Alfred Marshall

ALFRED MARSHALL, of Langborne Manor, Bucks county, was born in Marshallton, Delaware, October 29, 1848, a son of Caleb H. and Jane (THOMPSON) MARSHALL, and comes of a distinguished English ancestry. John MARSHALL, paternal ancestor of Alfred MARSHALL, was born in Derbyshire, England, and migrated from Elton parish m that shire in 1686 to America, and after locating for about a year in Blockley township, Philadelphia county, located in Darby, Delaware county. He was a member of Darby Friends’ Meeting, and married there 10 mo. 19, 1688, Sarah, daughter of Thomas SMITH, that being the first marriage solemnized under the auspices of Darby Meeting. Be was a cousin of Abraham MARSHALL the distin­guished botanist and horticulturist,\, who came from Gratton parish, Derbyshire, in 1700, and settled In West Bradford, Chester county. John MARSHALL died 9 mo. 13, 1729, and his widow 5 mo. 16, 1749. They had three children, John, born 6 mo. 16, 1690, died 8 mo. 4, 1749, married Joanna PASCHALL, and (second) Elinor SHENTON, a widow; William. born 2 mo. 11, 1692, died 1727, married Mary SELLERS; Thomas, born 12 mo. 10, 1694, (see forward).

Thomas MARSHALL married 2 mo. 24, 1718, and settled in Concord township, Chester county. His wife was Hannah MENDENHALL, daughter of Benjamin and Ann (PENNEL) MENDENHALL. Thomas died in 1741, and his widow married Peter GRUBB. Thomas and Hannah (MENDENHALL) MARSHALL had nine children John MARSHALL, eighth child, born 11 mo. 22  1734, in Concord, married (first) Hannah JAMES, daughter of Joseph and Han­nah (HICKMAN) JAMES, of Westtown and settled in Birmingham township, where his wife died in 1764, leaving two children. Mary, who married William PHILLIPS; and Martha, who died unmarried. He removed to Kennett township in 1765, and on 4 mo. 27, 1768, married Su­sanna LAMBORN, daughter of Robert and Ann (BOURNE) LAMBORN. She was born 4 mo. 7, 1749, and died 3 mo. 3, 1839. John MARSHALL became a large landowner in Kennett, among his extensive hold­ings being a grist and sawmill. He and his family were members of Hockesin Meeting, and Kennett Monthly Meeting. He died 11 mo. 30, 1815. The children of John and Susanna (LAMBORN) MARSHALL were: Thomas, born 4 mo.. 22, 1769, died 2 mo. 2, 1851, married Sarah GREGG; Robert, born 9 mo. 15, 1771, (see below); William, born 5 mo. 26, 1773, died young; Hannah, born 1 mo. 7, 1775, died 1 mo. 21, 1859, married John YEAMAN; Ann, born 8 mo. 22, 1778, died 5 mo. 26, 1862, married John SCARLETTt; Martha, born 8 mo. 20, 1780 died 1 mo. 3, 1811, unmarried; and William, born 7 mo. 30, 1784, died 1859, married Margaret MCCAMMON.

Robert MARSHALL, second son of John and Susanna (LAMBORN) MARSHALL, was born in Kennett township, Chester county, Pennsylvania, 9 mo. 15, 1771. He inherited his father’s homestead in Ken­nett. His son Caleb some years before the latter’s death in 1869, removed to Mill Creek Hundred, New Castle county, Delaware. Prior to his removal to Del­aware he operated the grist mill in Ken­nett, inherited from his father. His son Thomas was also a miller and success­fully operated the mill in Kennett for many years, and in 1856 began the man­ufacture of paper, establishing the extensive plant now operated by his sons, T. Elwood and Israel W. MARSHALL. Robert MARSHALL married 11 mo. 22, 1804, Mary HOOPES, born 3 mo 16, 1781, died 7 mo. 30, 1847, daughter of Thomas and Sarah (BANE) HOOPES, of Goshen, Ches­ter county. They had five children, viz.:Caleb H., born 9 mo. 11, 1806, (see for­ward); John, born 10 mo. 7, 1808, died 5 mo. 23, 1885, married Sarah PHILLIPS and (second) Mary HARLAN; Martha, born 8 mo. 1, 1810, married Thomas HANNUM; Abner, born 8 mo. 27, 1814, married Ann Eliza PYLE; and Thomas,. born 3 mo. 18, 1818, died 3 mo. 6, 1887, married Mary WAY.

