Tradition is the only authority the Marshall family have for claiming descent from William C. Mareschal, who came over from England with William the Conqueror. The name is prominent in England and in Ireland. The history of the branch herein recorded begins with Thomas Marshall, of Boston, Massachusetts, called "Widower" on his admission to the church August 31, 1634. He was a shoemaker or a ferryman, perhaps both (Savage [James Savage, A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England]). He brought with him from England, sons Thomas and Samuel, daughters Sarah and Frances. By a second wife, Alice, he had a son Eliakim. He went with the majority of the members of his church to the support of Wheelwright, and in November, 1637, was compelled with others to surrender his arms as a punishment. Like many others similarly abused, he regained high esteem, and held the office of selectman 1647-58, deacon and deputy 1650, and died about 1665.
(II) Captain Samuel, son of Deacon Thomas Marshall, of Boston, was born in England. He was a tanner by trade; settled in Windsor, Connecticut; was a freeman in 1654, deputy in 1637, magistrate in 1638, and in the war against King Philip had a short but most honorable service. November 30, 1675, he was made captain in place of Benjamin Newbury, who was disabled and prevented from joining the projected winter campaign. On December 19, 1695, the battle at the "Great Swamp" was fought (the hardest ever known in New England), and Captain Samuel Marshall was killed, with many of his company. He married, May 6, 1652, Mary, only child of David Wilton. She died August 25, 1683. Children: Samuel, Lydia, Thomas (died young), David, Thomas (of whom further), Mary, Eliakim, John and Eliza. All born between the years 1653 and 1674.
(III) Deacon Thomas (2), son of Captain Samuel and Mary (Wilton) Marshall, was born in Windsor, Connecticut, February 18, 1664. He was an original proprietor of Torrington, but did not settle there. He died November 8, 1735. He married, in Windsor, March 3, 1686, Mary Drake; children: Thomas (died young), Mary, Samuel, Thomas (of whom further), Rachel, Catherine, John, Noah, Daniel, Benjamin and Eunice.
(IV) Thomas (3), son of Deacon Thomas (2) and Mary (Drake) Marshall, was born at Windsor, February 6, 1694, died February 4, 1772. He removed to Torrington, where he settled on a farm prior to 1755. He married Elizabeth Tudor, October 9, 1725. She was of French descent, had considerable property in her own right, and was a woman of high temper, a quality in which it was said Mr. Marshall was not lacking. They agreed to a separation for a time, but after two years revoked the decree. She survived him eighteen years, dying February 8, 1790, aged ninety years. Children:
- Thomas, died young;
- Gad, born February 18, 1732;
- Job, April 22, 1736;
- Thomas, of whom further.
(V) Thomas (4), son of Thomas (3) and Elizabeth (Tudor) Marshall, was born in Torrington, Connecticut, August 24, 1738, died suddenly May 5, 1810. His father gave him a farm in Newfield, adjoining the Winchester line, in 1761. He settled there and established the first large dairy in Newfield. He was a man of peculiarities, but more than ordinarily enterprising and energetic. He wrote in his account book: "In 1799 I made seventy-eight barrels of cider, in 1803 eighty barrels, in 1807 one hundred twenty. In 1805 I sold my new milk cheese for ten cents a pound." He was among the first settlers of Newfield, Connecticut, and was a man of considerable influence. He married Deziah Tuttle, January 30, 1764. She died August 14, 1808. He married (second) Widow Sarah Butler, of Harwinton. Children:
- Raphael, born May 11, 1765.
- Reuben, born November 29, 1766; a merchant of Winchester, Connecticut, and Granville, Massachusetts; died February 13, 1814.
- Harvey, born June 29, 1768; married Anna Frisbie, of Burlington, Connecticut; left issue.
- Sarah, born June 10, 1770; married Oliver Coe, December 1, 1791; had issue.
- Levi, of whom further.
- Roswell, born December 30, 1773; married Sophia Bass; lived in Colebrook, where she died November 23, 1845.
- Seth, born December 2, 1775; married Susan Frisbie, of Burlington, Connecticut; removed to Painesville, Ohio.
- Rachel, born June 19, 1781; married, December 19, 1799, Captain Levi Munsill, and resided on the dairy homestead, where she died January 16, 1842; left issue.
- Susannah, born August 14, 1783.
(VI) Levi, son of Thomas and Deziah (Tuttle) Marshall, was born in Newfield, Connecticut, April 19, 1772. He resided in Winchester, Connecticut, until 1800, when he removed to Vernon, Oneida county, New York, where he died December 25, 1818. He married, April 19, 1795, Mary (Polly) Gridley, born August 9, 1776, died June 25, 1855. They had five children.
(VII) Levi T., son of Levi and Mary (Gridley) Marshall was born in Vernon, Oneida county, New York, February 6, 1808, died August 11, 1884. He was a farmer of the town of Vernon until 1869, when he removed to Gloversville, New York, where he died. He was a man of education and strong convictions. Under different early conditions he would have been devoted to one of the professions, but circumstances forced him to become a farmer and he was a most successful one. He was actively connected with the Oneida County and the State agricultural associations, and for many years held official positions on the managing boards of both (president or secretary). He gave much attention to fruit growing, and so beautiful were his grounds that they were objects of more than passing favorable comment. After his removal to Gloversville, where he purchased forty acres of land and added to the village, he organized the Rural Art Association, was its first president, and made a most potent factor in the beautifying of the village and securing needed public improvement. "Marshall Avenue" commemorates his memory in Gloversville, which he did much to beautify and adorn. Later the name was changed to Third Avenue. His influence in the village was all for good. His private life was one to be commended and emulated, while his public spirit was always manifested in his furtherance of all movements for the public good. His public life was a distinguished one. He early displayed a liking for affairs military. He enlisted in the militia as then constituted and served so faithfully that promotion was rapid. In 1839 he was commissioned brigadier-general by Governor William H. Seward. He was an active Whig, and while president of Oneida made several successful campaigns, although his party was in the minority. In 1835 he was elected justice of the peace, an office he held without interruption (except for one term) until his removal to Fulton county in 1869. In 1841 he represented Vernon on the county board of supervisors, and in 1861 was nominated and elected to the state legislature, a representative from the Second Assembly District of Oneida county. He fairly earned all of his three titles "General," "Squire," and "Honorable," and filled with honor every office he ever held. He shaped his life by the Golden Rule, and was held in the highest esteem where best known. While resident of Gloversville he served as village trustee, and finding the board without regulations or by-laws, he drafted a code upon which the present fire and water systems are based. He never engaged actively in business in the village, although he was a director of the Gloversville National Bank and was financially interested in the hardware business.
He married, April 11, 1832, Mary Ann, born September 15, 1815, died August 14, 1890, daughter of John Smith, left an orphan at eighteen years, the eldest of five children. Levi T. and Mary Ann Marshall were the parents of three children:
- Charlamagne, born January 13, 1843, died March 21, 1844.
- Joseph Addison, born February 21, 1846; married; January 26, 1876, Irene Wing Lasher.
- Anna May, born February 3, 1856; married, April 11, 1883, Edwin P. Bellows, born March 24, 1851; she is a member of the board of directors of the Gloversville branch of the Mohawk and Hudson River Humane Society, and is deeply interested in all humane work, both among children and animals. She is a member of Gen. Richard Montgomery, Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and since 1906 has been regent.