There is no record of Rev. John Marks ever having been in the military other than un-sourced references claiming he became a "Chaplain in General Washington's Army"; there is certainly no record of him being a "Captain". If your genealogy records list him as "Captain John Marks", it is incorrect. The "Captain John Marks" found referenced in Revolutionary War records was the SON of this John Marks. John Marks II, born circa 1751, served as Captain in the Continental Army out of Virginia from October 21, 1775 to February 15, 1781. After the Revolution, John II was again named Captain of the Loudoun County Militia. Rev. John and Capt. John are two different men, and "Suggested Edits" requesting that Rev. John's titled be made Captain will be declined.
From "Legends of Loudoun Valley", by Joseph V. Nichols. Originally copyrighted 1955; updated 1961 by Joseph Nichols and Potomac Press.
Pages 82-85.
Disclaimer at the bottom page 82:
"Most of the facts related in this article are well authenticated. However, most of them were never recorded but handed down from father to son. The writer frequently discussed these matters with the late Volney Osburn, a man well-informed in local history, and some of whose ancestors took part in these events. Dr. J. E. Copeland, long since deceased, also discussed a number of times with the writer the patriotic activities of the Rev. John Marks. Dr. Copeland was well versed in local history and his grandfather, John Copeland and his brother William and half brother James Copeland, took part in these events and were all members of Morgan's Riflemen. Then the writer's grandfather, Craven Howell, frequently told him stories told by his grandfather about this period in the history of this section. These stories from the above sources all have been carefully checked and compared and all were found to be in substantial agreement."
THE REV. JOHN MARKS, PATRIOT
The Rev. John Marks was probably born in Bucky County, Pa., in 1716. He died on the farm, now owned by Mrs. Fairfield Whitley, near Round Hill in 1788.
Nothing is known of his parentage, his education, his training for the ministry or when or where he was ordained as a minister in the Baptist church.The first mention of John Marks is found in the minutes of the Philadelphia Conference in which it is stated that he was sent out by the Montgomery church in 1748. At that time he was 32 years of age and he was probably sent out on a missionary tour.
In 1761 he moved from Pennsylvania to the western part of Loudoun county with his family--his wife, five boys and three girls. Since John Garrard, the second minister to serve Ketoctin church, had returned to Mill Creek in the Shenandoah Valley, Marks became the pastor of this church. He served for 24 years or until 1785 when his ailing health forced him to relinquish his ministerial duties.
Our land records show that in 1762 he purchased from Ephraim Thomas, Bucks County, Pa., for the sum of fifty pounds sterling a farm of 150 acres where he lived the rest of his life. The house in which he lived is still standing and is now owned by Mrs. Fairfield Whitley.
Unfortunately the minutes of the Ketoctin church previous to 1776 were destroyed so there is no record of how often services were held or the salary paid to the minister. However, it is a well known fact that ministers at that time were poorly paid and that on the first Sunday of each month there was preaching at "Short Hill church" as this place of worship was usually called.
At this point it may be of interest to note what Robert B. Semple in his "History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists in Virginia," published in 1810, has to say about Reverend John Marks.
"As a preacher he was sound and sensible, yet cold and phlegmatic. Being a poor man and obliged to labor for his support, his ministerial services were confined to a small circle. His cold and dry method did not help him be more successful.
He was certainly not a hellfire and brimstone kind of a preacher nor country and being very temperate and regular in his life he lived to be very old. He died about the year 1786, having from first to last maintained 'a spotless reputation for piety and steadiness'."
As to Marks' poverty, his will and the inventory of his personal property recorded in our Clerk's Office do not bear it out. He left four farms and a considerable amount of personal property with no debts. This proves that he was a good farmer and business man.
He was rather old when he came to Virginia, but settling in a healthy [sic] did he attempt to substitute loud declamation and long tiresome harangues for sound thinking and clear expression in moderate tones. So his style of preaching was not popular in his day. However, the steady growth of the church proves that he was a successful pastor.
