Washington County, Ohio

the way came in sight of Kerr’s island a little after sunrise. It was a cloudy, rainy morning, and as they neared the foot of the island Capt. DEVOLL said to Gen. PUTNAM, “I think it is time to take an observation; we must be near the mouth of the Muskingum.”

In a few minutes they came in sight of Fort Harmar, which was on the northwest shore of the junction of the Ohio and Muskingum. This had been erected in 1785-86. The banks of the Muskingum were thickly clothed with large sycamores whose pendant branches, leaning over the shores, obscured the outlet so much, that those who were on the galley in the middle of the Ohio, on this cloudy morning, passed by without observing it. Before they could correct their mistake they had floated too far to land on the upper point and were forced to land a short distance below the fort.

With the aid of ropes and some soldiers from the garrison, sent to their assistance by the commander, and crossing the Muskingum a little above its mouth they landed at the upper point about noon on the 7th day of April, 1788 ever since observed as the anniversary of the first settlement of Ohio.

Jervis CUTLER, a lad of sixteen (son of Rev. Manassah CUTLER, who did so much to secure the liberal provisions of the ordinance of 1787 and the grant of lands to the Ohio Company), always claimed that he was the first person who leaped ashore when the boat landed; and was also the first to cut down a tree, which commenced the settlement of Ohio.

The weather in the valley had been so mild that the vegetation on landing was in striking contrast to the place of their embarkation, where snow still lingered in the hollows. The buffalo clover and other plants were already knee high and afforded a rich pasture for the hungry horses.

At the time of landing, Capt. PIPE, a principal chief of the Delaware Indians, who lived on the headwaters of the Muskingum with about seventy of his tribe, men, women and children, was encamped at the mouth of the river, whither they had come to trade their peltries with the settlers at Fort Harmar. They received the strangers very graciously, shaking hands with them, saying they were welcome to the shore of the Muskingum, upon whose waters they dwelt. The pioneers immediately commenced landing the boards brought from Buffalo for the erection of temporary huts and setting up Gen. PUTNAM’S large marquee. Under the broad roof of this hempen house he resided and transacted the business of the colony for several months until the block-houses of Campus Martius, as their new garrison was called, were finished.

On the 9th the surveyors commenced to lay off the eight-acre lots. The laborers and others commenced to cut down the trees, and by the 12th about four acres of land were cleared. Log-houses were built to shelter their provisions and for dwellings. All were delighted with the fertility of the soil, the healthfulness of the climate and the beauty of the country. Their town was at first called Adelphia, but this name was changed as soon as the directors met on July 2 to Marietta, in honor of Marie Antoinette, the Queen of that French king and nation who had helped these brave men in the times that tried men’s souls.”

The Marietta pioneers turned their attention to the education of their children very soon after their arrival in Ohio. In the summer of 1789 Bathsheba ROUSE, daughter of John ROUSE, from New Bedford, Mass., taught a school in Belpre, and for several subsequent summers in Farmer’s Castle. The first teacher in the Marietta settlements was Daniel MAYO, a graduate of Harvard, who came from Boston in the fall of 1788, and during the winter months taught the larger boys and young women in Farmer’s Castle. In July, 1790, the directors of the Ohio Company appropriated one hundred and fifty dollars for the support of schools in the three settlements in the territory.

Before the first decade had passed steps were taken to establish a regular academy at Marietta. On the 29^th of April, 1797, a number of the citizens convened “to consider measures for promoting the education of youth,” and a committee was appointed to prepare a plan of a house suitable for the instruction of youth and for religious purposes, to estimate the expenses and recommend a site. The committee consisted of Gen. Rufus PUTNAM, Paul FEARING, Griffin GREENE, R. J. MEIGS, Jr., Charles GREENE and Joshua SHIPMAN. At the end of a week the committee made their report at an adjourned meeting. They presented a plan of the house, estimated the expense at $1,000, and recommended city lot No. 605—the lot on Front street north of the Congregational church.

The report was accepted as to the plan of the house, the cost and the location; but the method of securing funds was modified, so as “to assess the possessors of ministerial lands in proportion to the value of their respective possessions.” The sums thus paid, either by assessment or subscription, were to be considered as stock at the rate of ten dollars a share; and the stockholders were entitled to votes according to their shares. At a meeting in August of that year fifty-nine shares were presented, of which thirty belonged to Gen. PUTNAM.

the Rhodes block, where it is still standing. It was also used on the Sabbath as a place of worship till 1809, when the Congregational church was completed.—Centennial Address by Israel Ward ANDREWS, L.L. D., July 4, 1876.

After the massacre at Big Bottom, the settlers of Waterford and those at Wolf Creek Mills united and constructed Fort Freye, about half a mile below the site of Beverly, on the east side of the Muskingum. It was an irregular triangle, and built similarly to Campius Martius. The fort was completed early in March, 1791, and garrisoned by forty men under the command of Capt. William GRAY.

On the 11th of March a party of Wyandot and Delaware Indians made an ineffectual attack upon the fort. The settlers had been expecting the assault, as a friendly Indian named John MILLER, at the risk of his life, had given them timely warning.

Besides those at Fort Harmar, Campius Martius, Farmer’s Castle and Fort Freye, there was a garrison at Plainfield—now Waterford—named Fort Tyler, for Dean TYLER, one of the pioneers.

Grinding corn by hand was a very laborious proceeding, and the early settlers offered large grants of land for the construction of mills. The first successful mills built in the territory were those on Wolf creek, about two miles from its mouth, built in 1789 under the direction of Maj. Haffield WHITE. They were of very great service to all the settlements.

A saw mill was completed on Duck creek in September, 1789, but a heavy flood so damaged the mill and dam that they could not be readily repaired, and the Indian war coming on the mill was abandoned. Later a saw and grist mill was constructed on Duck creek, which sawed much of the lumber used in Marietta buildings, also the lumber used in the construction of the Blennerhassett boats.

