Name	Was Constituted
Concord   Union  Waterford   Newport Little Muskingum Goodhope Warren or Barlow Liberty Lawrence Roxbury Waterford Wesley Belpre   Beverly Matamoras Valley   Corinth Muskingum Valley Watertown   Roxbury  Cow Run  Center Valley Lower Salem Independence Little Hocking	1828 1832 1835 1838 1838 1839 1839 1843 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1857 1858 1858 1865 1867 1867 1868 1870 1872 1876 1879 1891

CHURCH MEMBERSHIP GREW By October 7, 1901, the county's church members numbered 4,858, according to a report made by the Ministerial Trustees for the county. The following table represents church members twelve years of age and over. St. Mary's Catholic 1,005 St. Luke's Ev. Lutheran 470 St. Paul's Ger. Evangelical 237 Gilman Ave. Methodist Episcopal 317 First Methodist Episcopal 496 German Methodist Episcopal 154 Sand Hill Methodist Episcopal 94 Wesleyan Methodist 73 African Methodist Episcopal 27 First Baptist 440 Valley Baptist 58 Little Musk. Baptist 44 First Congregational 304 Harmar Congregational 182 SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 201 Little Muskingum Congregational 37 First Presbyterian 267 Beech Grove Protestant Methodist 10 Central Christian 102 Ch. of Christ, Harmar 89 Unitarian 89 St. Luke's Prot. Episcopal 174 Church of Christ, Mile Run 189 Total 4,858 EARLIEST AND PRESENT SCHOOLS Major Anselm Tucker taught Marietta's first school in the northwest blockhouse during the winter of 1788-9, as did Dr. Jabez True and Jonathan Baldwin. At Belpre, Bathsheba Roush was the first woman teacher (in 1789). , These and the schools for many years later were on the subscription basis. Washington County's early school buildings were like those maintained in other contemporary communities—log structures, with puncheon floors, slab seats and desks, glazed paper windows and wide fireplaces. We will not attempt a history of the many stages of improvement in housing and studies. The story is too long for a work of this scope. The high character of the schools of Marietta are referred to on another page which recites the history of the county seat and from the educational department of the state we gather additional evidence of the county's painstaking care in the teaching of its youth. According to the department's last report Washington County's public day schools required the services of 101 men and 156 women teachers and represented an enrollment of 3,188 boys and 2,964 girls, the total number of school buildings being 196. The Marietta (St. Mary's) Parochial high school enrollment for 1924-25 was 56 and for the elementary branches was 147, the last-named schools having five teachers. CHAPTER XX SHIPBUILDING AT MARIETTA FIRST OCEAN-GOING BRIG, THE ST. CLAIR, LAUNCHED IN 1800-FAMOUS COMMODORE WHIPPLE TOOK HER VIA NEW ORLEANS TO HAVANA- TWENTY-FOUR OTHERS BUILT UP TO 1814-MA RIETTA-HARMAR STEAMBOATS TO THE NUMBER OF SIXTY BUILT BETWEEN 1823 AND 1880. The Ohio Company's choice of the mouth of the Muskingum as the most desirable spot for their first settlement resulted promptly in giving it a ship-building industry of very considerable magnitude. A strong proof of its extent lies in the list of ships built up to 1814. This list, which is accompanied by the names of the ships' owners, is said to have been furnished by James Whitney, master builder for Charles Greene & Company : Brig St. Clair, 110 tons, Charles Greene & Company, built by Stephen Devol in 1800, commanded by Commodore Whipple. Ship Muskingum, built by J. Devol for B. I. Gilman, in 1801, 200 tons, Captain Crandon. Brig Eliza Greene, built by J. Devol for Charles Greene, in 1801, 130 tons, Captain Hodgkiss. Brig Marietta, by J. Whitney for Abner Lord, in 1802, Capt. 0. Williams, 150 tons. Brig Dominie, by S. Crispin for D. Woodbridge, Jr., 1802, Captain Lattimore, 140 tons. Schooner Indiana, by J. Barker for E. W. Tupper, in 1802, Captain Merrill, 80 tons. Brig Mary Avery, by D. Skillinger for G. Avery, 1802, Captain Prentiss, 150 tons. Ship Temperance, 230 tons, built by James Whitney for A. Lord, in 1804, Captain Williams. Brig Orlando, built by J. Barker for E. W. Tupper, in 1803; 160 tons, Captain Miner. Schooner Whitney, built by J. Whitney for A. Lord. - 203 - 204 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO Schooner McGrath, built by J. Whitney for A. Lord, in 1803, Captains Williams and Wilson, 70 tons. Brig Ohio, 170 tons, built by J. Devol for McFarland & Company, in 1804, Captain Rose. Brig Perseverance, 170 tons, by J. Whitney for B. I. Gilman, in 1805, Captain Wilson. Ship Rufus King, 300 tons, by J. Whitney, for Clark and B. I. Gilman, in 1806, Captain Clark. Two gunboats by T. Vail, for E. W. Tupper, 1806. Ship Tuscarawas, 320 tons, by W. McGrath-Marshall S. Jones for A. Lord, 1806. Ship I. Atkinson, by W. McGrath for A. Lord, 320 tons, 1806. Brig Hope, by A. Miller for Charles Greene, 120 tons, 1806. Ship Francis, copper-fastened, 350 tons, by J. Whitney for B. I. Gilman, Captain Wilson, 1807. Ship Robert Hale, 300 tons, by J. Whitney for B. I. Gilman, Captain Holden, 1807. Brig Golet, 120 tons, by W. McGrath for A. Lord, Captain Bennet, 1807. Brig Rufus Putnam, 150 tons, by W. McGrath, Colonel Lord. Schooner Belle, 103 tons, by J. Whitney for Gilman & Woodbridge, Captain Boyle, 1808. Schooner Maria, J. Whitney for B. I. Gilman, 70 tons, 1814. "ST. CLAIR'S" PROFITABLE OCEAN VOYAGE The first vessel on this list was named in honor of the territorial governor. Taking on a cargo of pork and flour, the St. Clair in May, 1800, cleared for Havana, Cuba. Her captain was Commander Whipple, who had fired the first gun discharged at the British, on the ocean, in the war of the Revolution. The St. Clair reached New Orleans early in July, took on supplies, and cleared for Havana ere the month was out. In the Cuban capital the St. Clair's cargo brought profitable prices and the proceeds were invested in sugar. With that on board the St. Clair sailed (in August) for Philadelphia, where her sugar cargo was disposed of and where the brig also was sold. Commodore Whipple returned from the Quaker. City to Marietta by land. The voyage's financial success gave a strong impetus to the shipbuilding industry at the mouth of the Muskingum. SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 205 "MUSKINGUM" MADE GOOD TRIP TOO The embargo act of 1808 suspended the industry, however, and it was not resumed until 1844, in the summer of which year the Marietta Ship Company opened a yard where the Phoenix Mills later came into existence. The company's first ship, the Muskingum, launched in January, 1845, was rigged at Marietta, minus sails, which were Boston made and received by the Muskingum at New Orleans, to which point she was towed from Marietta. Her cargo (lard, pork and oil-cake) was loaded at Cincinnati. From New Orleans she sailed for Boston and was there sold. Other vessels were built by the same company and by rivals up to the middle '60s. This shipbuilding era is one of the most interesting features of Marietta's early history. To have successfully produced sailing vessels so far away from the sea coast and to have sold them on remunerative terms at such ports as Philadelphia and Boston was something that Marietta's builders and owners were entitled to be proud of. STEAMBOAT BUILDING, MARIETTA AND HARMAR It seems a little like putting the cart before the horse to describe a Marietta industry which produced craft for navigation of the Ohio, Muskingum and other neighborhood rivers after having described that industry of hers which produced craft to be used on far away oceans. But the order of treatment is strange because the order of development was. Marietta had been turning out sea-going vessels eleven years when the New Orleans made the first steamboat trip down the Ohio, and that descent of the beautiful river was convincing only to the few that steam navigation would be practicable. Judging from the delays at the Marietta and Harmar shipyards, there was prolonged skepticism there. A list lies before us which gives the names of steamers built at these two points up to 1877. The first one, the Mechanic, was not turned out until 1823. The second, that sturdy Rufus Putnam, which was built the same year for Captains Green and Dodge, in 1824 placed her name high on the roll of fame by steaming up the bank-full Muskingum to Zanesville and returning in safety to Marietta. 206 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO So many of these Marietta-and-Harmar-made steamers left the yards between 1823 and 1880 that the list of them is too long for reproduction on these pages. The curious reader will find these names in older Washington County histories. Nine of them were built in the '20s; twenty-one in the '30s; six in the '40s; thirteen in the '50s; five in the '60s; six in the '70s. CHAPTER XXI BLENNERHASSETT AND BURR'S CONSPIRACY THE FORMER CAME FROM IRELAND AND LANDED IN MARIETTA 1797-BOUGHT PART OF ISLAND FOURTEEN MILES DOWN THE OHIO AND BUILT A PALACE COSTING $40,000-HERE THE TREACHEROUS BURR CAME AND THE OWNER WAS SOON HIS DUPE-BOTH TRIED FOR TREASON AND ACQUITTED BUT WERE BOUND OVER TO APPEAR AT CHILLICOTHE-BLENNERHASSETT, A RUINED MAN, DIED IN POVERTY ON THE ISLE OF GUERNSEY-HIS BEAUTIFUL WIFE MET A SIMILAR FATE -MANSION ON THE ISLAND FLOODED AND BURNED. BLENNERHASSETT Harman Blennerhassett and his wife came to Marietta from Pittsburgh, floating down the Ohio in a flatboat which carried also their household goods. They spent the winter of 1797-8 in the little settlement at the mouth of the Muskingum. While casting around for a spot on which to establish a suitable home, Blennerhassett looked with appreciative eyes upon an island in the Ohio fourteen miles below Marietta and two miles below the mouth of the Little Kanawha, a bit of land lying in midstream which had been a part of the great tract owned by George Washington, on the Virginia side of the river. E. O. Randall, the Ohio historian, said of it : "The island is about three and a half miles long and spectacle-shaped, being one-half mile wide at either end and narrowing in the center to a width only sufficient to permit a wagon road. It contains 297 acres. In March, 1798, Mr. Blennerhassett bought, for the sum of $4,500, from Mr. Backus, 170 acres, comprising the eastern lobe. Soon after he moved with his wife and child to his new possession, living temporarily in a large old stockade fort which had been erected by Captain James and used as a retreat during the Indian wars." - 207 - 208 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO FEW IF ANY EQUALS IN THE WEST Blennerhassett built the mansion which historians have so flatteringly described near the island's upper end. Its main building was 52 by 32 feet; wide porticos forty feet in length swept toward each other in semi-circular form from the main structure, so that there was a frontage of 110 feet. It was a wooden structure throughout—a tinder box, as events proved. There were graveled walks, carriage ways, an imposing gateway with stone columns, hawthorne hedges, rustic