Person:Elizabeth Marshall (60)

The Marshall Family, W.M. Paxton, pp. 19:

Elizabeth (or Lizzie) Marshall, b. in Washington parish, Westmoreland County, Va., about 1727; [m.] about 1747, John Smith, brother of Augustine Smith, (14) to whose sketch reference is made. John is said to have died in 1783. The following passage of a letter from M. L. Hutt, Dept. Clerk of Westmoreland County, to Col. Marshall J. Smith, dated Aug. 22, 1883, will throw some light on the Smith records:

" I enclose you memorandums of all I can find on the deed-books in this office. They date from 1652. I do not see the names of Mary Ann Adkins, nor of Broadwater, mentioned in the books at all. The name of Fontlerov, just appears in deed-book of 1772. I think they were Richmond County people. The Turners are mentioned only once, in the will-books, though often in the deed-books. In Thomas Turner's will he leaves his farm, "Smith's Mount" to his son Harry Smith Turner, and afterwards H. S. Turner deeds a portion of it to Fontleroy. The Turner family still own the farm. The John Smith mentioned in memorandum 1723, was the father of Thomas, John and Augustine. We have no marriage records nor bonds to show to whom" he was married. Probably the marriages at that time were recorded in the church registers, none of which are now in existence in this county."

Lizzie Marshall and John Smith are said to have raised three daughters and one son Mrs. Judith Keith, of Warrensburg, is one of their great-grand daughters.

Elizabeth Marshall (Smith) Martin was a patriot who rendered services to further the cause of Independence from Britain. She gave her seven sons to the cause and was herself one of the heroines of the Revolution. Dressed in mens' clothing, she succeeded in capturing important dispatches from the British. Her home was also used for housing and treating wounded soldiers. (c.f. Colonial Families of the Southern States of America: A History and Genealogy of Colonial Families who Settled in the Colonies Prior to the Revolution, pp. 368; Women of the American Revolution, pp. 273)

Duck River Valley in Tennessee and Its Pioneers:

A letter written by Elizabeth Marshall Martin to her brother, Col. Thomas Marshall, dated June 16, 1755, is referred to here:

Dear Brother:

We are in much confusion and distress because of the burning of our outhouses last night. They have taken away every horse and fowl, and soon after they left the barn was found burning. They did not come to the house, and I don't think they were Indians. General Braddock and staff camped here last night. He informed Father Martin that Abram (her husband) had taken his command to join Col. Washington on their way to Duquesne. I would it were so you and Mary could come here for a time. Two of the children have measels, and Father Martin has disentary, and I am in bed with a baby three days old and am too weak to get up. I fear the return of the enemy. Do come if possible. We have no horse to send for you. David will take this to you. I have brought all the blacks into the house.

Your affectionate sister,

Elizabeth Marshall Martin

P.S. We have two guns."

Pioneer Mothers of America, pp.336:

The Fighting Martins of " Ninety-six "

An act of audacious bravery was performed by two fun-loving but patriotic young women of South Carolina, during that last checkered campaign of General Greene, that will ever add interest to the early annals of the State.3

Mrs. Abram Martin was the Spartan mother of seven sons, all of whom were soldiers fighting for independence. The two eldest were married, and their wives, Mrs. Grace Martin and Mrs. Rachel Martin, lived with their mother-in-law, not far from Fort Ninety-six in the Edgefield district. They were mere girls, scarcely out of their teens, Grace, the wife of the eldest son, having been married when she was fourteen. They were bright, mischievous young women skilled in woodcraft, full of fun, and courageous as a woman had need to be in a section over-run with British soldiers, Tories, and guerillas. Late one afternoon word was received at the

Martin homestead that a courier, bearing import-ant dispatches to one of the upper stations, was to pass along the road, fronting the house, very shortly. The courier was being escorted by two British soldiers. "Grace, " said Mrs. Rachel, banteringly, "if you were a soldier's wife, I'd dare you to join me in capturing that courier and his papers for General Greene." Grace Martin's husband was an officer, whose promotion had been won for daring and bravery in many battles. Consequently her answer was to have been expected.

"Soldier's wife," said Mrs. Grace scornfully, "I dare do anything that you can do."

