Marietta, Ohio - Moral And Material Advancement (part 2 of 5)

James Mitchell Varnum was born in Middlesex county," Massachusetts in 1749, on the ancestral estate, which was purchased from the Indians and settled by Samuel Varnum in 1664. His life is briefly summed up in the published memoirs of the Bar of Rhode Island: '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." Varnum soon after admission to the bar acquired an extensive practice. He had a natural taste for military life, and his keen mind doubtless foresaw the dark future of his country, for he joined the Kentish guards and was in 1774 appointed commander. This was one of the most celebrated companies of the colonial militia. Thirty-two of its members entered the Revolution as commissioned officers. Besides the commander among the number were General Green, Colonel Crary and Colonel Whitemarsh. The prominent part Varnum had taken in the colonial controversies and his position in the militia service caused him to be chosen to the command of one of the first regiments of infantry raised by authority of the colonial legislature. He afterwards received a commisgress in 1780.

sion from Washington. He served as colonel in Washington's division at Trenton and Princeton. In February, 1777, Colonel Varnum was promoted to the rank-of brigadier general and served with distinction until 1779, when he retired to his own State which sent him to Con- But we cannot detail his important public His power as a lawyer was shown in an important case which involved the destiny of the State. The idea took possession of the impoverished people, inexperienced in affairs of government, that money could be manufactured by State authority (an idea since several times revived). Laws had actually been enacted making it an offense finable by law to refuse to accept at par the worthless fiat money of an impoverished State. Interest had become as high as four per cent. per month, and all business was on the verge of ruin. This paper money system gave rise to a case which gave General Varnum a national reputation as a lawyer. The case in itself was simple. John Trevett bought meat of John Weeden and tendered him in payment State bills, which Weeden refused. The whole State was interested in this case. "Tf the complaint should be sustained by the judgment of the court all the commerce and business of the State would be destroyed and all previous obligations cancelled by this irredeemable trash," General Varnum's plea on this occasion was a masterpiece. He succeeded not only in having the laws adjudged unconstitutional, but the effect of his logic was so powerful that the dominant party was forced to a change of policy.

General Varnum became a member of the Ohio company in 1787, and was elected one of its directors. He was also appointed one of the supreme judges of the territory. He left Rhode Island in the spring of 1788 and arrived in Marietta in June. He delivered the oration at the first Fourth of July celebration in Marietta. After coming to Ohio his health gave way. In the fall of 1788 he determined to go South in the hope of recuperating, but rapid decline saved him a death among strangers. He died of consumption January 10, 1789. His burial was attended with the ceremony due his high charactar and distinguished public services.

Commodore Abraham Whipple

Sacred to the memory of COMMODORE ABRAHAM WHIPPLE, whose name, skill, and courage, will ever remain the pride and boast of his country, In the late Revolution he was the first on the seas to hurl defiance at proud Britain, gallantly leading the way to wrest from the mistress of the ocean her scepter, and there to wave the star-spangled banner. He also conducted to the sea the first square-rigged vessel ever built on the Ohio, opening to commerce resources beyond calculation.*

While Ohio is pointing with pride to her many great sons, she should not neglect to know the life, and honor the memory of the brave men who planted ripe civilization on her savage soil. The high position of so many of these among the celebrated men of the Revolution is a source of pride and congratulation.

Abraham Whipple, a descendant of John Whipple, one of the original proprietors of the Providence plantatiuns, was born in Providence, Rhode Island, in the year 1733. In early life he was drawn into ocean commerce, and attained to the command of a vessel engaged in the West India and St. Croix trade. He followed the sea for many years before the Revolution, during which he acquired a practical knowledge of navigation and an intimate acquaintance with the ocean and its harbors. Near the close of the French war he was given command of a privateer. During this period he exhibited qualifications which brought him into notice. He was brave and confident and his ready mind was never at a loss for an expedient. The reputation acquired during the French war drew him into the incipient acts of the Revolution. In 1772 he headed a company of his townsmen who burned an odious British schooner, stationed at Narragansett bay, for the purpose of enforcing oppressive maritime laws. One thousand pounds was offered for the detection of the leader, and five hundred pounds for any member of the company. But England was at that time so universally hated that although more than fifty knew the secret none were found willing to inform. Historians generally consider the burning of the Gaspe, June 17, 1772, by Captain Whipple and the Providence company, the overt act of the Revolution.

Little Rhode Island was first to renounce allegiance to the British crown, and the first to send to sea under legislative authority a vessel of war. Two days before the battle of Bunker Hill, two sloops were purchased and armed, one with twelve the other with eight guns. The larger was placed under command of Captain Whipple, with orders to clear the bay of British tenders, to the frigate Rose under command of Sir James Wallace, who blockaded the harbors and rivers, preventing a large number of homeward bound yessels from entering the port. Captain Whipple sailed on the fifteenth of June, down the Narragansett bay and attacked two of the enemy's traders. He forced one to retire and took the other a prize. This bold stroke cleared the bay and entitles Whipple to the honor of having fired the first gun at the British on the sea, in the opening of the Revolutionary war.