arbors, grottoes, lawns, flowers and rare plants. In the rear were choice orchards. Farmers, gardeners, butlers made up quite a force. Ten slaves which the owner had bought took care of other duties in and about the mansion. Within the latter all was elegance. Handsome mirrors, rich carpets, a multitude of books, luxurious appointments —these were all there. The total cost of the establishment was more than $40,000. Here the Blennerhassetts lived from 1799 to 1807. Their home was the western world's showplace. They entertained lavishly and did it well, for each was cultured, highly educated and experienced in the social graces. The wife was supremely beautiful, thoroughly accomplished and, unlike her husband, ambitious. THE MIGHTY WEST BECKONED THEM Into this Eden, as has been well said, came Satan—but before describing the evil results, it is well to tell a condensed story of the previous lives of Harman and Margaret Blennerhassett. The former was born about 1765 in Kerry County, Ireland; acquired a thorough education; studied law and was admitted to the bar; toured the continent and was in Paris at the anniversary of the storming of the Bastile ; returned to his home a convert to republicanism. In 1796, his father having died, he inherited an estate valued at $100,000 and removed to England, where he married Miss Margaret Agnew, daughter of a British naval officer. Harman's growing republicanism caused him to look with purposeful eyes to America and, selling his estate, he sailed with his wife from London, arriving in New York in the fall of 1797. But his heart was in the West, land of great opportunities, and he and his wife SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 209 journeyed to Pittsburgh, descended the Ohio, landed at Marietta and remained there awhile, as stated. THE TEMPTER AT BLENNERHASSETT The Satan referred to was Aaron Burr. He had won honors in the Revolution, in law, in politics and as Vice President, but had left the vice presidency under a cloud, partly because of the death of Alexander Hamilton at his hands, in a duel, and also because his qualities would not stand any of the true human tests. Burr was one of the ablest, readiest, most adroit men of his time, also one of the most unscrupulous. We shall not pause upon the details of the dissatisfaction which existed in the Mississippi Valley when Burr retired from the vice presidency in March, 1805, but will recall to the reader's mind that Burr was well acquainted with the situation and saw in it opportunities to satisfy his vaulting ambition and to avenge himself upon those in the seaboard states who sat in the seats of the mighty and had turned cold shoulders upon him. BURR A WELCOME GUEST By the summer of 1805 he was at Pittsburgh, primed for a tour of the West and veiling the real purpose of his visit. Descending the Ohio, he stopped to see the Blennerhassetts and was hospitably received. Randall says of this event : "Mrs. Blennerhassett was captivated at first sight and her good-natured, credulous, generous, gullible husband unconditionally surrendered himself to the plausible, flattering wiles of the shrewd charlatan. * * Burr had found his prey and the trap was cautiously set." Having sown his seeds of evil, Burr proceeded down the Ohio. He was welcomed as a hero, in part because he had favored war with Mexico and also because he was an anti-Federalist. He negotiated for the purchase of a tract on the Wachita River, and in 1806 bought 40,000 acres of it at $1,000 an acre, paying $5,000 in cash and giving notes for the balance, Blennerhassett being one of the sureties. Thus we see how he had already involved the unfortunate man. Meanwhile he was laying plans for an army for the invasion of Mexican territory. 14—Vol. 1 210 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO CONTRACTING FOR BOATS AT MARIETTA In the fall of 1806 Burr went back to Blennerhassett Island, taking with him his. daughter, the beautiful and talented Theodosia. She and her hostess took very kindly to each other and soon were bending all their energies toward realization of Burr's ambition. At. Marietta, Burr and his host ordered the construction of boats—fifteen large ones capable of carrying 500 men. Blennerhassett gave himself up wholly to these and other preparations. His ready cash paid the bills for some of them; he borrowed additional funds and endorsed notes for others. The island became .a busy spot as these activities went on. But Burr was here and there in the valley below. We shall not dwell here upon the causes which led to the bursting of the Burr bubble. The seeds of disruption lay thick within the conspiracy itself. On November 6, 1806, Burr was arrested by Government authority at Frankfort, Ky. No evidence being advanced against him, he was discharged and his work went on for a while. BLENNERHASSETT FLED But when President Jefferson was informed of the situation, he issued a proclamation of warning; Governor Tiffin, of Ohio, assembled the militia of Washington County at Marietta, under General Buell, and a detachment went to the mouth of the Muskingum and seized the conspirators' boats. Blennerhassett learned that he might soon be arrested and at midnight, December 13, left the island and proceeded down the river. Mrs. Blennerhassett was left to deal with a detachment of Virginia militia which had taken possession and which proceeded to act like vandals in the mansion, to overrun the grounds, burn fences, etc. Mrs. Blennerhassett descended the river later, taking valued bits of household goods, "the remnants of a blighted residence," and with her boys, Harman and Dominick, rejoined her husband at Bayou Pierre, January 15. Later in the month Burr and Blennerhassett were arrested and taken to a little town in Mississippi for trial. They were discharged and Burr mounted his horse and started eastward. At Wakefield, Alabama, he was again arrested (February 18) and taken to Richmond, Virginia. Blennerhassett left his family at SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 211 Natchez and returned to his island home. At Frankfort, July 14, he too was again arrested and he also was taken to Richmond for trial. MEASURED BURR AT LAST The hearing dragged on for months. The two prisoners were acquitted of the charge of treason, but bound over to appear at Chillicothe (in January, 1808) to answer charges of misdemeanor committed in Ohio. The trial never took place. At Baltimore, Blennerhassett appealed to Burr for funds in behalf of his family. The appeal fell on deaf ears and was sneered at. This convinced the ruined man that Burr was "a heartless swindler." When the victim reached Blennerhassett Island a year after he had left it as a fugitive, a flood had swept over the place and left terrible marks of ruin. The owner departed to rejoin his family and the mansion was never occupied again. A fire destroyed it in 1811. In Mississippi its former owners sought to repair their losses on a cotton plantation which was sold in 1819 to satisfy creditors. Removal to New York followed, where the practice of law was attempted. This failed and Blennerhassett went to Montreal and thence to Ireland to secure an estate left him by a relative but possessed by a cousin who would not give it up. Then the loser went to London and lived uncertainly as a clerk, writer and teacher. By this time there were three sons and they were with their mother at Montreal. The mother struggled heroically to support them. She has described her "forlorn condition;" her "extreme wretchedness." Her husband died in 1821, having been supported by a charitable sister on the Isle of Guernsey. His wife was present at his death. Eleven years later she returned to America and in 1842 she passed away under the saddest of circumstances. The son Dominick became a tramp; Harman was a half-wit; Joseph was killed while fighting in the Rebel army during the Civil war. GRIEF TOLD IN VERSE While living in Montreal, "with prospects of poverty and blighted hopes thickening around her" Margaret Blennerhassett 212 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO wrote her lament, a poem of ten sorrowful verses. We copy the first and second of these : "Like mournful echo from the silent tomb, That pines away upon the midnight air, Whilst the pale moon breaks out with fitful gloom, Fond memory turns with sad but welcome care, To scenes of desolation and despair ; Once bright with all that beauty could bestow, That peace could shed or youthful fancy know. "To thee, fair isle, reverts the pleasing dream ; Again thou risest in thy green attire ; Fresh as at first thy blooming graces seem ; Thy groves, thy fields, their wonted sweets respire ; Again thou'rt all my heart could e'er desire. O why, dear isle, art thou not still my own? Thy charms could then for all my griefs atone." CHAPTER XXII SOME VERY DISTINGUISHED VISITORS LOUIS PHILLIPE, AFTERWARDS KING OF FRANCE, IN MARIETTA 1798-HIS BOAT RACED DOWN THE OHIO TO GET AHEAD OF MUSKINGUM'S ICELAFAYETTE STOPPED ON HIS WAY UP THE OHIO IN 1825-HELD A RECEPTION AT NAHUM WARD'S-THE BEN FRANKLIN BROUGHT JOHN QUINCY ADAMS-PIONEER SOCIETY LAUNCHED 1842-ANNUAL CELEBRATIONS OF MARIETTA'S SETTLEMENT- ANTI-SLAVERY MEN NUMEROUS AT MARIETTA AND THEY OPERATED A BUSY UNDERGROUND RAILROAD. We learn from "France : Its King, Court and Government," by Lewis Cass, that Louis Phillipe, King of France, was in Marietta during his travels in this country while an exile. His short stay in Marietta appears to have been in January, 1798. Cass' story of the visit is well worth quoting. The stop was made when Phillipe and his party were descending the Ohio on their way to New Orleans. Says Cass : "At Marietta the party stopped and landed ; and from a circumstance connected with the King's recollections of this town it may not be out of place to allude to the faculty of memory which he possessed in a most extraordinary degree. * * * The King once asked my informant if he was ever in Marietta. As it happened this gentleman had spent some years of the early part of his life there and was able to answer in the affirmative. `And did you know,' said the King, 'a French baker there named Thierry?' This gentleman knew him very well and so answered the inquiry. 