WASHINGTON COUNTY

 

Page 777

 

            WASHINGTON COUNTY was formed July 26, 1788, by proclamation of Gov. ST. CLAIR, being the FIRST COUNTY formed within the limits of Ohio.

 

            The surface is generally hilly and broken, excepting the broad strips of alluvial land on the Ohio and Muskingum.  In the middle and western part are extensive tracts of fertile land.  The uplands near the large streams are commonly broken, but well adapted to pasturage.  The principal products are corn, wheat, oats, potatoes, dairy produce, fruit and wool.

 

            In its original boundaries were as follows:  “Beginning on the bank of the Ohio river, where the western boundary line of Pennsylvania crosses it, and running with that line to Lake Erie; thence along the southern shore of said lake to the mouth of Cuyahoga river; thence up the said river to the portage between it and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum; thence down that branch to the forks, at the crossing place above Fort Laurens; thence with a line to be drawn westerly to the portage on that branch of the Big Miami on which the fort stood that was taken by the French in 1752, until it meets the road from the lower Shawnese town to Sandusky; thence south to the Scioto river, and thence with that river to the mouth, and thence up the Ohio river to the place of beginning.”

 

            Area about 650 square miles.  In 1887 the acres cultivated were 106,805; in pasture, 137,758; woodland, 81,026; lying waste, 10,562; produced in wheat, 322,846 bushels; rye, 3,415; buckwheat, 643; oats, 216,603; corn, 564,769; broom-corn, 8,475 lbs. brush; meadow hay, 19,776 tons; clover hay, 3,599; potatoes, 120,664 bushels; tobacco, 314,475 lbs.; butter, 681,224; cheese, 4,815; sorghum, 14,032 gallons; maple sugar, 1,043 lbs.; honey, 6,837; eggs, 916,793 dozen; grapes, 22,040 lbs.; wine, 882 gallons; sweet potatoes, 26,439 bushels; apples, 9,726; peaches, 3,946; pears, 926; wool, 445,771 lbs.; milch cows owned, 7,825.  Ohio Mining Statistics, 1888: Coal, 2,432 tons, employing 15 miners.  School census, 1888, 14,140; teachers, 394.  Miles of railroad track, 88.

 

Townships

And Census

1840

1880

 

Townships

And Census

1840

1880

Adams

   791

1,856

 

Ludlow

   539

1,375

Aurelius

   886

   999

 

Marietta

2,689

8,830

Barlow

   880

1,200

 

Muskingum

 

 

Belpre

1,296

2,636

 

Newport

1,678

2,548

Decatur

   439

1,504

 

Palmer

 

   591

Dunham

 

   900

 

Roxbury

1,225

 

Fairfield

 

   731

 

Salem

   881

1,638

Fearing

1,019

1,275

 

Union

   888

 

Grand View

   514

2,663

 

Warren

   931

1,903

Independence

   335

1,792

 

Waterford

1,166

2,128

Jolly

   582

 

 

Watertown

1,128

1,894

Lawrence

   571

2,335

 

Wesley

   991

1,482

Liberty

   515

1,614

 

 

 

 

 

            Population of Washington in 1820 was 10,425; 1830, 11,731; 1840, 20,694; 1860, 36,268; 1880, 43,244; of whom 35,103 were born in Ohio; 1,549, Pennsylvania; 1,115, Virginia; 319, New York; 100, Indiana; 75, Kentucky; 2,002, German Empire; 515, Ireland; 216, England and Wales; 177, Scotland; 36, British America; 31, France; and 5, Norway and Sweden.  Census, 1890, 42,380.

 

Page 778.

 

            This county was the first settled in Ohio and under the auspices of the New England Ohio Company.  Its earliest settlers were from New England, the descendants of whom constitute the largest part of its present population.

 

THE ERECTION OF FORT HAMAR.

 

            In the autumn of 1785 a detachment of United States troops, under the command of Maj. John DOUGHTY, commenced the erection and the next year completed Fort Harmer, on the right bank of the Muskingum, at its junction with the Ohio.  It was named in honor of Col. Josiah HARMAR, to whose regiment Maj. DOUGHTY was attached.  It was the first military post erected by Americans within the limits of Ohio, excepting Fort Laurens, built in 1778, near the

 

 

FORT HARMAR.

 

 

present Bolivar, Tuscarawas county.  The outlines of the fort formed a regular pentagon, embracing within the area about three-quarters of an acre.  Its walls were formed of large horizontal timbers, and the bastions of large upright timbers, of about fourteen feet in height, fastened to each other by strips of timber tree-nailed into each picket.  In its rear Maj. DOUGHTY laid out fine gardens.  It continued to be occupied by United States troops until September, 1790, when they were ordered to Cincinnati.  A company under Captain HASKELL continued to make the fort their head-quarters during the Indian war, sending out occasionally small detachments to assist the colonists at Marietta, Belpre and Waterford, in guarding their garrisons against the Indians.  The barracks and houses not needed for the accommodation of the troops were occupied by the inhabitants living at Marietta, on the opposite side of the Muskingum.

 

            In the autumn of 1787 the directors of the Ohio Company organized in New England, preparatory to a settlement.  Upon the 23d of November they made arrangements for a party of 47 men to set forward under the superintendence of Gen. Rufus PUTNAM; and not long after, in the course of the winter, they started on their toilsome journey.  Some of these, as well as most of those who followed them to the colony, had served in the war of the revolution, either as officers or soldiers, being men who had spent the prime of their lives in the struggle for liberty.

 

            “During the winter of 1787-8 these men were pressing on over the Alleghanies by the old Indian path which had been opened into Braddock’s road, and which has since been followed by the national turnpike from Cumberland westward.  Through the dreary winter days they trudged on, and by April were all

 

Page779

 

gathered on the Yohiogany, where boats had been built, and started for the Muskingum.  On the seventh of April they landed at the spot chosen, and became the founders of Ohio, unless we regard as such the Moravian missionaries.

 

            “As ST. CLAIR, who had been appointed governor the preceding October, had not yet arrived, it became necessary to erect a temporary government for their internal security; for which purpose a set of laws was passed, and published by being nailed to a tree in the village, and Return Jonathan MEIGS was appointed to administer them.  It is a strong evidence of the good habits of the people of the colony that during three months but one difference occurred, and that was compromised.  Indeed, a better set of men altogether could scarce have been selected for the purpose than PUTNAM’S little band.  WASHINGTON might well say, ‘no colony in America was ever settled under such favorable auspices as that which was first commenced at the Muskingum.  Information, property and strength, will be its characteristics.  I know many of the settlers personally, and there never were men better calculated to promote the welfare of such a community.’

 

            “On the second of July a meeting of the directors and agents was held on the banks of the Muskingum, for the purpose of naming the new-born city and its public squares.  As the settlement had been merely ‘The Muskingum,’ the name Marietta was now formally given to it, in honor of Marie Antoinette.

 

            “On the fourth of July an oration was delivered by James M. VARNUM, who, with S. H. PARSONS and John ARMSTRONG, had been appointed to the judicial bench of the territory, on the 16th of October, 1787.  Five days later the governor arrived and the colony began to assume form.  The ordinance of 1787 provided two district grades of government for the northwest territory, under the first of which the whole power was in the hands of the governor and three judges, and this form was at once organized upon the governor’s arrival.  The first law, which was ‘for regulating and establishing the militia,’ was published upon the 25th of July; and the next day appeared the governor’s proclamation, erecting all the country that had been ceded by the Indians east of the Scioto river into the county of Washington.

 

            “From that time forward, notwithstanding the doubt yet existing as to the Indians, all at Marietta went on prosperously and pleasantly.  On the second of September, the first court was held, with becoming ceremonies,” which was the first civil court ever convened in the territory northwest of the Ohio.