In the summer of 1791 the settlers at Belpre determined to undertake the construction of a floating mill. Esquire Griffin GREENE, a few years before while travelling in France and Holland, had seen mills erected on boats, the current of the water revolving the wheel. He explained the plan to Capt. DEVOLL, who built the first floating mill in the settlements. The “County History” describes this mill as follows: “The mill was erected on two boats, one of them being five, the other ten feet wide and forty-five feet long. The smaller one was a pirogue made of the trunk of a large hollow sycamore tree, and the larger of timber and plank like a flat-boat. The boats were placed eight feet apart, and fastened firmly together by heavy cross-beams covered with oak planks, forming a deck fore and aft of the water-wheel. The smaller boat on the outside supported one end of the water-wheel, and the larger boat the other, in which was placed the mill stones and running gear, covered with a light frame building for the protection of machinery and miller. The space between the boats was covered with planks, forming a deck fore and aft of the water-wheel. This wheel was turned by the natural current of the water, and was put in motion or stopped by pulling up or pushing down a set of boards similar to a gate in front of the wheel. It could grind, according to the strength of the current, from twenty-five to fifty bushels of grain in twenty-four hours. It was placed in a rapid portion of the Ohio, about the middle of Backus (now Blennerhassett) Island, a few rods from the shore and in sight of Farmer’s Castle. The current here was strong and safe from the Indians. With the aid of a bolting cloth in the garrison very good flour was made."

The oldest building in the State of Ohio, now used as a place of public worship, is the Congregational church in Marietta. It is known as the “Two Horn” church, a name applied on account of the towers projecting above the roof. The building was planned and its erection superintended by Gen. Rufus PUTNAM. It was dedicated May 28, 1809, and cost $7,300. Although the oldest now standing, this was not the first church within the present limits of Ohio, but the first sermon delivered in the Northwest Territory, other than those delivered to Indian audiences, was that preached Sunday, July 20, 1788, by Rev. William BRECK, in the northwest block-house of Campus Martius. In the

This is the oldest church standing in Ohio. It faces the handsome little pare that lines the Muskingum for several hundred yards above the upper bridge.

same building, on August 24, Dr. CUTLER preached the second sermon delivered in the territory to whites. He also, on August 27^th, attended the first funeral in the new settlements. Rev. Daniel STORY, who arrived in the spring of 1789, was the first regular pastor settled in Marietta.

In 1791, while the settlers were occupying the garrison in consequence of the Indian war, Sunday-school was organized in the stockade by Mrs. Mary LAKE, an elderly lady who had been engaged in hospital work during the Revolution. This is said to have been the second Sunday-school in America, and was the first in the Northwest Territory.

The first public celebration in the Northwest Territory was held on July 4, 1788, the twelfth anniversary of American independence. It was to be expected that the Revolutionary soldiers that landed at Marietta would observe the day with appropriate ceremonies. They commenced at daylight with the firing of the Federal salute by the cannons of Fort Harmar. The principal exercises took place on the Marietta side of the Muskingum, where, at one o’clock, Gen. James M. VARNUM, one of the judges of the territory, delivered an eloquent and appropriate address.

“A repast, consisting of all the delicacies which the woods and the streams and the gardens and the housewives’ skill afforded, was served at the bowery. There was venison barbecued, buffalo steaks, bear meat, wild fowls, fish and a little pork as the choicest luxury of all. One fish, a great pike weighing one hundred pounds and over six feet long—the longest ever taken by white men, it is said, in the waters of the Muskingum—was speared by Judge Gilbert DEVOLL and his son Gilbert.”

The day was not all sunshine. “At three o’clock,” says Col. John MAY, “just as dinner was on the table, came on a heavy shower which lasted half an hour. However, the chief of our provisions were rescued from the deluge, but injured materially. When the rain ceased the table was laid again, but before we had finished, it came on to rain a second time. On the whole though we had a handsome dinner.”

After dinner a number of toasts were drank, among which were those to Congress, Generals WASHINGTON and ST. CLAIR and the Northwestern Territory, and to “the amiable partners of our delicate pleasures.” Several Indians were present and enjoyed the festivities, excepting when the cannon were fired. Col. MAY’S journal says “the roar of a cannon is as disagreeable to an Indian as a rope to a thief, or broad daylight to one of your made-up beauties.” He also states that “pleased with the entertainment, we kept it up until after twelve o’clock at night, then went home and slept till daylight.” A grand illumination of Fort Harmar closed the ceremonies of the day.

When the pioneers arrived at Marietta, they found that several families had settled on the Virginia side of the Ohio river and near the mouth of the Muskingum. Among these were Isaac WILLIAMS and his wife, Rebecca, who in March, 1787, had moved into a little log-cabin, near the present site of Williamstown.

Isaac WILLIAMS was a trapper and hunter; he would select a desirable tract of land, girdle a few trees, plant a small field of corn, and claim the property by right of what were called “tomahawk improvements.” This would entitle him to 400 acres of land, the right to which was generally sold to the first-comer for a few dollars, a rifle, or some other small consideration.

“Tomahawk improvements” were recognized by the State of Virginia as entitling the holder, on the payment of a small sum per acre, to the right of entering 1,000 acres of land adjoining the claims. In some localities, within the present limits of Ohio, persons undertook to hold lands by right of “tomahawk improvements,” but Congress sent out troops to remove them and burn their cabins.

During the season of 1789 Mr. WILLIAMS had raised a very large crop of corn. Not so with the settlers of Marietta and Belpre, who having planted their corn later in the season than Mr. WILLIAMS, had it so badly damaged by an early frost that it was unfit to eat, and produced sickness and vomiting. As a consequence food became very scarce during the winter of 1789-90, and many families came so near the point of starvation before the crops of 1790 arrived at maturity that the season was designated as the “Famine.” Corn having reached the high price of $2 per bushel, Mr. WILLIAMS was besieged by speculators who offered him large prices for his supply, but he refused to sell, except to settlers and at the usual price of fifty cents per bushel—proportioning his corn according to the number in the family. Mr. WILLIAMS continued to reside on his farm until his death in 1820, at the age of 84 years. He lies buried under the oaks on his own farm.

A famous public library was the “Coonskin Library,” established in Ames, Athens county, Ohio. For years it was supposed to have been the first public library in the Northwest Territory, but two others antedate it: the “Cincinnati,” organized at Yeatman’s tavern, in Cincinnati, February 13, 1802; and the “Putnam Library,” organized in 1796, and variously known as the “Putnam Library,” the “Belpre Library,” and “Belpre Farmers’ Library.”

