Engelhart Marshall was born in Baumbach, Hessen Cassell, Germany, August 21, 1834. He married Anna Gelasia Riemenschneider in 1863. She was born February 11 , 1842. Three children, Mary, Fred and John, were born before the family came to America in 1871.
Settling in Woodbury, Minnesota, five more children were born: Annie, Minnie, Henry, Caroline and William. In 1879, heeding the call for a better life in Dakota, the Marshalls moved to Barnes County, arriving at Valley City about midnight. They stayed at the home of Joel S. Weiser, the first night; Engelhart coming with their farm equipment stopped off at a siding known as Alta east of the river. Filing a pre-emption claim on the Southeast ΒΌ of Section 32 in Noltimier Township, the family set up housekeeping and began farming.
Three years later the farm was sold and the family moved to Alta Township, now known as the James Marshall farm in Section 4. A house was built in Oriska and the family lived there in the winter and on the farm in the summer. In 1904 the farm was sold to John H. Marshall, a son of Engelhart. James Marshall acquired the property in 1966 upon the death of his mother.
John H. Marshall married Lena Noeske in 1902 and they had three daughters and two sons: Amanda, Mildred (Mrs. Fred Schroeder), John R. (deceased), Helen (Mrs. H. Eugene Hill), and James, married to Leona Lux.
Source: Barnes County History 1976 Page 151