When differences arose between England and her colonies, without hesitation Marks actively espoused the Revolutionary cause. Not only was he strongly opposed to all the efforts of the British government to levy any kind of taxes on the colonies but with equal vigor he opposed the established church and all efforts of England as well as those of the colony of Virginia to levy taxes for its support.
As the tension between the mother country and her colonies became more acute Marks held a number of meeting in his log church for the purpose of instructing not only his parishioners but also members of the whole community as to their rights as British subjects. Many of these people were illiterate and few were well informed. However, they were largely of Scotch-Irish descent and most of them remembered the stories old them by their grandfathers of the oppression imposed on them by that English government which practically forced them to emigrate from Ulster in Ireland to America.
So the minds of most of the people of the community were in part at least very well prepared to receive the kind of instruction that Marks was ready to impart to them. Much interest was manifested in these meetings and the attendance grew so large that the small church would scarcely provide standing room. Visitors from afar were attracted to them.
A delegation of German settlers from what is now Lovettsville district attended one of these meetings. Their leader's English as so broken that little of what he said could be understood, but his manner, tone of voice and general expression showed very plainly where his sympathies were. Daniel Morgan, later to become famous as an American leader, attended at least one of these meetings and took park in the discussion.
Throughout the colonies some of the more wealthy and influential families sympathized with the British. This community was no exception. One Nicholas Osburn a comparatively well informed man of considerable ability and a rather fluent speaker, was a pronounced and outspoken tory. He took exception to Marks' activities and a debate was arranged between them. Of course this unusual event attracted the whole countryside. It is probable that Osburn would have acquitted himself very well in this discussion but the anti-British sentiment of the audience was too strong for anyone to overcome, and he was scarcely given a respectful hearing. However, he still maintained his tory sentiments which some years later he manifested by having his grandson named Tarleton after the hated and rather successful British cavalry leader.
So intense did the patriotic sentiment become under the fostering zeal of Marks that nearly every man of military age in that section enlisted in the American army. two of his sons, Isaiah and John, as well as a son-in-law, William Howell, enlisted in Morgan's Riflemen and Isaiah was soon promoted to captain. Thomas Humphrey, another son-in-law also enlisted and served throughout the war. ***
It is interesting to note that in the Clerk's Office, Leesburg, in Order Book I, page 84, Sept. 12, 1785, is the following notation:
"License is granted to the Reverend John Marks to Celebrate the Rite of Matrimony in this State, he having made oath and Entered into Bond with security according to Law.
Present Farling Ball, Gent."
It appears like the irony of fate that this privilege and right that John Marks had been agitating for and striving to attain all through his ministry was accorded to him at the close of his career when the weight of years and failing health rendered him incapable of making use of it but a few months.
A plain gray stone in Ketoctin cemetery marks the mortal remains of this patriotic man of God. The inscription, scarcely legible, is as follows:
Reverend John Marks
died the 3rd day of March, 1788
aged 72 years
Nearby is the grave of his son, Captain Isaiah Marks, covered by a marble slab."
*** - It should be noted that three other sons of Rev. John Marks, namely Abel, Elisha, and Thomas, are also documented as soldiers in the Revolutionary War.
From "Legends of Loudoun Valley", by Joseph V. Nichols. Originally copyrighted 1955; updated 1961 by Joseph Nichols and Potomac Press.
Pages 82-85.
Disclaimer at the bottom page 82:
"Most of the facts related in this article are well authenticated. However, most of them were never recorded but handed down from father to son. The writer frequently discussed these matters with the late Volney Osburn, a man well-informed in local history, and some of whose ancestors took part in these events. Dr. J. E. Copeland, long since deceased, also discussed a number of times with the writer the patriotic activities of the Rev. John Marks. Dr. Copeland was well versed in local history and his grandfather, John Copeland and his brother William and half brother James Copeland, took part in these events and were all members of Morgan's Riflemen. Then the writer's grandfather, Craven Howell, frequently told him stories told by his grandfather about this period in the history of this section. These stories from the above sources all have been carefully checked and compared and all were found to be in substantial agreement."
