John Marsh

Biography

(Modern) Headstone at Riverside Cemetery (Source: Find-a-Grave, #203708062)

John Marsh Jr. was born to John and Elizabeth (née Carroll) Marsh, likely in Hopkinton (MA) on July 24, 1751. Not much is known about his early life. By his own account, he "for a number of years resided and hunted with the Penobscot Tribe" and learned to speak Penobscot fluently. In 1774, he likely helped Jeremy Colborn and Joshua Eayres find their way to Orono to become the area's first settlers. By 1775, however, he was living in Canada along the Chaudière river, before joining Arnold's Army on its way to Québec. In 1777, he returned to the Orono-Old Town area and settled on Arumsunkhungan (now known as Marsh Island) and in 1778, he married Sarah Colburn (1759-1841), Jeremiah Colburn's oldest daughter, before leaving for the war again. After the war, he returned to Marsh Island and later on claimed to have bought all of Marsh Island from the Penobscot Tribe in 1783. This claim was formally acknowledged (possibly under duress) by the tribe in 1793 and confirmed by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1795. With a deed in hand, Marsh was now able to sell off most of the island for $1100 to a Dr. Elihu Dwight of South Hadley (MA), only retaining roughly the part that is now in Orono for himself. This is when Park Holland drew up his famous map of Marsh Island. John Marsh died at the Marsh Island farm of his son-in-law Phineas Vinal on July 15, 1814. He was buried in the old Orono Village Cemetery (near South Water Street in Orono), but a modern headstone can now be found at Stillwater Riverside Cemetery. Many of his descendants still live in the Orono-Old Town area.

Military Service

Marsh himself states that he felt obligated to join Benedict Arnold's September 1775 expedition to Québec to serve as a "linguister," but there does not seem to be an official record of his actions in this context. The first records we have of any military service are from Colonel John Allan's private journal for the time that he was laying the groundwork for a possible invasion of the Maritimes (from early 1777 through August 1777). From these notes, it is clear that John Marsh served under Allan throughout this period---mostly as a guide and interpreter. In 1779, Marsh served under Captain John Blunt during the disastrous Penobscot Expedition. A year later, he is listed as serving under Captain Solomon Walker "at the Eastward" (i.e. on the coast). Finally, then, starting on January 27, 1781, Marsh is listed as serving under his father-in-law (then a lieutenant) for a period of just 15 days while the company was detached at Camden. For the time of his last two assignments, his family was likely living with him as various sources claim that his son Benjamin was born in Camden on October 29, 1780. The only recorded rank for Marsh is that of Private.

References

• "Old Town--Marsh Island". Maine Historical Magazine. 9: 149–153. 1894.
• Pratt, John F. (1890). "Petition of John Marsh of Orono, 1793". Maine Historical Magazine. 5: 237.
• Washburn, Israel (1874). Centennial Celebration, and Dedication of Town Hall, Orono, Maine, March 3, 1874.
• Marsh, Lucius B.; Marsh, Dwight W. (1888). The Genealogy of John Marsh of Salem and His Descendants, 1633-1888.
• Kidder, Frederic; Allan, George F. (1867). Military Operations in Eastern Maine and Nova Scotia During the Revolution.
• Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War. Vol. 10. 1902.
• Hopkinton Vital Records To The Year 1850. 1911.
• Norton, David (1881). Sketches of the Town of Old Town, Penobscot County, Maine from its Earliest Settlement, to 1879; with Biographical Sketches.
• Spencer, Beverly (1998-08-13). "The Many Faces of John Marsh". The Penobscot Times. Vol. 111, no. 24. pp. 9, 11, 16.