Caleb H. MARSHALL, born on the old Marshall homestead in Kennett, p mo U, aSo6, removed to New Castle county, Delaware. He married Jane THOMPSON, daughter of John and Elizabeth (REED)THOMPSON, of Mill Creek Hundred, and settled at the site of the present town of Marshallton, New Castle county. John MARSHALL, second son of Robert and Mary (HOOPES) MARSHALL, also removes to New Castle county, and the two broth­ers, Caleb H. and John, engaged in the iron business at Marshallton, building up a large business. In 1863 Caleb H. removed to Philadelphia, where the firm had already established a. large plant under the name of the Penn Treaty Iron Works. In 1878 Alfred MARSHALL, the subject of this sketch, with his two brothers, W. W. MARSHALL and J. Howard MARSHALL, purchased their father’s and uncle’s interest in the business, and continued it with great success under the firm name of MARSHALL Brothers & Company, introducing many new fea­tures, keeping abreast of the times dur­ing the period of vast developments in the iron and steel business in America.

Both J. Howard and Alfred MARSHALL became residents of Langborne Manor, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, where J. Howard died January 24, 1902.  John MARSHALL, junior member of the original firm, died 5 mo. 23, 1885.

John THOMPSON, the maternal ances­tor of Alfred MARSHALL, came to Fenwick’s colony near Salem, New Jersey, in 1679, from Wicklow county, Ireland but was of English birth. He was a son of Thomas and Elizabeth THOMPSON, and was born in Kirkfenton parish, Yorkshire in May, 1635. In 1658 Thomas and Elizabeth THOMPSON, with their two sons, John and Andrew, removed to Ireland, locating in the parish of Don­ard, county Wicklow, where John married in 1665 Jane HUMBLE, daughter of Thomas HUMBLE, who bad lately removed to Ireland from county Durham, England. Four children were born to John and Jane in Ireland; Thomas, born 7 mo., 1666; James, born 8 mo, 1668 Ann, born 9 mo., 1672 and Mary, born 10 mo. 25, 1675.Andrew THOMPSON. brother of John, married in county Wicklow Isabel MARSHALL, in 1664, and had by her Elizabeth, William and Andrew, born in Ireland On 9 mo. 16, 1677, John and Andrew THOMPSON with their fam­ilies embarked on the ship “Mary,” for Fenwick’s colony in West Jersey, where they arrived 12 mo. 1677. John THOMPSON died in 1715. James THOMPSON, son of John and Jane, married in October, 1700, Ann HOLLINGSWORTH, daughter of Valentine and Ann (CALVERT) HOLILNGSWORTH, of New Castle county, Delaware. He died in 1712, leav­ing five children: Jane, Ann, John, Eliza­beth and James. James THOMPSON, son of James and Ann, was born in Salem county, New Jersey, 8 mo. 26, 1712. On arriving at manhood he settled in Leacock township, Lancaster county, Penn­sylvania, and married 3 mo.. 22, 1735, Sarah WORSLEY, daughter of Daniel and Sarah WORSLEY, of New Castle county. She was born 4 mo. 3, 1717. On his mar­riage James THOMPSON removed to New Castle county, locating in Mill Creek hundred. On the death of his first wife he married, 4 mo 10, 1742, Elizabeth HADLEY, daughter of Joseph and Amy (GREEG) HADLEY, of Mill Creek. By the first marriage he had three children: Grace, born 3 mo. 9, 1736, married 1 mo. 17, 1763, Moses PENNOCK; Daniel, (see below); and Ann, born 10 mo. 7, 1739, died young. By the second marriage there were seven children: James, Sarah, Amy, John, Ann, Joseph and Elizabeth. Daniel THOMPSON, eldest son of James and Sarah (WORSLEY)THOMPSON, was born in Mill Creek Hundred, 11 mo 16, 1737, and married 10 mo. 25, 1764, Eliza­beth CHAMBERS, daughter of William and Elizabeth (MILLER) CHAMBERS, of White Clay Creek, by whom he had nine chil­dren: William, James, Eli, Deborah, Sarah, John, Elizabeth, Daniel and Joshua. John THOMPSON, born 5 mo. 17, 1777, married Elizabeth REED, and their daughter Jane was the mother of the subject of this sketch, through her mar­riage with Caleb H MARSHALL, of Mar­shalton, Delaware.