But to narrate the life of Commodore Whipple during the next seven years would be telling an important part of the naval history of the Revolution, and belongs to a book of wider scope. ur purpose here is to give the citizens of Washington county an idea of the National importance of one of the founders of society in their own State and community.

In 1782 he was excused from the service, and returned to his farm at Cranston. He was given command, in 1784, of one of the first merchant vessels sent to Great Britain after the peace. 'To Commodore Whipple was given the honor of first unfurling the American flag on the Thames." After his return he again retired to his farm, and was a member of his State legislature during the first rage of the paper money lunacy.

In a pitiful petition to Congress, in 1786, he sets forth his financial condition. His grievances are similar to those or many others who took part in the battles for freedom, and in this age of pensions the prayer of the petition may not be uninteresting. After setting forth his military services, he says:

Thus having exhausted the means of supporting myself and family, I was reduced to the sad necessity of mortgaging my little farm, the remnant I had left, to obtain money for a temporary support. The farm is now gone, and, having been sued out of possession, I am turned into the world at an advanced age, feeble and valetudinary, with my wife and children, destitute of a house or a home that I can call my own, or have the means of hiring. This calamity has arisen from two causes, viz.: First, from my disbursing large sums in France and Charleston. In the former I expended in the service of the United States to the amount of three hundred and sixty French guineas - a large part of that sum was appropriated to the pay of marine, the other part for sea stores to accommodate a number of gentlemen passengers sent on board by the commissioners to take passage for America, and for which I have never been recompensed; and, secondly, my having served the United States from the fifteenth of June, 1775, to December, 1782, without receiving a farthing of wages or subsistance from them since December, 1776. My advances in France and Charleston amount in the whole to nearly seven thousand dollars in specie, exclusive of interest. The repayment of this, or a part of it, might be the happy means of regaining the farm I have been obliged to give up, and snatch my family from misery and ruin."

The whole amount due from the United States was about sixteen thousand dollars. He received in final settlement securities the nominal amount expended in France. He was forced to sell these securities at a discount of eighty percent. This amount, however, enabled him to regain his Cranston farm, which he sold in 1788 and came to Ohio. During the Indian war he lived in comparative quiet in the house of his son-in-law, Colonel Sproat. He, indeed, considered the whites aggressors in the Indian country, and was inclined to deal with the red men as peaceably as possible.

In 1796, in his sixty-third year, he removed with his wife to a farm of twelve acres, located on the Muskingum, two miles from Marietta, and depended upon its productions and his own labor for a livlihood. The fact of his having gone to Havana with a cargo of produce, in 1801, will be found in the chapter on commerce and navigation.

In 1811, when failing health and reduced circumstances were oppressing him, he followed the advice of friends and. applied to Congress for a pension. In answer to his petition he was allowed half the pay of a captain, which was at that time sixty dollars a month. The remaining years of his life were free from anxiety.

His sympathetic life companion was Sarah Hopkins, sister of Governor Hopkins, of Rhode Island. Their family consisted of two daughters and one son. The oldest daughter married Colonel .Ebenezer Sproat, and the younger, Dr. Comstock, of Rhode Island. She never came to Ohio. John, the only son, left Marietta at an early period and followed a seafaring life. He never married, and with him the family name became extinct.

eightieth year. Commodore Whipple died May 29, 1819, on his farm. He was a leading actor from beginning to end of that trying struggle which resulted in the establishment of our Nation. Impoverished, he struggled in later life in the midst of the events incident to the first settlement of the northwest. It is pleasant to reflect that his last years were spent in ease and contentment.

Colonel Robert Oliver

It is a fortunate circumstance that so many of the colony of first setters were men of superior character and ability. One of the most useful members of the Ohio company was Colonel Robert Oliver. He was born in 1738 in the north of Ireland. His parents moved to America while Robert was young, and settled on a farm in Worcester county, Massachusetts. His education was as good as the schools of that period afforded.

He entered the Revolution as a lieutenant, but at the close of the war had advanced to the position of colonel. He served under General Rufus Putnam in the campaign against Burgoyne, and was highly complimented as a disciplinarian. After the close of the war he again settled on a farm, where he lived quietly until 1786, when he volunteered to assist in putting down Shay's rebellion.

Upon the formation of the Ohio company he invested in two shares of their land and came to Marietta in the summer of 1788. The formation of the Millsburgh colony and the erection of Wolf Creek mills is fully noticed in the chapter on Watertown.