'Well,' said the King, 'I once ran away with him'—and then proceeded to explain that when descending the Ohio he had stopped at Marietta and had gone into the town in search of bread. He was referred to this same Mr. Thierry and the baker, not having a stock on hand, set himself to work to heat his oven to supply the applicant. While this process was going on the King walked over the town and visited the interesting ancient remains which are to be found in the western part of it, near the banks of - 213 - 214 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO the Muskingum and whose history and objects have given rise to such various and unsatisfactory speculations. RAN A RACE WITH THE ICE "The King took a sketch of some of the works, which are indeed among the most extensive of their class that are to be found in the vast basin of the Mississippi. On his return he found the ice in the Muskingum on the point of breaking up and Mr. Thierry so late in his operations that he had barely time to leap into the boat with the bread before they were compelled to leave the shore, that they might precede the immense mass of ice which was entering the Ohio. "The French friend bore his misfortunes like a philosopher and though he mourned over the supposed grief of his faithful wife he still urged the rowers to exert themselves in order to place his young countryman beyond the chance of injury. They were finally successful and after some time the good old man was taken ashore by a canoe that they hailed, well satisfied with his expedition. The travelers reached New Orleans on the 17th of February, 1798." SECOND GREAT VISITOR A FRENCHMAN, TOO-LAFAYETTE This famous friend of America was ascending the Ohio on the steamer Herald May 23, 1825, when, at 9:00 A. M., Marietta was reached. He had left Washington City February 23 on a tour of the country and was returning to the East. The firing of a gun on the Herald's deck was supposed to signify that Lafayette was aboard and as the boat drew near his name was seen in large letters at her bow. We take from the "American Friend and Marietta Gazette" the following description of the affair : "No preparations had been made for his reception in consequence of its being generally believed that he would travel through the interior of the state. The General, however, landed and was escorted to the beautiful mansion of Nahum Ward, Esq. (with whom he had become acquainted in Paris), where he continued for about an hour and received all those who chose to call upon him. "The news of his arrival was announced by the discharge of cannon and the citizens began to flock around him, all eager to seize his hand and welcome him to the soil he so nobly defended- SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 215 among them a few patriots of the Revolution paid him their respects, whose hands when he once grasped them he seemed unwilling to relinquish and whose interviews were very feeling in themselves and rendered the scenes very interesting to the younger class. "After being generally introduced to the citizens and the ladies who flocked to the place to see and to welcome the veteran he informed them that he was sorry to part with them so soon and was again escorted by a large concourse of people to the beach, from whence he embarked upon the Herald for Wheeling, amidst the acclamations and cheers of the people and the roaring of the cannon." "BEN FRANKLIN" BRINGS JOHN QUINCY ADAMS The man must have taken satisfaction in the name of the steamer when she puffed up the Ohio with him on board November 15, 1843, and reached Marietta as the cannon boomed and people cheered from their position at the landing. Nahum Ward was chairman of the reception committee and A. T. Nye and Noah L. Wilson marshaled the procession on its way to the Congregational Church. Mr. Adams rode in Mr. Ward's carriage and on arrival at the church it was found to be full to the doors. William Rufus Putnam welcomed the visitor in an eloquent address. Mr. Adams replied extemporaneously, exhibiting a remarkable knowledge of Ohio's first settlement and its distinguished pioneers. He paid tribute to the men whom Marietta loved to honor—Rufus Putnam, Commodore Whipple, Colonel Tupper, R. J. Meigs, General Varnum, Colonel Parsons and others. At the close of his address Mr. Adams came down among his auditors and held a reception, whereupon he was driven to the great mound and other points of interest. Toward evening he again boarded the Franklin and was soon on the way to Pittsburgh. PIONEER AND HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS The first of these to be launched in Washington County was the Marietta Historical Association. On November 24, 1842, Ephraim Cutler and Caleb Emerson, of this organization, issued a circular showing that Ephraim Cutler was its president; Arius 216 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO Nye, its vice president; Caleb Emerson its corresponding secretary ; Arius S. Nye its recording secretary and William Rufus Putnam, John Mills and A. T. Nye the curators. The circular added : "The Marietta Historical Association aims to establish a library, cabinet and repository worthy of the oldest settlement in Ohio. Aid is invoked in the furnishing of books, pamphlets, newspapers, memoirs and manuscripts, illustrative of western history, particularly of Ohio." A. T. Nye has been quoted as saying that the association ceased to function after organizing but it appears that Secretary Caleb Emerson "collected some valuable papers." With these and so many other historical materials available it is strange in the first place that the Marietta Historical Association died. Stranger still is the fact that no successor appeared until 1870, when the Pioneer Association of Washington County came into existence. The call for this organization was issued November 19, 1869, by William Pitt Putnam, A. T. Nye and William R. Putnam, whose excellently composed appeal we submit in full : PIONEER ASSOCIATION OF WASHINGTON COUNTY "Of the company of forty-eight men that landed at this place On the 7th of April, 1788, or the members of those families that landed here on the 19th of August following, none are now living. A few that came out at a later period still survive, in Cincinnati and other places. Pioneer associations have been formed to keep alive the recollection of early events in the history of the state. It seems to us proper that in the older towns in the state such an association should be formed. It has been deemed best to invite some of the sons of the pioneers to meet at the library room of the Marietta library on Tuesday, February 22, 1870, at 10 o'clock A. M. to take into consideration the propriety of forming such an association for this county and if deemed best to enter into such an organization. You are respectfully invited to attend this meeting." At that meeting A. T. Nye submitted the draft of a constitution for the Pioneer Association of Washington County, Ohio, and on the .same day the association elected William R. Putnam, president; E. S. McIntosh, vice president; Samuel Shipman, treasurer; John M. Woodbridge, recording secretary; A. T. Nye, corre- SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 217 sponding secretary; and Augustus Stone, Sumner Oakes, George W. Barker, Henry Fearing and William Pitt Putnam, members of the executive committee. On April 7, 1870, the association celebrated the anniversary of Marietta's settlement, a practice which it kept up on the same day of the month in succeeding years. WASHINGTON COUNTY ANTI-SLAVERY MOVEMENT In the summer of 1835 Theodore Weld, a well known antislavery lecturer, came to Marietta to spread anti-slavery sentiment among her people and during several weeks delivered lectures, making special efforts to interest the college students. The result was that an anti-slavery society was formed, of which Rev. Bennet Roberts, of Watertown, became president and Samuel Hall, a college student, was secretary. This society and their meetings aroused the ire of the pro-slavery element of the community, representatives of which broke up a gathering in Harmar. Threats of violence increased after this and seemed to be reaching a head in October, 1836, after it had been announced that the first annual meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society would be held at the Baptist Church on Church Street. FREE SPEECH MEN ON HAND AND READY On the day set for the meeting the mayor of Marietta, A. T. Nye, and M. J. Morse, the town marshal, completed preparations to ward off any attack that might be made on the society and went to the church and were there joined by a group of prominent citizens from the city and country districts who were determined to aid in keeping the peace, among whom were George Dana, of Belpre; George N. Burch, of Union; William Dana and Joseph Barker, of Newport; David Putnam, Jr., James M. Amin, George Burgess, Judson Hollister, Ichabod H. Nye of Marietta. Meanwhile the friends of slavery were meeting at the courthouse, the main question being its members' attitude toward the other gathering at the 'Baptist Church. The result was a division, one portion of the "pros" deciding to let the matter drift and the other section deciding to march to the church. There they found the Rev. Roberts speaking but although 218 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO they had come prepared to exert force there were in the audience so many men of high standing that hesitation ensued. SECRETARY HALL WAR IN DANGER A local historian of early days has told what happened when the would be disturbers found that Secretary Hall, of the society, was present: "Shortly after noon the meeting closed and now began the most serious difficulty of the day. Those men who had come to disturb the meeting by their conversation and threats seemed determined to inflict punishment on Mr. Hall. He came out of the front door on Church Street, James M. Amin on one side of him and George Burgess on the other. "They walked rapidly toward Fourth. Street and were followed by the mob. The mayor warned the rioters of the consequence of any acts of violence and they, seeing the support that the mayor and marshal had at hand in the presence of prominent citizens, some of them carrying stout canes, seemed to lose courage and the pursuit ended at Fourth Street. Mr. Hall went on to the college in some haste but uninjured." ON THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD It was an eventful day and proved the community's power to maintain free speech. The Anti-Slavery Society continued its existence for years. In the new history of Zanesville and Muskingum County, issued in 1927, this interesting reference is made to Washington County as a station on the underground railroad: "From Marietta to Deavertown (Morgan. County) the underground existed in two parallel lines and although a more direct route northward from the mouth of the Muskingum ran through Summerfield (Noble County) to Cambridge, the Putnam (Zanesville) operators must have taken care of a great many fugitives befriended in Marietta. In connection with Marietta activities Siebert mentions that Miss Martha Putnam, of that city, reported having heard her father, David Putnam, Jr., make the 'hoot-call' hundreds of times as a signal that slaves had arrived on the shores of the Ohio." In August, 1892, Gen. Rufus R. Dawes, father of the present vice president of the United States, told a graphic story of much the same character : "When I was a boy of eight," said the General, "I was visiting SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 219 my grandfather, Judge Ephraim Cutler. The place was called Constitution. Somehow in the night I was wakened up and a wagon came down over the hill to the river. Then a call was given, a hoot-owl call, and this was answered by a similar one from the