Marshall, Joseph

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: Judith Tulloch, “MARSHALL, JOSEPH,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 7, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/marshall_joseph_7E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • JP, judge, militia officer, politician, and farmer; b. c. 1755 in Glenkeen (Northern Ireland), fourth child of Joseph Marshall and Mary (Hagan?); m. Margaret —, probably in Georgia before 1783, and they had three sons; d. 3 June 1847 at his home in Guysborough, N.S.
    • Joseph Marshall was a boy of 13 in 1769 when his family immigrated to Georgia. They settled on the Ogeechee River, west of Savannah. Family tradition recounts that the Marshalls moved to British-controlled territory in West Florida at the outbreak of the American revolution. Along with several of his brothers, Marshall joined the loyalist forces, and in April 1779 he was appointed lieutenant-colonel of a Georgia militia regiment. In May 1780 he was commissioned captain in the Carolina King’s Rangers, a loyalist corps raised in the Floridas but composed principally of Georgians. The Rangers fought through the bitter southern campaign and were finally withdrawn to St Augustine (Fla), the last British foothold in the south. Most of the corps, as well as veterans of two other Carolina regiments, were evacuated with their families to Halifax in October 1783. They were disbanded there early in November and, despite the onset of winter, were then transported along the eastern shore to Country Harbour, where the loyalist township of Stormont was surveyed the following spring.
    • Marshall played a prominent role in the Guysborough area throughout his long life. He was appointed a justice of the peace in May 1784. Marshall also represented Sydney County in the House of Assembly for two terms, the first of three generations of his family to serve in the legislature.
    • Unlike many Guysborough residents, Marshall was primarily a farmer, and he served on the first executive of the Guysborough and Manchester Farmer Society in 1819. He exemplified the many loyalists of middle rank who became community leaders in their new homes, and indeed as a southerner he is more representative of Nova Scotia loyalists than traditionally has been acknowledged, since analysis of their origins indicates that as many as 30 per cent were from the southern colonies. 
  • 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/162934662/joseph-marshall