In 1790 Colonel Oliver was elected to fill the vacancy on the board of directors of the Ohio company caused by the death of General Parsons. His services in that capacity were of great value, especially during the trying period of the Indian war.

Colonel Oliver was the colleague of Colonel Meigs in the first territorial legislature, and was selected as one of the council, which was composed of five representatives, nominated by the governor and commissioned by the President of the United States. In 1800 he was chosen president of the council. He served as colonel of militia, and judge of the court of common pleas. He served his township as magistrate until his death, which occurred in May, 1810.

The few persons yet living who knew him bear testimony of the high regard in which he was held, especially in Waterford, where his private life was known and appreciated.

Major Haffield White

The few old settlers of the community of Waterford whom time has spared to tell reminiscences of past events frequently mention the name of Major White. He was born in Danvers, Massachusetts, where, at the opening of the Revolution, he was an officer in a company of minute men. His company hastened to the scene of action as soon as the news of the actual opening of hostilities reached them, and arrived in time to pour a round of rifle-balls into the retreating British lines. He served as an officer in line and as commissary until the close of the war.

He became a member of the Ohio company in 1787 and acted as commissary for the first detachment to Marietta. His son, Peletiah, was one of the forty-eight who arrived April 7, 1788. In 1789, Major White, in company with Captain Dodge and Major Oliver, built the first mill in Ohio - Wolf creek mill in Watertown township. This property eventually passed under control of the White family. After the death of the major his son, Peletiah, managed the mill.

Colonel Ebenezer Sproat

A distinguished character in the early history of Ohio is the tall sheriff who headed the procession at the opening of the first court in the territory, and whose imposing figure so impressed the Indians that they gave him the name of Hetuck (Big Buckeye). There is a tradition that from this circumstance the term Buckeye came to be applied to all Ohioians.

Colonel Sproat was born in Middleborough, Massachusetts, in 1752. He had the advantage of early education and became familiar with the principles and practice of surveying. He assisted his father on the farm and was remarked for his strong vigorous frame. He stood erect six feet four inches tall. At the opening of the Revolution Mr. Sproat was given command of a company but soon rose to the position of major in the Tenth Massachusetts regiment, under Colonel Sheppard. In 1778 he became lieutenant colonel in Glover's brigade. It has been said that he was not only the tallest man in the brigade, but also the most complete disciplinarian. At the close of the war he retired to Providence and employed himself at surveying. While here he became attached to Catharine Whipple, whom he married. Colonel Sproat now turned his attention to mercantile pursuits, for which he was singularly unfitted. He was fond of company and freehanded, and as a natural result failed after a short period, losing his own fortune and his wife's patrimony. In 1786, Colonel Sproat was given an appointment on the survey of the seven ranges, and the following year was made one of the surveyors of the Ohio company's purchase. In the fall of that year he led a detachment to Simrell's ferry, where he superintended the building of the Mayflower. Colonel Sproat continued as surveyor for the company until 1791, when the Indian war prevented further operations. He held the position of high sheriff, under commission of Governor St. Clair, for fourteen years. He invested the office with all the dignity of ancient ceremony, which his commanding presence gave a peculiar effect. He always carried a sword as the badge of office. During the Indian war he served as paymaster of the troops. The family of Colonel: Sproat consisted of his wife and one daughter, who came to Marietta with Commodore Whipple. His daughter married Solomon Sibley, esq. Colonel Sproat was a friend of General Washington and an acquaintance of Lafayette. He was a staunch Federalist and saw the fall of his party with regret. He took a live interest in agriculture, particularly gardening. His garden covered nearly an acre of ground and was tastefully laid out in squares and walks. He died suddenly in February, 1805.

Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs

Another of the celebrated spirits of the Revolution, and one, too, who figures prominently in the early history of Ohio, was Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs. He was apprenticed a hatter in early life and afterwards had a shop in his native State of Connecticut.

Mr. Meigs was a member of the Colonial military company, of Middletown, and when the war became iminent was chosen captain. After the news of the first bloodshed at Lexington, Captain Meigs volunteered and was received into the service with the rank of major.

After his release he again signified his willingness to enter the service, and was commissioned colonel by Congress. He raised a regiment of volunteers, known in history as the "Red Cap regiment." The expedition of this regiment against Sagg Harbor, Long Island, is celebrated, and its conduct at Stony Point highly honorable. After the war Clonel Meigs returned to Middletown, where he remained until the formation of the Ohio company. His services were engaged by the company as a surveyor, and in the spring of 1788 he entered on the duties of his office. _ Before the territorial officers had arrived Colonel Meigs had drawn up a code of rules, which served for the government of the territory. After the organization of the government, under the ordinance of Congress he was made one of the associate justices and justice of the peace. He was also commissioned clerk of the court of quarter sessions and prothonotary of the court of common pleas.

