James William Marshall (Notable Americans)
Reference
MARSHALL, James William, cabinet officer, was born in Clarke county, Va., Aug. 14, 1822; son of James Pede and Susan (Orear) Marshall and grandson of Rush Marshall. He attended the schools of Clarke and Fauquier counties until 1837 when he removed to Mount Sterling, Ky., and engaged in business. He was graduated from Dickinson college, Carlisle. Pa., in 1848. He was adjunct professor of ancient languages at Dickinson, 1848-50, and full professor, 1850-62. In 1850 he was married to Jane Stevenson of Carlisle. He was U.S. consul at Leeds, England, by appointment of President Lincoln, 1861-65. He settled near Bound Brook, N. J., in 1865, and was appointed first assistant postmaster-general by President Grant in 1869, and was appointed postmaster-general in 1874 on the retirement of John A. J. Cresswell, and held the position until the appointment of Marshall Jewell in the same year, when he was re-appointed first assistant postmaster-general, serving until March 3, 1877, after which time he was not in public life.
Rossiter Johnson, ed., “Marshall, James William,” The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, vol. 7 (Boston: The Biographical Society, 1904).
James William Marshall (Directory of Executive Branch)
Reference
MARSHALL James William. Born in Clarke County, Va., August 14, 1822; never married; spent early years in Mount Sterling Ky.; attended local schools of Clarke County; graduated Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa., in 1848; became professor at Dickinson College, 1848-1850, and was made full professor of foreign languages, 1850-1861; appointed U.S. consul at Leeds, England in 1861, and served until 1865; chosen first assistant postmaster general in 1869; appointed POSTMASTER GENERAL in the cabinet of President Grant on July 3, 1874, and served from July 7, 1874 to August 23, 1874; again made first assistant postmaster general, and served as such until the end of Grant’s administration; became general superintendent of railway mail service; died in Washington, D.C., on February 5, 1910. Ulysses S. Grant III, Ulysses S. Grant, Warrior and Statesman (1969); Philip R. Moran, Ulysses S Grant, 1822-1885: Chronology, Documents, Bibliographical Aids (1968).
Robert Sobel, ed., “Marshall, James William,” Biographical Directory of the United States Executive Branch, 1774-1989, (New York: Greenwood Press, 1990), 243.
James William Marshall (New York Times)
Obituary
James William Marshall.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 5.—James William Marshall, former Postmaster General, is dead in this city. General debility was the cause of his death. James William Marshall was born in Clarke County, Va., on Aug. 14, 1822. He was graduated from Dickinson College in 1848, and later was made a Professor of Ancient Languages, which chare he filled until the outbreak of the civil war, when President Lincoln appointed him United States Consul to Leeds, England. Mr. Marshall remained in the capacity for four years, and in 1869 President Grant called him to this country to become First Assistant Postmaster General. Mr. Marshall served in that office until the close of the administration, except for the brief term in 1874 when he temporarily filled the office of Postmaster General to cover an interim between the resignation of Postmaster General Creswell, in July, 1874, and the acceptance of the portfolio by Mr. Jewell in September of the same year. At the close of the Grant Administration Mr. Marshall was appointed General Superintendent of the Railway Mail Service by Postmaster General Key.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 5.—James William Marshall, former Postmaster General, is dead in this city. General debility was the cause of his death. James William Marshall was born in Clarke County, Va., on Aug. 14, 1822. He was graduated from Dickinson College in 1848, and later was made a Professor of Ancient Languages, which chare he filled until the outbreak of the civil war, when President Lincoln appointed him United States Consul to Leeds, England. Mr. Marshall remained in the capacity for four years, and in 1869 President Grant called him to this country to become First Assistant Postmaster General. Mr. Marshall served in that office until the close of the administration, except for the brief term in 1874 when he temporarily filled the office of Postmaster General to cover an interim between the resignation of Postmaster General Creswell, in July, 1874, and the acceptance of the portfolio by Mr. Jewell in September of the same year. At the close of the Grant Administration Mr. Marshall was appointed General Superintendent of the Railway Mail Service by Postmaster General Key.
“James William Marshall,” New York Times, February 6, 1910, p. 11: 5.
James William Marshall (Virginia Biography)
Reference
Marshall, James W., born in Clarke county, Virginia, August 14, 1822. His early boyhood was passed at Mount Sterling, Kentucky, and on arriving at school age he returned to his native section to prepare himself for college. He entered Dickinson College, from which he was graduated in 1848. He was retained at the college as instructor in the position of adjunct-professor until 1850, when he was promoted to a full professorship of ancient languages, and continued to fill that chair until 1861, when President Lincoln appointed him United States consul at Leeds, England, where he remained four years. In 1869 President Grant appointed Mr. Marshall first assistant post-master-general, in which position he served up to the close of the administration, except for the brief term in 1874, when he temporarily filled the office of postmaster-general. In 1877 he was appointed general superintendent of the railway mail service, which position he held for one year.
Lyon Gardiner Tyler, ed., Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Co., 1915), 3: 285.
