Where Is Robert Louis Stevenson's Wife's Brother-in-Law Buried in Panama?

Summary: Where is George Marshall, whose grave his sister-in-law Fanny Osbourne, future wife of Robert Louis Stevenson, visited in 1864, buried in Panama?

Is George Marshall, brother-in-law of Robert Louis Stevenson's future wife Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne, who visited his grave in Panama in 1864, buried on Panama's Atlantic coast in Aspinwall, the northern terminus of the Panama Railroad? Or, is he buried on the Pacific coast in Panama City, the southern terminus of the Panama Railroad? "Aspinwall, Central America -- The Panama Railroad Train Starting for Panama," illustration in Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization, vol. X, no. 474 (Saturday, Jan. 27, 1866), page 61: via Internet Archive

Where is George Marshall, whose grave was visited in 1864 by his sister-in-law Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne, future wife of Robert Louis Stevenson, buried in Panama?

Philadelphians Jacob Van de Grift Jr. (Sep. 9, 1816-Aug. 14, 1876) and Esther Thomas Keen Van de Grift (Dec. 3, 1811-Sep. 10, 1894) met and married in Indianapolis, Indiana. The lumber businessman and later Vandalia Railroad purchasing agent and his wife had seven children, of whom first-born Henry Van de Grift (March 8, 1839) died in infancy. Their second child, Frances "Fanny" Matilda Van de Grift (March 10, 1840-Feb. 18, 1914), was born Tuesday, March 10, 1840. Josephine Knodle Van de Grift (Nov. 21, 1842-Sep. 1, 1915) and Elizabeth "Bettie" Ellen Van de Grift (Jan. 23, 1846-Oct. 9, 1917) followed Fanny. Fanny, Josephine and Elizabeth then became older sisters to their parents' second and only surviving son, Jacob Van de Grift (Nov. 9, 1848-Feb. 14, 1923). Jacob became an older brother with the births of the family's two youngest girls, Cora Van de Grift (Nov. 12, 1852-Sep. 14, 1925) and Nellie Foster Van de Grift (Nov. 24, 1855-Jan. 4, 1935).

One of tomboy Fanny's childhood playmates was neighbor George Marshall. Unfortunately, younger sister Josephine persistently tagged them as an uninvited, unwelcome participant in their activities. "These two were close companions in all sorts of strenuous sports, and nothing annoyed them more than to have little teasing Josephine, Fanny's younger sister, trailing after them and breaking up their games. George finally announced that he would play no more unless Josephine could be kept away," explained Fanny's youngest sister, Nellie, in her biography of her oldest sister, The Life of Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson (1922, page 22).

Fanny's rapport with boys did not end with childhood. "A new era opened, and romance, which budded early in that time and place, began to unfold its first tender leaves. Various youths of the town, attracted by the piquant prettiness and sparkling vivacity of the eldest daughter, began to haunt the Van de Grift house. In the sentimental fashion of the day, these sighing swains carved her name on the trees, and so wide was the circle of her fascination that there was scarcely a tree in the place that did not bear somewhere on its long-suffering trunk the name or initials of Fanny Van de Grift" (Nellie Sanchez, pages 22-23). Fanny, however, did not reciprocate the romantic affections of her suitors.

But then Samuel "Sam" C. Osbourne (Nov 1, 1837-March 28, 1887) entered her life. She captivated the "engaging" Kentuckian even though (or perhaps because?) she was ". . . so much of a child that she was walking on stilts in the garden when Samuel Osbourne first called at the house" (Nellie Sanchez, page 23). Samuel was employed as private secretary to Ashbel Parsons Willard (Oct. 31, 1820-Oct. 4, 1860), the state of Indiana's 11th governor (in office Jan. 12, 1857-Oct. 4, 1860).

