Something about me . . .  My name is Gordon Kelly Marshall.  My parents called me “Kelly” from the time I was a baby, and no one knows me by my first name except the government and the banks.  I was born in Kittanning, Pennsylvania, in 1951, the son of Percy J. Marshall and Betty Shankle.  As an adult, I realize something I didn’t know then—my ancestors in each of my grandparents’ lines from the early 1800s (and a few from the late 1700s) all lie buried within 100 miles of my place of birth.  So I am rooted here, literally, and I love this piece of geography.

     I always was interested in the history of my region and my family.  I often grilled my grandfather--Clifford W. Marshall (1897-1964)—about Marshall family roots.  He patiently told me again and again that his great-uncle had died in the Civil War, as well as the story which had come through his line about Marshall Family European and religious roots.  So at some level I’ve had a life-long interest in the history of Western Pennsylvania, in my own family connections to the places I knew growing up, and in the people who lived there.

     Today, my home is in Boardman, Ohio—an 80-minute drive from Kittanning.  It’s also an easy drive to all the places important to our 18th and 19th century families: Greensburg, Parker City, Butler, Reynoldsville, DuBois, Franklin and Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania; Lancaster and St. Clairsville in Ohio; and Wheeling in West Virginia.  I’ve been here four years now, serving as Rector of St. James’ Episcopal Church in Boardman.  Before that, I served Episcopal parishes in the Dioceses of West Virginia and Pittsburgh; and before my spiritual journey led me to this Church, I served United Methodist congregations in Jefferson and Washington Counties in Pennsylvania.  I’ve been engaged in the work of a local congregation, one way or another, since I was a teenager—truly, my life’s work.

     My best leisure-time adventures, however, involve sniffing out and fleshing out the stories of this huge family of ours.  My interest was piqued in the mid-1970s by my grandfather’s cousin, Laura Heffner Wilson, (1900-1990), of Brookville, Pennsylvania; and by her distant cousin Charlotte Turk Dean (1901-1982) of Parker.  They and Charles S. L. Robinson (1912-2002) of Hovey Township, Armstrong County,  gave me my first glimpse of our family before my grandfather’s generation.  I worked hard on collecting initial family data for about five years.  Then a move to Pittsburgh, another graduate degree, and growing work and family responsibilities saw me shoving all this research to a back burner for 20 years. 

     At the urging of my daughter Jennifer in 2001, I began learning to do family history research via the internet.  A year or so later, I shifted course radically and decided to invest much more time and energy into meeting cousins (close and distant) in person and hearing the stories of their own family lines.  This move away from the research rooms of libraries, courthouses, and the computer to more personal interaction and friendship-building has enriched my life in more ways than I can say.

     Where do I hope to go with all this?  I enjoy collecting stories and family photos and data--and then organizing it in ways others can have fun learning about this “one huge family” of families—all descending from our common ancestor, Catharina Truby Rohrer Marshall.  I’ll keep at it.  With the continuing help of many, I'll share what I find.  It's for us, for our children and grandchildren, and for their families into another time. [November 2007]