Editing Thomas R. Marshall (section)

==Early life==
===Family and background===
Marshall's paternal grandfather, Riley Marshall, immigrated to Indiana in 1817 and settled on a farm in present-day [[Whitley County, Indiana|Whitley County]].{{efn|According to a book published in 1930, Riley Marshall was the nephew of [[Chief Justice of the United States]] [[John Marshall]]. However, this fact is not mentioned in other Marshall biographies. ({{harvnb|Federal Writers' Project|1930|p=130}}.)}} He became wealthy when a moderate deposit of oil and natural gas was discovered on his farm; when he sold the property in 1827 it earned $25,000,<ref name = b2>Bennett 2007, p. 2.</ref> ${{formatnum:{{Inflation|US|25000|1827|2015}}}} in 2015 [[chained dollars]]. The money allowed him to purchase a modest estate and spend the rest of his life as an active member of the [[Indiana Democratic Party]], serving as an [[Indiana State Senator]], party chairman, and financial contributor. He was also able to send his only child, Daniel, to medical school.<ref name = b2/>

Marshall's mother, Martha Patterson, was orphaned at age thirteen while living in [[Ohio]] and moved to Indiana to live with her sister on a farm near the Marshalls'  home. Martha was known for her wit and humor, as her son later would be.{{efn|An example of Martha's humor: When asked why her family moved to Ohio, she replied that their [[Pennsylvania]] home had only four families and after intermarrying for several generations her parents decided it best to leave the area before their children married their uncle-cousins and had "imbecile children." (Bennett 2007, p. 19.)}} Martha and Daniel met and married in 1848.<ref name = b3>{{harvnb|Bennett|2007|p=3}}</ref>

Thomas Riley Marshall was born in [[North Manchester, Indiana|North Manchester]], Indiana, on March 14, 1854. Two years later, a sister was born, but she died in infancy. Martha had contracted [[tuberculosis]], which Daniel believed to be the cause of their infant daughter's poor health.<ref name = b3/> While Marshall was still a young boy, his family moved several times searching a good climate for Daniel to attempt different "outdoor cures" on Martha.<ref name = g281>Gray 1977, p. 281.</ref> They moved first to [[Quincy, Illinois]] in 1857. While the family was living in Illinois, Daniel Marshall, a supporter of the American Union and a staunch Democrat, took his four-year-old son, Thomas, to the [[Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858|Lincoln and Douglas debate]] in [[Freeport, Illinois|Freeport]] in 1858. Marshall later recalled that during the rally he sat on the laps of [[Stephen Douglas]] and [[Abraham Lincoln]], alternating between the two candidates when they were not speaking, and remembered it as one of his earliest and most cherished memories.<ref name="Bennett 2007, p. 5">{{harvnb|Bennett|2007|p=5}}</ref><ref name = g232>Gugin and St. Clair, eds. 2006, p. 232.</ref>

The family moved to [[Osawatomie, Kansas]], in 1859, but the frontier violence caused them to move to [[Missouri]] in 1860.<ref name =b4>{{harvnb|Bennett|2007|p=4}}</ref> Eventually, Daniel succeeded in curing Martha's disease.<ref name =b4/> As the [[American Civil War]] neared, violence spread into Missouri during the [[Bleeding Kansas]] incidents. In October 1860 several men led by [[Duff Green]] demanded that Daniel Marshall provide medical assistance to the pro-slavery faction,<ref name="Bennett 2007, p. 5"/> but he refused, and the men left. When the Marshalls' neighbors warned that Green was planning to return and murder them, the family quickly packed their belongings and escaped by steamboat to Illinois. The Marshalls remained in Illinois only briefly, before relocating to Indiana, which was even farther from the volatile border region.<ref name = g232/><ref>{{harvnb|Bennett|2007|p=6}}</ref>

===Education===
[[File:Thomas R. Marshall House in Columbia City.jpg|thumb|The [[Thomas R. Marshall House]] at Columbia City was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1983.<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a|dateform=mdy}}</ref>]]

On settling in [[Pierceton, Indiana]], Marshall began to attend public school.<ref name = g281/> His father and grandfather became embroiled in a dispute with their [[Methodist]] minister when they refused to vote Republican in the 1862 election.<ref name = b7>{{harvnb|Bennett|2007|p=7}}</ref> The minister threatened to expel them from the church, to which Marshall's grandfather replied that he would "take his risk on hell, but not the Republican Party".<ref name = b7/> The dispute prompted the family to move again, to [[Fort Wayne, Indiana|Fort Wayne]], and convert to the [[Presbyterian]] church. In Fort Wayne, Marshall attended high school, graduating in 1869.<ref>{{harvnb|Bennett|2007|p=9}}</ref> At age fifteen his parents sent him to [[Wabash College]], in [[Crawfordsville, Indiana|Crawfordsville]], where he received a classical education. His father advised him to study medicine or become a minister, but neither interested him; he entered the school without knowing which profession he would take upon graduation.<ref>Gugin and St. Clair, eds., 2006, p. 233.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Bennett|2007|p=12}}</ref>

During college Marshall joined the [[Phi Gamma Delta]] fraternity, participated in literary and debating societies, and founded a Democratic Club.<ref name = g281/> He secured a position on the staff of the college newspaper, the ''Geyser'', and began writing political columns defending Democratic policies. In 1872 he wrote an unfavorable column about a female lecturer at the school, accusing her of "seeking liberties" with the young boys in their boarding house. She hired lawyer [[Lew Wallace]], the author of ''[[Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ|Ben-Hur]]'', and filed a suit demanding that Marshall pay her $20,000 for [[libel]].<ref name = b13>{{harvnb|Bennett|2007|p=13}}</ref> Marshall traveled to [[Indianapolis]] to find a defense lawyer and employed future [[United States President]] [[Benjamin Harrison]], then a prominent Indianapolis lawyer. Harrison had the suit dropped by showing that the charges made by Marshall were probably true. In Marshall's memoir, he wrote that when he approached Harrison to pay his bill, his lawyer informed him that he would not charge him for the service, but instead gave him a lecture on the ethics of making such charges public.<ref name = b13/><ref name = g234>Gugin and St. Clair, eds., 2006, p. 234.</ref> Marshall later recalled that he took the advice to heart, and was never again accused of making comments that could be considered libelous.<ref name = b13/><ref name=g234/>