THE REV. JOHN MARKS, PATRIOT
The Rev. John Marks was probably born in Bucky County, Pa., in 1716. He died on the farm, now owned by Mrs. Fairfield Whitley, near Round Hill in 1788.
Nothing is known of his parentage, his education, his training for the ministry or when or where he was ordained as a minister in the Baptist church.The first mention of John Marks is found in the minutes of the Philadelphia Conference in which it is stated that he was sent out by the Montgomery church in 1748. At that time he was 32 years of age and he was probably sent out on a missionary tour.
In 1761 he moved from Pennsylvania to the western part of Loudoun county with his family--his wife, five boys and three girls. Since John Garrard, the second minister to serve Ketoctin church, had returned to Mill Creek in the Shenandoah Valley, Marks became the pastor of this church. He served for 24 years or until 1785 when his ailing health forced him to relinquish his ministerial duties.
Our land records show that in 1762 he purchased from Ephraim Thomas, Bucks County, Pa., for the sum of fifty pounds sterling a farm of 150 acres where he lived the rest of his life. The house in which he lived is still standing and is now owned by Mrs. Fairfield Whitley.
Unfortunately the minutes of the Ketoctin church previous to 1776 were destroyed so there is no record of how often services were held or the salary paid to the minister. However, it is a well known fact that ministers at that time were poorly paid and that on the first Sunday of each month there was preaching at "Short Hill church" as this place of worship was usually called.
At this point it may be of interest to note what Robert B. Semple in his "History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists in Virginia," published in 1810, has to say about Reverend John Marks.
"As a preacher he was sound and sensible, yet cold and phlegmatic. Being a poor man and obliged to labor for his support, his ministerial services were confined to a small circle. His cold and dry method did not help him be more successful.
He was certainly not a hellfire and brimstone kind of a preacher nor country and being very temperate and regular in his life he lived to be very old. He died about the year 1786, having from first to last maintained 'a spotless reputation for piety and steadiness'."
As to Marks' poverty, his will and the inventory of his personal property recorded in our Clerk's Office do not bear it out. He left four farms and a considerable amount of personal property with no debts. This proves that he was a good farmer and business man.
He was rather old when he came to Virginia, but settling in a healthy [sic] did he attempt to substitute loud declamation and long tiresome harangues for sound thinking and clear expression in moderate tones. So his style of preaching was not popular in his day. However, the steady growth of the church proves that he was a successful pastor.
When differences arose between England and her colonies, without hesitation Marks actively espoused the Revolutionary cause. Not only was he strongly opposed to all the efforts of the British government to levy any kind of taxes on the colonies but with equal vigor he opposed the established church and all efforts of England as well as those of the colony of Virginia to levy taxes for its support.
As the tension between the mother country and her colonies became more acute Marks held a number of meeting in his log church for the purpose of instructing not only his parishioners but also members of the whole community as to their rights as British subjects. Many of these people were illiterate and few were well informed. However, they were largely of Scotch-Irish descent and most of them remembered the stories old them by their grandfathers of the oppression imposed on them by that English government which practically forced them to emigrate from Ulster in Ireland to America.
So the minds of most of the people of the community were in part at least very well prepared to receive the kind of instruction that Marks was ready to impart to them. Much interest was manifested in these meetings and the attendance grew so large that the small church would scarcely provide standing room. Visitors from afar were attracted to them.
A delegation of German settlers from what is now Lovettsville district attended one of these meetings. Their leader's English as so broken that little of what he said could be understood, but his manner, tone of voice and general expression showed very plainly where his sympathies were. Daniel Morgan, later to become famous as an American leader, attended at least one of these meetings and took park in the discussion.
