Reading Between the Lines…
Posted in Browsing the Collections on 02/26/2010 09:36 pm by Jacob Lee
John H. Marshall (1822-1856)
A few days ago, I stumbled across a group of letters in the Marshall Family Papers written to and from John H. Marshall, a Kentuckian involved in William Walker’s brief rule of Nicaragua in 1856-1857. Marshall’s letter home from Nicaragua, rich in detail about Walker’s government and conditions in Latin America, inspired an article that will appear in the next issue of The Filson newsmagazine. As I worked on that piece, I began to think about what can be learned from even a brief series of letters. These five letters written between August 1856 and January 1857 provide a snapshot of family life in the mid-nineteenth century.
A popular misconception about nineteenth century families is that all members stayed close to home. Not only do these five letters disprove that notion, but they reveal just how far family members lived from one another. Four of the five letters are written by members of the Marshall family. One is from John H. Marshall, living in Nicaragua, to his father, Thomas A. Marshall, in Lexington, Kentucky. Another is from John’s brother, Humphrey, living in San Francisco, and a third was sent by John’s sister, Nanette, from Lexington. Finally, William C. Smedes wrote the letter informing his father-in-law, Thomas Marshall, of John’s death. Smedes lived in Mississippi. In these four letters alone, we learn that four of Thomas A. Marshall’s five children lived in locations separated by thousands of miles. However, family members sometimes moved together. The letters also reveal that before immigrating to Nicaragua, John Marshall lived in San Francisco with his brother, Humphrey. Read the rest of this entry »
