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Marshall Women with 1855 Wedding Cape

This shawl is the wedding cape of Anna Mary Rumbarger Marshall (1838-1924). She was married two days after her 17th birthday, on 09 February 1855, to William Kelker Marshall (1829-1911) in Brookville, Jefferson County, Pennsylvania. Her parents were John Rumbarger (1810-1889) and Elizabeth Leathers (1818-1844). Mary Marshall was the mother of 12 children--6 boys and 6 girls. For our Grandmother to have kept and treasured this unusual piece of cloth after her wedding is, I believe, a sign of its great importance to her. In time, it came to her granddaughter Zella Hartman Sprankle. Zella was the daughter of Mary Lovina "Love" Marshall Hartman--Mary Marshall's namesake and daughter who died at age 30 in 1892. Zella passed it to her daughter, Helen Sprankle Sheffler; and Helen gave it to her daughter Sue Sheffler Yokim of DuBois, Pennsylvania. In the summer of 2006, Sue Yokim sent the wedding shawl home with Kelly Marshall, with an expressed desire that it be kept in the Marshall family. The cape is about four yards long, has a fringe, and is entirely black. This photograph shows women of the Marshall family inspecting this remarkable garment on 12 August 2006 at the annual Marshall Family Reunion near Kittanning, Pennsylvania. Pictured are either descendants or spouses of descendants of Mary Marshall’s sons William Frederick Marshall (1864-1945), Earl Jay Marshall (1878-1941), and Guy Ralph Marshall (1884-1965). From left to right: Connie [Marshall] Tataseo Mondok, a great-great granddaughter; Betty Shankle Marshall, wife of Percy`J. Marshall, a great-grandson; Jean Marshall Mohan, a great-granddaughter; Sandra Marshall Clark, a great-great granddaughter; Donna Telford Marshall, wife of Bob Marshall, a great-grandson; and Eva Bradley Marshall Tataseo, wife of Twyde Earl Marshall, a great-grandson. Connie, Jean and Sandra were born to the Marshall family; and Betty, Donna and Eva married into the family.

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