The well known and well-to-do citizen whose name introduces this review has long been identified with the interests of Serena township, LaSalle county. He is a son of the pioneer, John David Marshall, and was born in the French province of Alsace July 4, 1832, where his early boyhood was passed. The Marshall family then emigrated to America and their home was established in LaSalle county, Illinois.
Theophilus had attended school a little in Alsace and for a short time after coming to this country he went to school, but his educational advantages were very limited. He was one of a large and industrious family of sons, and when he came of age his father gave him and his older brother each a horse. Joining forces, the two brothers engaged in farming on land they rented from their father. This was a primitive beginning, but the vim and determination Theophilus put into his efforts told each year of his life and found him accumulating wealth gradually. During the years which have intervened from that day to this he has invested his accumulations in real estate until now he is the owner of more than one thousand acres of land.
Mr. Marshall was married in Ottawa, Illinois, March 13, 1854, at the age of twenty-two years, to Louise Retz, a daughter of Dominick Retz, also a native of Alsace and an early settler of Serena township. Mr. and Mrs. Marshall have children and grandchildren, as follows: Elizabeth, wife of Joseph Antoine of Somonauk, Illinois, has two children — Lawrence and May; John David, a merchant of Serena, married his cousin, Julia Retz, and they have five children — Fannie B., Frank E., Edna J., Walter J. and Clarence; Isabel, wife of David Wolf, of Chicago, has three children — Marshall, Elmer and an infant daughter; Adolphus, a prominent young farmer of Serena township, married Mary Moujet, and their children are Rosa, Arthur, "Baby" and an infant; and Henry, unmarried, who resides -on the old home farm.
Extracted 05 Nov 2016 by Norma Hass from Biographical and Genealogical Record of La Salle County, Illinois, Volume 2, pages 772-773.
| Lee | DeKalb | Kane |
| Bureau |
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Kendall |
| Putnam | Grundy | |
| Marshall | Woodford | Livingston |