The Belpre Library was owned by a joint stock company, and the shares valued at $10 each. It was supplied with books which had been a part of the family library of Gen. Israel PUTNAM. After his death in 1790 this library was divided among his heirs, and a number of the books brought to Belpre in 1795 by his son, Col. Israel PUTNAM. The books were kept at the house of Isaac PIERCE, the librarian. Mr. Amos DUNHAM, who in 1846 furnished a communication to the original edition of this work (see Meigs County), mentions the purchase of a share in the Belpre Library, six miles distant. He says, “From this I promised myself much entertainment.”

About 1815 or 1816 the Library Association was dissolved by mutual consent and the books distributed among the shareholders. Among the books were: LOCKE’S “Essays on Human Understanding,” JOHNSON’s “Lives of the English Poets,” ROBERTSON’S “History of England” and GOLDSMITH’S “Animated Nature.” Many of the volumes are still preserved by descendants of the shareholders.

There lives in Chillicothe to-day an aged man who is the last grandchild of Rufus PUTNAM, who led the first colony of settlers to Ohio in 1788. The grandson bears the full name of his distinguished ancestor, Gen. Rufus PUTNAM, and he has in his possession a great many relics of historical interest and a large part of his grandfather’s correspondence and private papers and manuscripts.

Gen. PUTNAM is president of the Northwest Pioneer Association, and has a lively interest in all matters bearing upon the early history of the Northwest Territory.

Among the old papers which he has put into my possession is the subjoined schedule of laws for the government of the colony at Marietta, printed and posted in 1788.

“The emigrants, under the command of Gen. Rufus PUTNAM, landed their boats at the upper point of the Muskingum river, Marietta, on the 7th of April, 1788, where they unloaded their effects. The boards which they brought with them for the erection of temporary huts were landed and properly disposed of. A large tent was put up for the Governor of the colony, Gen. PUTNAM. And in this tent he transacted all the business of the colony. On the 9th of April, 1788, the Governor’s chart of laws was read by his private secretary, Gen. Benj. TUPPER, and approved by the members of the colony association.

“First—Be it ordained by the Officery and Council, that said territory be one district, subject to be divided into five districts, as future circumstances may make it expedient.

“Second—Be it ordained that the Governor and his officery may make such laws, civil, criminal and military, for the colony, but not to conflict with the laws of the original re-established United States laws of 1787.

“Third—Be it ordained that the Grand Council be composed of three Supreme Judges and three Territorial Association Judges, before whom shall be tried and decided all the business of the colony, civil, criminal and military.

“Fourth—The Grand Council will hold their sessions 5th July, 7th, 9th of April and second Wednesday September, annually, where all claims against the association must be presented and canceled.

“Fifth—Be it ordained that the Governor receive at the rate of $40 per month for his services while performing the duties of his office. All other officery and Grand Council $1 per day while in the performance of their duties, martial, military, musicians, chaplain, singers and teachers of schools.

“Sixth—Be it ordained that all permanent emigrants into the Territory shall be entitled to 100 acres of land free, within the Northwest purchase.

“Seventh—Be it ordained that all pioneers and their descendants may become life and benefit members of the Emigrant Association, Northwest Territory, by paying $1 per annum to the Governor, for the use of the association.

“Eighth—Be it ordained that all members must entertain emigrants, visit the sick, clothe the naked, feed the hungry, attend funerals, cabin-raisings, log-rollings, huskings; have their latch-strings always out.

“Ninth—Be it ordained that all members of the colony, from the ages of eighteen to forty-five, must perform four days of military duty per annum. All uniformed companies may drill once a month, dates and places fixed by their officers. Officer drills once a year.

“Tenth—Be it ordained that all members of the colony must celebrate 22d February, 7th April and 4th July, annually. Also in a proper manner observe the 28th November, 25th December and 1st day January, annually.

“Eleventh—Be it ordained that every member must keep the Sabbath by attending some place of religious worship agreeably to the dictates of his own conscience.

“Twelfth—Be it ordained that common schools should be established so soon as emigration to the Territory is sufficient.

“Thirteenth—Be it ordained that a library of historical and school-books be established at the Governor’s headquarters, and that Gen. McINTOSH, who is now engaged in writing a history of the colony, will serve as legal agent for that purpose; also, Col. Timothy FLINT act as an assistant. Also, that all official appointments be made by the Governor of the Colony and confirmed by the Grand Council. Be it further ordained that the (Metropolis) be named (Marietta), in honor of Queen Marie Antoinette, of France, who gave aid and influence during the darkest days of the Revolution. Ordered that three copies of this territorial chart of ordinances be copied and posted, as ordained: One at Fort Harmar, one at the East Point, and one at the Stockade. These ordinances to take effect on the 1st day of May, 1788 (Queen Marie’s birthday).

“N.B.—Amendment April 7, 1802. The title Governor erased and President instituted. Also, the fee of $1 per annum to $1 for life. (Commissions to those entitled, $1.) True copy from original, price per copy, $1.”

The question as to what constitutes the southern boundary line of the State of Ohio has never been satisfactorily settled; the GARNER case had an important bearing on this question, which is treated more fully in our chapter on Vinton county.

The following account of the GARNER case was published in June, 1868, in the Marietta Register:

“In 1845 six slaves of John H. HARWARD, of Washington’s Bottom, Virginia, just below Blennerhassett’s Island, escaped into Ohio. At the river bank a party of Ohio men, unarmed, met them to assist, but some Virginians having obtained knowledge of the purpose of the negroes were there in advance concealed in the bushes, and fully armed. As the baggage was being taken from the boat, the Virginians rushed on them and secured five of the negroes and captured Peter M. GARNER, Crayton J. LORRAINE and Mordecai THOMAS, white citizens of Ohio. The Virginians claimed that these men, who had never set foot on Virginia soil, were felons, and amenable to the laws of that State for an alleged offence not known to the laws of Ohio. They were forcibly carried over into Virginia on the night of July 9, 1845, and lodged in jail in Parkersburg. No one in Virginia could be found to bail them, though Nahum WARD, A. T. NYE and William P. CUTLER offered to indemnify any Virginias who would become their bondsmen. Intercourse with their friends from Ohio was denied them, and Marietta lawyers employed to defend them were rejected. Subsequently, the wives of the prisoners were permitted to visit them under guard.