other side. Then a boat went out and brought over the slaves. My mother got out of bed and prayed for them and had me kneel with her." CHAPTER XXIII THE COUNTY IN FOUR WARS FURNISHED GENERAL TUPPER AND SEVEN COMPANIES IN 1812-PROMPTLY RESPONDED TO LINCOLN'S CALL FOR TROOPS-MARIETTA FEARED A REBEL ATTACK-REGIMENT PROMISED IN FIFTEEN DAYS-PATRIOTISM RANG TRUE-OVER 4,000 SOLDIERS SENT TO THE FRONT-JOY OVER VICTORY FOLLOWED BY MOURNING WHEN LINCOLN DIED-FOUR OF THE COUNTY'S SONS WON THE STAR-GENERAL OTIS AND TWO COMPANIES IN THE WAR WITH SPAIN-SOLDIERS MONUMENT ERECTED-COUNTY'S DEATH ROLL, WORLD WAR. When the United States and Great Britain locked horns for the second time Washington County's population was about 6,000. Judged with that figure in view her response to the Government's call was a worthy one. An early local feature of the war was the arrival in Marietta of Col. Lewis Cass, bringing companies from. Zanesville when he had assembled them. Cannon were fired in his honor and other welcoming demonstrations followed. Here was the Washington County company, under Capt. John Sharp. On the following day, May 26, 1812, the entire force descended the Ohio in keel boats, 250 strong. At Cincinnati with the addition of other companies numbering 200 the command took. up the march to Dayton. A second company was formed of which James Flag was captain. It was ordered into service October 20. Other companies were Capt. Alexander Hill's, Capt. John Thorniley's, Capt. James Devol's, Capt. Thorniley Buell's. In all the county furnished seven companies, some volunteers, some militia and some regulars. Gen. Edward W. Tupper, a Marietta man, distinguished himself in the War of 1812. MARIETTA RESPONDS TO LINCOLN'S CALL Rebel guns opened fire on Fort Sumter at 4 :30 A. M. April 12, 1861. When Marietta heard the news there was much excitement - 221 - 222 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO and her people began to think of the part the city should take to resist the secession movement which had then lifted its hand. President Lincoln's call for 75,000 troops aroused citizens to a still greater pitch of feeling. Capt. Frank Buell called his company, the. Union Blues, together on Monday evening the 15th and the boys at once tendered their services. The offer was accepted by the governor and the company was ordered to march the following Monday morning. The ranks were filled and preparations were made for departure and Frank Buell was elected captain; Dennis O'Leary, first lieutenant; William H. Bisbee, second lieutenant. When Bisbee became major of the Eighteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, May 29, 1861, Wallace Hill was elected to take his place. THE NIGHT BEFORE DEPARTURE On Sunday evening the Blues were honor attendants at the Marietta Congregational Church, where a union farewell meeting was held. The church held a throng of earnest, patriotic men and women who listened intently to a sermon delivered by Reverend Doctor Wicks. We quote a portion of it to exhibit the spirit of the occasion : "Dear as you are to us and bound by the tenderest ties of earthly kindred yet for our country's service and the maintenance of all that is most precious in human society we give you up, sons, brothers, husbands though you be, to stand in the deadly breach. We know well .the danger. Some of you may not return to us again. Your ranks may be fearfully thinned, though it is not certain but that we who remain here behind at home may be called to fall first at our own firesides. It is not certain yet where the blow will first be struck. The danger is widespread and threatening and we cannot escape it. God be thanked that we are aroused as one man to meet it and that he has given us one heart to take the sword of justice." TRIUMPHAL JOURNEY UP THE MUSKINGUM In the midst of a multitude that had filled the commons Monday morning, the volunteers were presented with a beautiful silk flag, Melvin Clarke making the speech of presentation and Captain Buell accepting the gift. When these first volunteers took their way to the Muskingum landing their progress up the river SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 223 was marked by enthusiastic crowds all along the way. At Lowell they were cheered, greeted with grateful messages and presented with a purse of $60. Keyed up to a high state of enthusiasm the Lowell throng filled a subscription paper which Albert Chandler and Warner Green had started in order to secure funds for the equipment of a company and the support of the families whose breadwinners should volunteer. James S. Stowe pledged $500 and within the hour other eager patriots subscribed $800 more. BEVERLY FALLS INTO LINE At Beverly the Blues were greeted by an outpouring in the midst of which was a company of newly organized home guards and these fired a salute. After the Beverly band had followed this up with a stirring rendition the town's vocal band sang "My Native Land" with great feeling and effect. Reaching Columbus the volunteers went into quarters at Camp Jackson and were assigned to the Eighteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry as Company B. The Beverly company, called the Washington Guards, organized April 23, with John Henderson as captain, Thomas Ross first lieutenant and Oliver H. P. Scott second lieutenant. They too were assigned to the Eighteenth Regiment and became its Company K. FEARED MARIETTA MIGHT BE ATTACKED Filled with the fear that the enemy would attack Marietta the situation was communicated to Governor Dennison, who had however anticipated the danger and taken steps to ward it off, in consequence of which forethought the First Regiment Light Artillery, Third Brigade, Fourth Division of Ohio Volunteer Militia, arrived in Marietta from Cleveland April 23. It was composed of six companies of twenty men each and there were six guns. Col. James Barnett was in command. The regiment went at once into camp at the fair grounds, which was named Camp Putnam in honor of the founder of the city, county and state. The second military command to arrive was the Fourteenth Ohio Volunteer Militia, raised in the tenth congressional district and commanded by Col. James B. Steedman. Later came the Eighteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry en route to Virginia. 224 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO Aroused to renewed activity by the disaster at Bull Run President Lincoln called for 500,000 three year men. With his mind upon Washington County in that connection, William P. Cutler, representative in Congress from the Marietta district and at the time in Washington City to attend a called session of Congress, telegraphed as follows April 23, 1861: REGIMENT PROMISED IN FIFTEEN DAYS "Government will probably accept an infantry regiment if ready in 15 days. Can you raise it? I will bear all incidental expenses of raising it. Answer." The message was sent to M. Clarke and J. Hildebrand and the answer was that the county could and would do it. Companies for this regiment, which became the Thirty-sixth, began to assemble at Marietta. One of the older Washington County histories gives the following account of Capt. John C. Fell's company: "This was the first three years' company that left the county. They numbered 115 men. Upon leaving Marietta July 22, 1861, for the war, they were escorted by a Marietta company called the Fireman Zouaves, Capt. S. F. Shaw, the German brass band and a large concourse of citizens, relatives and friends. They marched through the streets, Ohio and Front, from the headquarters at the old woolen factory and across to the Harmar depot. The Zouaves finding that the guards had no colors presented their beautiful flag, through Captain Shaw, also the presentation speech was responded to by Captain Fell in appropriate words, which act of courtesy was received with cheers by the departing volunteers. This company became Company B of Groesbeck's regiment, the Thirty-ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry." RECRUITING GOES RAPIDLY FORWARD The second company of three years' men was Koening's German Rifles, which was recruited in a week's time. The members were mainly Germans. They elected Jacob Koening captain and went on their way to Camp Colerain, July 31. The company became Company F, Thirty-ninth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The Muskingum, composed of young men of the valley above Marietta, went into camp as the first of the Thirty-sixth Regiment. Twenty of the young fellows were from Rainbow and Devol's Dam neighborhood and the officers were : Captain, Hiram SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 225 F. Devol ; first lieutenant, J. Gage Barker; second lieutenant, J. C. Selby; first sergeant, Miles A. Stacy. The next company was the Salem Light Guard, whose officers were : Jewett Palmer, Jr., captain; James Stanley, first lieutenant; Ernest Lindner, second lieutenant; John A. Palmer, first sergeant. The ladies of Salem presented the guards with a handsome flag. THE THIRTY-SIXTH REGIMENT GOES TO VIRGINIA Capt. T. W. Moore raised a company at Tunnel Station, in Washington County, and Captain Adney's was from the west end of the county and Athens County. Governor Dennison appointed Melvin Clarke lieutenant-colonel of the Thirty-sixth Regiment and Prof. E. M. Andrews major and later placed Major Stemmer in command as colonel. He was succeeded by Col. George Crook. The Thirty-sixth Regiment was ordered into Virginia August 30. September and October, 1861, were busy military months in Washington County. On , September 11 sixty men went into Camp Putnam with Capt. Thomas J. Patten and Lieut. John D. Barker as their officers. The company became Company L, First Ohio Volunteer Cavalry. Col. T. C. H. Smith of Marietta was commissioned as lieutenant colonel of the First Ohio Cavalry. The Seventy-seventh and Sixty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry regiments and the Pierpoint, De Beck and Huntington batteries were recruiting men. Capt. Frank Buell's Pierpoint Battery left October 9 for Camp Carleree on Wheeling Island. The Thirty-sixth Regiment was at Camp Putnam until February 18, 1862, when it left for Paducah, Kentucky. And the gallant Seventy-seventh under Col. Jesse Hildebrand, left in January, 1862, for Camp Dennison, Columbus. Governor Dennison's policy of turning over the recruiting business in the counties to a county military committee resulted in the appointment of William R. Putnam, Samuel F. Cook, John Newton, Mark Green and George W. Baker for Washington County. So well did these men serve nation, state and county that they were retained in office until the war's close. MANY OF THE SEVENTY-SEVENTH BOYS FELL AT SHILOH Albert W. Leonard was the first son of Washington County who fell in battle. His death occurred in an action at Jennie's Creek, Kentucky, January 7, 1862. He was a private in Corn- 15—Vol. 1 226 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO pany C, Second West Virginia Cavalry. His father, T. D. Leonard, was at the time