 

                “The procession was formed at the Point (where most of the settlers resided), in the following order:—1st.  The high sheriff, with his drawn sword; 2d, the citizens; 3d, the officers of the garrison at Fort Harmar; 4th, the members of the bar; 5th, the supreme judges; 6th, the governor and clergyman; 7th, the newly appointed judges of the court of common pleas, Generals Rufus PUTNAM and Benj. TUPPER.

 

                “They marched up a path that had been cut and cleared through the forest to Campus Martius Hall (stockade), where the whole counter-marched, and the judges (PUTNAM and TUPPER) took their seats.  The clergyman, Rev. Dr. CUTLER, then invoked the divine blessing.  The sheriff, Col. Ebenezer SPROAT (one of nature’s nobles), proclaimed with his solemn ‘O yes,’ that a court is opened for the administration of even-handed justice to the poor and the rich, to the guilty and the innocent, without respect of persons; none to be punished without a trial by their peers, and then in pursuance of the laws and evidence in the case.  Although this scene was exhibited thus early in the settlement of the State, few ever equalled it in the dignity and exalted character of its principal participators.  Many of them belong to the history of our country, in the darkest as well as most splendid periods of the revolutionary war.  To witness this spectacle, a large body of Indians was collected, from the most powerful tribes then occupying the almost entire west.  They had assembled for the purpose of making a treaty.  Whether any of them entered the hall of justice, or what were their impressions, we are not told.”

 

            “The progress of the settlement [says a letter from the Muskingum] is sufficiently rapid for the first year.  We are continually erecting houses, but arrivals are faster than we can possibly provide convenient covering.  Our first ball was opened about the middle of December, at which were fifteen ladies, as well accomplished in the manners of polite circles as any I have ever seen in the old

 

Page 780

 

 

PLAN OF CAMPUS MARTIUS.

 

A Plan
of Campus Martius
at the City of Marietta
Territory of the
United States N. W.

of the River Ohio.

Explanations.
D. Block House of Hewed Logs.
G. Gate Ways
P. Dwelling Houses
B. Watch Tower

 

                                   

Page 781

 

States.  I mention this to show the progress of society in this new world; where, I believe, we shall vie with, if not excel, the old States, in every accomplishment necessary to render life agreeable and happy."

 

CAMPUS MARTIUS.

 

                Soon after the landing, preparations were made to build the stockaded fort, Campus Martius, to which allusion has already been made; and although it was begun in the course of that year, it was not entirely completed with palisades and outworks, or bastions, until the winter of 1791.

 

                The walls formed a regular parallelogram, the sides of which were 180 feet each.  At each corner was erected a strong block-house, surmounted by a tower and sentry box.  These houses were 20 feet square below and 24 feet above, and projected 6 feet beyond the curtains, or main walls of the fort.  The intermediate curtains were built up with dwelling-houses, made of wood, whip-sawed into timbers four inches thick, and of the requisite width and length.  These were laid up with similar to the structure of log-houses, with the ends nicely dove-tailed or fitted together so as to make a neat finish.  The whole were two stories high and covered with good shingle roofs.  Convenient chimneys were erected of bricks, for cooking and warming the rooms.  A number of the dwelling houses were built and owned by private individuals, who had families.  In the west and south fronts were strong gateways; and over that, in the centre of the front looking to the Muskingum river, was a belfry.  The chamber underneath was occupied by the Hon. Winthrop SARGENT, as an office, he being secretary to the governor of the N. W. Territory, General ST. CLAIR, and performing the duties of governor in this absence.  This room projected over the gateway, like a block-house, and was intended for the protection of the gate beneath in time of an assault.

 

                At the outer corner of each block-house was erected a bastion, standing on four stout timbers.  The floor of the bastion was a little above the lower story of the block-house.  They were square, and built up with thick planks to the height of a man’s head, so that when he looked over he stepped on a narrow platform, or “banquet,” running round the sides of the bulwark.  Port-holes were made for musketry, as well as for artillery, a single piece of which was mounted in the southwest and northeast bastions.  In these the sentries were regularly posted every night, as more convenient of access than the towers; a door leading into them from the upper story of the block-houses.  The lower room of the southwest block-house was occupied for a guard-house.  Running from corner to corner of the block-houses was a row of palisades, sloping outwards, and resting on stout rails.  Twenty feet in advance of these was a row of very strong and large pickets, set upright in the earth.

 

                Gateways through these admitted the inmates of the garrison.  A few feet beyond the outer palisades was placed a row of abatis made from the tops and branches of trees, sharpened and pointing outwards, so that it would have been very difficult for an enemy to have penetrated even within their outworks.  The dwelling houses occupied a space from 15 to 30 feet each, and were sufficient for the accommodation of forty or fifty families, and did actually contain from 200 to 300 persons, men, women and children, during the Indian war.

 

                Before the Indians commenced hostilities, the block-houses were occupied as follows:--the southwest one by the family of Gov. ST. CLAIR; the northwest one for public worship and holding of courts.  The southeast block-house was occupied by private families; and the northeast as an office for the accommodation of the directors of the company.  The area within the walls was 144 feet square, and afforded a fine parade-ground.  In the centre was a well, 80 feet in depth, for the supply of water to the inhabitants in case of a siege.  A large sun-dial stood for many years in the square, placed on a handsome post, and gave note of the march of time.  It is still preserved as a relic of the old garrison.

 

                After the war commenced, a regular military corps was organized, and a guard constantly kept night and day.  The whole establishment formed a very strong work, and reflected great credit on the head that planned it.  It was in a manner impregnable to the attacks of Indians, and none but a regular army with cannon could have reduced it.  It is true, that the heights across the Muskingum commanded and looked down upon the defences of the fort; but there was no enemy in a condition to take possession of this advantage.

 

                The garrison stood on the verge of that beautiful plain on the east side of and overlooking the Muskingum on which are seated those celebrated remains of antiquity; and erected probably for a similar purpose, the defence of the inhabitants.  The ground descends into shallow ravines on the north and south sides; on the west is an abrupt descent to the river bottoms, or alluvions; and the east passed out on to the level plain.  On this the ground was cleared of trees beyond the reach of rifle shots, so as to afford no shelter to a hidden foe.  Extensive fields of corn were growing in the midst of the standing girdled trees beyond.  The front wall of the garrison was about 150 yards from the

 

Page 782.

 

Muskingum river.  The appearance of the fort from without was grand and imposing; at a little distance resembling one of the military palaces or castles of the feudal ages.  Between the outer palisades and the river were laid out neat gardens for the use of Gov. ST. CLAIR and his secretary, with the officers of the company.

 

                Opposite the fort, on the shore of the river, was built a substantial timber wharf, at which was moored a fine cedar barge for twelve rowers, built by Capt. Jonathan DEVOLL, for Gen. PUTNAM; a number of pirogues, and the light canoes of the country; and last, not least, “the May-Flower,” or “Adventure Galley,” in which the first detachment of colonists were transported from the shores of the Yohiogany to the banks of the Muskingum.  In these, especially the canoes, during the war, most of the communications were carried on between the settlements of the company and the more remote towns above on the Ohio river.  Travelling by land was very hazardous to any but the rangers of spies.  There were no roads nor bridges across the creeks, and for many years after the war had ceased the travelling was nearly all done by canoes on the rivers.

