Thomas Homer
Marshall Family
Texas to Washington by covered wagon
| Children with Ida Oppie Jones |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Claude Alexander Marshall | b. 5 Oct 1889 Sunset, Montague Co., TX | d. 14 Nov 1967 Seattle, King Co., WA | m. Margaret Moze(b. c1887 Skovakia/Austria) |
| Thomas Earl Marshall | b.18 Feb 1891 Tecumseh, Oklahoma | d. 14 Jun 1949 | m. Dora Christine Larsen 17 Feb 1918 Seattle, WA(dau. of
Larsen and Minnie Christensen)(b. abt 1895 Omaha, NE) |
| Chloe Delta Marshall | b. 28 Mar 1893 Sunset, Montague Co, TX | d. 24 Apr 1962 Tacoma, WA | 1m. George Farrington 1911(b. 1878 d. 1950) divorced
1943 Tacoma, WA 2m. Norman Jack Maddex 21 Sep 1948(b.1897 d. 1976) divorced 1960 Tacoma, WA 3m. Albert Myhre (b. 1886 d. 1970 Tacoma, WA) |
| Maude Ella "Shirley" Marshall | b. 27 Aug 1895 OK | d. 27 Jun 1987 Seattle, WA | m. Rudolph Kiesel 1915
(son of Emil Kiesel) |
| Clayton Edison Marshall | b. 11 Sep 1897 Tecumseh, OK | d. 2 Dec 1969 Tacoma, WA | m. Elsie Johanna M. Kiesel (dau
of Emil Kiesel) |
| Jesse Dewitt Marshall | b. 19 Oct 1900 Spokane, WA | d. 29 May 1968 Tacoma, WA | m. Jesse Tidwell (b. 17 Sep 1904 Cleburne, TX d. 26 Oct
1985 Puyallup, Pierce Co., WA) |
Thomas Homer Marshall moves to Texas with his father shortly after
the Civil War at about age 12. The Texas Panhandle was a vast
wilderness of where they encountered several years of continued drought
and blowing dust. They also had to put up with tornados, terrible heat,
poisonous snakes and stinging insects. They lost practically everything
to the successive failing crops and were very close to starving to
death.
1888 , Dec 6 - Thomas Homer Marshall marries Ida Oppa Jones in
Montague, Texas [Marriage License]
1889, 5 Oct - The first child, Claude Alexander Marshall, is born in Sunset, Montague Co., TX
c1890 - 1895 -After three or four years in Montague, Texas the family started moving north. They moved first to Oklahoma. Here Thomas Earl Marshall is born in Tecumseh, Oklahoma in Feb of 1891. They were near the Stewart family homestead of Thomas Homer's grandmother. Probably due to poor crops again they moved once more, this time from Oklahoma back to Sunset, Texas where Chloe Delta Marshall is born in March of 1893. After more continuing bad crops they move back to Oklahoma where they stayed from about 1894 to probably at least the Spring of 1898. During this stay Maude "Shirley" Marshall is born in Aug 1895 and Clayton Edison Marshall is born in September of 1897.
1897 -Since Clayton Edison Marshall was born in September of 1897 we doubt they would have started to move from Oklahoma until the Spring of 1898. The family probably wintered in Missouri or Colorado. Thomas Marshall may have had someone to stay with in Missouri since he was from there.
1898 -Even though travel by railroad was available they were simply too poor to afford the passage. In Colorado John Wesley Marshall, Thomas Homer's half brother, split off to go north to Tacoma on his own.
1900, June --Thomas Homer Marshall is in Meridian Precinct, Ada Co., Idaho. Sheet #9, Enumeration Dist. #9, family 161
Marshall, Thomas H. head w m July 1868 31m 11yrs m. Kansas Missouri Illinois farm labor 0 mo. unemploy.rents1900, Dec 4 - They are in Spokane, Washington where Jesse Dewitt Marshall is born.
, Uda I wife w f April 1872 28m 11yrs m 5/5 Texas Kentucky Kentucky
, Claud A son w m Oct 1879 10s Texas Kansas Texas at school
, Thomas E son w m Mar 1891 8s Texas Kansas Texas
, Della dau. w f Feb 1892 6 s Texas Kansas Texas
, Maud E dau. w f Aug 1894 5 s Indian Terr. Kansas Texas
, Clay E. son w m Sep 1898 1s Oklahoma Kansas Texas
Thomas Homer Marshall brought his family by ox-wagon with a few other desperate families up the interior through Idaho. They traveled then much further north by covered wagon to Washington State. They didn't arrive in Spokane, Washington until October or December of 1900. Delta Marshall remembered the trip as very arduous, especially since she was only seven years old at the time of the families arrival in Spokane. She remembers walking next to the wagon virtually the entire distant from Texas northward. She remembers though that Tacoma was "like Paradise" after coming out of Texas, Oklahoma and Eastern Washington. "Everything was green, wet with mild weather." [interview with Chloe Marshall by Susan Keller]
After the birth of Jesse Marshall in October they decided to move on quickly. They probably took the Oregon Trail through Walla Walla and along the Columbia River to avoid the Cascade range. They did, however have relatives living in Ellensburg they apparently visited but it would have been a much more difficult trip over Snoqualime Pass and would depend on a great deal of luck to avoid the winter storms. They arrived in Tacoma on the 27th of December 1900 according to Oppie's Marshall's diary. Thomas secures a job with the Tacoma Railway and Power Co. as a trolley man
1901 - Thomas Homer Marshall is in the city directory of Tacoma, Washington.
1904- Thomas Homer Marshall dies of pneumonia.
1920 -1949 - After the children grow up to move away from home, Ida
Oppie continues to live with the same family and eventually dies here.
[1949 Death Certificate, Pierce Co., WA]
US Census, Washington, King Co., 92
Seattle. Series: T625
Roll: 1927
Page: 272
US Census, Washington, Pierce Co., Tacoma. Series: T625 Roll: 1936 Page: 211 (Ida Oppie has remarried to Dutton)
US Census, Washington, Pierce Co., Tacoma. Series: T625
Roll: 1937
Page: 23
Series: T625 Roll: 1936 Page: 92US Census, Washington, Pierce Co., Tacoma. Series: T625
Roll: 1937
Page: 118
1930 - US Census, Washington, King
Co., Seattle. enumerator dist. 17-43, sheet 11B.
This poem was composed by Ida Oppie Jones in her own handwriting and sent to Maxine Hipple about 1942.
Have I made the old world brighter by Just a Living here?
Have I made a heart seem lighter by just a word of cheer?
Have I done a deed kindness that will sparkle on earth's sphere?
Is this old world any brighter by just a living here?
Have I spoken words of comfort to those I love so dear?
Is my life a good example as I journey on each year?
Will I leave some worth footprints when I pass where skies are clear?
Have I made some heart feel lighter by Just a Living here?
1949- After her death many diaries and other writings that Ida Oppie had written had been passed down finally to her grand-daughter who starts to burn all the diaries that were seen as "the ramblings of a crazy old woman". Susan Keller, only a child at the time, rushes in to grab a few of the volumes out of the fire. All the rest were consummed.
sources:
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