“August 17th, a public meeting was held in the court-house in Marietta ‘to take into consideration further measures for the liberation of Ohio citizens now in jail at Parkersburg, and the vindication of the rights of Ohio.’ September 2d, the prisoners, each collared by two men, were taken from the jail to the court-house in Parkersburg and there pleaded ‘not guilty’ to the charge of ‘enticing and assisting the county of Wood, Virginia,’ the six negroes to escape from slavery. Bail was again refused except by a Virginia freeholder, and the prisoners went back to jail. The jury found a special verdict of guilty turning on ‘jurisdiction’ in the case, to be tried by a higher court.

“The question of jurisdiction or boundary between the two States was argued before the Court of Appeals at Richmond, December 10-13, and the court divided equally on the question whether the State line was at low-water mark on the Ohio side of the river or above that. The men had been captured just above low water mark. At a special term of the Court of Appeals, held in Parkersburg, GARNER, LORRAINE and THOMAS were admitted to bail in the sum of one hundred dollars each on their own recognizance, and were set at liberty January 10, 1846, having been in jail six months. Hon. Samuel F. VINTON, of Gallipolis, argued the case for the prisoners before the Superior Court of Virginia. It was never decided. Peter M. GARNER died at Columbus, O., June 14, 1868, in his sixty-first year; Mordecai THOMAS removed to Belmont county, and Crayton J. LORRAINE removed to Illinois. This case was regarded with the deepest interest, and was of far more than local importance. Sixteen years later many of the actors in this affair were living to see the State of Virginia turned into a battle-ground in which the same principle was fought for, and to see, a little later, the overthrow of slavery accomplished.”

The following paragraphs upon the above subject are from the Centennial Historical address of President I. W. ANDREWS, delivered at Marietta, July 4, 1876, before the citizens of Washington county. He said: “In the matter of local government there are two very different systems in the United States. In New England the Town—answering to the ‘township’ of Ohio—is the political unit. In all the Southern States until recently, and in most of them now, the County is clothed with the chief political power. The town has no existence, or, if existing, it is devoid of all political significance.

“The divisions subordinate to the county are generally called Precincts in the South. In Mississippi whole counties have no other names for their subdivisions than those furnished by the ranges and townships; as if we should know Lawrence only as Township 3, Range 7. In North Carolina the county seems to be divided numerically; as if Belpre were merely No. 4.”

political power is divided between the county and the town; the former has much more importance than in New England, and the latter has less.

In the incorporation of Marietta as a town in 1800 the features of the town system are seen. The establishment of the Court of Quarter Sessions with many of the powers now exercised by the county commissioners showed the influence of the other system. General PUTNAM and his associates from New England were able to incorporate into the new communities of the West some of the features of the town system, while Governor ST. CLAIR, from Pennsylvania, and John Cleves SYMMES, from New Jersey, introduced various laws from those States.

We may be thankful that we have as much as we have of the town system. The opinion of Mr. JEFFERSON on the merits of this system, Virginian though he was, was strongly expressed at different times. He recommended the division of the counties of Virginia into wards of six miles square. “These wards, called townships in New England, are the vital principle of their governments, and have proved themselves the wisest invention ever devised by the wit of man for the perfect exercise of self-government, and for its preservation.” Again he says: “These little republics would be the main strength of the great one. We owe to them the vigor given to our revolution in its commencement in the Eastern States, and by them the Eastern States were enabled to repeal the embargo in opposition to the Middle, Southern and Western States, and their large and lubberly divisions into counties which can never be assembled."

There is no story in the annals of Ohio that has excited so much of human sympathy as that of the BLENNERHASSETTS. The romance of it and its pathetic finale make an impress where events of greater historical importance fade from the memory.

Harman BLENNERHASSETT was born about the year 1767, of Irish parentage, in Hampshire, England, his mother at that date being there on a visit. He received a finished education, graduating from Trinity College, Dublin, in the same class with Thomas Addis EMMET, the heroic Irish patriot. These two studied law together and were admitted to practice on the same day in 1790. BLENNERHASSETT rounded off his studies with a tour through Europe. In 1796 his father died, and Harman became the possessor of a fortune of $100,000. He married the beautiful and accomplished Margaret AGNEW, daughter of the Governor of the Isle of Man.

In the fall of 1797 BLENNERHASSETT and his wife arrived in New York, where their rank, wealth and educational attainments brought them into association with the leading American families. In the winter they went to Marietta, and were treated with great distinction, while locating a site for a western home. They selected the island near Belpre, which had originally belonged to Gen. WASHINGTON. The island was then in the possession of Elijah BACKUS, and of him they purchased the upper portion, comprising one hundred and seventy-four acres, for which, in March, 1798, they paid the sum of $4,500.

Soon after the BLENNERHASSETTS moved into a block-house on the island, which they occupied until the year 1800, when the mansion was completed. “It was built,” says Dr. HILDRETH, “with great taste and beauty, no expense being spared in its construction that could add to its usefulness and beauty.” The grounds about the house were laid out in a style befitting the elegant mansion.

Here for several years the BLENNERHASSETTS lived an ideal life. Harman BLENNERHASSETT was fond of music, literature and scientific research; his love for scientific investigation could be gratified through the possession of ample apparatus for chemical and other experiments; his literary tastes found gratification in a large and well-selected library, while the superintending of the cultivation and beautifying of his island estate was his principal occupation.

Mrs. BLENNERHASSETT was as cultured and refined as her husband. In person beautiful, well proportioned and agile as an athlete; an expert horsewoman, a charming conversationalist and a liberal hostess. Their home was the social centre for Belpre and Marietta.

Husband and wife were devoted to each other, and united in making their home attractive to the many guests that partook of their superabounding hospitality.

In April, 1805, Aaron BURR first visited this island Eden. He was accorded every distinction that might be bestowed on one who had been Vice-President of the United States. Very soon after his arrival he succeeded in interesting his host in his grand scheme for the establishment of a great western empire, and before his departure in October for the Eastern States BLENNERHASSETT had fully embraced the plans of BURR as represented by the latter.

