Departed this life, at the residence of his son-in-law, H. N. Spencer, Esq.,
Mr. SAMUEL MARSHALL, in the 79th year of his age. He was a native of Pennsylvania,
and when only 19 years old [abt 1784] he emigrated to Natchez, during Spanish
times, and has resided in Mississippi 60 years. During the latter years of his
life he has been stricken with blindness, and afflicted with great dullness of
hearing, which forced him to a state of inaction, totally unlike his former mode
of life, and most trying to his feelings. Endowed by nature with a vigorous and
active mind, these days of gloom were spent in reminiscences of the past, and in
the rehearsal of the adventures of his life, and hymns and portions of scripture.
He dwelt with great minuteness in his narrative of the past, upon the character
of Guiazo [Gayoso], the Spanish Governor, and the zeal he showed in the improvement
of his people, while he always expressed the greatest indignation at the tyrannical
acts of the Spanish Government. Mr. M. was a man of that native strength of character,
adorned with those sterling qualities of heart and mind, which made him universally
esteemed in the county where he chiefly resided and was most generally known.
For nearly half of his protracted life he was an exemplary and active member of
the Christian Church. He was for 30 years a ruling elder, and at his death
perhaps the oldest member of the oldest Presbyterian Church in Mississippi.
Within the last few months the powers of nature have been slowly failing, and on
Sabbath last the long flickering light of life went out in death, but his spirit
passed to the regions of immortality.
Port Gibson, July 19, 1843.