Colonel Meigs was commissary of the clothing department during the treaty of 1795, at Greenville. It was through his exertions that Joseph Kelly, the boy captive, was restored to his mother.

Washington county was ably represented in the first territorial legislature by Colonels Meigs and Oliver. This was an important session, and Colonel Meigs' intimate knowledge of affairs made him a superior member.

In 1801 he was appointed by President Jefferson Indian agent in the Cherokee nation, where he removed and resided until his death, which occured in 1823.

"iis family consisted of three sons - Return Jonathan, John, and Timothy. Colonel Meigs was held in the highest esteem in the army, in Marietta, and among the Indians, where he spent the evening of his busy life.

Arthur St. Clair

He became a subaltern in the British army, and was detailed to America for duty during the French war. He was present at the storming of Quebec. In 1763 he was given command of Fort Ligonier, in Pennsylvania, where he settled and received one thousand acres of land. He sympathized with the colonies in their difficulties with Great Britain, and at the opening of the Revolution was given command of a regiment of continentals. He was afterwards promoted to the rank of brigadier general, and before the close of the war was made major general. He hac command of Ticonderoga when it was captured by Burgoyne, and was charged with everything reflecting on his honor as a military man, but a court-martial sustained his conduct and fully exonerated him. His military career although not brilliant was creditable.

In 1785 he was elected a representative of Legonier, where he settled after the war, to the Continental Congress, and was afterwards chosen president of that body.

The Northwest Territory was formed in 1787, and General St. Clair received the appointment of governor. His home in Legonier, Westmoreland county, was known as ''Pott's Grove." He had made some improvements when his duties called him to Ohio. In the winter of 1790 he removed to Marietta with all his family, excepting his wife, who remained to superintend the homestead. His household at Marietta consisted of a son, Arthur St. Clair. jr, and three daughters - Louisa, Jane, and Margaret, and an aged colored woman who acted as cook. Arthur studied law, and engaged in practice in Cincinnatti; Louisa was a young lady of eighteen; Jane was two years younger, "a girl of retiring manners and feeble constitution;" Margaret, the youngest child, died that year with fever. Louisa has been the subject of much comment. She was quick and vigorous both in mind and body. She seemed in her element amid the wild and dangerous surroundings of the period. She was Often to be seen riding on a wild and spirited horse at full speed through the thick woods and over logs and streams. She was one of the best pedestrians at the garrison, and frequently came out victorious in walking or running races. She could shoot a rifle with the accuracy of a skilled woodsman, and was exceedingly fond of the chase. Although she had a passion for athletic sports, intellectual pursuits were by no means neglected. She had been educated with much care in Philadelphia.

Governor St. Clair was removed by President Jefferson a few months before the formation of the State Government in 1803. He had suffered great financial loss, and the last years of his life were spent in poverty. He returned to his Pennsylvania farm and in vain appealed to Congress for a bounty. The legislature of his State recognized his services by voting him an annuity of three hundred dollars, which was afterwards increased to six hundred. He died on his farm in the Legonier valley, August 31, 1818.

Ichabod Nye

English, and came from England to America in 1639. They were of those who came here to escape religious persecution. They first settled in Scituate, and then Barnstable, Massachusetts, the church to which they belonged coming over almost in a body. A part of the family after some years moved westward to Tolland, Connecticut. The father of Ichabod Nye was George Nye. His mother was Thankful Hinckley. George Nye owned a farm at Tolland on which he resided. DUecember 21, 1763, Ichabod Nye was born. At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to a tanner in Hadley, for the purpose of learning the trade. In this it was considered he had an advantage not shared by his brothers who were reared on the farm, It is probable that he finished his apprenticeship, though he entered the Revolutionary army at the early age of sixteen. Among the names of Revolutionary soldiers found at the State house in Boston is the following: "Ichabod Nye, age sixteen, five feet, eleven inches high, black hair; Colonel Porter's regiment, 1779." He afterwards served in Colonel Sear's regiment, which belonged to the northern army under Gates. He was with this branch of the army during the campaign which terminated with the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga.

In 1785 Ichabod Nye married Minerva, daughter of General Benjamin Tupper. At the close of the war they were residing with General Tupper, at Chesterfield, Massachusetts.