"On December 4, 1857, in a house on Michigan Street, which had already been prepared and furnished for their occupancy, Samuel Osbourne, aged twenty, and Fanny Van de Grift, aged seventeen, were united in marriage" (Nellie Sanchez, page 23). The wedding took place Christmas Eve, Thursday, Dec. 24, 1857, according to Sharon Butsch Freeland in "HI Mailbag: Fanny Vandegrift Osbourne Stevenson (Part I)," posted Dec. 3, 2013, on her Historic Indianapolis HI website. The Indianapolis historian and HUNI (Historic Urban Neighborhoods of Indianapolis) Editorial Board member notes the reporting of "different dates for their wedding . . . in various biographical sources . . ." She cites a notice of the Christmas Eve wedding date in the Monday, Dec. 28, 1857, issue of the Indianapolis Sentinel. Could youngest sister Nellie's Dec. 4 date be a typographical error?

As for Fanny's "favourite playmate" (Nellie Sanchez, page 24), her biographer youngest sister noted: "But boys change, and when he grew up he married Josephine" (Nellie Sanchez, page 22). George and Josephine were married in the Van de Grift family home in 1863, according to Betty J. Lane in "Fanny, the Captivating Hoosier Wife of Author Robert Louis Stevenson" (page 10) in the February 1981 issue of Hendricks County History Bulletin. The wedding took place Thursday, Jan. 15, 1863, by French biographer and writer Alexandra Lapierre in Fanny Stevenson: A Romance of Destiny (1995; page 15).

Both Samuel Osbourne and George Marshall joined the Union Army during the American Civil War (April 12, 1861-May 26, 1865). George's enrollment in the 18th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, occurred Friday, Aug. 16, 1861, according to the Indiana, U.S. Civil War Soldier Database Index, 1861-1865 on the Ancestry website. The database noted his appointment as "1st Lt. & Adjt. appt. Adjt., August 13, 1861." Samuel's service with the 46th Regiment, Indiana Infantry was noted as: "Resigned May 26, 1862. Capt., February 15, 1862."

The rigors of the American Civil War's settings weakened George's health so drastically that he contracted tuberculosis. "After a time spent in active service on some of the hardest fought battle-fields of the Civil War, the hardships and exposure of the life told upon a constitution never at any time robust, and he returned to his young wife a victim of tuberculosis," explained Fanny's sororal biographer Nellie (pages 24-25). A doctor-prescribed recuperation in "the milder climate of California" induced George, accompanied by Samuel, to reach the west coast via the three-part Panama route of maritime travel with transfer from the Atlantic to Pacific oceans by train across the Panamanian isthmus.

The two brothers-in-law boarded the SS Ocean Queen in New York on a stormy Wednesday, Jan. 20, 1864 (Alexandra Lapierre, page 18). The Ocean Queen was a paddle steamer, also known as paddle wheeler, built by Stephen G. Bogert in 1857 at New York City's Westervelt & Company Shipyards (1836-1864). The side-paddled wooden steamship was named originally SS Queen of the Pacific and renamed SS Ocean Queen from 1859 until scrapping in Wilmington, Delaware in 1875.

Unfortunately, the voyage was ill-fated for George. "The two young men, leaving their families behind them, took ship at New York for Panama; but the Angel of Death sailed with them, and Captain Marshall breathed his last while crossing the Isthmus" (Nellie Sanchez, page 25). George passed away Saturday, Jan. 23, 1864, according to Alexandra Lapierre (pages 18-19).

Samuel buried his friend in Panama and then boarded ship for the west coast. "Osbourne decided to go on to California, and on his arrival there was so pleased with the country that he wrote to his wife to sell her property at once and follow him. Bidding a long farewell to the loving parents who had up to that time stood between her and every trouble, Fanny Osbourne, at an age when most young women are enjoying the care-free life of irresponsible girlhood, took her small daughter Isobel and set forth into a new and strange world" (Nellie Sanchez, page 25).