Early in September, 1806, BLENNERHASSETT made a contract for the building of fifteen large boats, capable of transporting five hundred men. These were to carry the adventurers down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to their settlement. Arrangements were made for large supplies of provisions, BLENNERHASSETT spending his money freely and assuming responsibility for payment of all debts contracted, pledging more than the amount of his entire fortune.

Many friends endeavored to dissuade him from embarking on the reckless venture, but their efforts were unavailing.

In the meanwhile the United States government, suspecting that BURR was plotting secession and treason, took steps to prevent the consummation of his plans. Governor TIFFIN of Ohio called out a company of militia under Captain Timothy BUELL, and they were stationed on the bank of the Muskingum to capture and detain any boats descending the Ohio or Muskingum under suspicious circumstances.

On the 9th of December BLENNERHASETT, learning that he was to be arrested, fled surreptitiously, and when Colonel PHELPS, in command of the Virginia militia, took possession of BLENNERHASSETT’S island, he found the owners were absent. Mrs. BLENNERHASSETT, who was at Marietta, returned to the island and found it in the possession of drunken and riotous soldiers, whom their commander had been unable to prevent from ransacking the house, ruining the furniture, and despoiling the grounds. With her children she left her ruined home, and after a trying voyage down the ice-blocked river in a small cabin flat-boat, she joined her husband on January 15th at Bayou Pierre. BLENNERHASSETT was arrested, but after a few weeks’ imprisonment was discharged. He returned to his island, but

did not remain there. The house was never occupied again, and in 1811 was destroyed by fire. Removing to Mississippi, he settled on a cotton plantation in the vain endeavor to retrieve his ruined fortunes, but after a ten years’ struggle was obliged to sell the plantation to pay his debts. He then wandered from place to place trying to earn a bare living for himself and family, but only sinking deeper and deeper into the depths of poverty. In 1831 he died at the home of a charitable sister in the Isle of Guernsey.

Mrs. BLENNERHASSETT died in 1842 in a tenement house in New York city, after having for eleven years waited in vain for Congress to pay a claim of $10,000 for damage to their island property by the Virginia militia.

Of the three children of the BLENNERHASSETTS, Dominick, the eldest, a shiftless drunkard, disappeared from St. Louis after a drunken debauch, and was never after heard from. Harman, a half-witted man, in 1854 was found dying of starvation in a New York attic. Joseph, the youngest, was killed while fighting in the rebel army.

RUFUS PUTNAM, a cousin of General Israel PUTNAM, was born April 8, 1738, O. S., at Sutton, Massachusetts. At the age of 15 he was apprenticed to a millwright, with whom he served four years, and then enlisted as a common soldier in the French and Indian war. He served faithfully three years, was engaged in several actions, and was at the time the army disbanded, in 1761, serving as ensign, to which office his good conduct had promoted him. After this, he resumed the business of millwright, at which he continued seven or eight years, employing his leisure in studying mathematics and surveying.

He was among the first to take up arms in the revolutionary contest, and as an evidence of the estimation in which he was held was appointed lieutenant-colonel. He was afterwards appointed, by Congress, military engineer. He served throughout the war with honor, and was often consulted and held in high estimation by WASHINGTON. On the 8^th of January, 1783, he was honored with the commission of brigadier-general, having some time previously served as colonel. He was appointed by the Ohio Company superintendent of all business relating to their contemplated settlement; and in April, 1788, commenced the first settlement at Marietta. In 1789 he was appointed by WASHINGTON a judge of the Supreme Court of the Territory. On the 5^th of May, 1792, he was appointed brigadier-general in the army of the United States, destined to act against the Indians; but resigned the next year in consequence of ill health. In October, 1796, he was appointed surveyor-general of the United States, in which office he continued until 1803. He was a member, from this county, of the convention which formed the State constitution. From this time his advanced age led him to decline all business of a public nature, and he sought the quiet of private life. He died at Marietta, May 1, 1824, at the age of 86.

General PUTNAM was a man of strong, good sense, modest, benevolent and scrupulous to fulfil the duties which he owed to God and man. In person he was tall, of commanding appearance, and possessed a frame eminently fitted for the hardships and trials of war. His mind, though not brilliant, was solid, penetrating and comprehensive, seldom erring in conclusions.

RETURN JONATHAN MEIGS was born at Middletown, Ct., in 1765, graduated at Yale, studied law and was admitted to the bar in his native town. He was among the first settlers of Marietta. In the winter of 1802-3 he was elected chief justice of the Supreme Court of the State. The next year he resigned this office, having received from JEFFERSON the appointment of commandant of the United States troops and militia in the upper district of Louisiana, and shortly after was appointed one of the judges of the Territory of Louisiana. In April, 1807, he was commissioned a judge of Michigan Territory; resigned the commission in October, and becoming a candidate for governor of Ohio, was elected, in a

spirited canvass, over his competitor, General MASSIE; but not having the constitutional Return Jonathan Meigs

qualification of the four years’ residence in the State, prior to the election, his election was contested and decided against him. In the session of 1807-8 he was appointed Senator in Congress, which office he afterwards resigned, and was elected Governor of Ohio in 1810. In the war with Great Britain, while holding the gubernatorial office, he acted with great promptness and energy. In March, 1814, having been appointed Postmaster-General of the United States, he resigned that office, and continued in his new vocation until 1823, during which he managed its arduous duties to the satisfaction of Presidents MADISON and MONROE. He died at Marietta, March 29, 1825. In person he was tall and finely formed, with a high retreating forehead, black eyes, and aquiline and prominent nose. His features indicated his character, and were remarkably striking, expressive of mildness, intelligence, promptness and stability of purpose. His moral character was free from reproach, and he was benevolent, unambitious, dignified, but easy of access. He was named from his father, Return Jonathan MEIGS, a colonel of the revolutionary army, and one of the surveyors for the Ohio Company and of the first settlers at Marietta. In his early life he was called Return Jonathan, Jr.