Throughout the colonies some of the more wealthy and influential families sympathized with the British. This community was no exception. One Nicholas Osburn a comparatively well informed man of considerable ability and a rather fluent speaker, was a pronounced and outspoken tory. He took exception to Marks' activities and a debate was arranged between them. Of course this unusual event attracted the whole countryside. It is probable that Osburn would have acquitted himself very well in this discussion but the anti-British sentiment of the audience was too strong for anyone to overcome, and he was scarcely given a respectful hearing. However, he still maintained his tory sentiments which some years later he manifested by having his grandson named Tarleton after the hated and rather successful British cavalry leader.
So intense did the patriotic sentiment become under the fostering zeal of Marks that nearly every man of military age in that section enlisted in the American army. two of his sons, Isaiah and John, as well as a son-in-law, William Howell, enlisted in Morgan's Riflemen and Isaiah was soon promoted to captain. Thomas Humphrey, another son-in-law also enlisted and served throughout the war. ***
It is interesting to note that in the Clerk's Office, Leesburg, in Order Book I, page 84, Sept. 12, 1785, is the following notation:
"License is granted to the Reverend John Marks to Celebrate the Rite of Matrimony in this State, he having made oath and Entered into Bond with security according to Law.
Present Farling Ball, Gent."
It appears like the irony of fate that this privilege and right that John Marks had been agitating for and striving to attain all through his ministry was accorded to him at the close of his career when the weight of years and failing health rendered him incapable of making use of it but a few months.
A plain gray stone in Ketoctin cemetery marks the mortal remains of this patriotic man of God. The inscription, scarcely legible, is as follows:
Reverend John Marks
died the 3rd day of March, 1788
aged 72 years
Nearby is the grave of his son, Captain Isaiah Marks, covered by a marble slab."
*** - It should be noted that three other sons of Rev. John Marks, namely Abel, Elisha, and Thomas, are also documented as soldiers in the Revolutionary War.
There is no record of Rev. John Marks ever having been in the military other than un-sourced references claiming he became a "Chaplain in General Washington's Army"; there is certainly no record of him being a "Captain". If your genealogy records list him as "Captain John Marks", it is incorrect. The "Captain John Marks" found referenced in Revolutionary War records was the SON of this John Marks. John Marks II, born circa 1751, served as Captain in the Continental Army out of Virginia from October 21, 1775 to February 15, 1781. After the Revolution, John II was again named Captain of the Loudoun County Militia. Rev. John and Capt. John are two different men, and "Suggested Edits" requesting that Rev. John's titled be made Captain will be declined.
From "Legends of Loudoun Valley", by Joseph V. Nichols. Originally copyrighted 1955; updated 1961 by Joseph Nichols and Potomac Press.
Pages 82-85.
Disclaimer at the bottom page 82:
"Most of the facts related in this article are well authenticated. However, most of them were never recorded but handed down from father to son. The writer frequently discussed these matters with the late Volney Osburn, a man well-informed in local history, and some of whose ancestors took part in these events. Dr. J. E. Copeland, long since deceased, also discussed a number of times with the writer the patriotic activities of the Rev. John Marks. Dr. Copeland was well versed in local history and his grandfather, John Copeland and his brother William and half brother James Copeland, took part in these events and were all members of Morgan's Riflemen. Then the writer's grandfather, Craven Howell, frequently told him stories told by his grandfather about this period in the history of this section. These stories from the above sources all have been carefully checked and compared and all were found to be in substantial agreement."
THE REV. JOHN MARKS, PATRIOT
The Rev. John Marks was probably born in Bucky County, Pa., in 1716. He died on the farm, now owned by Mrs. Fairfield Whitley, near Round Hill in 1788.
Nothing is known of his parentage, his education, his training for the ministry or when or where he was ordained as a minister in the Baptist church.The first mention of John Marks is found in the minutes of the Philadelphia Conference in which it is stated that he was sent out by the Montgomery church in 1748. At that time he was 32 years of age and he was probably sent out on a missionary tour.
