Marshall Family Papers, 1762-1908

Summary

Creator:
Marshall, O. H. (Orsamus Holmes), 1813-1884 and Shepard, Charles Sidney
Abstract:
The Marshall family papers document to varying degrees of completeness the activity of five generations of Holmes, Marshall, DeAngelis and related families who settled early in central and western New York. The papers reveal primarily the internal workings of the family centered around Orsamus and Millicent Marshall: their attitudes and far-flung family relationships, their social position, the rearing of children and their growth, and the travels of and intellectual activities of family members. Other papers of interest are the records of the family legal firm, records and papers relating to the organizations and clubs in which members of the family played a part, and an eyewitness account of the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain, a naval battle of the War of 1812.
Extent:
102 boxes 125 linear ft.
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

Marshall Family Papers, 1762-1908, Archives and Special Collections, Penfield Library, State University of New York at Oswego.

Background

Scope and content:

The Marshall family papers document, to varying degrees of completeness, the activities of five generations of Holmes, Marshall, DeAngelis, and related families who settled in central and western New York. The papers reveal primarily the internal workings of the family centered around Orsamus and Millicent Marshall. Relatives and friends corresponded with the Marshalls from California, Washington, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, New York, New England and Europe. Included in the collection are: the writings of John Ellis Marshall, the father of Orsamus Marshall, who was doctor and druggist in Chautauqua County and Buffalo, where he lived during the War of 1812 and during the cholera epidemic of 1832; the Civil War letters of John Ellis Marshall, who served as a Union staff officer under General Grant and General Sherman during the Georgia campaign; and the papers of Erastus Granger, an early Federal Indian agent and Democratic political figure in western New York. Collection contains letters, diaries, photographs, daguerreotypes, maps, cards, and other personal objects from Marshall family members.

Biographical / historical:

The central figure represented in the Marshall family papers, to whom the initial impulse to collect and preserve the family records can be attributed, was Orsamus Holmes Marshall. In addition to his own papers he preserved those of his wife and parents and many of those of his children, docketing much of this material in his own hand. He also gathered a great deal of historical information concerning earlier generations of the family, acquiring the Lemoyne family papers through William Webb DeAngelis. (These papers had passed into the DeAngelis family through William's father, Pascal Charles DeAngelis, who had inherited them from his uncle, Jean Vallet de Fayolle.)

After the death of Orsamus in 1884 the family papers passed to Charles Marshall, who most likely gathered and stored them sometime after 1900, at which time he was the only surviving member of the family. Charles died suddenly of a heart attack in 1908 and his ward, Hazel Koerner, was made executrix. At this point Charles Sidney Shepard, a cousin of Charles Marshall, purchased the papers and took them to his estate in New Haven, New York. This he did because he realized that the papers contained records of his own family and he was apprehensive that Marshall's executrix might sell or destroy them. In addition to the Shepard and Marshall family papers, Charles Shepard also took away the personal papers of Millard Fillmore, which had found their way into the Marshall house when Charles Marshall was made executor of the estate of Fillmore's son, Millard Powers Fillmore. [See the article by Charles M. Snyder, "Forgotten Fillmore Papers Examined", in American Archivist 32(1): 11-14 (Jan 1969)].

Charles Shepard died in 1934, leaving the New Haven house and its contents to a cousin, Florence Wells. After 1934 Florence lived most of the time in New York City and the house in New Haven was left to the management of a caretaker. On Florence's death the property was transferred to her his in Los Angeles, Lillian A. Wells, but continued under the caretaker's management. Lillian's death in 1966 exhausted the Shepard line and in her will she bequeathed the New Haven property to the State University of New York, College at Oswego. In 1969 the Marshall, Shepard, and Fillmore papers were brought to Penfield Library on the Oswego campus

Acquisition information:
Bequeathed by the estate of Lillian Wells to SUNY Oswego in 1966
Arrangement:

The papers have been divided into subgroups containing the papers of the major family units. General family papers are the records of the Marshall family legal firms are arranged in separate subgroups at the end.

The subgroups represent generally discrete material, with the exception of the intertwined correspondence of Orsamus and Millicent Marshall and their children John, Charles, and Elizabeth. Only in the cases of John and Elizabeth has an effort been made to include all incoming correspondence as well as outgoing letters (the exception being that letters of Orsamus to Elizabeth will be found in Orsamus's outgoing correspondence). Letters written by the remaining three individuals, as well as Ruth Marshall, will be found with their own outgoing correspondence, with the following exceptions: 1. Letters to John and Elizabeth, as noted above. 2. Letters written by Millicent and Charles to Orsamus will be found with his incoming correspondence.

The detailed descriptions of correspondence series within each subgroup describe only important correspondence groups. Names represented in the Erastus Granger papers are indexed. The general practice has been to arrange incoming correspondence within each subgroup.

I. Biographical and genealogical information and notes. II. Family of Orsamus Holmes Marshall. IIA. Orsamus Holmes Marshall (1823-1884) IIB. Millicent Ann DeAngelis Marshall (1813-1887) IIC. Elizabeth Coe Marshall (1847-1892) IID. Charles DeAngelis Marshall (1841-1908) III. Family of John Ellis Marshall II. IIIA. John Ellis marhsall II (1839-1900) IIIB. Octavia Simpson Marshall IV. Family of Dr. John Ellis Marshall. IVA. Dr. John Ellis Marshall (1785-1838) IVB. Ruth Holmes Marshall (1790-1878) V. LeMoyne Family Papers VI. Miscellaneous family papers. VII. Records of Marshall family legal firms.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: a Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

Collection contains fragile items and digital copies may be served in some instances.

Preferred citation:

Marshall Family Papers, 1762-1908, Archives and Special Collections, Penfield Library, State University of New York at Oswego.

Location of this collection:
Penfield Library
7060 State Route 104
Oswego, NY 13126, United States
Link to repository site
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