admin ORSAMUS HOLMES MARSHALL was born in Franklin, Conn., February 1, 1813, and came with his parents to Buffalo in 1815. He was educated in Buffalo schools, at the Polytechnic School at Chittenango, N. Y., at Col. McKay’s Military Academy and at Union College, whence he graduated in 1831. On his return to Buffalo, Mr. Marshall entered the law office of Austin & Barker, with whom he remained till 1833, when he went to Yale College for a course of law lectures. In 1834 he was admitted to practice as an attorney, and soon afterward was admitted solicitor in Chancery. His first law partnership was with William A. Moseley, and later lie was successively associated with the Hon. Horatio J. Stow, and the Hon. N. K. Ball, and after 1841 practiced by himself for several years, then becoming the partner of Alexander W. Harvey till 1863, when he admitted his son, Charles D. Marshall, to partnership. He retired from active practice in 1867.
Mr. Marshall was a distinguished writer on historical subjects. He was President of the Buffalo Historical Society, of which he was one of the founders; trustee and one of the organizers of the Buffalo Cemetery Association; member and President of the Board of Trustees of the Grosvenor Library, and member and President of the Board of Trustees of the University of Buffalo, of which he was elected Chancellor in 1882. He was a trustee of the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences, President of the Thomas Orphan Asylum for Indian Children, and a member of the First Presbyterian Church, of Buffalo. In the early 50’s he was offered the post of Commissioner to China, and was tendered the appointment of Assistant Postmaster-General, but declined both offices. In 1868 he was appointed United States Commissioner for the Northern District of New York, which position he held for many years.
February 20, 1838, Mr. Marshall married Millicent Ann De Angelis, daughter of Judge Pascal Charles Joseph De Angelis, of Holland Patent, N. Y. Their children were: John Ellis Marshall, born August 5, 1839, graduated from Yale College in 1861, and in 1862 was First Lieutenant of U. S. Volunteers, also serving as Aide-de-Camp to Brigadier-General William F. Barry; Charles De Angelis Marshall, born November 14, 1841; and Elizabeth Coe Marshall, born June 4, 1847.
Orsamus H. Marshall died July 9, 1884.
SOURCE: Memorial and Family History of Erie County New York; Volume I