settlers of this township.
In his political relations Mr. Marshall is a zealous Republican. Fraternally he is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, being associated with Sol. Meredith Post, No. 51. Public-spirited and progressive in all his ideas, he lends his influence to all measures which he believes useful to the majority, and always plays the part of an earnest, patriotic citizen.
Source:
Biographical and Genealogical History of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin Counties, Indiana, Volume 1, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1899