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Research notes

Research notes: Col. Thomas Marshall at Buck Pond

Sources for Thomas Marshall’s Revolutionary service, his 1783 surveyor appointment, Buck Pond, and his Kentucky politics. Buck Pond Farm’s own history and Wikipedia disagree on who appointed him.

Updated

Service and surveying

  • Colonel, 3rd Virginia Regiment; Brandywine, Germantown, Valley Forge; surrendered at Charleston 1780; first Kentucky visit while on parole. WP Marshall
  • 1783: surveyor general of Kentucky lands due Virginia Continental Line officers and soldiers; office in Lexington. WP Marshall
  • Buck Pond Farm says Washington appointed him surveyor general of the lands of Fayette County. Treated as contested: Washington was not president in 1783. Buckpond WP Marshall

Buck Pond

  • Founded 1783; house completed 1785; turned over to son Dr. Louis Marshall about 1800; six generations of Marshalls lived there. Buckpond
  • Family moved from Fauquier County to Kentucky in 1785. WP Marshall
  • Brief’s ‘Federal-style house’ wording was cut: neither source describes the style.

Politics

  • Virginia House of Delegates for Fayette, 1787–1788; delegate to the 1788 Danville convention; Federalist; later federal revenue collector for Kentucky. WP Marshall
  • Opposed slavery in Ohio but practiced and proposed indentured servitude of formerly enslaved people. WP Marshall

Timeline

  1. 1780 Surrendered at Charleston; on parole, first visit to Kentucky. WP Marshall
  2. 1783 Surveyor general of Virginia military lands in Kentucky; Buck Pond founded. WP Marshall Buckpond
  3. 1785 House completed; family moves to Kentucky. Buckpond WP Marshall
  4. 1788 Danville separation convention delegate. WP Marshall
  5. 1800 Buck Pond passed to Dr. Louis Marshall (about). Buckpond
  6. 1802 Dies in Mason County. WP Marshall

People

  • Thomas Marshall Surveyor general, founder of Buck Pond
  • John Marshall Son; Chief Justice
  • Louis Marshall Youngest son; later owner of Buck Pond

Open questions

  • Who labored at Buck Pond, enslaved or free, in Marshall’s lifetime?
  • Who exactly made the 1783 appointment, and how is it recorded in Virginia land-office papers?
  • No people.json entry exists yet for Thomas Marshall (1730–1802).

Sources

Secondary sources