 

            The names of the first forty-eight settlers at MARIETTA are, General Rufus PUTNAM, superintendent of the colony; Colonels Ebenezer SPROAT, Return J. MEIGS, and Major Anselm TUPPER and John MATHEWS, surveyors; Major Haffield WHITE, steward and quartermaster; Captains Jonathan DEVOL, Josiah MUNRO, Daniel DAVIS, Peregrine FOSTER, Jethro PUTNAM, William GRAY and Ezekiel COOPER; Jabez BARLOW, Daniel BUSHNELL, Phineas COBURN, Ebenezer CORY, Samuel CUSHING, Jervis CUTLER, Israel DANTON, Jonas DAVIS, Allen DEVOL, Gilbert DEVOL, Jr., Isaac DODGE, Oliver DODGE, Samuel FELSHAW, Hezekiah FLINT, Hezekiah FLINT, Jr., John GARDNER, Benjamin GRISWOLD, Elizur KIRTLAND, Theophilus LEARNED, Joseph LINCOLN, Simeon MARTIN, William MASON, Henry MAXON, William MILLER, Edmund MOULTON, William MOULTON, Amos PORTER, Allen PUTNAM, Benjamin SHAW, Earl SPROAT, David WALLIS, Joseph WELLS, Josiah WHITE, Peletiah WHITE, Josiah WHITRIDGE.

 

                Other settlers who came the first season to Marietta, as far as recollected, were as follows:

 

                Of the agents, were Winthrop SARGEANT, secretary of the territory, Judges PARSONS and VARNUM of the settlers, Capt. DANA, Joseph BARKER, Col. BATTELLE, Major TYLER, Dr. TRUE, Capt. LUNT, the BRIDGES, Thomas CORY, Andrew M’CLURE, Thomas LORD, Wm. GRIDLEY, MOODY, RUSSELS, DEAVENS, OAKES, WRIGHT, CLOUGH, GREEN, SHIPMAN, DORRANCE, the MAXONS, WELLS, etc.  The first boat of families arrived on the 19th of August, in the same season, consisting of Gen. TUPPER’S, Col. Ichabod NYE’S, Col. CUSHING’S, Major COBURN’S, and Major GOODALE’S.

 

                In the spring of 1789 settlements were pushed out to Belpre, Waterford, and Duck creek, where they began to clear and plant the land, build houses and stockades.  Among the first settlers at WATERFORD were Benjamin CONVERS, Gilbert DEVOL, sen., Phineas COBURN, Wm. GRAY, Col. Robert OLIVER, Major Haffield WHITE, Andrew STORY, Samuel CUSHING, John DODGE, Allen and Gideon DEVOL, George, William, and David WILSON, Joshua SPRAGUE, with his sons William and Jonathan, Capt. D. DAVIS, Phineas COBURN, Andrew WEBSTER, Eben AYRES, Dr. FARLEY, David BROWN, A. KELLY, James and Daniel CONVERS.

 

                At Belpre (the French for “beautiful meadow”) were three stockades, the upper, lower, and middle; the last of which was called “farmer’s castle,” which stood on the banks of the Ohio, nearly, if not quite, opposite the beautiful island, since known as “Blannerhasset’s,” the scene of “BURR’S conspiracy.”  Among the persons at the upper were Capt. DANA, Capt. STONE, Col. BENT, Wm. BROWNING, Judge FOSTER, John ROWSE, Mr. KEPPEL, Israel STONE.  At farmer’s castle were Col. CUSHING, Major HASKEL, Aaron Waldo PUTNAM, Col. FISHER, Mr. SPARHAWK, and it is believed George and Israel PUTNAM, jr.  At the lower were Major GOODALE, Col. RICE, Esq. PIERCE, Judge Israel LORING, Deacon MILES, Major BRADFORD, and Mr. Goodenow.  In the summer of 1789 Col. Ichabod NYE and some others built a block-house at Newberry, below Belpre.  Mr. NYE sold his lot there to Aaron N. CLOUGH, who, with Stephen GUTHRIE, Jos. LEAVINS, Joel OAKES, Eleazer CURTIS, Mr. DENHAM, J. LITTLETON, and a Mr. BROWN, were located at that place during the subsequent Indian war.

 

                Every exertion possible for men in these circumstances was made to secure food and prepare for future difficulties.  Col. OLIVER, Major Haffield WHITE, and John DODGE, of the Waterford settlement, began mills on Wolf creek, about three miles from the fort, and got them running; and these, the first mills in Ohio, were never destroyed during the subsequent Indian war, though the proprietors removed their families to the fort at Marietta.  Col. E. SPROAT and Enoch SHIPHARD began mills on Duck creek, three miles from Marietta, from the completion of which they were driven by the Indian war.  Thomas STANLEY began mills higher up, near the Duck Creek settlement; these were likewise unfinished.  The Ohio Company built a large horse mill near Campus Martius, and soon after, a floating mill.

 

Page 783

 

FARMER’S CASTLE (BELPRE), 1791.

 

Belpre, 12 miles below Marietta, was the next place settled after it.  The garrison was under military discipline, and religious services and schools were at once established.  Over two hundred men, women and children lived in Farmer’s Castle and the Goodale and Stone’s garrison, two smaller defences on either side of the castle

 

 

            NYE’s Reminiscences.—During the Indian war, which soon succeeded the first settlements, the inhabitants suffered much for the necessaries of life.  Although some of the settlers were killed, and others carried into captivity, yet the massacre at Big Bottom (see Morgan County) was the most alarming event.  The escape of the settlers from greater suffering from this source was owing to the strong fortifications erected, and the admirable judgment and foresight they displayed in taking precautions against danger.  Among the incidents connected with the troubles with the Indians, to which we have barely space to allude, was the

 

 

FORT FRYE, WATERFORD, 1792.

 

taking prisoner at Waterford of Daniel CONVERS (then a lad of 16, now (1846) of Zanesville), who was carried to Detroit; the murder of WARTH while at work near Fort Harmar; the taking prisoner of Major GOODALE, of Belpre, who was, it is supposed, murdered; the death of Capt. ROGERS, who was out with Mr. HENDERSON, as a spy, and was killed near the Muskingum, about a mile from Marietta; the death of a Mr. WATERMAN, near Waterford, and the narrow escape of Return

 

Page 784

 

J. Meigs, into Fort Harmar, by his fleetness of foot while pursued by the enemy.  On the other hand retaliation was in a measure inflicted upon the Indians, and among those most active in this duty was Hamilton CARR, a man eminently distinguished as an Indian hunter and spy.

 

            During the war a stockade was erected near the mouth of Olive Green creek, above Waterford, which became the frontier garrison, and had in it about seven or eight men and boys able to bear arms, called Fort Frye.  Just before Wayne’s victory, Aug. 4, 1794, they lost one man, a Mr. Abel SHERMAN, who went into the woods incautiously, and was killed by the Indians.  A tombstone with a scalped head rudely carved upon it marks the spot where he lies.

 

                Among the inmates of this garrison was Geo. EWING, Esq., father of the Hon. Thos. EWING.  His fortune and history were similar to that of many of the revolutionary officers who emigrated to the West at that early day.  He inherited a handsome patrimony and sold it, investing the proceeds in bonds and mortgages, and entered the continental army as a subaltern officer in 1775, he being then but little over twenty-one years of age.  He continued to serve with a few short intermissions, during the war.  When the bonds fell due, they were paid in continental money, with, proving worthless, reduced him to poverty.  In 1785 he migrated to the West, and remained on the Virginia side of the Ohio until 1792, when he crossed over and settled at Olive Green.

 

            From the communication of one of the early settlers at Olive Green we annex some facts respecting their privations and the discovery of a salt well.

