Talbot County GaArchives Obituaries.....James Flournoy Marshall October 7 1908
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Carla Miles cmhistory@mchsi.com September 15, 2003, 10:41 pm

The Talbotton New Era, October 15, 1908

The Talbotton New Era
Thursday, October 15, 1908
Page 2

Death Claims Mr. J.F. Marshall

It is with pleasure that we print elsewhere in this issue, a beautiful tribute 
to the memory of Mr. J.F. Marshall, written by Captain Henry Persons.  Mr. 
Marshall was one of the most prominent citizens of Talbot County and his death 
last week came as a great surprise and a severe shock to his many friends in 
the county.  Mr. Marshall was in town late in the afternoon of last Wednesday, 
feeling as well as usual.  He went home about dark and died suddenly about 
eight o’clock.  The funeral took place on Friday morning and was largely 
attended.  The remains were interred at the family burying ground near his home.

The Talbotton New Era
Thursday, October 15, 1908
Page 3

In Memoriam

A compelling retrospect dealing with the last decade of the antebellum period 
vividly recalls to mind one who was possessed of ample fortune, which was not 
acquired by greedy energy or by stinting parsimony but resulted from an 
effective union of sane judgment with honest methods.  I make a more exact 
statement through a different formula: It was a fortune that represented the 
surplus of his accumulations after deducting the charges of an open handed 
charity and a constant and abounding hospitality.  His marked success so 
obviously failed to infect him with vanity, or to beget in him arrogance that 
even the most envious of his acquaintances approved his prosperity.  Superadded 
to, and surpassing these abundant and comforting blessings was his notably 
broad-minded and cultured wife, who was an educative example and a forceful 
uplift to the welfare of her entire community.

Of such hopeful parentage was born James Flournoy Marshall, who has just closed 
a life career exceeding in years the allotted number of three score and ten; 
and of whom I speak with more candor than did Antony at the funeral of Caesar, 
for I gladly own that I come to praise him and to honor him, well-knowing the 
good that he has done lives after him and was not interred with his bones.  The 
beginning of his family life is a comely picture hanging conspicuously on the 
walls of my memory.  He bore a long and widely honored name.  His mental 
endowments bespoke his ancestry.  His character was as pure as the icicles that 
hung on Diana’s temple.  His instincts were honorable and manly and his 
utterances made vivid and accurate by a college education.  He had for a wife a 
most fitting helpmate and a property, which provided for every comfort and 
promised lasting independence.  The apex of this pyramid of fortune was not too 
high for its base.  He was neither purse-proud nor exclusive.  The humblest in 
the social scale found him at all times accessible, gracious and helpful; and a 
single roll named both acquaintances and friends, for all who knew him loved 
him.  But, alas, I also recall that after four prosperous and happy years, 
there came a desolating war that leveled to a common measure the holdings of 
the affluent and the indigent, and he and I and everyone lost about everything 
taxable.  But the picture, of which I speak, was immune alike to cremation and 
to confiscation, and still abides with me as a treasured possession.  But amid 
the wreck of his wealth he maintained his personality.  The more decadent his 
fortune the more exalted his manliness. His sunny temper blossomed with kind 
words and fruited in good deeds as never before.  He proved himself in every 
stress equal to the strain.  There was ever a vacant chair and waiting plate at 
his board, and all who called were met with a courtesy that is the hallmark of 
the gentleman.  I know that he was true in his friendships; faithful to duty 
and truthful even to his own hurt.  He who would know his real worth must learn 
that it is infinitely more than will ever be recorded in a book of 
appraisements.

Henry Persons



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