The Girl Who Stole John Marshall's Heart

 Having shared the story of John Marshall's life, it seems appropriate to share the story of the girl who stole his heart.  The Ambler Family of Virginia was well known and prosperous.  The girl's grandfather had collected taxes for the King, before the War of Independence, as did her father and his brothers for a time prior to the revolution.  Her own father was the youngest of three brothers, all of whom received excellent educations, the older two having attended Cambridge in England, and her father having graduated from William & Mary in Williamsburg.  He was a patriot during the revolution and served on Virginia's Council of State in 1780 and as Treasurer of Virginia from 1782 to his death in 1798.

In comparison, John Marshall's education was largely acquired by his own love for reading English literature, poetry, and history, although he did attend one year at the Westmoreland Country Academy with future president James Monroe.  He gained notice fighting in the American War of Independence, shivering in Valley Forge during the winter of 1777-78 and fighting battles in Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth.  Following his military duty, he began legal studies at the College of William and Mary, gaining further notice.  

During the same time, Polly was barely a teenager, acquiring the education suitable for a girl of her class, learning basic writing, reading, arithmetic, and religious principles, preparing to be a mother and wife capable of managing the household her husband provided, which in Virginia included managing the enslaved men and women who did the labor to keep her home clean and running smoothly.  She had been only 10 when the Declaration of Independence was signed.  

Despite the age difference of slightly more than 10 years, John Marshall was introduced to Polly Ambler, and as he recalled, "I saw her first the week she attained the age of fourteen & was greatly pleased with her.  Girls then came into company much earlier than at present."

Mary Ambler "Polly" Marshall

Between the time of their first meeting, they would probably have seen one another at social occasions, and finally John could wait no longer.  He proposed.  The family story was told that Polly was so flustered by the proposal that she said "no."  Her cousin intervened, explaining to John that Polly had been so surprised and happy that she had blurted out the opposite of what she meant to say.  They were married on January 3, 1783.  

Perhaps John gave his heart to Polly that night they were first introduced when she was only 14, and she was just 16 when they married, but his love and devotion never waned.  When she sent her cousin to tell John that she did want to be his wife, she had included a lock of her hair to deliver to him.  Later, she entwined a lock of John's hair with hers and tucked the two in a locket that she always wore. 

Despite their love for each other, Polly's life with John was difficult.  Their first child was born in 1784, their second child was born in 1787, followed by two miscarriages and then two infant deaths, with a third child in 1795.  Women's health care during that time was beyond inadequate, and records indicate 40 percent of children would not live to see their 5th birthday.  Childbirth was painful, and the risk of puerperal fever, which appeared mysteriously after deliveries and often led to quick death, was a fearful possibility--until in the 1880s they finally realized that unclean doctors' hands and instruments were the source of the deaths.  Modesty and morality in Victorian America contributed to apprehension in both patients and doctors.  Ultimately, six of Polly's children would survive.

John was a loving husband, but his law practice and his time serving in the Virginia state legislature took him away from home.  In 1797 when he was sent as President Adams's envoy to France, Polly worried wrongly that her husband was having a dalliance with a French woman.  As his responsibilities in government grew, her poor health worsened.  Her life diminished to traveling to seek cures for her various physical ailments and making family visits.  Even those things ended as she spent more and more time in bed, but for John she remained his "Dearest Polly."

She died in 1831 at the age of 65, the cause of death being certified as "Old Age."  Family history describes her deathbed gift to John of the locket she had worn throughout their marriage, containing the twisted strands of hair exchanged at the time of their engagement.  As she wished, he is said to have worn the locket until his own death in 1835.