 

            The inhabitants had among them but few of what we consider the necessaries and conveniences of life.  Brittle wares, such as earthen and glass, were wholly unknown, and but little of the manufactures of steel and iron, both of which were exceedingly dear.  Iron and salt were procured in exchange for ginseng and peltry, and carried on pack horses from Ft. Cumberland or Chambersburg.  It was no uncommon thing for the garrison to be wholly without salt for months, subsisting upon fresh meat, milk and vegetables, and bread made of corn pounded in a mortar—they did not yet indulge in the luxury of the hand-mill.

 

                There had been an opinion, founded upon the information of the Indians, that there were salt springs in the neighborhood, but the spot was carefully concealed.  Shortly after Wayne’s victory, in 1794, and after the inhabitants had left the garrison and gone to their farms, a white man, who had been long a prisoner with the Indians, was released and returned to the settlements.  He stopped at Olive Green, and there gave an account of the salt springs, and directions for finding them.  A party was immediately formed (of whom George EWING, Jr., then a lad of 17, was one), who, after an absence of seven or eight days, returned, to the great joy of the inhabitants, with about a gallon of salt, which they had made in their camp kettle.  This was, as I think, in August, 1795.  A supply, though a very small one, was made there that season for the use of the frontier settlement.

 

                Whether this salt spring was earlier known to the whites I am unable to say.  It may have been so to spies and explorers, and perhaps to the early missionaries; but this was the first discovery which was made available to the people.

 

            Marietta in 1846.—Marietta, the county-seat, and the oldest town in Ohio, is on the left bank of the Muskingum, at its confluence with the Ohio, 104 miles southeast of Columbus.  It is built principally upon a level plot of ground, in the midst of most beautiful scenery.  Many of the dwellings are constructed with great neatness, and embellished with handsome door-yards and highly cultivated gardens.  Its inhabitants are mostly of New England descent, and there are few places in our country that can compare with this in point of morality and intelligence—but few of its size with so many cultivated and literary men.  Marietta contains 1 Presbyterian, 1 Episcopal, 1 Baptist, 1 Methodist, 1 German Methodist, 1 Universalist and 1 Catholic church; a male and female academy, in excellent repute; a college, 2 public libraries, 1 bank, 1 or 2 printing offices, a variety of mechanical and manufacturing establishments, about 20 mercantile stores, and in 1840 had a population of 1814.  Ship-building, which was carried on very extensively at an early day, and then for a season abandoned, has again been commenced, and is now actively prosecuted.  From the year 1800 to 1807 the

 

Page 785

 

business was very thriving.  Com. Abm. WHIPPLE, a veteran of the revolution, conducted the one first built, the St. Clair, to the ocean.—Old Edition.

 

 

Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846.

MARIETTA COLLEGE

 

                At that time Marietta was made “a port of clearance,” from which vessels could receive regular papers for a foreign country.  “This circumstance was the cause of a curious incident, which took place in the year 1806 or 1807.  A ship, built at Marietta, cleared from that port with a cargo of pork, flour, etc., for New Orleans.  From thence she sailed to England with a load of cotton, and being chartered to take a cargo to St. Petersburg, the Americans being at that time carriers for half the world, reached that port in safety.  Her papers were examined by a naval officer, and dating from the port of Marietta, Ohio, she was seized upon the plea of their being a forgery, as no such port was known in the civilized world.  With considerable difficulty the captain procured a map of the United States, and pointing with his finger to the mouth of the Mississippi, traced the course of that stream to the mouth of the Ohio; from thence he led the astonished and admiring naval officer along the devious track of the latter river to the port of Marietta, at the mouth of the Muskingum, from whence he had taken his departure.  This explanation was entirely satisfactory, and the American was dismissed with every token of regard and respect.

 

 

Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846.

MARIETTA, FROM THE WEST VIRGINIA SHORE

 

 

            Marietta College was chartered in 1835.  It was mainly established with a view to meet demands in the West for competent teachers and ministers of the

 

Page 786

 

gospel.  The institution ranks high among others of the kind, and its officers of instruction are such as to merit the confidence of the enlightened patrons of thorough education.  A new college edifice has lately been reared, and from the indications given, the prospects of the institution for a generous patronage are highly auspicious.  The catalogue for 1846-7 gives the whole number of students at 177, of whom 60 were undergraduates, and 117 in the preparatory academy.  The officers are Henry SMITH, M. A., president; John KENDRICK, M. A., J. Ward ANDREWS, M. A., and Hiram BINGHAM, M. A., professors; Samuel MAXWELL, M. A., principal of the academy, and Geo. A. ROSSETER, M. A., tutor.—Old Edition.

 

            The first president was Rev. Dr. Joel H. LINDSEY, from 1835 to 1846; then Rev. Dr. Henry SMITH, until 1855.  He was succeeded by Rev. Dr. J. W. ANDREWS, who held the office until 1885, when Hon. John EATON succeeded him.

 

            From its beginning the college has been doing a beneficent work.  The following copy of a letter from the late Rev. Dr. ANDREWS, ex-president, the Henry HOWE is in point:

 

                                                MARIETTA COLLEGE, O., June 4, 1887.

                Dear Sir:  At the request of President EATON, the following names of some of the more eminent of the graduates of Marietta College are sent to you.  As your request had reference to what the college has accomplished, the list includes a few who are not now living.

                JOSEPH PERKINS, Esq., late of Cleveland, an eminent citizen and philanthropist as well as a man of business.  He was one whom all men delighted to honor.  REV. JOSEPH F. TUTTLE, D. D., LL. D., President of Wabash College, and Trustee of Lane Theological Seminary.

                Professor EBENEZER B. ANDREWS, LL. D., for many years Professor of Geology in the college, and afterwards one of the State Geological Corps.

                Rev. GEORGE M. MAXWELL, D. D., since 1865 a Trustee of the College, and for many years President of the Trustees of Lane Seminary.

                Professor GEORGE R. ROSSETER, LL. D., from 1868 till his death in 1882 Professor of Mathematics in the college.  Gen. WILLARD WARNER, LL. D., a distinguished officer in the Union army, a former Senator of the United States from Alabama, and an eminent and successful manufacturer.  Rev. ALOAN H. WASHBURN, D. D., a distinguished clergyman of Cleveland, who lost his life at the Ashtabula disaster.  Hon. OSEPH G. WILSON, LL. D., one of the Supreme Judges of Oregon, and member-elect of Congress at the time of his death in 1873.  Hon. WILLIAM IRWIN, LL. D., late Governor of California.  Professor GEORGE H. HOWISON, LL. D., Professor of Metaphysics in the University of California.  Hon. MARTIN D. FOLLETT, one of the Supreme Judges of Ohio, and a Trustee of Marietta College since 1871.

                Hon. ALFRED T. GOSHORN, LL. D., Director-General of the National Centennial Exposition of 1866, and Trustee of the College.  Hon. JOHN F. FOLLETT, LL. D., a lawyer of Cincinnati, and late Member of Congress.  Rev. JOHN H. SHEDD, D. D., missionary to Persia.  Gen. BENJAMIN D. FEARING, a distinguished officer in the Union army.  Professor DAVID E. BEACH, D. D., Professor Moral and Intellectual Philosophy at Marietta.  Professor JOHN N. LYLE, Ph. D., Professor of Mathematics in Westminster College, Mo.  Gen. RUFUS R. DAWES, an eminent officer in the army, late Member of Congress, and Trustee of the College since 1871.  Professor WILLIAM G. GALLANTINE, D. D., Professor of Old Testament Language and Literature, Oberlin Theological Seminary.  Doctor LEONARD WALDO, Astronomer at the Yale Observatory.

                Professor OSCAR H. MITCHELL, Ph. D., Professor of Mathematics at Marietta.

                                                                                                Yours truly,

                                                                                                              J. W. ANDREWS

 

HENRY HOWE, Esq.