The plan was quickly matured. They would don their husbands' uniforms, and as both were tall, well-formed girls they trusted that in the dusk of the evening their sex might not be recognised. In the half-light, with rifles over their shoulders and pistols in their belts they were in fact quite formidable looking soldiers. At least the British guards thought so when the pair sprang out from behind a rail fence near the Martin home, where the three travellers had to pass through a gap in the fence, and called upon them to halt. Taken entirely unawares and with guns cocked but a few feet from their heads, there was nothing for them to do except to surrender, which they promptly did with both hands up.

"We want those papers, " said Mistress Grace in as deep a voice as she could command The courier and the two young officers who were acting as escort were too much frightened to notice the voice, and the papers were handed over at once, after which the two young women, with a great show of magnanimity, paroled them, not knowing what else to do with them. The discomfited Britons turned about and rode slowly back. Taking a short cut through the woods the young women reached their home and had resumed their wonted garb when the three British soldiers appeared and asked for shelter for the night. Mrs. Martin, the elder, asked them, in all innocence, how it was that they were returning so soon after having but recently' passed the house. They replied by showing their paroles and acknowledged frankly that they had been taken prisoners by "two young rebels, armed with rifles," who had come upon them so suddenly that they had no time to defend themselves. Shelter was given to them for the night and they rode away next morning with never a suspicion that the two merry-eyed young women with whom they had conversed at the breakfast table were the rebel lads who had led them captive. It is perhaps unnecessary to say that the captured despatches had been forwarded to General Greene's headquarters by a trusted messenger within an hour after they were taken.

Mrs. Abram Martin was a woman of strong personality. She had eight sons and one daughter. Seven of her sons and her son-in-law, Captain Wade of Virginia, entered the service at the opening of the war. Captain Wade fell with his commander, Richard Montgomery, at the siege of Quebec and his widow and his little son, George 'Washington Wade, lived with Mrs. Martin. Her eldest son, William M. Martin, was a captain of artillery, and after serving with distinguished bravery at the sieges of Savannah and Charleston, was killed at the siege of Augusta. He was married to Miss Grace Waring, daughter of Benjamin Waring of Dorchester. Her husband's death left her with three children. Barkley Martin, the second son, was married to Rachel Clay, daughter of Henry Clay, Jr., of Mecklenburg, Va., a first cousin of Henry Clay of Tennessee. Rachel Clay's sister was married to another of the "Fighting Martins of `Ninety-six' " and their son, another Barkley Martin, was a member of Congress in the forties.

One of the traditions in the family was that when the British were in possession of Fort Ninety-six, an English officer rode out to the Martin home one day and asked the old lady, who sat with her daughter-in-law, "Did n't you have a son in the army at Augusta?"

"I did," replied the aged mother, scarcely able to restrain her tears.

"Well, I saw his d- head shot off," replied the officer, with a malicious grin. If he anticipated any pleasure in seeing the agony of a wife and mother he must have been chagrined, as the only reply of the mother was, "He could not have died in a better cause."

History of Edgefield County From the Earliest Settlements to 1897, pp. 392-3:

The Martin family, of Martintown, in Edgefield County, were prominent, brave, active, and energetic Whigs during the Revolution, but as Martintown has long since gone to decay, and as the family, from whom the name was derived, is almost or quite extinct in Edgefield, it might please the reader of this book to find here a few items of the family history.

I am indebted to the Honorable John Martin, United States Senator from Kansas, for the following information:

The Martin family was of Scotch-Irish origin. The family emigrated from the North of Ireland somewhere towards the close of the sixteenth century (should be I think seventeenth) and settled originally in Caroline County, Virginia. The family was a large one, there being seven sons and one daughter. The names of the sons were: Abram, John, George, William, Matthew, Barclay, and Edmund. The daughter's name was Letty [Letitia]. They resided in Virginia for many years, and finally scattered to Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Ohio, and South Carolina.

The head of the South Carolina branch of the family, Abram Martin, was born in Carolina County, Virginia, in the year 1708, and there grew to manhood and married Miss Elizabeth Marshall, of Caroline County, who was said to be a niece of the father of John Marshall, afterwards Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Soon after his marriage he moved to South Carolina and located in Edgefield District and there lived and died.

