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John Marshall was a slave owner and former US Chief Justice who the county is named after.

EXCEPTS FROM “Master John Marshall and the Problem of Slavery“

- Paul Finkelman - August 31, 2020

”Chief Justice Marshall is rightly considered our greatest chief justice. For nearly three and half decades—longer than any other chief justice—this icon of constitutional history led the Court, shaping our law. Two centuries later his jurisprudence lives on. Five of the ten opinions most cited by the Supreme Court itself are Marshall’s. Cultural symbols remind us of his importance. An imposing, six-foot bronze statue of him, sculpted by William Wetmore Story (the son of his closest Court colleague, Joseph Story) sits outside the Supreme Court building. A smaller, marble one sits inside the building. Four law schools bear his name. He has been on four U.S. postage stamps, a commemorative silver dollar, a $20 Treasury note, and a $500 Federal Reserve note.”

“Marshall owned hundreds of slaves during his lifetime. He owned plantations and clearly profited from them. In 1830, five years before his death, he owned about 150 slaves. Had he not given a substantial number of slaves to his sons, Marshall would have owned more than 250 slaves.12 Unlike his distant cousin Thomas Jefferson, Marshall did not inherit these slaves; rather, he bought them throughout his life.”

“Furthermore, throughout his public career Marshall publicly and privately opposed the presence of free blacks in America. He petitioned the Virginia legislature to fund removing them from the state.”