of Albert's death a resident of Matamoras but before that had lived in Marietta. On April 9, 1862, Washington County heard in full of the terrible losses which the Seventy-seventh Regiment had sustained at the battle of Shiloh. To care for the wounded was a pressing duty that was not neglected. On the 10th at a public meeting the necessary steps were taken; a committee of citizens were delegated to leave for Cincinnati and to proceed to the battlefield if necessary. The committee took along hospital stores and ample funds. This action was needed. The regiment had been in the thick of the fight, had defended its position with splendid gallantry and its casualties were 42 killed, 113 wounded, 69 missing. The foregoing paragraphs condense the story of Washington County's first year in the Civil war. The scope of this work renders such condensation necessary. We have sought to let the reader breathe the patriotic atmosphere of that first war year, to realize the high spirit which animated the noble men and women of Washington County. The second year of the war yielded records of even greater service and self-sacrifice. Over 2,000 Washington County men were sent to the front, most of whom helped to constitute new regiments and others to fill up the old. WASHINGTON COUNTY'S NOBLE PART A Civil war, historian writing of the state of military operations at the end of 1864 and of Washington County's part during that year paid the following tribute to the county's record : "From the beginning of the year to the end of it was a series of Union victories and Washington County's sons were on every field. All during the great war year she had kept a steady stream of recruits going to the front, where they stepped into the places made vacant by the loss in battle or in hospital. " She had sent out nearly a thousand of her best citizens for the hundred-days' service. She had furnished more veterans for reenlistment than any other county in the state except Hamilton, the number being 440, Stark being next with 400. The counties of the fifteenth district stood as follows : Meigs, 245; Athens, 246; Washington, 440; Morgan, 251; Monroe, 231; total number of veterans, 1,420." At last the war ended at Appomattox and Governor John SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 227 Brough proclaimed peace and suggested April 14, anniversary of the fall of Sumter, as a day of celebration. Tirelessly helpful were the women of Washington County throughout the war. They organized early and carried on constantly to make the lot of the soldier and his dependents easier. A very important part of their work was maintenance of the hospital at Fort Putnam. JOY AT NIGHT BUT SORROW IN THE MORNING The day was celebrated on that occasion formally but on receipt of the glad tidings an informal celebration took place. Citizens of all classes filled the streets and joyfully demonstrated. The celebration on the 14th began at sunrise with a national salute and the ringing of bells; at 10 A. M. the grand procession started; at 2 P. M. the people were at Green and Front streets to hear speeches and listen to songs; in the evening there was an illumination, marching, fireworks and music. Next morning came the news of President Lincoln's assassination and Marietta went into mourning as did every patriotic community in the land. The funeral observance came on the 19th with services at the Centenary Methodist and Congregational churches, followed by the forming of a long procession which marched from the foot of Putnam Street to Second, to Icammel and to Front, where a hollow square was formed and Rev. C. D. Battelle pronounced the benediction. FOUR OF WASHINGTON COUNTY'S SONS WON THE STAR This Civil war distinction came to Gens. Don Carlos Buell, Rufus R. Dawes, H. F. Devol and Benjamin Dana Fearing. DON CARLOS BUELL Don Carlos Buell, the eldest of these, was born March 23, 1818, on a farm on a part of which the village of Lowell stands. At the age of five years he went to Lawrenceburg, Indiana, to live with an uncle and remained there until 1837 except during five years spent with his step-father in Marietta. In 1837 he was appointed a West Point cadet and was graduated and commissioned in 1841. After serving in Florida and the West he fought through the 228 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO Mexican war. There he rendered distinguished service and was promoted to be captain and later major. He occupied important military positions at Washington and elsewhere and was a lieutenant colonel when the Civil war broke out. His superiors advanced him to the rank of brigadier general and gave him command of the Department of Ohio. He became major general March 21, 1862. He resigned his commission in the regular army June 1, 1864. GEN. RUFUS R. DAWES Gen. Rufus R. Dawes, whose son, Charles G. Dawes, is vice president of the United States, was born at Malta, Morgan County, Ohio, July 4, 1838, the son of Henry Dawes, who was of Revolutionary stock. Rufus R. Dawes' mother was Sarah, daughter of Ephraim Cutler, who played so large a part in Washington County and state affairs. Rufus Dawes spent his youth at Constitution, near Marietta, took up a collegiate course in the University of Wisconsin and later at Marietta College, from which institution he was graduated in 1860. Almost immediately after President Lincoln's call for troops young Rufus raised a company of soldiers, K of the Sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was elected its captain. This regiment became a part of the famous "Iron Brigade." Later he became colonel of the Sixth Wisconsin Regiment and participated in twenty or more pitched battles. COMMANDED GALLANTLY AT GETTYSBURG Colonel Dawes distinguished himself at Gettysburg, ordering a charge which checked threatening Rebel advances, having his horse shot under him and climbing a fence to direct the charge, while bullets and shells filled the air. The Sixth Wisconsin charged the foe under his command. One hundred and eighty of his men were dead or wounded but with the remnant he received the surrender of the Twenty-second Mississippi Regiment. Colonel Dawes was breveted brigadier general at the close of the war. Returning to Marietta he entered upon a business career and took active part in public affairs. In 1880 the republicans elected him to represent the Washington district in Congress, where he rendered worthy service. He passed away in August, 1899, full of honors and having earned the esteem of all who knew him. His SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 229 wife was Mary B. Gates and of their union six children were born: Charles G., vice president of the United States ; Rufus C., Beman G., Mary Frances, Henry M. and Betsy. A biographical sketch of the vice president appears on another page. GEN. H. F. DEVOL Gen. H. F. Devol was born in Waterford Township and spent his boyhood on his grandfather's farm, acquiring his early education in the country school and the Beverly Academy. He followed this by taking up flatboating. Aroused by President Lincoln's first call for troops he recruited a company of volunteers in Waterford, Adams and Washington townships, assuming all the expense himself. He was elected captain of the company, E, which entered the famous Thirty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. As results of the important service he rendered Captain Devol was promoted successively to the posts of major, lieutenant colonel and colonel of the Thirty-sixth and for meritorious conduct he was breveted brigadier general July 20, 1865. At the close of the war he returned to Waterford and became a merchant. GEN. BENJAMIN DANA FEARING This distinguished soldier was born in Harmar October 10, 1837, and was graduated from Marietta College in 1856. The following five years were spent in Cincinnati and Philadelphia in mercantile pursuits. While in the first-named city he joined the Zouave Guards in response to President Lincoln's call for volunteers and this company became a part of the Second Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was transferred to the Seventy-seventh Ohio. Volunteer Infantry as its major and was in command in important Tennessee campaigns. Later he became lieutenant colonel and then colonel of the Ninety-second Regiment. WASHINGTON COUNTY, IN THE WAR WITH SPAIN Patriotic Washington raised two companies for service in Cuba, D and E of the Seventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Besides the men of these companies about thirty Washington County boys served in various commands in the Philippines. A native of Washington County, Harrison Gray Otis rose to the rank of major general in this conflict. General Otis was 230 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO born February 10, 1837, in Adams township, of Revolutionary ancestry, attended the district school and learned the printers' trade; enlisted in the Civil war, took part in fifteen engagements and was twice wounded; was twice brevetted for gallant service and when mustered out he held the rank of lieutenant colonel. In 1876 Colonel Otis settled in California and became engaged in newspaper work. Entering the Spanish-American war May 27, 1898, as brigadier general of volunteers, he served against Philippino insurgents on the island of Luzon, commanding the second brigade of the Eighth Army Corps. April 25, 1899, he was brevetted major general for meritorious conduct in the Philippines and on retiring from the service he resumed editorial work in Los Angeles, California. THE SOLDIERS' MONUMENT The county's patriots lost little time in planning a monument to commemorate the sacrifices of her soldiers of the Civil war. As early as June 7, 1865, some of these citizens met with the county commissioners, J. J. Hollister, W. Thomas and Anthony Sheets, to take up the project. Commissioner Hollister and Messrs. A. R. Darrow and R. E. Harte were appointed a committee to devise methods of action and it was decided to call a mass meeting to be held in the courthouse at Marietta, Friday, July 14, 1865. The meeting was duly held and the association was temporarily organized with the election of F. A. Wheeler as chairman and Theodore G. Fields as secretary. R. E. Harte, chairman of the committee on permanent organization, reported a preamble and nine articles. This scheme of organization was signed by each of the forty-one citizens present. GENERAL DAWES A TRUSTEE Having received incorporation papers the association met August 8, 1865, and elected the following-named officers and trustees: President, Rufus E. Harte; clerk, Theodore G. Field; trustees, John C. Paxton, J. W. Andrews, William F. Curtis, Rufus R. Dawes, Enoch S. McIntosh, Henry H. Drown, Samuel C. Skinner, T. W. Moore, and A. W. McCormick. Again there was prompt action. Agents representing the several townships were delegated to solicit subscriptions and to circulate certificates of membership. This work went steadily SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 231 forward and on August 14, 1866, Gen. Rufus