San Diego County Biographies
 
JOHN HOLTON MARSHALL

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm


capitalist, San Diego, was born June 19, 1845, in Brunswick, Maine, the seat of 
Bowdoin College, and at the age of fourteen years went to sea, his father, J. H. 
Marshall, being an old sea captain. Of the seven children in the family all 
three of the sons followed the sea.
        In the early part of 1862 Mr. Marshall entered the navy, and was 
honorably discharged in September, 1865. He relates in an amusing manner how 
rigid the examination was before the Medical Board for the United States navy. 
It required presence of mind to protect the applicant from officials who 
rejected or accepted whom they pleased. The Captain was naturally near-sighted, 
and he felt very uncomfortable when a companion was instantly rejected on 
examination. The officer glared at Marshall, and asked him what was the matter 
with his ears. Marshall simply drew a breath of relief, for he intuitively knew 
his hearing was more acute and actually superior on account of the defect in his 
eyes. The officer stepped up and whispered to him, but he heard every breath he 
made, and finally, after looking several times intently at his ears, the doctor 
inquired, in a pleasant, satisfied voice, " Well, how are your eyes? do you see 
all right? There is no blinking in them; they are blue in color; that is 
generally the best color; I guess you are all right." Marshall, in a measure, 
was in a state of suspense, for it would have nearly " killed " him to have been 
rejected. He looked the officer straight in the eye and said: "My eyes have 
never bothered me; I can see with them I guess." He passed and received his 
commission as ensign in the United States navy.
        Captain Marshall was first placed on the war ship Savannah, and during 
his service in the navy served on several ships, his last being the gun-boat 
Huntsville, commanded by Lieutenant-Commander Devens, of Massachusetts.  He was 
engaged in the second naval battle of Fort Fisher. During his service he was in 
the South Atlantic and East Gulf Blockading Squadron, the latter part cruising 
in West India waters and along the Spanish Main.
        After the war closed he followed the sea as chief officer in merchant 
service. In 1868 he went to the gold diggings on the west coast of New Zealand. 
At the gold mines he had many "ups and downs," finally making his headquarters 
at Melbourne. In the early part of 1870 he returned to his home in Maine; then, 
in October, 1870, he returned to California, where he took command of a ship and 
made a voyage to South America, and numerous voyages to neighboring Pacific 
ports. Then quitting the sea, in 1875, he located at Seattle, on Puget Sound, 
Washington, where he was very successful in his real-estate investments. When he 
first landed there it was a small, quiet seaport, surrounded by a new country 
but partially settled. He bought land at a nominal price, and relates how he 
offered a blacksmith a block of land to fix his wagon; the value of the land was 
about $50; this land was afterward sold for $20,000. In 1883 he anticipated a 
reaction and sold his real estate as rapidly as possible, so that he was well 
protected from the financial depression and decline of real estate caused by the 
Villard failure in 1883. He next visited Europe with his family, and early in 
1885 he returned to superintend his affairs at Seattle. Business there was 
apparently lifeless, and the population was decreasing visibly. After placing 
his remaining property there in security, he sailed for San Diego in June, 1885; 
and purchased considerable real estate here, for he determined to make Southern 
California his home. His investments have realized even more than his sanguine 
expectations had anticipated. He erected a handsome brick block on the corner of 
Fourth and C streets, which is considered one of the finest buildings in San 
Diego. He was once elected delegate to the city council, and is a very popular 
man.
        In June, 1874, Captain Marshall married Mrs. E. M. Hinds, a native of 
California.
 
SOURCE:  An Illustrated History of Southern California:  Embracing the Counties 
of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower 
California� Chicago:  The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890.  p.-  225-226