SIDEWALK SIGNATURES 
John Wesley Marshall

Long Beach’s sidewalks contain impressed “signatures” of many pavers who plied their trade in the city. If your ancestor owned a construction company or worked for one of those cement contractors, our “Sidewalk Signatures” series will be of interest to you.

photo: QHGS

John Wesley “J. W.” Marshall was born March 10, 1882, in Carnegie, Pennsylvania. He married Mary E. Brown in Columbiana County, Ohio, in 1907, and, by 1918, he resided in Long Beach. He is identified as a cement contractor in the 1923 Long Beach City Directory, living with his wife Mary E. at 269 Bennett Avenue; and, his family is enumerated in the 1920, 1930, and 1940 censuses here. John Wesley Marshall died on 20 March 1966, but his presence lives on, impressed into the concrete sidewalks he poured and finished in our city.

RESEARCH NOTE: Sources for this sketch: FamilySearch’s digitized Ohio marriage licenses and census records, 1923 Long Beach City Directory, WWI and WWII draft registration cards, and the California Death Index.