R. Dawes, president of the board of trustees, was enabled to report as the organization's resources Membership fees $1,426.00 Donation Soldiers' Aid Society, Marietta 200.00 Ladies' League No. 420 Bonn 17.20 Other sources 16.00 Total  $1,659.20 READY TO ASK FOR BIDS The sale of membership certificates went on under the supervision of General Dawes who on August 13, 1867, turned over to the trustees $2,735.09. By August 19, 1868, the sum had reached $2,890.03. Treasurer Curtis reported August 12, 1873, the sum of about $4,000 in hand or in sight and received the thanks of the association for his effective work. The trustees now felt warranted in asking for bids on the proposed monument. On September 20, 1874, a contract was entered into with T. O'Hare, of Cincinnati, for a monument to cost $4,550. Later it was decided to use Quincy granite instead of light granite, which added $150 to the contract price. The sites under consideration were one on the common fifty feet from Front Street and the same distance from the line of Putnam Street; Camp Tupper, (Quadranon) Capitolium Square and a point on the common near the Congregational Church. The one first mentioned was chosen. The monument's base was completed May 31, 1875. Within a receptable in the central stone was placed a large number of records, documents, newspapers, etc. With September 17, 1875, decided upon as dedication day preparations for the event went forward under the direction of R. E. Harte, R. R. Dawes and R. L. Nye; and. Gen.. T. C. Smith, of Marietta, was chosen as orator of the day. DEDICATION WORTHILY PERFORMED At 10 o'clock A. M. of September 17 about 3,000 persons, representing all parts of the county, assembled at the monument. In the stand, from out of town, were General John Pope, of the regular army and General Manning F. Force, of Cincinnati. 232 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO General Smith's oration was all that the occasion called for. In the evening a reunion of veterans was held in the city hall, where President I. W. Andrews, of Marietta College, delivered an eloquent welcoming address. Generals Pope and Force also spoke to the veterans and were followed by United States Senator Oliver P. Morton, General A. J. Warner, Rev. John Tenney, of Marietta and John Beach, a one-armed soldier. In 1878 S. J. Hatheway was elected secretary of the association and he prepared a bill to enable soldiers' monumental associations to record the names of fallen soldiers of the _Civil war. This measure was fathered by the Honorable Henry Bohl, then member of the legislature from Washington County, who brought about its passage May 27, 1879. Under its provisions the assessors made an enumeration of deceased Washington County Civil war soldiers. Other sources were drawn upon for additional names. In the spring of 1877 M. P. Wells, of Marietta, succeeded in providing a neat iron fence around the monument and in securing from the United States Arsenal at Washington city four cannon to mark the corners of the grounds. In June, 1880, Honorable A. J. Warner, then congressman representing the Thirteenth Ohio district, brought about the passage of .a bill providing for 24-pound Parrot guns for the grounds. COUNTY'S DEATH ROLL, WORLD WAR Adams, John, Rinard Mills. Oct. 7, 1918. Albrecht, Herman, Marietta. Oct. 10, 1918. Barnhart, Joseph, Lowell. Oct. 7, 1918. Bartlett, Harry, Unionville. March 20, 1918. Bauerbach, Louis, Lowell. Nov. 1, 1918. Bogard, Williams, Lowell. Oct. 11, 1918. Bohmer, Charles, New Matamoras. Oct. 19, 1918. Britton; Raymond, Marietta. Oct. 16, 1918. Butcher, Walter, Belpre. Oct. 16, 1918. Carpenter, Alonzo, Newport. Feb. 15, 1919. Carpenter, Charlie, Marietta. Oct. 4, 1918. Cornelius, Hayes, Marietta. Sept, 12, 1918. Cottrill, Harry, Marietta. Oct. 31, 1918. Coulter, Donald, Cutler. Oct. 25, 1918. Dalton, Bernice (C), Lowell. Oct. 1, 1918. SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 233 Doyle, Patrick, Dalzell. Oct. 7, 1918. Dunn, Davis, New Matamoras. Oct. 19, 1918. Ellenwood, Harvey, Marietta. Oct. 6, 1918. Enoch, Walter, Whipple. Oct. 12, 1918. Epler, David, Whipple. Nov. 2, 1918. Epple, Karl, Marietta. Sept. 29, 1918. Farnsworth, William, Leith. Oct. 8, 1918. Foster, Ralph, Marietta. Oct. 6, 1918. Harper, Francis, Cutler. Oct. 7, 1918. Haught, Robert, New Matamoras. Oct. 26, 1918. Henkelmen, Carl, New Matamoras. July 28, 1918. Hem, George, Bloomfield. Sept. 27, 1918. Jadwin, Frank, East Fultonham. Oct. 12, 1918. Jenkins, Harvey, Marietta. July 28, 1918. Johnson, Fritz, Cutler. Oct. 11, 1918. Jones, Raymond, New Matamoras. Nov. 11, 1918. Kelly, Gerald, Marietta. Aug. 5, 1918. Lauer, Fred W., Marietta. Dec. 1, 1918. Law, Floyd, Cutler. Aug. 28, 1919. Lindimore, Frank, Beckett. Nov. 1, 1918. Lindsley, Paul, Marietta. Oct. 5, 1918. Lothes, John, Lowell. Nov. 6, 1918. Lozier, Harold, Marietta. Nov. 1, 1918. Lucas, Earl, Salem. Oct. 14, 1918. Mayle, Leoland, Roxberry. Oct. 6, 1918. McFarland, Rollie, Lowell. Oct. 5, 1918. McCillian, Peter, Leith. Oct. 5, 1918. Miller, Conrad, New Matamoras. Oct. 8, 1918. Miller, Herman, Stanleyville. Oct. 4, 1918. Mount, Howard, New Matamoras. Oct. 8, 1918. Newman, Winton, New Matamoras. Oct. 11, 1918. Patterson, William, Marietta. Oct. 31, 1918. Preston, William, Marietta. Oct. 4, 1918. Pryor, Thomas, Marietta. Oct. 13, 1918. Pugh, Edward, New Matamoras. Oct. 3, 1918. Radabough, Hampton, Marietta. Oct. 6, 1918. Robinson, Arthur, Belpre. Dec. 2, 1918. Sauer, Ira, Marietta. Oct. 6, 1918. Schau, Howard, Lowell. Oct. 22, 1918. Schneider, Enos, Shay. Oct. 6, 1918. 234 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO Sellew, Timothy, Marietta. Oct. 20, 1918. Simpson, Filmore, Marietta. March 28, 1919. Skinner, Charles, Newport. Oct. 5, 1918. Steffey, Nestor, Coal Run. Oct. 6, 1918. Strider, Herman, Marietta. Oct. 1, 1918. Warfield, Wiles, Belpre. Oct. 8, 1918. Welsh, Harry, Charleroi. Dec. 5, 1918. Wilhelm, Harry, Fleming. Oct. 12, 1918. Williams, Max G., Bartlett. Oct. 19, 1918. Wittekind Basil, Marietta. Oct. 9, 1918. Wood, Fred, New Matamoras. Oct. 16, 1918. The foregoing list was taken from C. B. Galbreath's new H. tory of Ohio, with his special permission. CHAPTER XXIV MIGHTY MEN OF EARLY MARIETTA RUFUS PUTNAM, "FATHER OF OHIO," HAD THE FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY AS A PERSONAL FRIEND-MANASSEH CUTLER HAD MUCH TO DO WITH THE MERITS OF THE ORDINANCE OF '87-HIS SON EPHRAIM A STRONG FRIEND OF FREEDOM AND EDUCATION-GENERALS TUPPER, PARSONS AND VARNUM AND COMMODORE WHIPPLE GALLANT FIGURES OF THE REVOLUTION-RETURN JONATHAN MEIGS ROSE TO OHIO GOVERNORSHIP-SPROAT AND OLIVER STRONG TYPES-HILDRETH, HISTORIAN AND PHYSICIAN-MAJOR NYE IN THE WAR OF 1812. Here where but late a dreary forest spread Putnam a little band of settlers led And now beholds with patriot joy elate The infant settlement become a STATE; Sees fruitful orchards and rich fields of grain And towns and cities rising on the plain— While fair Ohio bears with conscious pride New, laden vessels to the ocean's tide. —Harris, Tour, 1803. GENERAL RUFUS PUTNAM This illustrious man, who well earned the title which was conferred upon him, the "Father of Ohio," was born in Sutton, Mass., April 9, 1738, the son of Elisha and Susanna (Fuller) Putnam and was descended from John Putnam, who came from Buckinghamshire, England, in 1634, and settled at Salem, Mass. General Israel Putnam, of military fame, was a cousin of Rufus Putnam's father. The latter died when Rufus was about seven years of age and his mother married Captain John Sadler. It was an unfortunate event for the boy, who was ambitious for an education. The step-father scorned learning and Rufus was not permitted to have school books nor a light to study by at night. - 235 - 236 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO HIS SCHOOLING WAS LIMITED In due time the steadfast lad shot and sold partridges, investing the meager proceeds in a spelling book and an arithmetic. He has said of this period : "After I was nine years old I went to school in all only three weeks." However, he did go as far as the rule of three in arithmetic and learned to write. At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to Daniel Mathews, of Brookfield, under whom he learned the trade of a millwright. Mathews permitted him to have a light to study by and his apprentice added to his knowledge of arithmetic, geography and history. We know from his own later admissions that he never ceased to regret having then neglected the study of spelling and grammar. He was growing up conscious of his deficiency even in rudimentary book knowledge but at eighteen no one could have criticised his physical equipment or powers. Nearly six feet tall he was a fine specimen of manhood, brawny of limb, strong of body and with marked powers of endurance. Neither were there in his heart and soul any outstanding deficiencies. Sincere, faithful, strong of purpose, sound of judgment and noted for his common sense, Rufus Putnam had in him foundations on which were to be built great achievement and rare service. ENTERED WAR AGAINST FRANCE At the end of his apprenticeship he enlisted in the English forces which were operating against France but saw little active service. A third time he enlisted and then was promoted to be an orderly sergeant. He was at Ticonderoga but much to his disappointment was kept at work on mills, blockhouses, etc. Failing to be assigned to military duty he resigned, spending the winter of 1759 in New Braintree, working on a fifty-acre farm which he had bought with savings made possible by his military service, paying diligent attention, however, to practical surveying. In 1761 he married Elizabeth Ayers who died within the year and was followed to the grave by their infant son. In 1765 he married Persis Rice, of Westborough, Mass. Five years later he bought a farm at Rutland, Mass. During much of the years 1772-73 he devoted his time to a company which was planning an extensive settlement in west Florida and visited the bay of Pensacola in March, 1773, in the company's behalf. The enter- SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 239 prise failed and Rufus Putnam received $80 for about eight months' service. PUTNAM PROVED MASTER ENGINEER When the war of the Revolution came he entered it as lieutenant colonel of Colonel Davis Brewer's regiment. Having displayed marked skill in laying out fortifications in the Sewell's Point section Generals Washington and Lee came to inspect them. Although he had never studied fortification work and had distrusted his own powers Washington and Lee wholly approved the Sewell's Point undertaking. He followed that up with other military engineering performances. The greater of these were exhibited on Dorchester Heights, overlooking Boston. General Howe occupied the city with 8,000 troops and the British war ships floated upon the harbor. At a war council the American officers decided that Dorchester Heights must be fortified so that Howe would be forced to evacuate Boston or come out and fight. General Washington wanted