REV. DANIEL STORY, the earliest Protestant preacher of the gospel in the territory northwest of the Ohio, except the Moravian missionaries, was a native of Boston, and graduated at Dartmouth in 1780. The directors and agents of the Ohio Company having passed a resolution in 1788, for the support of the gospel and the teaching of youth, Rev. Manasseh CUTLER, one of the company’s directors, in the course of that year engaged Mr. STORY, then preaching at Worcester, to go to the West as a chaplain to the new settlement at Marietta. In the spring of 1789 he commenced his ministerial labors as an evangelist, visiting the settlements in rotation. During the Indian war from 1791 to 1795 he preached, during most of the time, in the northwest block-house of Campus Martius. The Ohio Company at the same time raised a sum of money for the education of youth, and employed teachers. These testimonials sufficiently prove that the company felt for the spiritual as well as the temporal affairs of the colonists.

When the war was over Mr. STORY preached at the different settlements; but as there were no roads, he made these pastoral visits by water, in a log canoe, propelled by stout arms and willing hearts. In 1796 he established a Congregational church, composed of persons residing at Marietta, Belpre, Waterford and Vienna, in Virginia. Mr. STORY died December 30, 1804, at the age of 49 years. He was a remarkable man, and peculiarly fitted for the station he held.

The preceding biographical sketches are abridged from HILDRETH’s Pioneer Sketches. It is stated above that Mr. STORY was the earliest Protestant preacher at Marietta. He was the first employed as a clergyman, but prior to his emigration, in 1788, Rev. Manasseh CUTLER, agent of the Ohio Company, had voluntarily delivered several sermons at Marietta.

daughter of Rev. Thomas BALCH, of Dedham, Mass. Studying law, he was admitted to practice in the Massachusetts courts in 1767. In 1769 he commenced the study of theology under the direction of his father-in-law. The next year he was licensed, and commenced preaching at Hamlet parish (then a part of Ipswich, afterward Hamilton). He was ordained pastor Sept. 11, 1771, and continued his pastorate here until his death in 1823.

He served as chaplain under Col. Ebenezer FRANCIS in the 11^th Massachusetts Rev. Dr. Manasseh Cuttler.

Regiment in the Revolutionary war, taking a gallant part in the action in Rhode Island in 1778. Returning to Hamlet parish before the close of the war, he studied medicine, and began with much success to minister to the physical as well as the spiritual welfare of his people. He continued the habits of study acquired in youth, and, notwithstanding the many duties of his active life, found time to make extended researches into astronomy, meteorology, botany and kindred sciences, to which he had been attracted during his college course. He was the first to examine the flora of New England. Over 350 species were examined by him, and classified according to the Linnæau system. As a scientist, his reputation was second only to that of FRANKLIN. Honorary degrees were conferred upon him by Yale, Harvard and other institutions, and he was elected to honorary membership in many scientific, philosophical and literary societies.

When the association of Revolutionary officers was organized for the purpose of locating and settling on bounty lands in the West, Dr. CUTLER took an active part in the movement, and was one of a committee of five appointed to draft a plan of an association to be called the “Ohio Company.” In 1787 he was appointed by the directors of the Ohio Company its agent to make a purchase of lands upon the Muskingum. In June, 1787, the Continental Congress being then in session in New York, he visited that city for the purpose of negotiating the purchase. It was while on this mission to Congress that he visited Philadelphia and met Benjamin FRANKLIN, who received him with great cordiality, and with whom he was much pleased. Their tastes and pursuits were very much alike.

While Dr. CUTLER’S mission to Congress was for the purchase of lands for the Ohio Company, the purchase was dependent upon the form of government of the territory in which those lands lay, and Dr. CUTLER’S energies were as much engaged in the provisions of the ordinance then before Congress for the government of the Northwest Territory as in the purchase. He was eminently fitted, both by nature and acquirements, for the great diplomatic work required of him, and was so successful that he united the discordant elements so as to make possible the enacting of those wise and beneficent measures relating to education, religion and slavery in the ordinance that was passed by Congress July 13, 1787. Having arranged the purchase of lands for the Ohio Company, he returned to his home.

days. He was present at the opening of the first court in the Northwest Territory and was greatly interested in the ancient earthworks in the vicinity of Marietta. After a short time he returned to New England, and, although he contemplated removing with his family to the new settlement, he found it would require too great sacrifices, and abandoned the project.

In 1795 he was tendered a commission as Judge of the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territory, but declined it. In the fall of 1800 he was elected as a Federalist to Congress, and after serving two terms declined a re-election. He was elected a member of the American Academy in 1791, and contributed a number of scientific papers to its “proceedings.”

Felt’s History of Ipswich, Mass., says: “In person Dr. CUTLER was of light complexion, above the common stature, erect and dignified in his appearance. His manners were gentlemanly; his conversation easy and intelligent. As an adviser he was discerning and discreet. . . . . His mental endowments were high.”

“The Life, Journal and Correspondence of Rev. Manasseh CUTLER, LL.D.,” prepared by his grandchildren, Wm. P. CUTLER and Julia P. CUTLER, and published in two volumes by Robert CLARKE & Co., of Cincinnati, is a most valuable history of the inception of Ohio.

Although Dr. CUTLER never settled in Ohio, three of his sons, Ephraim, Jervis and Charles, were residents.

CHARLES CUTLER was born March 26, 1773; graduated at Harvard in 1793; taught the South Latin School, Boston; served in the army two years; then studied law, and came to Ohio in 1802 on account of ill health. He taught school at Ames; among his pupils was Thomas EWING. He died at the age of thirty-two.

JERVIS CUTLER was born in Edgartown, Mass., September 19, 1768; died in Evansville, Ind., June 25, 1844. He came to Ohio with the band of pioneers led by Gen. Rufus PUTNAM and on April 7, 1788, cut the first tree on the present site of Marietta. He was for a time an officer in the army, and in 1808 was stationed at Newport Barracks.

Maj. CUTLER learned the art of engraving. In a letter to a friend he says: “I had not tools to work with, and never saw an engraver at work in my life.” In 1824, while in Nashville, Tenn., he pursued the profession of an engraver, and was employed to engrave plates for banknotes in Tennessee and Alabama. He was a man of much versatility of talent, and a great taste for the fine arts.

In 1812 he published a “Topographical Description of the State of Ohio, Indiana Territory and Louisiana.” The view of Cincinnati in 1810, in our work, is copied from one in that.