Marshall was elected to [[Phi Beta Kappa]] during his final year at college.<ref name = g281/> He graduated in June 1873, receiving the top grade in fourteen of his thirty-six courses in a class of twenty-one students.<ref>{{harvnb|Bennett|2007|p=15}}</ref> Because of his libel case, he had become increasingly interested in law and began seeking someone to teach him. At that time, a common way to become a lawyer was to apprentice under a practicing attorney. Marshall's great-uncle Woodson Marshall began to help him, but the younger Marshall soon moved to [[Columbia City, Indiana]], to live with his parents. Marshall [[reading law|read law]] in the Columbia City law office of [[Walter Olds]], a [[List of justices of the Indiana Supreme Court|future member]] of the [[Indiana Supreme Court]], for more than a year and was [[Admission to the bar in the United States|admitted to the bar]] on April 26, 1875.<ref name = g234/><ref>{{harvnb|Bennett|2007|pp=19–20}}</ref><ref name = g282>{{harvnb|Gray|1977|p=282}}</ref><ref name=Jehs-222>Jehs, p. 222.</ref>

===Law practice===
[[File:Thomas Marshall, bain photo portrait, circa 1912.jpg|thumb|Marshall c. 1912]]
Marshall opened a law practice in Columbia City in 1876, taking on many minor cases. After gaining prominence, he accepted [[William F. McNagny]] as a partner in 1879 and began taking many criminal defense cases. The two men functioned well as partners. McNagny was better educated in law and worked out their legal arguments. Marshall, the superior orator, argued the cases before the judge and jury. Their firm became well known in the region after they handled a number of high-profile cases.<ref>{{harvnb|Bennett|2007|p=22}}</ref> In 1880 Marshall ran for public office for the first time as the Democratic candidate for his district's prosecuting attorney.<ref name = g283>Gray 1977, p. 283.</ref> The district was a Republican stronghold, and he was defeated. About the same time, he met and began to court Kate Hooper, and the two became engaged to marry. Kate died of an illness in 1882, one day before they were to be wed. Her death was a major emotional blow to Marshall, leading him to become an alcoholic.<ref>{{harvnb|Bennett|2007|p=23}}</ref><ref name = g284>Gray 1977, p. 284.</ref>

Marshall lived with his parents into his thirties. His father died in the late 1880s and his mother died in 1894, leaving him with the family estate and business. In 1895, while working on a case, Marshall met [[Lois Irene Marshall|Lois Kimsey]] who was working as a clerk in her father's law firm.<ref name = g284/> Despite their nineteen-year age difference, the couple fell in love and married on October 2.<ref name = b46>{{harvnb|Bennett|2007|p=46}}</ref> The Marshalls had a close marriage and were nearly inseparable, and spent only two nights apart during their nearly thirty-year marriage.<ref>{{harvnb|Bennett|2007|p=47}}</ref>

Marshall's alcoholism had begun to interfere with his busy life before his marriage. He arrived at court [[hang over|hung-over]] on several occasions and was unable to keep his addiction secret in his small hometown. His wife helped him to overcome his drinking problem and give up liquor after she locked him in their home for two weeks to undergo a treatment regimen.<ref name = b46/> Thereafter, he became active in [[temperance movement in Indiana|temperance]] organizations and delivered several speeches about the dangers of liquor. Although he had stopped drinking, his past alcoholism was later raised by opponents during his gubernatorial election campaign.<ref name = g235>Gugin and St. Clair, eds., 2006, p. 235.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Bennett|2007|p=74}}</ref>

Marshall remained active in the Democratic party after his 1880 defeat and began stumping for other candidates and helping to organize party rallies across the state. His speeches were noted for their partisanship, but his rhetoric gradually shifted away from a conservative viewpoint in the 1890s as he began to identify himself with the growing [[progressive movement]].<ref>Gray 1977, p. 285.</ref> He became a member of the state Democratic Central Committee in 1904, a position that raised his popularity and influence in the party.<ref name = g234/><ref name="b46"/><ref>Gray 1977, p. 286.</ref>

Marshall and his wife were involved in several private organizations. He was active in the Presbyterian Church, taught Sunday school, and served on the county fair board. As he grew wealthy from his law firm he became involved in local charities. An enthusiastic [[Freemasonry|Mason]] in Columbia City Lodge No. 189 in the [[Grand Lodge of Indiana]], he was a governing member of the state's [[York Rite]] bodies, awarded the thirty-third degree of the [[Scottish Rite]] in 1898, and became an Active member of the [[Supreme Council, Scottish Rite, Northern Jurisdiction, USA|Supreme Council, Scottish Rite, Northern Jurisdiction]] in 1911. He remained a passionate Freemason until his death and served on several Masonic charitable boards. After his death, the $25,000 cost of erecting his mausoleum in Indianapolis' Crown Hill Cemetery was gratefully paid for by the Scottish Rite NMJ Supreme Council.<ref>Denslow, William R., "10,000 Famous Freemasons, Vol. 3." (Revised, reprint edition: 2007, Cornerstone Book Publishing), pp. 152–153.</ref>