General Tupper, immediately on his return from the army in 1783, made known to his friends and neighbors his intention to go to the western territory. They regarded it as mere talk on his part. He, however, immediately set about the formation of the Ohio company. Mr. Nye has written: "I had engaged to come west to settle with him, and we began to prepare for the undertaking. Soon after the defeat of Shay I began to collect timber to build wagons, and went with a sleigh to Williamsburgh for timber of oak as there was none to be obtained in Chesterfield, nor was there a wagon fit for such a journey to be obtained in the State of Massachusetts, and but one man in our part of the State who could make one. I engaged him, however, and he built us two wagons, one for the family, or rather both families, and one for the goods and utensils belonging to them. With these we made our destination on the Ohio bank at Wellsburgh, V irginia, in company with Colonel Cushing and family, Major Goodale and family, and were joined there by Major Coburn and family, and his son-in-law, Andrew Webster and family. I left this company at Wellsburgh and came overland on the Virginia side with the horses and two hired men, reaching Marietta ten days before them." They descended the river in 'the Mayflower, which had been sent up for that purpose, and arrived-at Marietta August 19, 1788. Their journey had occupied ten weeks, having been detained at Wellsburgh waiting for Major Coburn.

When these families arrived in Marietta, Campus Martius was in process of building, but not finished. They occupied such houses as they could obtain near Campus Martius, generally small log houses. General Tupper soon put up a dwelling in the Campus Martius, on the southwest side, on the ground afterwards occupied by the residence of Ichabod Nye. 'In September, 1788, Mrs. Nye wrote as follows to some friends in New England: 'We now live in the city of Marietta, where we expect to end our days. We find the country much more delightsome than we had any idea of." And in November Miss Rowena Tupper writes: 'The country has been so often spoken of that it is needless for me to say more than that it answers every expectation." In 1790 Mr. Nye began to sink vats for a tanyard in the extreme northern portion of the town on Seventh street. These vats were built from the timbers of the boat in which his brother, Ebenezer Nye, had descended the river, and were the first tan vats in the Northwestern Territory. This situation was during the Indian war, which soon followed, a hazardous one, but no attack was made upon him there. He afterwards sunk some vats near the upper end of Third street, but the ground was unfavorable, and he finally erected buildings near the corner of Seventh and Putnam streets, where the main building of the chair company now stands. At that time Putnam street was not opened beyond Fifth. It was at this place that the heaviest part of his business was carried on. His customers were from all parts of the surrounding country, and the reputation of the leather made there was of the highest character.

During the Indian war Mr. Nye lived in General Tupper's house in Campus Martius. His brother, Ebenezer Nye, with his family and Mrs. Kelley (a widow) with her children, lived in the southeast block-house. After the close of the war Ichabod Nye purchased the southwest block-house, which had been the residence of Governor St. Clair, and resided there until 1814. He owned four lots on the south end of the square, north of Scammel street, and he left the stockade and lived for a time in a house standing on the lot corner of front and Scammel. In 1820 he built his dwelling house on the stockade, where he resided during the remainder of his life, and where two of his sons have always lived until 1880. In 1809 he erected the brick store on Putnam street, now (1881) occupied by Jacob Pfaff as a bakery. The upper story was used for the Masonic lodge hall; the lower story for a store. In the spring of 1810 he opened a store in this building, in which he kept dry goods, groceries, shoes - in fact such goods as were in demand. In August, 1813, he entered into a partnership with Mr. Charles Shipman, and they removed the goods to Athens and opened a store there under charge of Mr. Shipman, then a young man. In 1816 this partnership was dissolved and Mr. Nye reopened his store on Putnam street, Marietta. He had also formed, in 1805, a partnership with Colonel Benjamin Tupper, his brother-inlaw, and they had opened a store in Springfield, now the Ninth ward of Zanesville, Ohio. Heafterwards withdrew from this partnership, and established two of his sons in the mercantile business with himself, one under the firm name of I. & A. Nye, and the other A. Nye & Co. These were also in Springfield. He finally transferred the goods from the Marietta store and the store of I. & A. Nye, in Putnam, to Waterford, Ohio. In March, 1819,

A. T. Nye took charge of the business there, and in 1824 he purchssed the stock and continued the business under his own name. After 1824, Mr. Ichabod Nye had no further interest in mercantile business.

Colonel Nye, as he was always called, having been commissioned in militia about 1804, was very little engaged in public business. He was a subscriber to Muskingum academy, and was always interested in educational matters. He was a member of the Masonic lodge in Marietta. In his youth his opportunities for obtaining an education were limited, but he was a man who read a great deal, and of the very best, and he also kept himself well informed on all public affairs. He had a strong and vigorous mind, and generally formed his own opinions. He was strongly attached to the administration of General Washington, and belonged to the Federal party as long as that party existed, and afterwards to the Whig party. He died November 27, 1840. His first wife, Minerva Tupper, died April 20, 1836. Their children who survived infancy were: Horace, Panthea, who married Rothius Hayward, of Waterford, Ohio; Arius, Anselm Tupper, Sophia, who married Rey. Cyrus Byington, of the Choctaw Mission; Rowena, who married William Pitt Putnam, of Belpre; Huldah, died June 22, 1838, not married ; Ichabod Hinckley, Edward White. The only children who now survive (1881) are Anselm T. Nye, born in Campus Martius, November 9, 1797, and Edward White Nye, born April 13, 1812. Ichabod Hinckly Nye, so well known and highly esteemed in Marietta, died at the homestead, on the stockade, in June, 1880. Colonel Nye married, in 1840, Mrs. Rebecca Howe Beebe, who survived him some years.

