History of Bucks County, Pa Volume 3 by William H. Davis
Names and Page # Index

GEORGE MORLEY MARSHALL, physician, residing at New Hope, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, was born in Painesville, Lake county, Ohio, March 13, 1858, son of Seth and Esther Philena (MORLEY) MARSHALL. Seth MARSHALL was one of the early abolitionists. Like some others of strong principle and fearless at this period, he did not hesitate to imperil large business interests that he might protect the fugitive slaves in their flight to Canada, although it was in defiance of the law and the pro-slavery sentiment. His home was regarded as one of the stations on "the underground railroad." There still stands at the MARSHALL homestead the old barn with its massive frame of hewn timber, where many of these unfortunates were given food and shelter.

The ancestor of this family who first came to America was Thomas MARSHALL, one time mayor of Boston, in Lincolnshire, England. He emigrated in 1634 to Boston, Massachusetts, where he was for many years a deacon of the First Church and dean of the board of selectmen. His son, Captain Samuel MARSHALL, went to the defense of the colonies, commanding a regiment against the Indian conspirator King Philip, and in December, 1675, was killed while at the head of his force storming Philip's Fort, in the Great Swamp fight. For his exceptional bravery he is mentioned in BANCROFT’S history, Hollister's Connecticut, Hutchinson's Massachusetts, Drake's Indian, and other histories of that period. Thomas MARSHALL, next in line, married Mary DRAKE, of the family of Sir Francis DRAKE. Thomas MARSHALL, grandson of the latter, and great-grandfather of George Morley MARSHALL, fought in the war of the revolution. Esther Philena (MORLEY) MARSHALL, the mother of George Morley MARSHALL, was descended on her paternal side from Abel MORLEY, who emigrated from England in 1650. On her maternal side she was descended from William HEALY, who came with the Pilgrims and settled in Roxbury (afterwards Cambridge) Massachusetts.

George Morley MARSHALL attended the public schools of his native village and graduated from the Painesville high school in 1877. In 1877-78 he taught school while preparing for college, completing this preparation the following year at the University preparatory school in Hudson. He then entered the Western Reserve University, receiving in 1883 the degree of Bachelor of Arts from Adelbert College. In the autumn of 1883 he entered the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, from which in 1886 he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Taking the competitive examination at St. Joseph's Hospital, he became the first resident physician of that institution. In 1887 and 1888 he continued his medical studies at Vienna and Berlin, returning to Philadelphia to active practice in January, 1889. In this year he was appointed attending physician and laryngologist to St. Joseph's Hospital. Two years later he was also appointed laryngologist to the Philadelphia Hospital. Dr. MARSHALL is a member of the Philadelphia County Medical Society, the American Academy of Medicine, the American Medical Association, the Philadelphia College of Physicians and other medical organizations. He was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society at Western Reserve University. While independent in politics, he has in general voted with the Republican party. He married, June 7, 1893, at Elyria, Ohio, Harriet Putnam ELY, daughter of Heman and Mary (DAY) ELY, of Elyria, Ohio. Their children are as follows: George Morley, Jr., born in -Philadelphia, March 19, 1894, died March 7, 1895; Esther Philena, born in Philadelphia, June 8, 1895; Harriet Ely, born in Solebury, Bucks county, September 7, 1896; Margaret Ely, born in Philadelphia, April 24, 1898; Edith Williamson, born in Solebury, August 3, 1899, died August 17, 1900; Celia Belden, born in Solebury, January 29, 1902. While residing in Philadelphia Dr. MARSHALL and his wife attended Calvary Presbyterian church on Locust street, but when in Bucks county they attend with interest the Friends Meeting at Solebury.

Harriet Putnam (ELY) MARSHALL, born in Elyria, Ohio, October 9, 1864, traces her ancestry to Nathaniel ELY, Puritan, born in Tenterden, in the county of Kent, England, in 1605, and emigrated to America in April, 1634, to escape persecution under CHARLES I. He settled first in Newtown (now Cambridge) Massachusetts. In June 1636, he went with the Rev. Thomas HOOK and about one hundred others who made the first settlement of the city of Hartford, Connecticut. In 1649 he was instrumental in the first settlement of Norwalk, Connecticut. In 1639 he sold his property in Norwalk and removed to Springfield, Massachusetts, where the remainder of his life was spent. Springfield has since been the home of the family from generation to generation. Here, as in Norwalk and Hartford, Nathaniel was called to serve the public shortly after his arrival. He was selectman in Springfield in 1661-66-68-71 and 73. He died December 25, 1675, and Martha, his wife, died in Springfield, October 23, 1688. They left two children, a son and a daughter. The son Samuel married Mary, youngest daughter of Robert DAY.

