HIS MOTHER
John Marshall’s mother, Mary Isham Keith, was a woman of great force of character and strong religious faith. She was pleasing in mind, person, and manners. And her son loved her with that chivalrous tender devotion, which made him gentle with all women throughout his life.
A few weeks before his death, John Marshall told his friend, Judge Story, that he had never failed to repeat each night, through his long life, the little prayer which begins:—
Now I lay me down to sleep,
that he had learned, when a baby, at his mother’s knee.
Sallie E. Marshall Hardy (Arranged)
HIS FATHER
His father, Thomas Marshall, served with great distinction during the War for Independence. He was a man of uncommon capacity and vigour of intellect.
John Marshall, after he became Chief Justice, used often to speak of him in terms of the deepest affection and reverence. Indeed, he never named his father, without dwelling on his character with a fond and winning enthusiasm.
“My father,” he would say with kindled feelings and emphasis, “my father was a far abler man than any of his sons. To him I owe the solid foundation of all my own success in life.”