John Marshall (April 11, 1858 – March 25, 1931) was a justice of the

Kansas Supreme Court The Kansas Supreme Court is the highest judicial authority in the U.S. state of Kansas. Composed of seven justices, led by Chief Justice Marla Luckert, the court supervises the legal profession, administers the judicial branch, and serves as t ...

from January 11, 1915, to March 25, 1931.

Life and education

Marshall was born April 11, 1858, in

Logansport, Indiana Logansport is a city in and the county seat of Cass County, Indiana, United States. The population was 18,366 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Logansport is located in northern Indiana at the junction of the Wabash River, Wabash an ...

, the son of Humphrey Marshall and Margaret Marshall (née Rice). The family then moved to Kansas in 1870, the state John would spend the rest of his life in. He started his education in the

Independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

school district, while living in Grenola the place where his mother died while he was young and her grave is located. His father then moved back to

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

but John stayed and lived with neighbors. He acquired much of his education being self-taught, before going on to spend two years at

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant coll ...

where he graduated with high honors even though he suffered a severe measles attack during his education. He qualified as a teacher holding a first grade teacher's certificate. After University he returned to Elk county and married Addie Jenks of Mound Branch in 1882. He served as a member of the school board of

Howard, Kansas Howard is a city in and the county seat of Elk County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 570. History Howard was founded in 1870, and it was incorporated as a city in 1877. Howard was named after ...

, for several years. He was profoundly religious and it was said that he feared God and no one else. Starting December 1915 he gave a series of addresses to the Second Presbyterian Church, in North Topeka, starting with "Am I a Jonah?"

Career

In 1882 he was admitted to the bar in Elk County, with his first official position as mayor of

Howard Howard is a masculine given name derived from the English surname Howard. ''The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names'' notes that "the use of this surname as a christian name is quite recent and there seems to be no particular reason for ...

the city where he lived. He was then the Howard city attorney for several years, and then the

Elk The elk (: ''elk'' or ''elks''; ''Cervus canadensis'') or wapiti, is the second largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. ...

County Attorney from 1895 until 1899. He later went on to become the Winfield city attorney and later an attorney for the Kansas State Temperance Union. He also worked as the state assistant attorney general under Fred S. Jackson, and as attorney for the railroad commission and public utilities commission from 1911 to 1913. He was a Republican throughout his career. He was known for being an outstanding figure in the enforcement of the Kansas

prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

laws. Three decades before his death he had been an attorney for the

Anti-Saloon League The Anti-Saloon League, now known as the American Council on Addiction and Alcohol Problems, is an organization of the temperance movement in the United States. Founded in 1893 in Oberlin, Ohio, it was a key component of the Progressive Era, an ...

and the creator of the "padlock plan" for controlling blind pigs. He also represented the Temperance Society of the Methodist Church in Colorado, and was part of the development of prohibition in Kansas. In January 1914 he announced that he would run for the Kansas Supreme Court with a desire to move from being ''John Marshall of Elk county'' to ''John Marshall of Kansas'', he was living in Topeka at the time. Although popular with many in September 1914 Mrs Myra McHenry made it "Her Hobby Now" to go after Marshall's "political scalp" not believing he was fit for the position. Mrs McHenry had known him for thirty years and circulated pamphlets criticizing him. She claimed that while he was the prosecuting attorney for

Cowley County, Kansas Cowley County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. Its county seat is Winfield, Kansas, Winfield, and its most populous city is Arkansas City, Kansas, Arkansas City. As of the 2020 United States census, 202 ...

, prisoners lounged in a carpeted lobby in the jail. She also claimed she was held under guard at her home charged with insanity, then escaped and on securing legal help the charges were dropped. He was elected to the court along with John Shaw Dawson to replace Alfred Washburn Benson and

Clark Allen Smith Clark Allen Smith (July 29, 1846 – March 6, 1921) was a justice of the Kansas Supreme Court from December 1, 1904, to January 11, 1915. Life and education Smith was born July 29, 1846, in Rock County, Wisconsin, where he grew up on a farm. ...

, with Henry Freeman Mason retaining his seat. He also lectured at the Washburn Law School from around 1915 teaching Real Property. Marshall died while serving his 17th year on the supreme court and Edward Ray Sloan was appointed to complete his unexpired term by Governor Harry Hines Woodring.

Death

He died March 25, 1931, at his home in

Topeka, Kansas Topeka ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the central part of Shawnee County, in northeastern Kansas, in the Central United States. As of the 2020 cen ...

, aged 72, he had been suffering a prolonged illness. He had had a severe cold that has prevented him from his service to the court for several weeks, returning for the January inaugural ceremonies. Later that month he was again confined to his home with heart issues. On the night of his death after sitting in a chair for an hour he complained of feeling tired and returned to bed, dying not long after. He was survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marshall, John (Kansas judge) 1858 births 1931 deaths Justices of the Kansas Supreme Court People from Logansport, Indiana Kansas State University alumni Washburn University faculty Kansas Republicans Temperance activists from Kansas People from Topeka, Kansas 20th-century American judges