Biography

American botanist, surgeon and magistrate in Pennsylvania. Moses Marshall was the nephew of the renowned Philadelphia botanist Humphrey Marshall and he made a considerable contribution to his uncle's publication Arbustrum Americanum (1785). Born in West Bradford, Pennsylvania, Moses was educated in English and classics before moving to Wilmington, Delaware, in order to study medicine under Dr. Nicholas Way. During the American Revolution he practised as a surgeon, tending to wounded soldiers at the Battle of Brandywine in 1777.

Over the following winters Marshall attended medical lectures in Pennsylvania but never received a degree. He spent the next few years practising medicine part-time, as well as attempting to run an apothecary shop, but he did not accomplish much until he came to live with his uncle in 1784. Becoming involved in the business of collecting, preparing and shipping plant specimens and seeds to Europe, his botanical career began at this time and he collected on expeditions in Kentucky, Tennessee, the Carolinas and Georgia. Moses Marshall entered into correspondence with numerous notable scientists and was considered a candidate to lead a major expedition to the Missouri River, one that would eventually become the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

In 1796 Moses Marshall was appointed Justice of the Peace and in 1797 married Alice Pennock. In time he would have six children to tend to and his interest in botany subsided somewhat. On the death of Humphrey Mitchell in 1801, Moses inherited a property on the banks of the Brandywine. It seems that he abandoned all of his prior engagements and at some time ran a milling business, having developed a mill on the estate. The impressive garden which his uncle had maintained was neglected by Moses Marshall and by the time of his death was in ruins.

Sources:
J.W. Harshberger, 1899, The Botanists of Philadelphia: 97-107
Humphrey and Moses Marshall Papers, Manuscripts Division, William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan:
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/c/clementsmss/umich-wcl-M-2549mar?view=text, accessed 2nd August 2011.