 

            MARIETTA, county-seat of Washington, is on the Ohio river, at the mouth of the Muskingum river, about ninety miles southeast of Columbus, 206 miles east of Cincinnati, at the termini of the C. W. & B., C. & M. and M. C. & N. Railroads.  It is the seat of Marietta College.

 

            County Officers, 1888: Auditor, David H. MERILL; Clerk, Wesley G. BARTHALOW; Commissioners, J. Warren THORNILY, Thomas FLEMING, Mason GORBY; Coroner, John J. NEUER; Infirmary Directors, William T. HARNESS, James F. BRIGGS; Robert T. MILLER, Jr.; Probate Judge, William H. LEEPER; Prosecuting Attorney, John W. McCORMICK; Recorder, John W. STEELE; Sheriff, Arthur B. LITTLE; Surveyor, William ELDRIDGE; Treasurer, Thomas J. CONNOR.  City

 

Page 787

 

Officers, 1888: Sidney RIDGWAY, Mayor; George WEISER, Clerk; Charles CONNOR, Treasurer; Jacob H. DYE, Marshal; John M. HOOK, Street Commissioner.  Newspapers: Register, Republican, E. R. ALDERMAN & Sons, editors and publishers; Leader, Republican, T. F. DAVIS, editor and publisher; Times, Democratic, Samuel McMILLEN, editor and publisher; Yankee Trader, A. L. RIDER, editor and publisher; Marietta College Olio, Societies of Marietta College, publishers.  Churches: 1 Protestant Episcopal, 1 Presbyterian, 2 Congregational, 2 Methodist Episcopal, 2 Evangelist, 1 Baptist, 1 Catholic, 1 United Brethren, and 1 Unitarian.  Banks: Dime Savings Society, Jewett PALMER, president, C. H. NEWTON, treasurer; First National, Beman GATES, president, E. M. BOOTH, cashier.

 

            Manufactures and Employees.—Marietta Register, printing, etc., 15; Jacob BRAND & Co., oak harness leather, 6; A. T. NYE & Son, stoves, etc., 41; Phœnix Milling Co., flour and feed, 17; Marietta Chair Co., chairs, 465; SMITH & FOREMAN, doors, sash, etc., 6; Marietta Chair Co., chair material, 36; STRAUSS, ELSTON & Co., flour, etc., 6.—State Report, 1888.

 

            Population in 1880, 5,444.  School census, 1888, 1,725; Charles K. WELLS, school superintendent.  Capital invested in industrial establishments, $488,500.  Value of annual product, $657,500.—Ohio Labor Statistics, 1887.  Census, 1890, 10,050.  This census includes the population of Harmar, which was annexed to Marietta in June of 1890, and then had 1,777 people.

 

            Marietta has to-day much the appearance of an old-time New England town.  The residences are largely single dwellings on streets very broad and well shaded with elms and maples, while the grounds, public and private, are well kept.  Gardens abound with fruits and flowers, and everything about the place illustrates thrift, comfort and intelligence.  It is, we think, the best shaded town in the State.  The view on an adjoining page well represents its position.  It was taken from the high hill in Harmar on the west bank of the Muskingum, and is looking across the stream east and showing the Ohio in the distance.  The Muskingum here is not far from two hundred yards wide.  It falls into the Ohio by a dam of about eleven feet, and two bridges cross it, the lower a railroad bridge.  The river joining this county is dotted with a line of nine small but beautiful and fertile islands, some of these of sufficient size for fine farms and gardens.  One, and very beautiful it is, is just above the city, and twelve miles below is the historic Blennerhassett just below Parkersburg.  The beauty of the river scenery with its embosoming islands, whose dense foliage often in the June freshets hangs over laving in the passing waters, was a pleasing sight to the early settlers, unlike anything within their previous experience.

 

            The business part of Marietta is along the Muskingum, or below the upper bridge to its junction with the Ohio, which from an early day has been called “the Point,” where the first houses were erected.  Campus Martius was three quarters of a mile inland from the Point up the Muskingum.  It was originally connected with the Point by a narrow winding path through the forest, with substantial bridges crossing the rivulet that still intersect the lower part of the city.  The ancient works, of which a picture is shown, are on the second plateau from the Muskingum.  They are above the back of the dwellings, which last are largely on the gently sloping ground between the two levels.  The general business of the city is in supplying the wants of a rich agricultural region of diversified productions.  A marked feature around the place are the noble orchards that greet the eye on the hillsides and rolling grounds.

 

THE ANCIENT WORKS.

 

            The ancient works at Marietta, which, although not more remarkable than others in the State, and not as extensive as some, are more generally known from having been so frequently described and alluded to by travellers.  The description which follows is from Harris’s Tour, and the engraved plan from the Arch-

 

Page 788

 

æologia Americana of Caleb ATWATER.  They have been largely obliterated, but still enough remains to interest the visitor:

 

            “The situation of these works is on an elevated plain, above the present bank of the Muskingum, on the east side, and about half a mile from its junction with the Ohio.  They consist of walls and mounds of earth, in direct lines, and in square and circular forms.

 

            “The largest square fort, by some called the town, contains forty acres, encompassed by a wall of earth from six to ten feet high, and from twenty-five to thirty-six feet in breadth at the base.  On each side are three openings, at equal distances, resembling twelve gateways.  The entrances at the middle are the largest, particularly on the side next to the Muskingum.  From this outlet is a covert way, formed of two parallel walls of earth, 231 feet distant from each other,

 

 

ANCIENT WORKS, MARIETTA.

 

 

measuring from centre to centre.  The walls at the most elevated part, on the inside, are twenty-one feet in height, and forty-two in breadth at the base; but on the outside average only five feet in height.  This forms a passage of about 360 feet in length, leading by a gradual descent to the low grounds, where, at the time of its construction, it probably reached the river.  Its walls commence at sixty feet from the ramparts of the fort, and increase in elevation as the way descends towards the river; and the bottom is crowned in the centre, in the manner of a well-founded turnpike road.

 

            “Within the walls of the fort, at the northwest corner, is an oblong elevated square, 188 feet long, 132 broad, and 9 feet high; level on the summit, and nearly perpendicular at the sides.  At the centre of each of the sides the earth is projected, forming gradual ascents to the top, equally regular, and about six feet in width.  Near the south wall is another elevated square, 150 feet by 120, and eight feet high, similar to the other, excepting that instead of an ascent to go up

 

Page 789

 

 

Top Picture

SITE OF MARIETTA AND HARMAR, 1788.

 

Bottom Picture

SITE OF MAREIETTA AND HARMAR, 1888.

 

Page 790

 

 

COMMODORE ABRAHAM WHIPPLE.

 

Page 791

 

on the side next the wall, there is a hollow way ten feet wide, leading twenty feet towards the centre, and then rising with a gradual slope to the top.  At the southeast corner is a third elevated square, 108 by 54 feet, with ascents at the ends, but not so high nor perfect as the two others.  A little to the southwest of the centre of the fort is a circular mound, about thirty feet in diameter and five feet high, near which are four small excavations at equal distances, and opposite each other.  At the southwest corner of the fort is a semi-circular parapet, crowned with a mound, which guards the opening in the wall.  Towards the southeast is a smaller fort, containing twenty acres, with a gateway in the centre of each side and at each corner.  These gateways are defended by circular mounds.

 

            “On the outside of the smaller fort is a mound [shown in the engraving] in form of a sugar-loaf, of a magnitude and height which strike the beholder with

 

 

Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846.

THE MOUND AT MARIETTA.