In 1761 he moved from Pennsylvania to the western part of Loudoun county with his family--his wife, five boys and three girls. Since John Garrard, the second minister to serve Ketoctin church, had returned to Mill Creek in the Shenandoah Valley, Marks became the pastor of this church. He served for 24 years or until 1785 when his ailing health forced him to relinquish his ministerial duties.
Our land records show that in 1762 he purchased from Ephraim Thomas, Bucks County, Pa., for the sum of fifty pounds sterling a farm of 150 acres where he lived the rest of his life. The house in which he lived is still standing and is now owned by Mrs. Fairfield Whitley.
Unfortunately the minutes of the Ketoctin church previous to 1776 were destroyed so there is no record of how often services were held or the salary paid to the minister. However, it is a well known fact that ministers at that time were poorly paid and that on the first Sunday of each month there was preaching at "Short Hill church" as this place of worship was usually called.
At this point it may be of interest to note what Robert B. Semple in his "History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists in Virginia," published in 1810, has to say about Reverend John Marks.
"As a preacher he was sound and sensible, yet cold and phlegmatic. Being a poor man and obliged to labor for his support, his ministerial services were confined to a small circle. His cold and dry method did not help him be more successful.
He was certainly not a hellfire and brimstone kind of a preacher nor country and being very temperate and regular in his life he lived to be very old. He died about the year 1786, having from first to last maintained 'a spotless reputation for piety and steadiness'."
As to Marks' poverty, his will and the inventory of his personal property recorded in our Clerk's Office do not bear it out. He left four farms and a considerable amount of personal property with no debts. This proves that he was a good farmer and business man.
He was rather old when he came to Virginia, but settling in a healthy [sic] did he attempt to substitute loud declamation and long tiresome harangues for sound thinking and clear expression in moderate tones. So his style of preaching was not popular in his day. However, the steady growth of the church proves that he was a successful pastor.
When differences arose between England and her colonies, without hesitation Marks actively espoused the Revolutionary cause. Not only was he strongly opposed to all the efforts of the British government to levy any kind of taxes on the colonies but with equal vigor he opposed the established church and all efforts of England as well as those of the colony of Virginia to levy taxes for its support.
As the tension between the mother country and her colonies became more acute Marks held a number of meeting in his log church for the purpose of instructing not only his parishioners but also members of the whole community as to their rights as British subjects. Many of these people were illiterate and few were well informed. However, they were largely of Scotch-Irish descent and most of them remembered the stories old them by their grandfathers of the oppression imposed on them by that English government which practically forced them to emigrate from Ulster in Ireland to America.
So the minds of most of the people of the community were in part at least very well prepared to receive the kind of instruction that Marks was ready to impart to them. Much interest was manifested in these meetings and the attendance grew so large that the small church would scarcely provide standing room. Visitors from afar were attracted to them.
A delegation of German settlers from what is now Lovettsville district attended one of these meetings. Their leader's English as so broken that little of what he said could be understood, but his manner, tone of voice and general expression showed very plainly where his sympathies were. Daniel Morgan, later to become famous as an American leader, attended at least one of these meetings and took park in the discussion.
Throughout the colonies some of the more wealthy and influential families sympathized with the British. This community was no exception. One Nicholas Osburn a comparatively well informed man of considerable ability and a rather fluent speaker, was a pronounced and outspoken tory. He took exception to Marks' activities and a debate was arranged between them. Of course this unusual event attracted the whole countryside. It is probable that Osburn would have acquitted himself very well in this discussion but the anti-British sentiment of the audience was too strong for anyone to overcome, and he was scarcely given a respectful hearing. However, he still maintained his tory sentiments which some years later he manifested by having his grandson named Tarleton after the hated and rather successful British cavalry leader.
