O. J. Marshall Biography This biography is from "Memorial and biographical record; an illustrated compendium of biography, containing a compendium of local biography, including biographical sketches of prominent old settlers and representative citizens of South Dakota..." Published by G. A. Ogle & Co., Chicago, 1899. Pages 814-817 Scan, OCR and editing by Maurice Krueger,mkrueger@iw.net, 1998. This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit organizations for their private use. Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other means requires the written approval of the file's author. This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm O. J. MARSHALL, one of the most prominent and influential citizens of Wessington Springs, South Dakota, was born in Marshall county, Iowa, in 1857, and is a son of William and Caroline Marshall, the former a native of Tennessee, the latter of Indiana. They were married in Indiana and from there removed to Iowa. The father has engaged in farming nearly all his life, but is at present a missionary in South America. He is of English descent and is a representative of the same family to which Chief Justice Marshall belonged. The mother is of Irish extraction. Our subject is the first born in a family of eight children and was reared upon a farm. When about thirteen years of age he removed with his parents to Dallas county, Iowa, and later attended Penn College at Oskaloosa, graduating from the lower department and receiving a diploma from that institution. He then successfully engaged in teaching school in Iowa for four terms. In the fall of 1883 Mr. Marshall came to Jerauld county, South Dakota, and took up a homestead and tree claim on section 21, Harmony township, on which he erected a shanty the following spring. In January, 1884, he married Miss Rhoda A. Strahl, who was born in the same house in Dallas county, Iowa, where their marriage was celebrated. Her parents were natives of Ohio, but her paternal grandfather was born in Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Marshall have a family of three children. They began their domestic life in the little shanty he had erected upon his claim in the spring of 1884, and after living there just a week a prairie fire destroyed all their hay. That spring they assisted in nursing and helped bury the first white people who died in Harmony township. Mr. Marshall began life here with a team, a plow and a harrow, and in his early struggles to secure a home for himself and family, he was ably assisted by his wife, who has indeed proved a true helpmeet to him, helping in nearly all the farm work, such as stacking hay and grain, cutting fodder, etc. The first three years of their residence here they burned hay as fuel. Their first barn was a sod structure, the walls of which are still standing, but as years passed better and more substantial improvements were made upon the place. In 1889 Mr. Marshall filed a pre-emption and proved it up. He still owns and operates his land, now consisting of six hundred and forty acres, of which one hundred and sixty acres are under a high state of cultivation, and is interested in the stock business as well as the raising of grain. For seven terms he has also successfully engaged in teaching school in this state. As a Populist, Mr. Marshall takes an active and influential part in local politics, and has been honored with several important official positions, the duties of which he has discharged in a most satisfactory and commendable manner. In the fall of 1890 he was elected county auditor, being the first auditor elected after the county was organized, and moved to Wessington Springs in the summer of 1891, having taken charge of the office in January, 1891. In the fall of 1892 he was re-elected and served for two years and two months. During this time he became interested in the real-estate business and in 1895 established a general real estate office, which he still conducts. He is also engaged in the abstract business and is serving as notary public, holding his second commission as such. In 1896 he was elected county surveyor. Socially he is connected with the Modern Woodmen of America, and religiously is a member of the Society of Friends. Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Marshall are shown on another page of this volume.