 

astonishment.  Its base is a regular circle, 115 feet in diameter; its perpendicular altitude is thirty feet.  It is surrounded by a ditch four feet deep and fifteen feet wide, and defended by a parapet four feet high, through which is a gateway towards the fort twenty feet in width.”

 

THE MOUND CEMETERY.

 

            The early settlers at Marietta established a graveyard around their now famed mound; also another at Harmar.  It is one of the most interesting spots of the kind in the country.  Here lie the remains of many of the eminent characters who laid the foundations of the commonwealth.  In 1846, when I first saw it, there were comparatively few memorials; now it is thickly studded with them.

 

            On Thursday, May 12, 1886, I copied those here printed.  The most imposing monument is that of Rufus PUTNAM.  It is a noble structure of Quincy granite, of massive simplicity, and worthy of the character whose memory it commemorates:

 

                GEN. RUFUS PUTNAM, a revolutionary officer, and the leader of the colony which made the first settlement in the Territory of the Northwest at Marietta.  April 7, 1788.  Born April 9, 1738.  Died May 24, 1824.

 

 

Here lies the body of his Excellency RETURN
        JONATHAN MEIGS,   who  was  born  at
       Middletown,     Connecticut,   November,       1766, and died at Marietta, March 29, 1825.

 

 

For many years his time and talents were devoted to the service of his country.  He successfully filled the distinguished places of Judge of the Territory northwest of the Ohio, Judge of the Supreme Court of the State of Ohio, Senator in the Congress of the United States, Governor of the State of Ohio, and Postmaster-General of the United States.

 

To the honored and revered memory of an

 

Page 792

ardent patriot, a practical statesman, an enlightened scholar, a dutiful son, an indulgent father, an affectionate husband, this monument is erected by his mourning widow, Sophia MEIGS.

 

______________

 

In memory of Rev. DANIEL STORY,  died at

Marietta, Dec. 30, 1804, aged 49 years.

 

                A native of Boston, Mass., graduated at Dartmouth College.  He was the first minister of Christ who came to labor in the vast field known as the Northwest Territory, excepting the Moravian missionaries.  Came to Marietta in 1789, as a religious teacher under an arrangement with the Ohio Company.  Accepted a call from the Congregational church, and was ordained as their first pastor at Hamilton, Mass., Aug. 15, 1798.  Erected by a relative of Dr. STORY in Mass., 1878.

 

_______________

 

                The following is on a large fine-grained sandstone slab mounted horizontally on six pillars:

In memory of Capt. NATHANIEL SALTON-

STALL.  Born in New London, Conn.,

A. D. 1727; died A. D. 1807.

 

                Was first commandant Fort Trumbull.  During the Revolution he commanded the Warren frigate and ship Putnam, but was not commodore of the fleet burned at Penobscot.  Also, Lucretia LATTIMORE, wife of the above.  Born 1737; died 1824.  And two children, Polly and John.

 

__________________

 

                This was a tall marble monument with the insignia, a broken sword, left in full relief.  The inscription is upon its spiral and shaft:

 

“In  honor of Col. JESSE HILDEBRAND, of

the     77th     Regt.   O.   V. I.    Born  at  Cold

Springs,  Indian  Reservation , on  the  Alle-

ghany   river,  May  29,  1800.   Died   in  the

service  at  Alton,  Ill.,  April   18,  1863.    A

kind  husband   and   father,  a  patriot  and

soldier.    His    life    was   given    that   our

nation     might   live.    ‘Lord,   thy   will   be

done,’ his dying words.”

 

______________________

 

 

 

 

SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF

 

COMMODORE ABRAHAM WHIPPLE 

whose naval skill and courage will 

ever remain

 

THE PRIDE AND BOAST OF HIS COUNTRY
T H E   F I R S T   O N  T H E   S E A S

 

To hurl defiance at proud   Britain.   Gallantly
leading the way to wrest from the mistress
of  the  ocean  her  sceptre, and  there  to

wave   the   star  spangled   banner.  He
also  conducted  to  the   sea  the  first
square-rigged  vessel* built   on the
Ohio,     opening     to    commerce

resources   beyond calculation.

 

      Born, Sept. 26, A. D. 1733.

                                                                                                 

                   Died, May 27, A. D. 1819.

 

Aged 85 years.

 

Erected by Nathan Ward, 1859.

 

 

 

                This is the second stone erected to Commodore WHIPPLE.  The inscription is copied from that on the first stone.  The author is unknown; but it is an illustration of the grandiloquent in grave-yard literature common seventy years ago.

 

            HILDEBRAND was a man of local note, at one time county sheriff and also an extensive mail contractor.  He was in person large and imposing and fond of military matters; before the war he was General of Ohio militia, but he had but little more following than his staff, with whom he was wont to turn out and gallop through the streets of Marietta, a gay cortege to touch the imagination of the young.

 

            His brigade was surprised at Shiloh, receiving the first shock, but he gathered its fragments and fought heroically all day.  “I never saw such coolness as he then evinced,” says our informant, an officer under him.  “At one time he was in our advance, sitting quietly on his horse, looking calmly around in full view of the enemy, with the bullets flying and the shells screeching around him.  I was then sent with a message to him.  I expected to get killed, but got back unharmed.  He seemed to care nothing for his peril.”  General SHERMAN said he was “the bravest man he ever knew.”

 

            Two months after his decease, June 10, 1863, John BROUGH delivered his great speech at Marietta, opening the noted VALLANDIGHAM campaign.  His very beginning paragraph was this beautiful tribute to the memory of HILDEBRAND:

 

________________

*Dr. FARQUHAR’s square-rigged vessel; greater wonder in that age, than the Great Eastern in ours.

 

Page 793

 

            “Alas,” said he, “in all this vast crowd I miss the familiar face and the cordial grasp of the hand that would have delighted me much to meet.  He was the loved companion of my boyhood; the political and personal friend of my manhood; one whose soul was full of honor and integrity; an original and life-long Democrat and supporter of  JACKSON, when it was thought almost a crime to be one—a Democrat without guile; and yet when the crisis of his country came he did not stop to consider party lines—he did not stop to falter as to his duty, but went forth at the head of his regiment to the field of battle, only to meet disease and death in the camp and be brought back beneath the pall and laid amid the graves of his fathers . . . One who knew him well and loved him dearly desires here alike to drop a tear and an evergreen upon his grave.”

 

 

            The cemetery at Harmar was the first established and is the oldest in the Northwest Territory.  It is in a secluded spot of about four acres at the base of a rugged hill.  It is still in use and among the monuments is a handsome granite shaft to the memory of Gen. B. D. Fearing, of the Union army in the civil war.

 

Dr. SAMUEL P. HILDRETH.  Born in Meth-
             uen, Mass., Sept. 30, 1783; died July
             24, 1863. 

    “Blessed  are  the  dead   who   die  in  the
 Lord.”  “Friend after friend departs.  Who
 hath not lost a friend?”

 

The above is the inscription for the venerable historian.

 

___________

 

        Sacred  to  the  memory  of DUDLEY WOOD-
           BRIDGE,  who  was  born  in Norwich, Con-
           necticut,        Nov.    10 ,    1778 .    Died     in
           Marietta,   Ohio,   Sabbath   morning,   April
           30, 1853.  Aged 74 years. 

        “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and
enjoy him for ever.”

 

____________

 

Major ANSELM TUPPER.   Early in  life he
       entered  the  Revolutionary  army  as  an
       officer. Emigrated  to Marietta  in  1788,
       and at one time  was commander  of  the
       stockade   fort  at   this  place.  Born   at
       Easton, Mass., Oct. 11, 1763; died Dec.
       25, 1808.