Putnam to undertake the work, but the latter hesitated, pleading his ignorance but at length consenting. The work was done in one night so silently and successfully that the British knew naught of it until the next morning. Howe's evacuation followed. WASHINGTON WAS PUTNAM'S FRIEND This and subsequent engineering successes and General Putnam's high qualities of mind and heart appealed strongly to General Washington and the two men became friends as well as compatriots. Putnam was made a brigadier general in 1782 but he resigned the post in 1783 and returned to farming and surveying. It was in the latter year that 283 officers of the Revolution petitioned congress for grants of land in the .west and General Putnam was the leader of that movement, a movement resulting in the Marietta settlement five years later. The story, with General Putnam's part in it, is told elsewhere and need not be repeated here. Honors from the general government continued to follow him after his arrival in Marietta. He presided over the first court held in the Northwest Territory. In 1790 he received a commission as judge in the United States court and in 1792 was made a brigadier in the United States army and proceeded westward to 240 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO treat with the Indians. Later, at the instance of his friend Washington, General Putnam was made surveyor-general of the United States. AN ELOQUENT TRIBUTE The many honors lavished upon him as a citizen of Washington County are fully set forth elsewhere in these pages. By faithful and able service he earned them all. An eloquent biographer tells about the evening of his life in these appreciative words: "Surrounded by his children and their children, with a thriving community to bear witness to his wisdom and far-reaching philanthropy, honored with the respect of all who knew him and cheered by the gratitude of those he had benefited he waited in serene old age for the summons to again start for a new and better country. The companion with whom he traveled the journey of life for more than half a century was called before him. "Mrs. Putnam died in 1820 and his maiden daughter, Elizabeth, devoted herself to his comfort and did all that love and care could do to make his last years happy. At length his summons came. He died in 1824 in the 87th year of his age. He was borne to his rest and his remains laid down in the mound cemetery in Marietta, under the shadow of a monument erected by a forgotten race to chieftains of their own who had perhaps in their day done deeds worthy of commemoration. He left numerous descendants who are God-fearing men and women, useful citizens, and many of them active workers in the cause of Christ. A granite monument recently erected by his grandson, Colonel William R. Putnam, marks the place of his rest." The monument bears this inscription : 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 4, 1824 Persis Rice, wife of Rufus Putnam Born November 19, 1737 Died September 6, 1820. The memory of the just is blessed. SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 241 The children of General Rufus Putnam were : Ayers, born 1761, died 1762; Elizabeth, born 1765, died 1830; Persis, born 1767; Susanna, born 1768, died 1840; Abagail, born 1770, died 1805; William Rufus, born 1771, died 1855; Franklin, born 1774, died 1776; Edwin, born 1776, died 1843; Patty, born 1777, died 1842, and Catherine, born 1780, died 1808. William Rufus married in 1803, Jerusha Guitteau. Their son Rufus Putnam, Jr., was born June 13, 1812. Edwin Putnam married a Miss Safford and had a family of five children, three sons and two daughters. Susan married Christopher Burlingame. Abagail married William Browning of Belpre. Persis married Perry Howe of Belpre. Martha married Benjamin Tupper of Putnam (Zanesville). Catherine married Ebenezer Buckingham. REV. MANASSEH CUTLER Although this distinguished minister, scholar, statesman and colonizer never lived in Washington County he was, next to Rufus Putnam, the greatest single human force in founding the Ohio Company and thereby planting the seeds of civilization in the vast Northwest Territory. Rev. Manasseh Cutler, the son of Hezekiah and Susanna (Clark) Cutler was born in Killingly, Connecticut, May 28, 1742. His father was a farmer and Manasseh was a New England farmer boy, exceedingly bright and studious and gaining knowledge rapidly. Rev. Aaron Brown, a Killingly minister, prepared him for college and he went to Yale in 1761, whence he was graduated with high honors in 1765. In 1766 he married Mary Balch, whose father was Rev. Thomas Balch. Having studied law he was admitted to the bar in 1767 and practiced a little, but under the urge of religious convictions began in 1769 to study for the ministry. He was ordained September 11, 1771, and was pastor at Hamilton, Mass., until 1823 when his death occurred. His sermons were able, orthodox, earnest and effective. Dr. Cutler was of a scientific turn and took especial interest in botany, astronomy and meteorology. Not content to hold degrees in law and divinity he studied and practiced medicine with genuine success. A list of the honors conferred upon him proves his eminence. These were very numerous and complimentary. His achievements were great and varied, that of helping to draft 16—Vol. 1 242 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO and securing the passage of the Ordinance of 1787 transcending them all. His opportunity came when as agent of the Ohio Company for the purchase of lands west of the Ohio River he visited congress to get the best available terms and the best available laws under which the company might colonize. Dr. Cutler was fitted in every particular for the work in hand and there was perhaps no American of his time who could have brought through with such success the negotiations which he undertook. Dr. Cutler visited Marietta in 1788. The ancient earthworks were objects of profound interest to him. He thought at one time of removing his family to Marietta but finally decided to remain in the east. He passed away in Hamilton, Mass., July 28, 1823, at the age of 81 years. Two of his sons, Ephraim and Jervis, became residents of Marietta. EPHRAIM CUTLER A WORTHY SON This, the eldest son of Dr. Manasseh Cutler, was born April 13, 1767, in Martha's Vineyard, Mass. His journey to the Ohio country with his wife and four children began in Massachusetts June 15, 1795, and was rendered poignantly sad by reason of the death of two of the children and their burial in the wilderness between Simrall's Ferry on the "Yoh" and Marietta. The remainder of the family did not reach Marietta until September 18. Locating first at Waterford Mr. Cutler became a merchant, but as an owner of land in Ames Township, later a part of Athens County, he established the family home there. Warren became the home in 1806 and there he died in 1853. In 1796 Governor St. Clair had appointed him captain of militia, justice of the peace and judge of the court of quarter sessions. Elected member of the Territorial legislature in 1801 and of the constitutional convention in 1802, he was a very useful man in these bodies, using his talents and influence with especial effect as a member of the latter to exclude slavery from Ohio and to provide for the advancement of education. BECAME A POWERFUL FRIEND OF SCHOOLS His earnest position in behalf of schools was recognized by the territorial legislature, which appointed him one of the commis- SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 243 sioners having control of part of Ohio's school and ministerial lands. His election to the legislature occurred 1819. There he introduced the first bill providing for a school system. After serving in the state senate and the lower house of the legislature also he retired in 1825, with the feeling that at last Ohio was about to have a system of taxation and a system of schools, the two things whose accomplishment he had devoted his best energies to secure. "POSTERITY WILL CALL YOU BLESSED" Caleb Atwater was one of the many men of Judge Cutler's time who paid warm tribute to the latter's long service in behalf of just taxation and effective education. He wrote to the judge January 23, 1825: "You are doing nobly. Press forward with your equal taxation, the school system and the canals and immortalize this legislature. What must be your sensations on the prospect you now have of carrying into effect the greatest objects ever presented to our legislature. Press forward, I say, in your career of doing good. Posterity will call you blessed." Cutler's ability and integrity were everywhere recognized. In 1837 and again in 1839 Marietta appointed him to visit Baltimore "to secure the examination of a railroad route to the Ohio River, with a view to making Marietta its crossing point." At an early day he began valued service in behalf of the Ohio University at Athens, having been appointed one of its trustees. A biographer has said of Judge Cutler : "In all the private relations of his life he was faithful and true to his personal obligations as husband, father, neighbor and friend. In 1828 he united with the Presbyterian church in Warren, then in its infancy and continued, as member, ruling elder and Sabbath school teacher to be during his life one of its main supports and ornaments. On the eighth of July, 1853, he was gathered to his fathers. A shock of corn fully ripe." GENERAL BENJAMIN TUPPER Something has already been said in the general introduction of this work of General Tupper's important activities as a surveyor in the Ohio country and of his labors in behalf of the Ohio Company. General Tupper was born in 1738 at Stoughton, 244 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO Mass.; was apprenticed to a Dorchester tanner; left Dorchester at sixteen and lived on a farm at Easton. During three years he was a soldier in the French war. He was also an Easton school teacher during about two winters. Hulda White of Easton became General Tupper's bride and soon after they removed to Chesterfield. They came to Marietta with the first company of families, August 19, 1788. Here he served as judge of the court of quarter sessions until his death occurred in June, 1792. His wife died in Putnam (Zanesville), Ohio, February 21, 1812. Before Judge Tupper did so much for the Ohio Company he had rendered valued service in the Revolutionary war. He was promoted from the rank of major to that of colonel. He fought in the battle of Long Island and at Monmouth his horse was shot under him. He rose to the rank of brigadier general. There were three sons and four daughters in the family: Major Anselm Tupper passed away in Marietta, December 25, 1808; Colonel Benjamin Tupper at Putnam (Zanesville) in Fcbruary, 1815; General Edward W. Tupper at Gallipolis in 1823. Rowena, who wedded Winthrop Sargent, died in Marietta in 1790; Sophia, who married Nathaniel Wiley, died October, 1789; Minerva, wife of Colonel Ichabod Nye, died at Marietta in April, 1836. The other daughter died while the family