So intense did the patriotic sentiment become under the fostering zeal of Marks that nearly every man of military age in that section enlisted in the American army. two of his sons, Isaiah and John, as well as a son-in-law, William Howell, enlisted in Morgan's Riflemen and Isaiah was soon promoted to captain. Thomas Humphrey, another son-in-law also enlisted and served throughout the war. ***
It is interesting to note that in the Clerk's Office, Leesburg, in Order Book I, page 84, Sept. 12, 1785, is the following notation:
"License is granted to the Reverend John Marks to Celebrate the Rite of Matrimony in this State, he having made oath and Entered into Bond with security according to Law.
Present Farling Ball, Gent."
It appears like the irony of fate that this privilege and right that John Marks had been agitating for and striving to attain all through his ministry was accorded to him at the close of his career when the weight of years and failing health rendered him incapable of making use of it but a few months.
A plain gray stone in Ketoctin cemetery marks the mortal remains of this patriotic man of God. The inscription, scarcely legible, is as follows:
Reverend John Marks
died the 3rd day of March, 1788
aged 72 years
Nearby is the grave of his son, Captain Isaiah Marks, covered by a marble slab."
*** - It should be noted that three other sons of Rev. John Marks, namely Abel, Elisha, and Thomas, are also documented as soldiers in the Revolutionary War.
From "Legends of Loudoun Valley", by Joseph V. Nichols. Originally copyrighted 1955; updated 1961 by Joseph Nichols and Potomac Press.
Pages 82-85.
Disclaimer at the bottom page 82:
"Most of the facts related in this article are well authenticated. However, most of them were never recorded but handed down from father to son. The writer frequently discussed these matters with the late Volney Osburn, a man well-informed in local history, and some of whose ancestors took part in these events. Dr. J. E. Copeland, long since deceased, also discussed a number of times with the writer the patriotic activities of the Rev. John Marks. Dr. Copeland was well versed in local history and his grandfather, John Copeland and his brother William and half brother James Copeland, took part in these events and were all members of Morgan's Riflemen. Then the writer's grandfather, Craven Howell, frequently told him stories told by his grandfather about this period in the history of this section. These stories from the above sources all have been carefully checked and compared and all were found to be in substantial agreement."
THE REV. JOHN MARKS, PATRIOT
The Rev. John Marks was probably born in Bucky County, Pa., in 1716. He died on the farm, now owned by Mrs. Fairfield Whitley, near Round Hill in 1788.
Nothing is known of his parentage, his education, his training for the ministry or when or where he was ordained as a minister in the Baptist church.The first mention of John Marks is found in the minutes of the Philadelphia Conference in which it is stated that he was sent out by the Montgomery church in 1748. At that time he was 32 years of age and he was probably sent out on a missionary tour.
In 1761 he moved from Pennsylvania to the western part of Loudoun county with his family--his wife, five boys and three girls. Since John Garrard, the second minister to serve Ketoctin church, had returned to Mill Creek in the Shenandoah Valley, Marks became the pastor of this church. He served for 24 years or until 1785 when his ailing health forced him to relinquish his ministerial duties.
Our land records show that in 1762 he purchased from Ephraim Thomas, Bucks County, Pa., for the sum of fifty pounds sterling a farm of 150 acres where he lived the rest of his life. The house in which he lived is still standing and is now owned by Mrs. Fairfield Whitley.
Unfortunately the minutes of the Ketoctin church previous to 1776 were destroyed so there is no record of how often services were held or the salary paid to the minister. However, it is a well known fact that ministers at that time were poorly paid and that on the first Sunday of each month there was preaching at "Short Hill church" as this place of worship was usually called.
At this point it may be of interest to note what Robert B. Semple in his "History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists in Virginia," published in 1810, has to say about Reverend John Marks.
"As a preacher he was sound and sensible, yet cold and phlegmatic. Being a poor man and obliged to labor for his support, his ministerial services were confined to a small circle. His cold and dry method did not help him be more successful.