 

_______________

 

Gen. BENJAMIN TUPPER, born at Sharon,
                  Mass., in 1738; died June 7, 1792.
                  Aged 54  years.

 

__________________

 

In memory of LYDIA  McKAWEN, wife  of
  Chas. McKAWEN, who died Nov. 24, 1823.
  Aged 66 years.
 

                Reader repent, thy follies fly.
                Prepare thyself and larn to die.
                Slight not the warning of this stone
                But make thy peace with Christ alone.

 

____________

 

In memory of RUTH CLARK, who was born
       March 13, 1792.  Departed this life, April
       9, 1837.  Aged 45 years. 

Behold me now though soon forgot
I have passed the veale which you have not.
Remember reader you are born to die
And turn to dust as well as I.

 

____________

 

In memory of DUDLEY TYLER, who died
         Aug. 8, 1826.  Aged 39 years. 

How strange O God that rules on high
That I should come so far to die.
To leave my friends where I was bred
And lay my bones with strangers dead.

 

______________

 Capt. STANTON PRENTISS.  Born Nov. 17,
            1750;  died  July  26,  1826, in the 76th
            year of his age.  A patriot of the Revo-
            lution. 

My soul through my Redeemer’s love
Saved from the second death, I feel
My eyes from tears of dark despair,
My feet from falling into hell.

 

______________

 

In memory of JOHN GREEN.  Born in Lan-
     caster, Mass., 1759; died Nov. 11, 1832. 

A soldier from his youth.  First in  the  cause
That freed our country from a tyrant’s  laws;
And  then  through  manhood  to  his   latest
         breath
In the blest cause which triumphs over death.

 

 

HISTORIC MISCELLANY.

 

OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE ORDINANCE OF 1787.

 

            In 1776 Congress made an appropriation of lands to the officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary army; in 1780 the act was extended.

 

Page 794

 

            By the terms of these appropriations those who had fought or would fight for independence were to receive tracts of land according to their rank; to a major-general 1100 acres; a brigadier-general 850; a colonel 500, and so on to private soldiers and non-commissioned officers who were to receive 100 acres each.

 

            At the time these appropriations were made the United States did not own an acre of land, and the fulfilment of the obligations incurred was dependent upon the individual States ceding their rights in western lands to the general government in case of conquest.  Some of the States, notably Maryland, claimed that these lands belonged to the States in common.  Congress never set up this claim, but recognized the title of individual States to the territory fixed by their charters.  In 1782 a committee of Congress in its territorial claims against the king of England said:

 

            “Under his authority the limits of these States while in the character of colonies were established; to these limits the United States considered as independent sovereignties have succeeded.  Whatever territorial rights, therefore, belonged to them before the Revolution were necessarily devolved upon them at the era of independence.”

 

            The United States, however, eventually gained control of the western lands by cessions from the States, some with and some without reservations.  These cessions were made to the general government that new States might be created out of the western territory, and to enable the general government to pay the debts incurred by the Revolutionary war by selling the lands to settlers.

 

            The theory of making government lands a source of revenue was a new departure, and beginning in 1780 the methods to be adopted in disposing of these lands for several years largely occupied the attention of Congress.  Col. GRAYSON, in a letter dated April 27, 1785, says: “I have been busily engaged in assisting about passing an ordinance for the disposal of the western territory.  I think there has been as much said and written about it as would fill forty volumes, and yet we seem far from a conclusion, so difficult is it to form any system which will suit our complex government, and when the interests of the component parts are supposed to be so different.”

 

            The principal points in controversy were the New England plan of settlement by government survey into townships, as opposed to the Virginia plan of “indiscriminate locations,” and as to the sale of lands in large or small tracts.  The prohibition of slavery was also one of the questions involved.  Gen. WASHINGTON favored the New England plan, and the sale of lands in large tracts; his letters expressing his views on these points had a strong influence toward their final adoption.

 

            In September, and again in October, of 1783, different committees had made reports recommending the formation of the western territory into States, but no action was taken by Congress until 1784, when, on March 1st, a committee, of which Mr. JEFFERSON was chairman, reported a temporary plan of government for the western territory; it had a clause prohibiting slavery after 1800, but this clause was stricken out, various amendments added, and on April 23d it became an ordinance of Congress.  It remained inoperative until repealed by the ordinance of 1787.

 

            On May 10, 1786, September 19, 1786, and April 26, 1787, three separate ordinances for the government of the western territory were reported to Congress.  On May 10, 1787, a fourth had reached its third reading, when further action was suspended by a proposition from Gen. S. H. PARSONS, of Middletown, Conn., as representative of the Ohio Company, to purchase a large tract of land in the Ohio country.  The Ohio Company was the outgrowth of an endeavor on the part of Revolutionary officers to secure the bounty lands due them for service in the war.  On June 16, 1783, two hundred and eighty-eight officers, of whom all except fifty were from New England, had petitioned that their bounty lands be set off in “that tract of country bounded on the north on Lake Erie, east on

 

Page 795

DR. CUTLER’S CHURCH AND PARSONAGE AT IPSWICH HAMLET, 1787.

 

The place from which the First Company started for the Ohio, December 3, 1787.

 

Page 796

 

Pennsylvania, southwest and south on the river Ohio, west on a line beginning at that part of the Ohio which lies twenty-four miles west of the mouth of the river Scioto, thence running north on a meridian line till it intersects the river Miami which flows into Lake Erie, thence down the middle of that river to the lake.”

 

            Gen. Rufus PUTNAM had forwarded this petition to Gen. WASHINGTON; accompanying it was a letter requesting that it be laid before Congress, stating that it was the intention of the petitioners to become settlers, and speaking of townships six miles square with reservations for religious and educational purposes.

 

            WASHINGTON transmitted the petition and General PUTNAM’S letter to Congress, together with a communication from himself in which he directed attention to the benefits to the whole country that would result from the settlement proposed, and the obligations to the officers and soldiers of the army.

 

            Congress failed to take any action, and no further effort was made to secure their bounty lands until January, 1786, when Generals Rufus PUTNAM and Ben-

 

OHIO COMPANY’S OFFICE, BUILT IN 1788.

This is yet standing near the Muskingum, about three-fourths of a mile from its mouth.

 

 

jamin Tupper issued a call to the Revolutionary officers (who in 1783 had petitioned Congress) to send delegates to a meeting to be held in March.  Eleven delegates met at the “Bunch of Grapes” tavern in Boston, Mass., and on March 3, 1786, organized the Ohio Company of Associates.  General PUTNAM was made president, and Winthrop SARGENT, clerk.  The object of the meeting was to raise a fund in Continental certificates for the sole purpose of buying lands and making a settlement in the western territory.

 

            In March, 1787, three directors were appointed: Generals Samuel H. PARSONS and Rufus PUTNAM, and Dr. Manasseh CUTLER.  Major Winthrop SARGENT was made secretary, and at a meeting held the following August Gen. James M. VARNUM, of Rhode Island, was made a director and Richard PLATT, of New York, elected treasurer.

 

            General PARSONS, as agent for the Ohio Company, failed to accomplish any satisfactory results, and he returned to Middletown.  Dr. CUTLER was then appointed agent, and on July 5, 1787, arrived in New York, Congress then being in session in that city.  The following day he delivered to Congress his petition for purchasing lands for the Ohio Company, and proposed terms and conditions of purchase.

