It seems appropriate that I am writing these bi-weekly columns for the newspaper, because that is also where I discovered my own passion for working in museums. Many years ago while reading the paper I encountered an appeal for volunteers for a newly created local museum located in New Cumberland. At that time the Hancock County Historical Museum recently had purchased the Marshall House on Ridge Ave in New Cumberland for the purpose of creating a county museum. As someone who habitually visited museums, historic houses and sites with my family, I was eager to help out at my local one. So on the set night my grandmother and I ventured out for the informational meeting, and the rest is history.

The Marshall House is a survivor from the last quarter of the 19th century. It has stood at 1008 Ridge Ave. since it was completed in 1887. The builder, Oliver Sheridan Marshall, was a successful lawyer and politician. Incredibly, most of his law books can still be found in his study on the first floor of his home. An 1878 graduate of Bethany College, Marshall returned to Hancock County to become the principal of New Cumberland Grade school until 1885. His first position in government was in 1884 when he was elected Clerk of the County Court of Hancock County, and later in 1896 was elected to the W.Va. Senate. In 1899 he even served as president of the Senate, and his home reflects a man in that position.

The stately, five-bedroom home is richly appointed in the Queen Anne Style, popular in the 1880s. The first floor is adorned with cherry wood, hardwood floors, a stained-glass window, interior shutters, and original fireplace mantles. The floorplan is slightly quirky, even for the time in which it was built. The story goes that Oliver S. Marshall’s first wife, Elizabeth Tarr, loved the Ohio River and wished to be able to see it from every room. Elizabeth Tarr was the great granddaughter of Peter Tarr, proprietor of the furnace on Kings Creek. Her father, Campbell, a successful merchant from Wellsburg, was a delegate from Brooke County elected as a Unionist at the 1861 Virginia Secession Convention held in Richmond to discuss whether Virginia would leave the Union in the din before the Civil War. Campbell voted against all calls for secession and was expelled from the session due to that fact.

Later, Campbell joined the movement for the creation for the new state of West Virginia and served as the state’s first treasurer from 1863-67. Elizabeth married Oliver in 1880 and they enjoyed seven years together. She had a hand in the building of their home in New Cumberland but sadly didn’t live long enough to enjoy it, passing away the same year the house was completed. Born to this union were Olive and John Marshall. As the only children present when the home was built, their names were etched in the transoms above their respective rooms.

Olive died at only 18 devastating her father tremendously in 1904. John went on to graduate and later serve on the board of trustees of Bethany College. In 1925 he served as the assistant attorney general until 1929 under President Calvin Coolidge. He passed away in 1966. Oliver went on in 1890 to marry Nora Householder and have three more children, Edith, Edmund and Virginia. Oliver died in 1934 and Nora followed in 1952. Virginia Marshall never married but lived a very full life working as a teacher in New Cumberland for 40 years. Miss Marshall, as she was affectionately known, lived to be 99 years old while still remaining in her childhood home. As the story goes, she wanted the house torn down upon her death as she couldn’t bear it falling into disrepair or worse. I never had the pleasure of meeting Miss Marshall but I would like to think that she would be honored to know her family home is the site of the museum.

Today the Marshall House is full of history, not just history of the Marshall family, but that of the county, too, and its importance in state, local and national history.

It is an appropriate choice for the county museum as the family history can be traced to our early pioneers, Civil War, West Virginia history and domestic life in a small town at the turn of the 20th century. Due to the long tenure of the Marshall’s time in the old home, some of the family’s possessions have been retained, my favorite being two field hockey sticks found in the cavernous attic. I imagine on rainy days the Marshall children would play up there to stay out of the way of the grown-ups.

Maybe John would creep down and listen to his father talk law in his study. Perhaps this is where he was inspired to practice law himself in later life. I know the house and its story inspired me, more than 100 years later, to follow my passion and pursue a career in the museum field. So pick up that paper, take a chance and volunteer. You never know where it will lead you.

(Zuros is director of operations at Historic Fort Steuben and the Steubenville Visitors Center.)