Peter Marshall was born in Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland —a poverty-stricken coal-mining community —where he was raised by his mother and stepfather.

Peter decided he wanted to be a missionary to China. To meet the educational requirements, he enrolled in evening classes while working in the mines by day, but his progress was slow. In 1927, a cousin offered to pay Peter’s way to the U.S., where he could receive proper ministerial training. He graduated from Columbia Theological Seminary in 1931.

He was called as the pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, a small, rural church in Covington, Georgia. After a brief pastorate, Marshall accepted a call to Atlanta‘s Westminster Presbyterian Church in 1933.

In Atlanta, Marshall met his future wife, Catherine Wood, then a student at Agnes Scott College. They married on November 4, 1936, and had one son, Peter John Marshall, who followed in his father’s footsteps into the Presbyterian clergy and founded a national ministry, Peter Marshall Ministries, based in Orleans, Massachusetts. He wrote many books on the Christian faith in the United States.

In 1937, Peter became pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC. In 1946, he was appointed as US Senate Chaplain, serving from January 4, 1947, until his sudden death from a heart attack just over two years later, at age 46.

He is popularly remembered for the success of A Man Called Peter (1951), a biography written by his widow, Catherine, and the book’s 1955 film adaptation, which was nominated for an Academy Award for its cinematography. Directed by Henry Koster, it featured Richard Todd as Peter Marshall and Jean Peters as Catherine Marshall. Todd studied tape recordings of several Marshall sermons from 1947–48; some of these historic recordings were later released to the public by Caedmon Records.

Catherine developed a career as a writer, publishing more than 220 books. These included many editions of her late husband’s sermons, several of her own inspirational books, and the best-selling novel Christy, inspired by her mother’s accounts of her early teaching years in Appalachia.

References:

1.  “Reverend Peter J. Marshall Obituary (2010) Boston Globe”. Legacy.com.
2.  Marshall 2002.
3.  Find-a-Grave.
4. UPI. “Mrs. Catherine Marshall marries religious editor,” The Dallas Morning News, November 15, 1959.
5.  “Catherine Marshall LeSourd Dies”. Washington Post (in American English). ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2021-12-18.
6.  “Dr. Peter Marshall School”. marshall.magnoliasd.org.

*Information was retrieved from Wikipedia on 01/25/22.

ALSO ON THIS DAY

1859 – Inventor Cyrus McCormick married Nettie Fowler. After Cyrus’ passing, Nettie established McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago for young Presbyterian ministers. 

*Information retrieved from ChristianHistoryInstitute.org and Rhemalogy.com.