 

            A new committee, consisting of Messrs. CARRINGTON, LEE, DANE, McKEAN, and SMITH, on July 10, submitted to Dr. CUTLER, with leave to make remarks and pro-

 

Page 797

 

pose amendments, a copy of an ordinance which had been prepared for the government of the Northwest Territory.  As the purchase of lands for the Ohio Company was dependent upon the form of government of the territory in which those lands lay, Dr. CUTLER was deeply interested in this ordinance and proposed several amendments, which with but one exception (on taxation) were subsequently adopted as proposed.  In the “North American Review” Mr. W. F. POOLE, who has given an extended study to the subject, says: “The ordinance of 1787 and the Ohio purchase were parts of one and the same transaction.  The purchase would not have been made without the ordinance and the ordinance could not have been enacted except as an essential condition of the purchase.”

 

            On July 13, 1787, the ordinance was enacted with but one dissenting vote.  No act of an American Congress has received greater praise than this.  In his “History of the Constitution” Mr. BANCROFT says: “An interlude in Congress was shaping the character and destiny of the United States of America.  Sublime and humane and eventful in the history of mankind as was the result, it will not take many words to tell how it was brought about.  For a time wisdom and peace and justice dwelt among men, and the great ordinance which could alone give continuance to the Union came in serenity and stillness.  Every man that had a share in it seemed to be moved by an invisible hand to do just what was wanted of him; all that was wrongfully undertaken fell by the wayside; whatever was needed for the happy completion of the mighty work arrived opportunely, and just at the right moment moved into its place.

 

            In 1830 Daniel WEBSTER said of this great “Ordinance of Freedom:”

 

            “We are accustomed to praise the law-givers of antiquity; we help to perpetuate the fame of Solon and Lycurgus; but I doubt whether one single law of any law-giver, ancient or modern, has produced effects of more distinct, marked and lasting character than the ordinance of 1787.  We see its consequences at this moment, and we shall never cease to see them, perhaps, while the Ohio shall flow.”

 

            Having succeeded by rare diplomacy in uniting the different interests involved so as to secure the enactment of an ordinance, with provisions for education, religion and prohibition of slavery, Dr. CUTLER made a contract for the sale of 1,500,000 acres of land to the Ohio Company.  This was signed by Samuel OSGOOD and Arthur LEE of the Board of Treasury for the Ohio Company.  The price was $1 per acre, payable in “specie, loan office certificates reduced to specie, or certificates of the liquidated debt of the United States.”  An allowance not exceeding one-third of a dollar per acre was to be made for bad lands.  Section sixteen was to be reserved for schools; twenty-nine for the support of religion; eight, eleven and twenty-six to be disposed of by Congress; and two townships for a university.

 

HOW THE FIRST SETTLERS CAME TO OHIO.

By Hon. Henry C. Noble, Columbus, O.

 

            At a meeting of the directors of the Ohio Company at Bracket’s tavern, in Boston, November 23, 1787, it was ordered: That four surveyors be employed under the direction of the superintendent hereinafter named; that twenty-two men shall attend the surveyors; that there be added to this number twenty men, including six boat-builders, four house carpenters, one blacksmith and nine common workmen, in all forty-eight men; that the boat-builders shall proceed on Monday next, and the surveyors rendezvous at Hartford, on the first of January next, on their way to the Muskingum; that the boat-builders and men with the surveyors be proprietors in the company; that their tools and one hoe and one axe to each man and thirty pounds weight of baggage shall be carried in the company’s wagons, and that the subsistence of the men on their journey be furnished by the company.  After other details this order directs that “each man shall furnish himself with a good small arm, bayonet, six flints, a powder-horn and

 

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pouch, priming wire and brush, half a pound of powder, one pound of balls and one pound of buckshot,” and “shall be subject to the orders of the superintendent and those he may appoint, as aforesaid, in any kind of business they shall be employed in, as well boat-building and surveying, as for building houses, erecting defences, clearing land and planting or otherwise, for promoting the settlement.”  “They shall also be subject to military command during the time of their employment.”  We call attention to the military precision of this order, and its fulfilment to the letter in the number of men who went and the duties they performed.

 

            Gen. Rufus PUTNAM was appointed superintendent, and Col. Ebenezer SPROAT, from Rhode Island, Anslem TUPPER and John MATHEWS, from Massachusetts, and Col. R. J. MEIGS, of Connecticut, were appointed surveyors.

 

THE FIRST COMPANY.

 

                “In exact compliance with this order a company of twenty-two men, including Jonathan DEVOLL, a master-shipbuilder, and his assistants, assembled at the house of Dr. Manassah CUTLER, in Ipswich, Mass., on December 3, 1787.  About the dawn of day they paraded in front of the house, and, after a short address from him, three volleys were fired, and the party went forward, cheered heartily by the bystanders.  Dr. CUTLER accompanied them to Danvers, where he placed them under command of Major Haffield WHITE and Capt. Ezra PUTNAM.  He had prepared a large and well-built wagon for their use, covered with black canvas, which was driven by William GRAY, on which Dr. CUTLER had painted with his own hand, in large, white letters, “FOR THE OHIO COUNTRY.”  After a tedious journey on foot of nearly eight weeks, they arrived at Sumrill’s ferry, on the Youghiogheny river (now West Newton, Westmoreland county, Pa.), January 23, 1788, where they were to build the boats to float down the rivers to the Muskingum.

 

THE SECOND COMPANY.

 

                The other party of twenty-six, including Gen. PUTNAM and the four surveyors and their assistants, with equal punctuality left Hartford, Connecticut, on January 1, 1788, under the command of Col. Ebenezer SPROAT.  Gen. PUTNAM had business in the city of New York, and did not join the division until it reached Swatara creek, just below Harrisburg.  When Gen. PUTNAM overtook his division they could cross the creek only with difficulty, on account of the ice.  That night snow fell to a considerable depth, which, with that already on the ground, blocked up the roads so that with their utmost exertions they could get the wagons no further than Cooper’s tavern, at the foot of the Tuscarora mountains, where they arrived on January 29, four weeks after leaving Hartford, a journey which could now be made in probably twenty hours.

 

                They had now reached the great mountain ranges over which all the early emigrants came in wagons, or on horseback, whose journeys were the theme of fireside talks among them fifty years ago, and over which the Cumberland or National road was built, to facilitate communication between the growing West and seashore.

 

                This company of pioneers ascertained that no one had crossed the mountains since the last fall of snow.  They therefore abandoned their wagons, built four stout sledges to carry their baggage and tools, and harnessed their horses in single file.  The men went before on foot to break the road, and after two weeks of arduous travel they also reached Sumrill’s ferry on February 14, 1788.

 

BOAT-BUILDING.

 

                When they arrived they found that, on account of the severity of the weather and the deep snow, little progress had been made toward building the boats.  Gen. PUTNAM, who had been brought up to mechanical pursuits, and as an engineer had caused many forts and works to be built during the revolutionary war, infused new spirit into the enterprise.  The boat-builders and men already on the ground, recruited by the large party just arrived, went heartily to work under this supervision.  The work now progressed rapidly under the immediate direction of Jonathan DEVOLL, the ship-builder.  The largest boat, which the ship-builders called “Adventure Galley,” was afterward named the “Mayflower” in honor of the famous vessel that bore the Puritan emigrants into Plymouth bay—an earlier but hardly a more momentous migration than the one about to embark on the Western waters.  This boat was forty-five feet long and twelve wide, with curved bows, strongly timbered and covered with a deck roof high enough for a man to walk upright under the beams.  The sides were thick enough to resist the bullets of any wandering party of Indians who might attack it, as they attacked and captured several boats later in the season.  As the “Galley” could not carry the forty-eight men, horses, wagons, baggage, tools and provisions to keep them until their crops were grown, they constructed a large flat-boat and several canoes.  This flotilla was ready on April 1, and after it was loaded it left Sumrill’s ferry for the Muskingum on the afternoon of April 2, 1788.

 

                The expedition after a few stoppages by



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