He had eight sons, as follows: William Martin, James Martin, John Martin, George Martin, Barclay Martin, Edmund Martin, Marshall Martin, Matt Martin, and one daughter, Letty Martin.

Of these children, William, the eldest, married Miss Grace Waring and left three children, Robert, Elizabeth, and William. He was captain of artillery and was killed at the siege of Augusta. It was this Mrs. Martin who, in conjunction with Mrs. Barclay Martin, born Rachel Clay, captured the British courier with dispatches while on his way from Augusta to Ninety-Six, as elsewhere related.

The third son, John Martin, was an officer during the Revolution, Brigadier after the war, and served several years in the Legislature.

He was married three times and left many children, one of whom was Judge W. D. Martin, of whom something has already been written.

John Martin died in Abbeville District in 1813.

Several of this prolific family rose to distinction. Charles was an officer in the Confederate Army and was killed in the battle of Kennesaw Mountain.

John Martin, Senator from Kansas in 1894, is a grandson of Matthew Martin of the Revolution, who moved to Tennessee and died there in 1846.

Many more names might be added to this roll of the Martins, all worthy, all true men and women; but if all were written that might be written of the children of Edgefield abroad, it would embrace the world, and the book would soon grow to unwieldy size.

Historical Collections of the Joseph Habersham Chapter, Daughters American Revolution: Volume 2, pp. 101-102:

Answer No. 9, Volume 2. Elizabeth Marshall, who married Abram Martin, was not a daughter of Captain John Marshall of "The Forest," nor an aunt of the chief justice. Captain John Marshall of "The Forest" had a daughter, Elizabeth, but she married John Smith, of Westmoreland county, Virginia, and left several children. It is probable from the age of Elizabeth Marshall Martin and the close relationship always claimed, that she was a niece of John of "The Forest" and the first cousin of Thomas, the father of the chief justice. There is no authority for this statement, but it would be a good guess to place her as the daughter of William, brother of John of "The Forest," and only brother, so far as known. Thomas Marshall, the father of John of "The Forest," died in 1704; Elizabeth could not have been his daughter and great aunt of the chief justice, because she was too young a woman during the Revolution to have been born before 1704. Therefore, no other conjecture seems possible except that she was a first cousin of the father of the chief jus tice, if she was closely related at all.

Historical Collections of the Joseph Habersham Chapter, Daughters American Revolution: Volume 2, pp 140-141:

MARSHALL-MARTIN — No. 9 knows whereof she speaks, as regards the relationship between Elizabeth Marshall Martin and Chief Justice John Marshall, and her statement is entirely correct. Old letters (copies) are in her possession that bear witness to this fact. These letters are from Elizabeth Marshall Martin to her brother, Thomas Marshall. One is dated : "Plant ation, June, 1755 ;" another from Thomas Marshall to his sister, Elizabeth Marshall, dated Germantown, December 8, 1767, in which he mentions his father, John Marshall; also a letter of John Marshall to his cousin, Edmund Martin, son of Marshall, and grandson of Elizabeth Marshall and Abram Martin, dated March, 1833, in which he alludes to her Aunt Elizabeth. They were found among some very old papers belonging to the family of Colonel James Martin, son of Abram and Elizabeth Marshall Martin. It is late in the day to raise the question whether Elizabeth Marshall married Abram Martin or John Smith, when Mrs. Elliott speaks of her in the "Women of the Revolu tion," as the wife of Abram Martin. "Johnston's Traditions," "The Women of the Century," "History of Edgefield," all men tion this, even if family records were worth nothing. (See Dr. Davis Martin's record of the Martin family.) Elizabeth Marshall could not have been the wife of John Smith, as he died in 1783. She had sons, eight in number, old enough to hold the office of captain, colonel and general in 1776. Her husband, Abram Martin, was with Braddock, as she speaks of it in her letter to her brother, Thomas Marshall. True, all who claim relationship to the chief justice are not entitled to it, but the descendants of Elizabeth Marshall Martin "do bear a very near relation," the resemblance between the descendants of Elizabeth Martin and John, chief justice, is striking even to strangers.