Roujet de Lisle Marshall

Bibliography: Library of Congress. "Pioneering the Upper Midwest: Books from Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, ca. 1820-1910." Washington: Library of Congress, 1999. Aiken, Andrew J. "Men of Progress, Wisconsin." Milwaukee, WI: Evening Wisconsin Co., 1897. p. 136

MARSHALL, Roujet de Lisle, associate justice of the supreme court, is the son of Thomas Marshall, who was born in Bradford, N. H., in 1820, and in early life was a manufacturer of cotton goods. Losing his health, he removed to Wisconsin in 1854, settling on a farm in Delton, Sauk county, where he died in 1868. He was a direct descendant of Thomas Marshall, who came to this country from England in 1634. Joseph Marshall, great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, and in the fourth generation from the English ancestor, was born at Chelmsford, Mass., in 1734, where he was living at the beginning of the revolution. He took part in the battle of Lexington, the siege of Boston, and the battles of Bunker Hill and Bennington. In 1776 he removed to Ware, N. H., where he was a member of the committee of safety. He died at the age of eighty-nine. Thomas, the son of this revolutionary hero, took up his residence in Bradford, N. H., about the year 1800, [p.35] and there the father of Justice Marshall was born, as before stated. The maiden name of the justice's mother was Emeline Pitkin, a descendant in the eighth generation of William Pitkin, who, with his sister came to this country from England in 1659. He was the first attorney-general of the colony of Connecticut. He married Susana Stanley, and his sister married Oliver Wolcott, and from these unions sprang the Pitkins and Wolcotts of New England, who were among the most prominent in the civil and military history of the colonies. William Pitkin, the fourth from the founder of the family, Benjamin Franklin and others, at Albany, in 1754, made the first plan for the union and government of the colonies, and this furnished a basis for the articles of confederation and subsequently the constitution of the United States. The mother of the justice was born in 1820, on a farm in Vermont, and was married to Thomas Marshall in 1842. She is now in her seventy-eighth year, still resides at the old Marshall homestead in Sauk county, and takes a lively interest in all current events.

Justice R. de L. Marshall was born in Nashua, N. H., on the 26th of December, 1847. He was educated in the common school and academy in Delton, Wis., in an academy in Baraboo, and in Lawrence University at Appleton. His attendance at the latter institution, however, was of short duration. He began the study of law at seventeen, some time before leaving school, and, in March, 1873, was admitted to the bar at Baraboo. He immediately began practice in Chippewa Falls, in partnership with N. W. Wheeler, and some years later was associated with John J. Jenkins, now member of congress from the Tenth district. His practice largely pertained to private and public corporations and questions relating to important real estate litigations and business operations. His career at the bar was very successful in character, the amount of business and the avails therefrom.

Justice Marshall began his official career at an early age. He was a justice of the peace at the age of twenty-one, member of a school board at twenty-two, county judge of Chippewa county at twenty-nine. He was member of the board of regents of the University of Wisconsin from 1884 to 1889; circuit judge of the Eleventh circuit from 1889 to 1895--having been twice elected. Upon the death of Chief Justice Orton, in 1895, Judge Marshall was appointed, by Gov. Upham, to the resulting vacancy as associate justice. He entered upon the duties of the office in September, 1895, was elected to the place for the unexpired term, and, last spring, was re-elected for the full term of ten years; in both of these elections he had no opposition.

Politically, Judge Marshall is a Republican, but has not been actively interested in political affairs. In religion he is an adherent, but not a member, of the Methodist church.

Justice Marshall was married, in 1869, to Mary E. Jenkins of Baraboo, Wisconsin, a daughter of Maj. F. K. Jenkins of the Sixth regiment. Wisconsin volunteers, and a sister of Congressman John J. Jenkins. She was born in England, and came to Wisconsin in 1853.

Possessing unflagging energy, great capacity for work, a love for his professional duties--particularly for the judicial labor in which he is now engaged--being in the prime of his mental and physical powers and having the advantage of a wide legal experience, Judge Marshall will undoubtedly fulfill the expectations of the people of the state who have twice elected him without opposition to the exalted position which he now holds. The anticipations that he will have a long and useful judicial career and prove a fitting successor of the eminent men who have preceded him, and a worthy associate of those now in service with him, will probably be fully realized.