Soon after the death of his wife, Marshall made his will "entirely in [his] ... own handwriting." A more informal document of the kind seldom has been written. It is more like a familiar letter than a legal paper; yet it is meticulously specific. "I owe nothing on my own account," he begins. (He specifies one or two small obligations as trustee for women relatives and as surety for "considerable sums" for his son-in-law, Jacquelin B. Harvie.) The will shows that he owns bank and railroad stock and immense quantities of land. He equally divides his property among his children, making special provision that the portion of his daughter Mary shall be particularly safeguarded.
One item of the will is curious: "I give to each of my grandsons named John one thousand acres, part of my tract of land called Canaan lying in Randolph county. If at the time of my death either of my sons should have no son living named John, then I give the thousand acres to any son he may have named Thomas, in token for my love for my father and veneration for his memory. If there should be no son named John or Thomas, then I give the land to the eldest son and if no sons to the daughters."
He makes five additions to his will, three of which he specifically calls "codicils." One of these is principally "to emancipate my faithful servant Robin and I direct his emancipation if he chuses to conform to the laws on that subject, requiring that he should leave the state or if permission can be obtained for his continuing to reside in it." If Robin elects to go to Liberia, Marshall gives him one hundred dollars. "If he does not go there I give him fifty dollars." In case it should be found "impracticable to liberate" Robin, "I desire that he may choose his master among my sons, or if he prefer my daughter that he may be held in trust for her and her family as is the other property bequeathed in trust for her, and that he may always be treated as a faithful and meritorious servant." (Will and Codicils of John Marshall, Records of Henrico County, Richmond, and Fauquier County, Warrenton, Virginia.)
[1404] Meade, ii, footnote to 222. It would seem that Marshall showed this tribute to no one during his lifetime except, perhaps, to his children. At any rate, it was first made public in Bishop Meade's book in 1857.
[1405] Statements to the author by Miss Elizabeth Marshall of "Leeds Manor," and by Judge J. K. N. Norton of Alexandria, Va.
[1406] Statement to the author by Miss Emily Harvie. Most of Marshall's letters to Story during these years were written from Richmond.
[1407] Story to Sumner, Feb. 6, 1833, Story, ii, 120.
[1408] See infra, 540-51.
[1409] See Catterall, 407, 421-22, 467; and see especially Parton: Jackson, iii, 257-58.
[1410] Catterall, Appendix ix, 508.