Ephraim CUTLER, eldest son of Rev. Manasseh CUTLER, LL.D., was born April 13, 1767. He was brought up at Killingly, Connecticut, by his grandfather, Hezekiah CUTLER, a man of sterling integrity and patriotism, who at his death made him sole legatee of his estate. At the age of twenty, April 8, 1787, he married Leah, daughter of Ebenezer ATTWOOD. Having three shares in the Ohio Company’s purchase, he left Killingly for the West, June 15, 1795, and arrived at Marietta, September 18 of that year. Two of his children died on the way.

He settled at Waterford, on the Muskingum, and engaged in mercantile business until May, 1799, when he removed to his land on Federal creek, where he owned 1,800 acres, and opened a farm and built a mill. He was appointed by Gov. ST. CLAIR judge of the Court of Common Pleas, justice of the peace, captain and afterward major of the militia. He was a member of the Territorial Legislature, and also of the Convention which formed in 1802 the Constitution of Ohio, and to him belongs the honor of introducing into it the section which excluded slavery from the State.

Marietta, where his wife died at the age of forty-two years, leaving four children. He married, April 13, 1808, Sally, daughter of William PARKER, of Newburyport, Mass., by whom he had five children.

Judge CUTLER became a trustee of the Ohio University at Athens in 1820, and was unceasing in his efforts to promote the prosperity of that institution. He served in the State Legislature as representative or senator, from 1819 to 1825, and was known there as the friend and advocate of common schools, introducing into that body in 1819 the first bill for their regulation and support, and as the author of the ad valorem system of taxation which was the foundation of the credit of the States, enabling her to make canals and other improvements. In 1839 he represented his Congressional district in the Whig Convention at Harrisburg, Pa., when Gen. Wm. H. HARRISON was nominated for the presidency. He was a ruling elder for many years, and twice a delegate to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States. He died peacefully at his home, July 8, 1853, aged eighty-six years.

ABRAHAM WHIPPLE was born in Providence, R. I., September 16, 1733; died in Marietta, O., May 29, 1819. Early in life he commanded a vessel in the West Indian trade, but during the old French war of 1759-60 he became captain of the privateer “Gamecock,” and captured twenty-three French vessels in a single cruise. In June, 1772, he commanded the volunteers that took and burned the British revenue schooner “Gaspé” in Narragansett bay. This was the first popular uprising in this country against a British armed vessel.

In June, 1775, Rhode Island fitted out two armed vessels, of which WHIPPLE was put in command, with the title of commodore. A few days later he chased a tender of the British sloop “Rose,” off the Conanicut shore, capturing her after sharp firing. In this engagement WHIPPLE fired the first shot of the Revolution on the water. He was appointed captain of the “Columbus” on December 22, 1775, and afterward of the schooner “Providence,” which captured more British prizes than any other American vessel; but she was finally taken, and WHIPPLE was placed in command of a new frigate of the same name, in which, when Narragansett bay was blockaded by the British in 1778, he forced his way, in a dark and stormy night, through the enemy’s fleet by pouring broadsides into it and sinking one of their tenders. At that time he was bound for France with important despatches that related to a treaty between the United States and that government, and after a successful voyage he returned in safety to Boston.

In July, 1779, while commanding the “Providence” as senior officer, and with two other ships, he attacked a fleet of English merchantmen that were under the convoy of a ship-of-the-line and some smaller cruisers. He captured eight prizes and sent them to Boston. The value of these ships exceeded $1,000,000. In 1780 he went to Charleston, S. C., in an endeavor to relieve that city, which at that time was besieged by the British; but he was captured and held a prisoner until the close of the war. He subsequently became a farmer at Cranston, R. I., but in 1778 he connected himself with the Ohio Company, and settled at Marietta.—Appleton’s Cyclopedia of American Biography.

BENJAMIN TUPPER was born in Stoughton, Mass., in August, 1738; died in Marietta, O., in June, 1792. He served in the French war of 1756-63 and was in the field the whole of the Revolutionary war. In August, 1776, he commanded the gunboats and galleys on the North river. He served under Gen. GATES at Saratoga, was at the battle of Monmouth in 1788, and was brevetted a general before the war closed. In 1785 he was appointed one of the surveyors of the Northwest Territory. With Gen. Rufus PUTNAM he originated the Ohio Land Company.

In 1786 he took an active part in suppressing SHAY’S rebellion. Early in 1788 he removed to Marietta with his family, and that of his son-in-law, Ichabod NYE, reaching there 19th August, 1788. These families and those of Col. N. CUSHING and Maj. GOODALE, who accompanied them, were the first families to settle in what is now the State of Ohio.

Gen. TUPPER was appointed Judge of the Common Pleas in September, 1788, and, with Gen. PUTNAM, held the first court in the Northwest Territory.

The following entry in Dr. CUTLER’S journal indicates that Gen. TUPPER was the real inventor of the screw propeller: “Friday, August 15, 1788. This morning we went pretty early to the boat. Gen. TUPPER had mentioned to me a mode for constructing a machine to work in the head or stern of a boat instead of oars. It appeared to me highly probable it might succeed. I therefore proposed that we should make the experiment. Assisted by a number of people, we went to work, and constructed a machine in the form of a screw with short blades, and placed it in the stern of the boat, which we turned with a crank. It succeeded to admiration, and I think it a very useful discovery.”—Life of Rev. Manasseh CUTLER.

MAJOR ANSELM TUPPER, son of Gen. Benjamin TUPPER, was born in Easton, Mass., October 11, 1763. In 1779, at the age of sixteen, he was appointed adjutant of Col. Ebenezer SPROAT’S regiment, which was engaged at Trenton, Princeton and Monmouth. He served through the war, and was a member of the Society of Cincinnati. In 1786 he was with his father in the survey of the seven ranges, and when the Ohio Company was formed he became a shareholder and was engaged by them as a surveyor, and “arrived at Marietta in the company of forty-eight, April 7, 1788.” At the organization of the military companies at Marietta, in 1789, under Col. SPROAT, “Anselm TUPPER was appointed post-major, and had command of Campius Martius during the war.” That winter he taught school in one of the block-houses of the fort. He was the secretary of the Union Lodge of Free Masons, before whom he delivered an address on St. John’s day, 1790. Maj. TUPPER was a brilliant man and a favorite in society. He died, unmarried, at Marietta, December 25, 1808.—The Founders of Ohio.

