Thomas Marshall (2 April 1730 – 22 June 1802) was a Virginia surveyor, planter, military officer and politician who served in the House of Burgesses and briefly in the Virginia House of Delegates and helped form the state of Kentucky, but may be best known as the father of Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court John Marshall. Marshall opposed slavery in Ohio but practiced and proposed indentured servitude of former slaves.
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Early life and education
Marshall was born in Washington parish, Westmoreland County, Virginia to the former Elizabeth Markham and her planter husband, John Marshall. His father was sometimes nicknamed "John of the Forest," from the estate that he owned. His name honored his Virginia-born planter grandfather, Thomas Marshall (1655–1704). His great-grandfather, another John Marshall, a captain of cavalry in the service of Charles I had emigrated to Virginia about 1650, and came to own a large plantation. The family included a brother William Marshall (1735–1809), who became a Baptist clergyman and like Thomas Marshall moved to what became Fauquier County in 1752. At some point William was arrested for illegal preaching, and moved to Kentucky in 1780 where he established the Fox River Church in Henry County and eventually died near Eminence, Kentucky.