Ebenezer Nye, brother of Ichabod Nye, settled in Rainbow. His descendants live in Athens, Meigs and Muskingum counties. From these two brothers are descended all of the name in southeastern Ohio, who are of English descent.

Rebecca Gilman

The centre of a circle of cultured intellects during the period of early settlement was Rebecca Ives Gilman, wife of Joseph Gilman. She was the daughter of Benjamin Ives and granddaughter of Hon. Robert Hall, under whose direction a fine mind was store with useful information, and a taste cultivated for polite literature. Her early associties were people of culture and education.

Mrs. Gilman was bright and fascinating in conversatics. Her friendship was much sought and highly valued. But she never permitted her polite studies to interfere with domestic duty. She is described as a model housekeeper and mother. After the death of her husband in 1806, she lived in her own house at Harmar until 1812, when she removed with her son, Benjamin Ives Gilman, to Philadelphia, where she died in 1820.

Mrs. Mary Lake

The name of Mary Lake was for many years a household word in the pioneer families of Marietta. Her example both in the Revolution and here demonstrated the capability of a kind hearted, strong minded woman in seasons of distress) Mary Bird was born in Bristol, England, in 1742. At the age of twenty she married Archibald Lake, a seaman, and moved to St. John, New Foundland. Here he followed fishing until the place came into possession of the French, when he removed to New York and engaged in ship building. New York at an early period of the war was occupied by the British, and Mrs. Luke determined to be of use to her adopted countrymen, for she enlisted heartily in the American cause, deserted the city and went into the hospitals at Fishkill and then at New Windsor, where she was the comforting angel of many suffering soldiers. The war over her husband was at a loss for profitable employment, and welcomed the news of the opening of the new territory west of the Ohio, where he could find a home.

The family came to Marietta in 1789. Mrs. Lake's kindness of heart and skill in the sick room were soon found out. Her superior intelligence and purity of character, placed her in high esteem in the new settlement. In the spring of 1790 small-pox broke out in Campus Martius. Most of the physicians were young, and knew little of the disease. Her experienced services during this trying period were found of the highest value.

Mrs. Lake was a lady af intense purity, and wore all the graces of pure religion. She taught the first Sundayschool in the territory, and it has been said the second in America, but there is good ground for disputing this statement. After the regular preaching service, Mrs. Lake gathered the children about her and instructed them from the Westminister catechism and the Bible.

Isaac And Rebecca Williams

During the toilsome period of early settlement two inhabitants of Virginia by' kind offices so endeared themselves to the residents of this side, that a sketch of their lives belongs in this volume. The village facing the mouth of the Muskingum bears their name.

Isaac Williams was born in Pennsylvania in 1737. In early life his parents removed to Winchester, Virginia, then a frontier town. He was fond of hunting, and soon became acquainted with the out of the way places of the wild country in which he lived. When he was eighteen years old the Colonial Government employed him as a spy to watch the movements of the Indians. He served in the army of General Braddock, and was connected with the military movements in the west during the French and Indian war. He was one of the first settlers of Brooks county, West Virginia. He removed west about 1769. He had previously visited the Ohio on hunting and trapping expeditions, which he made annually. He accumulated large tracts of land by making entries under the Virginia laws. Clearing and planting one acre in corn entitled the holder to four hundred dollars.

While residing in Brooks county he became acquainted with and married Rebecca Martin, a widow. Her first husband had been killed by the Indians.

Mr. Williams accompanied Lord Dunmore in his campaign against the Indians in 1774, and was present when the treaty was made near Chillicothe. Mrs. Williams had come to Virginia in 1771, and was living with her brothers near the mouth of Grave creek. While living here an incident occurred which proves that she was avery remarkable woman. She made an expedition to her sister's, fifty miles down the river, in a canoe. On her return, night overtook her, and she determined to go ashore and wait for the rising of the moon. On returning she found it necessary to wade a few steps to reach the canoe. When just in the act of stepping on board her foot rested on the cold, dead body of an Indian who had been murdered a few days before. Without screaming, she stepped into the canoe and rowed on her way. homeward.

In the spring of 1773 Joseph and Samuel Tomlinson, her brothers, entered four hundred acres of land in the bottom opposite the mouth of the Muskingum, which they presented to their sister Rebecca, in consideration for previous services. In 1786, Fort Harmer having been built and garrisoned, Mr. and Mrs. Williams desired to occupy their land. Saplings had grown on the clearing made fifteen years before, but the land was easily reduced to a state of cultivation.

