Jeff Marshall (center) and his parents, Joseph and Sharon, are busy working on this float for DeKalb’s “Celebrating Community” Parade Oct. 21, 2006. The engine in the picture is a 4 h.p. "Chanticleer" hit-and-miss engine built in DeKalb about 1912, by Jacob Haish Mfg. Co. Jeff Marshall, the family’s genealogist, said Haish was his third-great-uncle. An example of the "S Barb" barbed wire is enclosed in a tube hanging directly in front of the engine.  The S Barb was manufactured in DeKalb between 1875 -1916. (Photo by Kathy Vance Siebrasse)

Haish/Glidden float featured in DeKalb parade

by Kathy Vance Siebrasse
Sesquicentennial Publicity Chair

     Jeff Marshall can’t remember a time when he wasn’t interested in local history.
     The fact that Jacob Haish is among his ancestors is reason enough, but add in a long list of other significant founding residents and Marshall’s lineage could pique anyone’s interest.
     The Marshall Family will display its pride in that local heritage by participating in the “Celebrating Community” Parade Saturday, Oct. 21, as part of DeKalb’s Sesquicentennial Celebration in 2006. The parade also celebrates NIU’s 100^th Homecoming event.
        The float Marshall has designed will be co-sponsored by the J.F. Glidden Homestead & Historical Center, an emerging DeKalb museum that is preserving the site where Joseph Glidden invented "The Winner" barbed wire in the 1870s.
       Marshall serves as a volunteer board member of the Glidden Homestead, and owns JJ Marshall Landscape Creations, Inc., DeKalb. His parents, Joseph and Sharon Marshall, along with sister, Jennie Marshall Cummings, all of DeKalb, also have been involved in the float’s design. Anothe sister, Jamie, lives in Oklahoma.
     “The idea is to have a replica of the Glidden barn on the front half of the float, and to include images of Joe Glidden and Jacob Haish, as well,” said Marshall. 
     “An antique 4 h.p. Haish engine that is part of my private collection will be featured on the float. Also, we’ll include a mock-up bookshelf with books representing Haish's philanthropic ways, i.e. the Haish Memorial Library (now DeKalb Public Library).”
     Marshall said members of his family and the Glidden Homestead board of directors will ride on the float in costume.
     “I’m hoping my family’s involvement will serve as a challenge to other long-time residents to participate in the parade,” said Marshall.
     “There are many local families with long and significant histories here. They all should be represented in this historic event.”
     Parade applications are available online at www.cityofdekalb.com, with a link on the home page to the Sesquicentennial. Entry deadline is Oct. 5.
     As the family’s genealogist, Marshall has spent significant time researching his ancestry.
      “Everyone’s family tree spreads out as you go back over time,” Marshall explained.
     “It can be very confusing for people not familiar with genealogy. As an example, everyone has 32 third-great-grandparents. It can be hard to keep all of the names straight.”
     He shared some of the interesting facts he has uncovered about his family’s history in the area.
     Joseph and Hannah (McKellup) Hiland, his fourth-great-grandparents, moved to DeKalb Township with their family (including five horses and two wagons) from Licking County, OH, in 1846. Their farm was near the present location of the Jewel/Osco Store on Sycamore Road (in Sections 13 & 14).  Joseph later sold his farm to C.W. Marsh, the famous farm equipment inventor of the Marsh Harvester. 
     “Joseph had one of the first manufacturing businesses in DeKalb in 1846, selling wood roof shingles. Joseph's son-in-law was one of the first doctors in DeKalb, Dr. Basil Ruby,” said Marshall. 
     “Joseph's son, Charles, one of my third-great-grandfathers, started the Hiland Paint Store in downtown DeKalb in 1875. This paint store operated for over 75 years at 124 E. Main St. Charles's son, Arthur Hiland, my second-great-grandfather was postmaster of DeKalb from 1914-1923.”
     Christian Haish, another of Marshall’s fourth-great-grandfathers, moved to Pierce Township, DeKalb County, in about 1848, from Bucyrus, Crawford County, OH. He settled on a farm near the present location of the East Pierce Cemetery on Pritchard Road, just north of Hinckley.
     “His 17 children included another one of my third-great-grandfathers, Charles Haish, and my third-great-uncle Jacob Haish, of obvious DeKalb importance. Jacob came specifically to the city of DeKalb on one of the first trains in about 1853,” said Marshall.
     Edward Smith, another of Marshall’s third-great-grandfathers, emigrated to DeKalb Township in 1849, from Versailles, France, although he was born in England. Edward and his family settled on a large farm in DeKalb Township, Sections 16, 17 and 21, just west of the present location of NIU’s Convocation Center. His children, including Marshall’s second-great-grandfather, William Smith, worked for generations at the American Steel & Wire Company in town.