Marshall, John Joseph

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: A. A. MacKenzie, “MARSHALL, JOHN JOSEPH,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 9, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/marshall_john_joseph_9E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Merchant and politician; b. 1807 in Guysborough, N.S., son of Joseph H. and Ann Marshall; m. Esther Maria Ballaine; d. 25 Oct. 1870 at Manchester, N.S.
    • Educated at the Sackville Grammar School, John Joseph Marshall was raised in a prosperous family in Guysborough County. Unlike most of the shore-dwelling families of Chedabucto Bay, the Marshalls were “all clerk and farmer, who didn’t know a gunnel from a tholepin.” They attained some political prominence: Marshall’s grandfather, Joseph Marshall (a Georgia-born loyalist), and his uncle, John George Marshall, were both Nova Scotia assemblymen. His father-in-law, John Ballaine, a Jersey Island merchant, also had sat in the assembly. Along with the Cutlers and Torys, they formed a powerful “compact” in Guysborough County.
    • As a merchant, Marshall ran a general store dealing in groceries, rum, fishing supplies, and smallware. Like many outport merchants, he left behind a reputation for tight-fisted shrewdness, partly because he is said to have seized properties for unpaid debts. He lived rather ostentatiously, and apparently did not leave much wealth.
    • Marshall’s opposition to union with Canada brought him under attack from many of his associates who supported confederation. Along with John Angus Kirk, he was elected in 1867 to the Nova Scotia assembly for Guysborough County on an anti-confederate ticket. He served as speaker from 30 Jan. 1868 until his death in 1870, when William Annand’s Morning Chronicle, although acknowledging his defence of Nova Scotian interests over the years, maintained the old enmities by dismissing his career as “not of a distinguished character.”
  • Grandson of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=15138
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/218973985/john-joseph-marshall