This early settlement on the Virginia side was a fortunate circumstance for the early settlers of Marietta. Mr. Williams, by the time the New England colony arrived, had his farm under a good state of cultivation, and during the distressing famine ot 1790 supplied the hungry pioneers on the other side of the river with corn, of which he had a large crop. Speculators, always ready to take advantage of people's misfortunes, urged him to take a dollar and a quarter a bushel for his whole crop. "Dod rot 'em," said the old man, "I would not let 'em have a bushel." When a purchaser came he proportioned the number of bushels to the number of members in the family, in order that he might be able to serve all alike. He charged no one more than fifty cents per bushel, the current price in plentiful years. In the fullest sense he improved his opportunity for doing good.

Rebecca was skilled in the healing art, and often relieved distressed pioneers and hunters by the application of simple remedies. Mr. and Mrs. Williams were always social, clever, and kind. They liberated their slaves in later years, and left them substantial tokens of friendship. Mr. Williams never missed an opportunity to indulge his passion for hunting, even in his old age. The citizens of Marietta mourned his death in September, 1820, as one of their own number.

Colonel William Stacey

Colonel William Stacey, a man highly esteemed for his many excellent qualities, and honored for his services and sufferings in the cause of freedom, has many descendants yet living in the county. He was a native of Massachusetts, and when the outbreak at Lexington aroused American patriotism, he was the first member of the New Salem militia company to renounce his allegiance to the king. The company was reorganized, and entered the American service with Mr. Stacey as captain.

In 1778 Captain Stacey was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel of Colonel Ichabod Alden's regiment of the Massachusetts line. He was with his regiment on the perilous campaign, in 1778, against the Indians and tories in the Cherry valley, New York, and was a witness of the slaughter of November 11th in Oneida county. Colonel Stacey was here taken prisoner, and was taken a distance of about two hundred miles to an Indian village near the present site of Geneva. After a council of the chiefs he was sentenced to be burned. The Indians were under the commaad of Joseph Brant whom Colonel Stacey saw in the surrounding crowd, while the fires were being kindled under him. It is said that he gave Brant the sign of Free Masonry, and that that chief, whose word was law, directed his release.

Colonel Stacey was held as a prisoner by the Indians for four years. After his release he returned to his farm at New Salem until 1789, when he removed with his five sons and one son-in-law with their family to Marietta. Two of the sons, John and Philemon, were victims of the attack on Big Bottom, January 2, 1791. John was killed, and Philemon was taken prisoner, and died in captivity. Gideon, the youngest son, settled in New Orleans, and established a ferry across Lake Pontchatrain. The remaining member of the family settled in this county.

Major Anselm Tupper

Anselm Tupper, eldest son of General Benjamin Tupper, came to Marietta as one of the surveyors of the Ohio company, April 7, 1788. Previous to that time he had been in the western country with his father, engaged in the survey of one of the seven ranges.

General Tupper entered the service of his country immediately after the battle of Bunker Hill. At that time his son Anselm was very young, only thirteen, but he was with his father in an engagement on North river, in August, 1776. In 1779 when sixteen years of age, he received the appointment of adjutant in the regiment of Colonel Sproat, of the Massachusetts line, in which position he served until the close of the war. This regiment was engaged at Trenton, Princeton, Monmouth and other battles. Major Tupper enjoyed the confidence and personal friendship of his commanding officer.

in 1788, the surveyors began their work, and continued it until driven into the forts by the hostility of the Indians. During the Indian war Major Tupper lived in Campus Martius. He taught the first school opened there, in the northwest block-house. He was a man of intellectual ability, and especially in mathematics had the reputation of being a good scholar. He is said to have possessed a refined and polished address, and was of fine personal appearance and military bearing. An oil portrait exists, representing him when very young, in the uniform of the Massachusetts regimental officers. He was appointed post major of Campus Martius, and continued in this position during the war. He was the favorite of the officers in the garrison, especially of Colonel Sproat, and his wit sometimes in verse, seemed to give them great satisfaction, though at their expense. On one occasion, when Colonel Sproat was left behind in a foot race with Dr. Story, the minister, Major Tupper wrote some lines, in which the following gave a momentary offence to Colonel Sproat:

Some poetic pieces were written by him in connection wich Masonic celebrations, he being a member of the Masonic lodge. His verses generally had for their subject some local event, among others 'The Indian Feast," to commemorate the dinner given to the Indian chiefs at Campus Martius. Another piece was a parody on the "Battle of the Kegs," and was called the 'Battle of the Muskingum," a humorous account of the affairs which occurred at Marietta in connection with the capture of Blennerhassett's boats, usually called Burr's flotilla. This was published in a Lancaster paper, and afterwards in Safford's Life of Blennerhassett.

