The combination of human attributes which yields success in many fields, though a rare one, is embodied in the subject of this review. The drug business, manufacturing, stock raising, what ever he has turned his hand to, has given a balance on the right side of the ledger, so carefully has he studied and so well has he wrought.
William H. Marshall was born April 23, 1851, in Warren County, Indiana. He was the youngest of eleven children, five of whom are still living. His father was Edward P. Marshall and his mother Ann (Kellam) Marshall, both being natives of Pennsylvania, and of Quaker ancestry and belief. The parents in the early forties settled in Indiana, where the father followed farming and stock raising till 1854, when he removed to Vermillion, Illinois, where he died in 1857. His mother having passed away in 1852, our subject was thrown upon his own resources at an unusually early age. His education was obtained in the common schools, and at the age of twenty he obtained a place in a drugstore at Rossville, Illinois. Here he remained two years, rapidly mastering the details of the business. Leaving Rossville he located at Shipman, Illinois, and there soon found a friend who made it possible for Mr. Marshall to start in business for himself. Success smiled upon him from the beginning, and at the end of five years he sold out and came to Rock Island in search of wider opportunities. This was in April, 1880. He bought the Harper House Pharmacy, which he conducted twenty-two years, retiring in 1902 to be able to give more attention to his other interests. These include holdings in a number of Rock Island manufacturing concerns by which he has been honored with important offices, and tracts of land in Rock Island County and in Oklahoma.
Mr. Marshall, September 3, 1893, was united in marriage with Miss Elise Augusta Denkmann, daughter of Frederick C. A. and Catherine Denkmann, of Rock Island. Two children have blessed their union, Robert Denkmann Marshall and Ann Catherine Marshall.
Mr. Marshall, while he has never taken an active part in politics, is a subscriber to the doctrines of the Republican Party. Fraternally, he is a Mason.