by Lyon Gardiner Tyler
Updated November 25, 2022
Background:
The five-volume Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography is a collection of biographical sketches of thousands of Virginians who lived between the early seventeenth century and the twentieth century. Covering the entire spectrum of colonial, Revolutionary, and post-Revolutionary figures, the Encyclopedia treats the following personages: founders, immigrants, and early settlers, state councillors and burgesses, landowners, merchants, Revolutionary War figures, governors, justices, politicians, military and naval figures, and a host of prominent nineteenth-century personalities, including bankers, statesmen, farmers, professionals, businessmen, and Civil War soldiers.
The first two volumes concentrate mostly on Virginia men of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, while the last three volumes deal primarily with nineteenth-century figures--in somewhat greater detail than the earlier volumes. All sketches identify the place and date of birth of the subject, and wherever possible his parents and early antecedents, all the way back to the immigrant ancestor. Typically the sketches provide details of the subject's education and career, information about his wife and children, and highlights of his life and times.
Marshall M. GILLIAM
The antecedents of Marshall M. GILLIAM are by tradition said to be of Norman origin. The name was anciently spelled Gillaume, from which its modern form has been derived. It is said that three brothers, John, William and Robert GILLIAM, emigrated to Virginia about 1680, from England. John GILLIAM settled at "Puddledock," Prince George County, then in Charles City County, and married Ann Bathurst by whom he had issue: 1. Robert, married Lucy Skelton, heiress of "Elk Island," Hanover County, Virginia. 2. William, married Christine, daughter of Richard and Christina (Robertson) Eppes, of City Point, Virginia. 3. John, born in 1712, married Jane, daughter of Rev. Patrick Henry, of St. George's parish, who was an uncle of the famous orator. 4. Jane, married Charles Duncan, a merchant of "Roslin," Chesterfield County. 5. Anne, the second wife of Nathaniel Harrison, of "Berkely," Charles City County, Virginia. However, it is probable that the three brothers first alluded to were the three brothers of this particular family, whom by popular myth and in the haze of time, were confused with the original emigrant ancestor.
From these three brothers, Robert. William and John GILLIAM, have sprung many persons who bear the GILLIAM name in Virginia, at the present time. Their descendants are to be found in Charles City, Prince George, Dinwiddie, Buckingham, Henrico and other counties in Virginia; and the family has produced many men of eminence in the state. John GILLIAM, a descendant, lived at Osceola, Buckingham county, Virginia; he was famous as a "peace maker" in the community where he lived; and was a planter of large estate, who had inherited lands from his ancestors. It is said large tracts of land were given to his progenitor for services rendered to the English government in settling territorial disputes with the Indians. He married Judith Robertson, and had children: William, Wilson, John Robertson, Madison, Martha and Frances.
John Robertson GILLIAM, son of John and Judith (Robertson) GILLIAM, was born in 1807 at Osceola, Buckingham county, Virginia. He was a farmer in his native county, and conducted that business on an extensive scale; was a life-long church member and for many years an elder in the Presbyterian church. Mr. GILLIAM was twice married, by his first marriage he became the father of two children: John William, a soldier in the Confederate army, and Margaret. In 1835 he married (second) Martha H. (Marshall) Anderson, daughter of John Marshall, a prominent farmer of Charlotte county, Virginia. She was born in 1808, in Charlotte county, Virginia, and died in 1860, in Buckingham county, the same state. By her first marriage to Mr. Anderson she had two children: Sarah E., and Charles D. Anderson, who was an officer in the Eighteenth Regiment Virginia Infantry. Issue of John Robertson and Martha H. (Marshall-Anderson) GILLIAM: Pattie H., born 1837, in Buckingham county, Virginia; Marshall M., of whom further.
Marshall M. GILLIAM, son of John Robertson and Martha H. (Marshall-Anderson) GILLIAM, was born December 10, 1844, at Osceola, Buckingham county, Virginia. He attended elementary schools in his native county during the early period of his education; and then studied at Hampden-Sidney College, in Prince Edward county, Virginia, from which he graduated in 1859 as A. B. He spent a year or so in travel and study until the opening of the civil war, and in 1861 went to the Eighteenth Virginia Regiment on a visit to his brother, who was an officer in that regiment; returned to Buckingham county and enlisted in Company K, Fourth Virginia Cavalry, known as Jeb Stewart's cavalry, and served in that branch of the Confederate army throughout the war. The cavalry company above mentioned was organized in Buckingham county by Captain P. W. McKinney who was afterward governor of Virginia. The company was in General Stewart's cavalry raid around McClellan's army below Richmond, in the summer of 1862; it was also in the movement that flanked Meade's right wing at Gettysburg, July 2, 1862, and Private GILLIAM participated in those two and other raids, skirmishes and battles of Stewart's cavalry until the end of the war. When Lee surrendered at Appomattox, he escaped through the Federal lines, and joined General Joseph E. Johnston's army in North Carolina, and after the surrender to General Sherman, he brought back to their owners eighty-five horses and mules which had been taken from Virginia. After the close of the war, Mr. GILLIAM entered the University of Virginia in 1865, where he studied law in connection with certain special studies in the academic department; and graduated as LL. B. in 1867. In 1868 he went to Richmond, Virginia, where he engaged in the practice of law which has been continued since that time. In 1869 at the solicitation of Colonel John H. Guy, one of the most distinguished lawyers in Virginia, a partnership was formed under the firm name of Guy & GILLIAM, which lasted until Mr. Guy's death in 1886; and since its dissolution, Mr. GILLIAM has continued to practice law alone, in Richmond, Virginia.
Marshall M. GILLIAM married (first) December 1, 1870, in Richmond, Virginia, Mary Roche Hoge, daughter of Rev. Moses Drury and Susan Morton (Wood) Hoge. She was born February 7, 1847, in Richmond, died there in March, 1902. She was descended from the Hoge family of Richmond. Her father, Moses Drury Hoge, D. D., was pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church of Richmond for fifty-four years. Mr. GILLIAM married (second) in Richmond, November 15, 1906, Emma S. Stewart, daughter of John W. and Mary Wilson (Sherrard) Stewart. She was born in 1851 in Jerrardstown, Virginia; and her father, John W. Stewart, was a large dealer in tobacco, at Alexandria, Virginia.
Issue of Mr. GILLIAM by first wife: 1. Hoge, born September 4, 1872, in Richmond, Virginia; educated at Sampson's school near the University of Virginia; married Edith L. Rossman, January 17, 1900. 2. Mary Marshall, born February 11, 1874, in Richmond, Virginia; was educated at Miss Mary Baldwin's school, Staunton, Virginia; married, November 21, 1901, at Richmond, Coleman Wortham; and has three children: Coleman Wortham Jr., Mary Hoge Wortham, Anne Scott Wortham. 3. Marshall Madison, born September 12, 1878, died July 2, 1879, at Richmond, Virginia.
Mr. GILLIAM and his family are members of the Second Presbyterian Church of Richmond. He has been an elder of that church since 1875, also clerk of its session; was superintendent of the Sunday school thirty-three years, and is generally an active church worker. He was president of the Ginter Park Residents' Association for several years. While at the University of Virginia, 1865-67, he was a member of the Washington Society, also served as its president; and was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Greek letter fraternity there; is now a member of the Westmoreland Club at Richmond, Virginia.
Sources
- Lyon Gardiner Tyler, Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography, Richmond, VA, 1915.
- Ancestry.com. Virginia Biographical Encyclopedia [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2000. Original data: Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography. Richmond, VA, USA: n.p., 1915.