John Marshall, extensive land owner, man of affairs, and influential citizen of Clay Center, was born on his father's farm in Rutland county, Vermont, October 21, 1851, and at the age of six months he moved with his parents to Michigan. He is a son of David and Eliza Marshall, natives of England, who came to the United States in 1848. They became the parents of seven children, who are as follows: Mary, born in 1848, is the widow of James Knight, and resides in Burlington, Wash.; John, the subject of this article; David, born in 1849, married Alice Smith, in 1878, and died March 17, 1911, and is survived by his widow and four children: Fred, Louis, Claude and Elsie, all of whom are residents of Clifton, Kan. George, the fourth child, born in 1855, a retail druggist of Clay Center, married Emma Kisby in 1878, and they have three children: Walter, Albert and Lucy. Thomas, born in 1857, married Mary Patterson in 1881, and died in March, 1910. He is survived by his widow and five sons: James, Theodore, Perry, Percy and Leonard, all of whom reside with their mother at Clifton. Albert, born in 1859, is a prosperous farmer in Livingston county, Michigan. He married, in 1888, Mary Hurly. They are the parents of two daughters: Edna and Mary. Eliza, born in 1861, married Alonzo Thompson, in 1885, and is the mother of two sons: Harry and Benjamin.

John Marshall was reared on his father's farm and received his early education in the public schools of Michigan. Subsequently he entered the Ann Arbor High School, and on completion of his studies engaged in teaching in the schools of Michigan, a profession he followed until 1878, when he came to Kansas and purchased a farm near Clifton, Clay county. He resided on this property until 1894, when he disposed of it and purchased a tract of 640 acres adjoining the city of Clay Center. He has been a consistent buyer of choice farm lands and his holdings, which consist only of improved properties, situated in Clay county and various sections of Oklahoma, total over 3,000 acres. His farms have the best of improvements, and are in all respects agricultural enterprises that have, through comprehensive management, reached the maximum as regards quantity and quality of production. As a farmer John Marshall is recognized as a leader and teacher. He has realized a substantial success in this field of activity. Close attention to detail, untiring energy, executive ability, sound financial sense, combined with scientific knowledge of the needs of soil and stock, all were essential to this success—and he possessed them all. As a citizen, he has been actively identified with the commercial and political life of Clay county for forty years. Public office has never appealed to him. He is a Republican. He is deeply interested in educational matters, his early life as a teacher qualifying him to pass upon school problems with intelligence, and he is a valued member of the school board of Clay Center. He is a director in the Union State Bank of Clay Center, and is also a member of the directorate of the Farmers' Elevator Company.

Mr. Marshall married on December 25, 1883, Miss Isabella Patterson, daughter of James and Isabella Patterson, of Clifton, Kan., who was born on March 15, 1865. Her parents, who were natives of Canada, came to Clay county, Kansas, in 1875. Both are deceased. Ten children have been born to this union: Charles Marshall, born October 31, 1884, a graduate of the Clay Center High School, now a farmer of Clay county; Nellie, born in 1886, the wife of Bundy W. Johnson, a farmer of Greenwood county, Kansas; Edith, born in 1888, the wife of Clayton Bryan, a farmer of Clay county; Ward Marshall, born in 1891, a farmer of Clay county; Emil, born in 1894; Hazen, born in 1897; Porter, born in 1899; Julia, born July 3, 1901, the latter four residing with their parents, and Oscar, born February 14, 1900, died February 20, 1906. Another son died in infancy in 1906. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which Mr. Marshall is a trustee.