was still in the east. SAMUEL HOLDEN PARSONS This was another distinguished officer of the Revolution who joined the Marietta colony, coming hither in May, 1788, upon his appointment as a supreme judge under the Ordinance of 1787 and being commissioned as chief judge of the territory in 1789. Toward the close of that year he was drowned in Big Beaver rapids while returning to Marietta from the northern part of the country. General Parsons was born in New London, Connecticut, May 14, 1737; was graduated from Harvard College and studied law; wrote effectively in favor of resisting Great Britain's treatment of the colonies; entered the Revolutionary army and served through the war with distinction, coming out of it a major general. SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 245 JAMES MITCHELL VARNUM This is the name of another of those Revolutionary heroes who supplemented splendid service for their country with service in behalf of territorial development at Marietta. General Varnum was born in Middlesex County, Mass., in 1749. In the memoirs of the Bar of Rhode Island the story of his life is thus condensed : "The career of General Varnum was active but brief. He graduated at Brown University at twenty; was admitted to the bar at twenty-two; entered the army at twenty-seven, resigned his commission at thirty-one; was member of congress the same year; resumed practice at thirty-three and continued four years ; was elected to congress again at thirty-seven; emigrated to Ohio at thirty-nine and died at the early age of forty." He was chosen to command one of the first infantry regiments authorized by the territorial legislature. In February, 1777, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general and served with distinction. In 1780 his constituents sent him to congress. Later still he earned national fame as a lawyer. He entered the Ohio Company in 1787 and was one of its directors. In Marietta consumption set in and this disease carried him off January 10, 1789. His death, elsewhere referred to, was universally mourned in the new settlement. "There's tempest in yon horned moon And lightning in yon cloud; And hark the music, mariners! The wind is piping loud, The wind is piping loud, my boys, The lightning flashes free— While the hollow oak our palace is Our heritage the sea." Allan Cunningham. COMMODORE ABRAHAM WHIPPLE Again we pay tribute to one of those Marietta colonists who had nobly served the American people in their struggle for independence. Abraham Whipple was born in Providence, R. I., in 1733. Early in life he commanded a vessel making trips to the West Indies. Near the close of the French war he commanded a privateer. He was at the head of that group of men who on June 17, 246 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO 1772, burned the British schooner Gaspe, stationed at Narragansett Bay in the interest of odious maritime laws. The British government vainly offered a thousand pounds for the detection of the leader. Having been placed in command of a sloop of 12 guns which Rhode Island had placed in commission for the purpose of clearing Narragansett Bay of British tenders to the frigate Rose Whipple, sailing down the bay June 15, 1775, he forced one of the enemy's tenders to retire and captured the other. Thus Whipple earned credit for having fired the first gun at the British on the sea at the beginning of the Revolutionary war. In 1784 he commanded one of the first merchant vessels sent to Great Britain after the coming of peace and to him fell the honor of first unfolding the American flag on the Thames. A FARMER ON THE MUSKINGUM AT SIXTY-THREE His sacrifices during the Revolution impoverished Commodore Whipple and appealing to Congress in 1786 for payment of funds overdue he received an amount which enabled him to repossess a farm which he had been obliged to give up. Coming to Marietta in 1796, at the age of sixty-three years, he and his wife located on a farm two miles up the Muskingum and the Commodore helped to till its soil himself. Elsewhere mention will be found of the voyage he made (1801) to Havana in a Marietta-made vessel. He had .married Sarah Hopkins, sister of -Governor Hopkins, of Rhode Island. Their children were two daughters and a son. The eldest daughter became the wife of Colonel Ebenezer Sproat and the younger, marrying Dr. Comstok of Rhode Island, never came west. The son John left Marietta, followed the sea and never married. Mrs. Whipple passed away in October, 1818, and the Commodore followed May 29, 1819, while still on his farm. It is pleasant to reflect that the last years of this brave, distinguished and intensely patriotic American were passed in comparative ease by reason of a pension granted him by Congress. It amounted to but sixty dollars a month, a sum that would be a mockery now but which was welcome then. The Commodore's admiring friend, Judge Ephraim Cutler, wrote the inscription that appears on the old sailor's tombstone in the Mound Cemetery in Marietta. It declares that Commodore Whipple's "fame, skill and courage will ever remain the pride and boast of his country." SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 247 COLONEL EBENEZER SPROAT, HIGH SHERIFF When the Indians at Marietta saw this imposing specimen of manhood they called him Hetuck (Big Buckeye) and the name has given rise in some minds to the opinion that thus came about the use of the term for all Ohioans. Colonel Sproat was born in Middleborough, Mass., in 1752. He had good early schooling and mastered some of the principles of surveying. The assistance he gave his father on the farm was well worth while for young Sproat was six feet and four inches tall and very strong. Entering the Revolution as a captain he soon became a major and later (1778) a lieutenant colonel. Colonel Sproat turned to the surveyors' instruments when he hung up the sword. In 1786 he became a surveyor for the Ohio Company. It was he who came westward with the first group of its colonists and at Simrall's Ferry superintended the May flower' s construction. The Indian war checking surveying undertakings, Colonel Sproat was commissioned high sheriff by Governor St. Clair and filled the post during fourteen years. A SWORD AND OTHER TOKENS OF DIGNITY Sheriff Sproat, appraising appreciatively the importance and dignity of his office always wore his sword and maintained the two qualities in other ways, which policy was rendered particularly impressive by his great stature and imposing mien. In Providence he was married to Catherine Whipple, daughter of Commodore Whipple. But one child was born of this union, a daughter, who became the wife of Solomon Sibley. Colonel Sproat won the friendship of General Washington and was acquainted with Lafayette. He was wholeheartedly a Federalist. He gardened so extensively that his garden covered nearly an acre of ground. In February, 1805, when fifty-three years of age, he died suddenly. COLONEL RETURN JONATHAN MEIGS Here the reader will find a brief story of the life of another of those soldiers of the Revolution who came to Marietta to establish and spread westward amidst hoped for conditions of peace the principles of liberty which they had fought for in the seventies 248 - SOUTHEASTERN OHIO on the other side of the Alleghanies. He was born in Connecticut and learned the hatter's trade there at an early age. Chosen captain of a militia company at Middletown he volunteered after the action at Lexington and entered the service as a major. Later he raised the "Red Cap" regiment of volunteers, which rendered good service against Sagg Harbor and at Stony Point. He remained at Middletown after the close of the war until the Ohio Company called for his services as a surveyor. He began these in the spring of 1788. Later he became one of the associate justices of the peace, clerk of the court of the quarter sessions and prothonotary of the court of common pleas. He ably represented Washington County in the first territorial legislature. President Jefferson in 1801 appointed him agent in the Cherokee nation and there he died in 1823. A sketch of his famous son of the same name follows. GOVERNOR RETURN JONATHAN MEIGS On the stone which commemorates the achievements of the son of Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs the following words are to be found. They were written by Dr. John Cotton : Here lies the body of RETURN JONATHAN MEIGS, Who was born at Middletown, Connecticut, 1765, and died at Marietta, March 29, 1825. For many years his time and talents were directed to the service of his country. He successfully filled the distinguished place 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 ardent patriot ; A practical Statesman, An enlightened scholar, A dutiful son. This lengthy and comprehensive epitaph renders a very elaborate biographical sketch unnecessary. It shows how exceed- SOUTHEASTERN OHIO - 249 ingly varied were Governor Return Jonathan Meigs' talents and achievements. HONORS FOLLOWED HONORS He joined the Marietta colony in 1788, having married Miss Sophia Wright in the same year. His duties as chief justice of the state supreme court ended in 1804 and he accepted appointment as commandant of the upper part of the district of Louisiana. In 1805 he was appointed one of the judges of that vast territory, the seat of justice being at St. Louis. His health failed while he was in the Louisiana district and in 1806 he returned to Marietta. In April, 1807, he accepted a commission as judge of the territory of Michigan but resigned in October to become a candidate for the Ohio governorship. His opponent, General Nathaniel Massie, lost at the polls but, contesting the election on the plea that Meigs had not been a resident of the state four years, as the constitution provided, won the seat. The legislature, however, elected Meigs supreme judge and in the following September chose him to fill John Smith's unexpired term in the United States senate. Later he was reelected senator for the full term. In 1810 Meigs was chosen to oppose Thomas Worthington in the contest for the governorship. Worthington lost by 2,000 votes and Meigs became governor at a time when the discharge of the duties of the office was full of difficulties. He was much criticized for some of the things done or omitted during the War of 1812 but the people reelected him and this placed upon him the seal of their approval. In 1814 President Madison appointed him postmaster general and he held the post until 1823 when he resigned and returned to Marietta. There he died March 29, 1825. He had been the settlement's first postmaster and although absent from it during many years the honors he had won were reflected upon the place of his adoption. In Marietta he was highly esteemed as a man of rare personal qualities. Governor Return Jonathan Meigs was a worthy son of Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs. COLONEL ROBERT OLIVER A USEFUL MAN This worthy pioneer was an exception to the rule that most of the earliest Mariettans were born in New England. Colonel