John Marsh

Biography

John Marsh was born in Hopkinton (MA) on July 24, 1751. Not much is known about his early life. He appears to worked as a trapper and guide among various Wabanaki tribes and learned to speak Penobscot fluently. In 1774, he settled on what is now Marsh Island, which he claimed to have received in ownership from the Penobscot Tribe. After the Revolutionary War, he returned to Marsh Island and in 1778, he married Sarah Colburn, a daughter of Jeremiah Colburn (one of the earliest Orono settlers and another Revolutionary War veteran). He died at the farm of his son-in-law Both John and Sarah are buried at Riverside Cemetery. Many of their descendants still live in the Orono-Old Town area.