Fanny and Isobel (Sep. 18, 1858-June 26, 1953), known as Belle, retraced Samuel's east-to-west coast voyage. "Crossing the Isthmus by the crookedest railroad ever seen, she stopped at Panama to visit the burial-place of the young soldier, George Marshall, her childhood playmate, beloved friend, and brother-in-law, and over that lonely grave the child for the first time saw her girlish mother shed tears" (Nellie Sanchez, page 25).

Where is George Marshall's gravesite in Panama? His grave is located on the Pacific coast in Panama City (Spanish: Ciudad de Panamá), also known as Panama (Panamá), according to sororal biographer Nellie Van de Grift Sanchez's statements of his death during the crossing and of Fanny and Belle's post-crossing visit in Panama City.

Yet, Fanny's brother-in-law, Belle's Uncle George, was buried on the Atlantic coast in Aspinwall, according to Alexandra Lapierre. The grave, with the inscription "Captain George Marshall. 1836-1864" on its cross, was sited in an "enormous" graveyard at the "edge of an equatorial forest" at the end of Aspinwall's main street. Although Samuel's letter had not identified the name and location of the cemetery, he had detailed accurately the grave's placement "off the central path" in the cemetery as the last cross, "third to the right" (Alexandra Lapierre, page 26).

On a stormy Wednesday, Jan. 20, 1864, George Marshall and Samuel Osbourne, brother-in-law and husband, respectively, of Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne, future wife of Robert Louis Stevenson, boarded SS Ocean Queen for the New York-to-Panama segment of their west coast-to-east coast journey, undertaken for George's doctor-prescribed recuperation from tuberculosis in California; "U.S. transport'Ocean Queen,'" pencil drawing of "broadside view of sidewheel steamship" on cream paper by London, England-born American artist, illustrator and American Civil War (April 12, 1861-May 26, 1865) sketch artist correspondent Alfred Rudolph Waud (Oct. 2, 1828-April 6, 1891); J.P. Morgan Collection of Civil War Drawings, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington DC: No known restrictions on publication, via Library of Congress (LOC) Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC)

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Dedication

This post is dedicated to the memory of our beloved blue-eyed brother, Charles, who guided the creation of the Met Opera and Astronomy posts on Earth and Space News. We memorialized our brother in "Our Beloved Blue-Eyed Brother, Charles, With Whom We Are Well Pleased," published on Earth and Space News on Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021, an anniversary of our beloved father's death.

Image credits:

Is George Marshall, brother-in-law of Robert Louis Stevenson's future wife Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne, who visited his grave in Panama in 1864, buried on Panama's Atlantic coast in Aspinwall, the northern terminus of the Panama Railroad? Or, is he buried on the Pacific coast in Panama City, the southern terminus of the Panama Railroad? "Aspinwall, Central America -- The Panama Railroad Train Starting for Panama," illustration in Harper's Weekly: A Journal of Civilization, vol. X, no. 474 (Saturday, Jan. 27, 1866), page 61: via Internet Archive @ https://archive.org/details/harpersweeklyv10bonn/page/61/mode/1up

On a stormy Wednesday, Jan. 20, 1864, George Marshall and Samuel Osbourne, brother-in-law and husband, respectively, of Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne, future wife of Robert Louis Stevenson, boarded SS Ocean Queen for the New York-to-Panama segment of their west coast-to-east coast journey, undertaken for George's doctor-prescribed recuperation from tuberculosis in California; "U.S. transport'Ocean Queen,'" pencil drawing of "broadside view of sidewheel steamship" on cream paper by London, England-born American artist, illustrator and American Civil War (April 12, 1861-May 26, 1865) sketch artist correspondent Alfred Rudolph Waud (Oct. 2, 1828-April 6, 1891); J.P. Morgan Collection of Civil War Drawings, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington DC: No known restrictions on publication, via Library of Congress (LOC) Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) @ https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004660638/

For further information:

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Ancestry.com. "Samuel Osbourne." Web: Indiana, U.S., Civil War Soldier Database Index, 1861-1865 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.
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