MAJOR WINTHROP SARGENT was born in Gloucester, Mass., May 1, 1753; graduated at Harvard in 1771. He served in the Revolutionary war. As secretary of the Ohio Company, he was associated with Dr. CUTLER in the purchase of the lands. He removed to Marietta in 1788, having been appointed secretary of the Northwest Territory. He served as adjutant-general to ST. Clair’s army in 1791, and was severely wounded. He was also adjutant-general to Gen. WAYNE in 1794. In 1798 he removed to Natchez, having received the appointment of Governor of the Mississippi Territory. He died June 3, 1820, while on a voyage to Philadelphia.

COL. EBENEZER SPROAT was born in Middleborough, Mass., in 1752; died in Marietta, Ohio, in Feb., 1805. He served through the war of the Revolution, attaining the rank of lieutenant-colonel. At the close of the war he married Catharine, daughter of Commodore WHIPPLE. He came to Marietta with the first party as one of the Ohio Company surveyors. Was the first colonel of militia commissioned in the Northwest Territory; the first sheriff of Washington county, serving for fourteen years.

He was six feet four inches tall, and his commanding figure so impressed the Indians that they called him “Hetuck” (Big Buckeye).

MAJOR HAFFIELD WHITE was born in Danvers, Mass. At the close of the war of the Revolution he had attained the rank of major.

He was the head of the party of pioneers that left Danvers, Mass., Dec. 3, 1787. During the first year at Marietta he acted as steward for the Ohio Company. The next year, with Col. Robert OLIVER and Capt. John DODGE, he erected the first mills built in Ohio, those at Wolf creek. He died Dec. 13, 1817.

CAPT. JONATHAN DEVOLL was born in Tiverton, R. I., in 1756. He was a skilful ship-carpenter, and superintended the building of the “Adventure Galley,” or “Mayflower;” also engaged on the construction of Campus Martius. He prepared the plans and directed the building of “Farmer’s Castle;” he constructed the “floating mill.”

In 1792 he built entirely out of red cedar a twelve-oared barge for the use of Gen. PUTNAM, and in 1801 built a 400-ton ship, all of the wood used being black walnut. His mechanical skill and ingenuity were of great service to the pioneers. His death occurred in 1824.

SAMUEL PRESTON HILDRETH was born in Methuen, Mass., Sept. 30, 1783; died in Marietta, Ohio, July 24, 1863. He received an academic education, studied medicine, and received his medical degree from the Medical Society of Massachusetts in 1805. He came to Ohio in 1806, settling at Belpre, but two years later removed to Marietta, where he acquired a large and successful practice, also serving in the legislature in 1810-11. At Marietta he began the first meteorological register in this State, which he kept for about fifty years. In 1837 he was a member of the geological survey of Ohio. Dr. HILDRETH made collections in natural history and con-

chology, which, together with his valuable scientific library, he presented to Marietta College. During forty years he contributed to “Silliman’s Journal” articles on meteorology, geology, botany and paleontology. He also devoted much study and labor to the antiquities and to the pioneer history of Ohio. A large amount of valuable history has been preserved through his writings.

Col. Charles WHITTLESEY writes of him: “Dr. HILDRETH had not a robust, physical constitution, but this did not prevent an active life, from youth to old age. His manners were characterized by never failing good humor. In his extensive journeys on horseback among the frontier settlers they only recognized an early settler like themselves with the barren title of doctor. But he observed and noticed everything that came within the range of a capacious mind. It was by this quiet faculty, and by the lapse of time, that he concentrated knowledge on various subjects, most of which was original, and in addition to that of the books of his era. Without brilliancy or ambition, by persistent labor he left a deep, clearly cut impress upon a great State during the first half century of its growth.”

Chief among his publications are “Pioneer History” (Cincinnati, 1848); “Lives of the Early Settlers of Ohio” (1852); “Contributions to the Early History of the Northwest” (1864), and “Results of Meteorological Observations Made at Marietta in 1826-59,” reduced and discussed by Chas. A. SCHOTT in “Smithsonian Institution’s Contributions to Knowledge” (1870).

SALA BOSWORTH was born in Halifax, Mass., Sept. 15, 1805, and when a child of eleven years came to this county. He studied painting in Philadelphia, and was the artist to whom the public are indebted for the portraits of Gen. Rufus PUTNAM, Judge Ephraim CUTLER, Col. Joseph BARKER and many others of the pioneers. The pictures of “Campus Martius,” “Farmer’s Castle at Belpre,” “Wolf Creek Mills,” “The Blennerhassett Mansion” and “Marietta at the Point in 1792,” originally published in “Hildreth’s Pioneer History,” and in numerous other works, were all copies from his drawings, made from data supplied to him from the pioneers. He held various public offices, as county auditor, postmaster at Marietta under LINCOLN. He died Dec. 22, 1890, in his eighty-sixth year. He was gentle, unselfish and much beloved. He left a widow, a daughter, Mrs. DAWES, the Rev. Rd. I. W. Andrews.

wife of Maj. E. C. DAWES, and a son, Mr. C. H. BOSWORTH, Vice-President Illinois H. & S. R. R. Co.

ISRAEL WARD ANDREWS was born in Danbury, Conn., Jan. 3, 1815. He graduated at Williams College in 1837, and taught an academy at Lee, Mass., for one year, when he was appointed tutor at Marietta College, Ohio.

In April, 1839, he was elected professor of mathematics, and upon the resignation of Dr. SMITH in 1855 became the president of the college. In his administration of the affairs of the college he was eminently successful, not only as an educator, but in its financial affairs as well. One whom he taught has written:

“Dr. ANDREWS had no superior as an instructor and disciplinarian. He was one of the ablest mathematicians of the day, and before a college class he was an inspiration. No one of the five or six hundred graduates of Marietta College can ever forget his perspicuous, forcible and exhaustive methods in the class-room. The dullest and most diffident student was made at ease, and taught to express in the best way what he knew, and, in addition, every student was instructed in what he did not know.”

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