This letter written in 1845, was from a fugitive slave, Tom Ellice. (Ellis).  Six slaves ran away from John Marshall’s maternal grandfather William Ellis, Dick was thought to be the son of William Ellis.  John Marshall had very deep affectionate feelings for the negro house woman.  If his mother died in child birth, the negress would probably have been a mother figure to him.  I always felt it was this Mary Warner who lived in the house, and whose name appears on the census in Pendleton County, Ks.  This letter is now in the Archives office in Canada, where it was written.

John Marshall was part of the Orphan Brigade during the Civil War.  He was wounded at Chicamauga.  He walked home from Washington, Georgia after the surrender in Appomatox, he had the chore to tell everyone in Falmouth, Ky..the outcome and how some of those he was with had died.  He was about 42 when he took this lassy to the marriage altar, she was barely 15.  I suppose in 2010 he might have gone to prison as a pedophile!! Horrors.  Looking in our ancestry, I see this was done frequently.

       Jaley lived until 1934, and had many stories she told to my mother Aleda C. said Jaley lived in much fear, and didn’t feel at all comfortable around black people.  My mother was on friendly terms with what she called the Colored Evangelist, Bro Pollard.  She said if there wasn’t so much racism, she might have married him, and I would have black genes.