He was certainly not a hellfire and brimstone kind of a preacher nor country and being very temperate and regular in his life he lived to be very old. He died about the year 1786, having from first to last maintained 'a spotless reputation for piety and steadiness'."
As to Marks' poverty, his will and the inventory of his personal property recorded in our Clerk's Office do not bear it out. He left four farms and a considerable amount of personal property with no debts. This proves that he was a good farmer and business man.
He was rather old when he came to Virginia, but settling in a healthy [sic] did he attempt to substitute loud declamation and long tiresome harangues for sound thinking and clear expression in moderate tones. So his style of preaching was not popular in his day. However, the steady growth of the church proves that he was a successful pastor.
When differences arose between England and her colonies, without hesitation Marks actively espoused the Revolutionary cause. Not only was he strongly opposed to all the efforts of the British government to levy any kind of taxes on the colonies but with equal vigor he opposed the established church and all efforts of England as well as those of the colony of Virginia to levy taxes for its support.
As the tension between the mother country and her colonies became more acute Marks held a number of meeting in his log church for the purpose of instructing not only his parishioners but also members of the whole community as to their rights as British subjects. Many of these people were illiterate and few were well informed. However, they were largely of Scotch-Irish descent and most of them remembered the stories old them by their grandfathers of the oppression imposed on them by that English government which practically forced them to emigrate from Ulster in Ireland to America.
So the minds of most of the people of the community were in part at least very well prepared to receive the kind of instruction that Marks was ready to impart to them. Much interest was manifested in these meetings and the attendance grew so large that the small church would scarcely provide standing room. Visitors from afar were attracted to them.
A delegation of German settlers from what is now Lovettsville district attended one of these meetings. Their leader's English as so broken that little of what he said could be understood, but his manner, tone of voice and general expression showed very plainly where his sympathies were. Daniel Morgan, later to become famous as an American leader, attended at least one of these meetings and took park in the discussion.
Throughout the colonies some of the more wealthy and influential families sympathized with the British. This community was no exception. One Nicholas Osburn a comparatively well informed man of considerable ability and a rather fluent speaker, was a pronounced and outspoken tory. He took exception to Marks' activities and a debate was arranged between them. Of course this unusual event attracted the whole countryside. It is probable that Osburn would have acquitted himself very well in this discussion but the anti-British sentiment of the audience was too strong for anyone to overcome, and he was scarcely given a respectful hearing. However, he still maintained his tory sentiments which some years later he manifested by having his grandson named Tarleton after the hated and rather successful British cavalry leader.
So intense did the patriotic sentiment become under the fostering zeal of Marks that nearly every man of military age in that section enlisted in the American army. two of his sons, Isaiah and John, as well as a son-in-law, William Howell, enlisted in Morgan's Riflemen and Isaiah was soon promoted to captain. Thomas Humphrey, another son-in-law also enlisted and served throughout the war. ***
It is interesting to note that in the Clerk's Office, Leesburg, in Order Book I, page 84, Sept. 12, 1785, is the following notation:
"License is granted to the Reverend John Marks to Celebrate the Rite of Matrimony in this State, he having made oath and Entered into Bond with security according to Law.
Present Farling Ball, Gent."
It appears like the irony of fate that this privilege and right that John Marks had been agitating for and striving to attain all through his ministry was accorded to him at the close of his career when the weight of years and failing health rendered him incapable of making use of it but a few months.
A plain gray stone in Ketoctin cemetery marks the mortal remains of this patriotic man of God. The inscription, scarcely legible, is as follows:
Reverend John Marks
died the 3rd day of March, 1788
aged 72 years
Nearby is the grave of his son, Captain Isaiah Marks, covered by a marble slab."
*** - It should be noted that three other sons of Rev. John Marks, namely Abel, Elisha, and Thomas, are also documented as soldiers in the Revolutionary War.
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