Alfred MARSHALL was educated in the public schools of Marshallton, Dela­ware, and later in Philadelphia, to which city the family removed in 1863. On leaving school he entered the Penn Treaty Iron Works of which his father was proprietor, and thoroughly learned all the details of the business that was to become his life work. His father, Caleb H. MARSHALL, died 12 mo. 16, 1888, and the business was continued by his sons under the firm name of MARSHALL Bros. & Co. This firm was the first manufacturer of galvanized sheet iron. In 1892 they began the manufacture of tin plate, establishing the first plant for this industry east of the Alleghenies, and making it a thorough success. The firm sold out the tin plate department in 1898 to the American Tin Plate Com­pany, but still continues the iron and steel business as jobbers, doing a large and lucrative business.

Mr. MARSHALL married December 19, 1878, Florence Virginia MATHER, of Phil­adelphia, daughter of Richard and Esther (COATES) MATHER. Mrs. MARSHALL is a descendant through many genera­tions of Quaker ancestors who have been prominent in the history and develop­ment of Bucks, Chester and Delaware counties. She is a granddaughter of Benjamin and Catharine (ROWLAND) MATHER, and a great-granddaughter of Benjamin and Ann MATHER. On the ma­ternal side she is a descendant of Moses COATES, who was born in Ireland of an old English family who had crossed the channel to escape religious persecution. He married, in Ireland, Susanna WELDON, and, coming to this country, in 1731, purchased 540 acres of land on the site of Plonenixville where his descendants became owners and operators of the iron works that have contributed so largely to the growth and importance of the town. Coatesville, Pennsylvania, was named for Moses COATES, a grandson of the emigrant, who was the great-grand­father of Mrs. MARSHALL her grandpa­rents being Caleb and Elizabeth (GILBERT) COATES.

Mr. and Mrs. MARSHALL have been the parents of three children: Clarence Mather, born March 16, 1880, died March 5, 1883; Frederick Warren, born Sep­tember 25, 1881; and Richard Mather, born November 13, 1890. These children attended the William Penn Charter School, and Frederick W_. is now a stu­dent of the University of Pennsylvania in the class of 1905.  In 1889 Mr. MARSHALL and his family removed to Lang­horne Manor, where be had previously erected a handsome home. He is a bus­iness man of excellent judgment and high standing in the community. He has identified himself with the business, so­cial and political interests of the county and borough. He is a director in the People’s National Bank of Langhorne; president of the Langborne Electric Light Company; president of the Junc­tion Furnace and Foundry Company; and senior member of the present firm of MARSHALL Brothers in Philadelphia.

Text taken from page 501-503 of:

Davis, William W. H., A.M., History of BucksCounty, Pennsylvania [New York-Chicago: the Lewis Publishing Company, 1905] volume III

Transcribed April 2001 by Judy Jackson of MO as part of the Bucks Co., Pa., Early Family Project, www.rootsweb.com/~pabucks/bucksindex.html

Published April 2001 on the Bucks County, Pa., USGenWeb pages www.rootsweb.com/~pabucks/