Justin ELY, fifth generation, was born in West Springfield, Massachusetts, August 10, 1739, and died there June 26, 1817. He graduated at Harvard College in 1759, represented his town in general court of Massachusetts in 1777, from 1780 to 1785, inclusive, and from 1790 to 1797, inclusive, and was otherwise prominent in public affairs. During the war of the revolution he was active in aiding his country, especially in the collection of men who were drafted into the service and providing for the comfort of the same and those who enlisted. He was largely interested in real estate in the states of Massachusetts, Vermont, and New York and the district of Maine, and was one of the original proprietors of the Connecticut Western Reserve in Ohio under the Connecticut Land Company.

Heman ELY, son of Justin ELY, was born in West Springfield, Massachusetts, April 24, 1775, and died in Elyria, Ohio, February 2, 1852. He married Celia, daughter of Colonel Ezekial Polter BELDEN. Early in the last century he became interested in the purchase of lands in central and western New York, and under his direction considerable tracts were surveyed and sold to settlers. Nearly coincident with these enterprises he entered into partnership with his brother Theodore in New York city, and was for ten years engaged in commerce, with European countries and the East Indies, and during this time be made several voyages. He was in Paris, France, from July^-, 1809, until April, 1810, a period when history was rapidly made. He saw in August, 1809, the grand fete of Napoleon with Josephine as empress, and in the evening attended a ball at the Hotel de Ville, where a cotillion was danced by a set composed of kings and queens; the following April (Josephine divorced and dethroned) he witnessed the formal entrance into Paris of the Emperor Napoleon with the Empress Maria Louise of Austria and the religious ceremony of marriage at^-the chapel of the Tuilleries. In 1810 he returned to America and the following year visited Ohio, going as far as Cleveland, twenty^--five miles east of his future home. The war with England made it inadvisable to open new territory in Ohio, and it was not until 1816 that he visited the land owned by his father, and then known as No. 6, range 17, Connecticut Western Reserve. At that time he arrangements for future settlement, contracting for a grist and saw mill and a log cabin. In February, 1817, accompanied by his step-brother, Ebenezer Lane, late chief-justice of Ohio, and attended by a company of skilled workmen and laborers, he left West Springfield for his future home. He called the new town Elyria, and from that time gave his life, to the development of its resources. His efforts were not confined to his own town. He served on the state board of equalization, and from 1833 to 1845 was one of the associate judges under the old constitution.

Heman ELY, son of Heman and Celia (BELDEN) ELY, was born in Elyria, Ohio, October 30, 1820, and died July 8, 1894, in the house where he was born. He married May 27, 1850, Mary F. DAY, daughter of Thomas and Sarah (COIT) DAY, of Hartford, Connecticut. He was educated at schools in Westfield, Massachusetts, and Farmington, Connecticut. Owing to his father's failing health he gave up his contemplated college course at Yale and returned to Elyria. In his father's office he received a business training, particularly in the care and conveyancing of real estate, and soon assumed the charge of all his father's business. He assisted in the organization of the first bank in Elyria, and was chosen a director at the first election in 1847. He was successively director, vice-president and president to the time of his death. In 1852, with judge Ebenezer Lane and others, he secured the building of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, then known as the "Junction Railroad," from Cleveland to Toledo. From 1870 to 1873 he was a member of the state legislature, particularly interesting himself in insurance legislation, and in formation of the state insurance department. His connection with the First Congregational church in Elyria was formed in 1838; he was for many years one of its officers, and for ten years served as superintendent of the Sabbath school. He was deeply interested in the advancement of his native town.

Text taken from p 447-449

Davis, William W. H., A. M. History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania [New York-Chicago: The Lewis PublishingCompany, 1905] Volume III

Transcribed June, 2002 by David Burns of as part of the Bucks Co., Pa., Early Family Project, www.rootsweb.com/~pabucks/bucksindex.html

Published July 2002 on the Bucks County, Pa., USGenWeb pages at www.rootsweb.com/~pabucks