Louis Marshall was a physician and educator, native of Virginia, and younger brother of chief justice John Marshall (1755-1835). Marshall married Agatha Smith (1780-1844) and with her had six children, three of whom served in the U.S. Congress: Thomas Francis Marshall (1801-1864), representative from Kentucky, 1841-1843; Edward Colston Marshal (1821-1893), representative from California, 1851-1853; and Alexander Keith Marshall (1808-1884), representative from Kentucky, 1855-1857. The collection is primarily personal letters, 1840-1857, concerning activities of members of the Marshall family of Kentucky. The majority of the letters were written b y the women of the family, especially Marshall's daughter, Agatha (1818-1858), who married Caleb Logan and lived in Louisville, Ky., and her cousin, Mira Madison (1803-1883), who married Andrew Jonathan Alexander and lived in Woodford County, Ky. Most letters concern domestic life and family matters. Many discuss travel, church attendance, social class, and neighborhood events; others refer to the health and activities of slaves owned by members of the Marshall and Alexander families. There are also occasional references to the local and national economies, duels, and sectional tensions. There is a photocopy of a letter, 1843, from John Quincy Adams to Thomas F. Marshall, and a photocopy of a letter, 1844, from Andrew Jackson to Marshall. There is very little information on the Civil War.