About r801 Edward W. Tupper engaged in ship building in Marietta. One of his vessels, the Indiana, was built five miles up the Muskingum. Another, called the Orlando, was built at the foot of Putnam street, Marietta. The Orlando went out under thecommandof Captain Matthew Miner, and Major Tupper went out as second officer. The vessel arrived at New Orleans the fourth of July, 1804, and found the city in great commction, celebrating the first fourth of July since the cession of Louisiana to the United States Government. They then crossed the Atlantic to the Mediterranean sea, up to Trieste, at the head of the Adriatic. She was sold, and Major Tupper returned home by way of England. After his return to America he went to Gallipolis, to be with his brother Edward. His health failing, he returned home to Marietta, where he died, December, 1808, at the house of his sister, Mrs. Ichabod Nye. He is buried in Mound cemetery, by the side of his father, and near his old friend and commander, Colonel Sproat.

Colonel Benjamin Tupper

COLONEL BENJAMIN TUPPER. Benjamin Tupper, youngest son of General Tupper, was born in Chesterfield, Massachusetts. He came to Marietta with his father in 1788. In 1802 he married

Martha, daughter of General Rufus Putnam. For seyeral years he was receiver of the United States land office at Marietta. In 1806 he removed to Springfield, afterwards Putnam, Ohio, and entered into a mercantile business with his brother-in-law, Ichabod Nye. He afterwards formed another partnership, which continued until his death, in 1814. Of his children but one is now (1881) living, Mrs. Catharine Munam, of Zanesville, Ohio. His only son, Benjamin, died some years since. His youngest grandson, Theodore Tupper, died on the battlefield at Shiloh, at the age of nineteen. His body was not recovered. In his death the name of Tupper became extinct in the family line of General Benjamin Tupper.

General Joseph Buell

General Buell was not a member of the Ohio company, but he was a soldier who spent two years in the western country before the pioneers arrived. The greater part of those two years he spent at Fort Harmar. He kept a diary, in which he describes the country west of the Ohio and the people who were then in it, and mentions many occurrences which, though apparently of small moment then, are now eagerly sought for as matters of history. In trying to reproduce some of the events of his life, we shall not dwell upon his ancestry or early youth. He was from Killingworth, Connecticut, where he was born February 16, 1760. His parents were David and Mary (Hurd) Buell, and he was the second of their twelve children. His first ancestor in America was William (1630), whose eldest son, Samuel settled in Killingworth, now Clinton, Connecticut, in 1664.

At the age of twenty-two, in September, 1785, Joseph Buell conducted a company of ninety-four recruits for the army from Hartford, Connecticut, to West Point, in the capacity of orderly sergeant. At West Point the men were assigned to Captain Strong's company of Colonel Harmar's regiment. November 2oth the company was ordered to the western frontier. They marched across the mountains and arrived at Fort McIntosh, at the mouth of Beaver river, on the Ohio, December 26, 1785, where they remained in barracks during the remainder of the winter. May 4, 1786, Captain Strong's company and that of Captain Zeigler embarked for the mouth of the Muskingum, where, on the west point, Fort Harmar had been built, though not completely finished, in the fall of 1785. They reached the fort on the eighth, but encamped outside at the edge of some woods until the tenth, when Captain Zeigler's company proceeded down the Ohio to the Miami, and Captain Strong's company moved into Fort Harmar.

On the twenty-seventh of May, 1787, Captain Strong's company was ordered to report at Post St. Vincent, now Vincennes. They descended the river in two keel-boats to Fort Finney, opposite Louisville, which they reached on the thirty-first. There they remained until July 8th, when they Started for Post St. Vincent, arriving there on the nineteenth. After a very sickly summer, in which nearly half the men were unfit for duty, they were ordered to return to Fort Harmar, at which place they |

In August, 1788, Sergeant Buell purchased four hundred acres of land of Judge Symmes, at half a dollar an acre, paying one-half in cash, the other half to be paid in one year. It was his intention when he bought this to settle in the Miami country, of which he writes, "I think it exceeds any part of the western world." Whatever may have been Mr. Bueil's plans for ultimate settlement, he set his face toward home as soon as he had received his discharge from the army, and reached Killingworth November 27, 1788. After visiting his friends he taught school for three months, at the same time trying to perfect his plans for returning to the western country for settlement. February 15, 1789, he was married to Siba Hand. He seems to have felt much doubt about taking her into the new country, but finally decided to do so. He visited Mr. Joshua Shipman, of Saybrook, and bargained with him to furnish half the wagon and half the team which was to carry the two families to Ohio. By the first of May, however, Mr. Shipman had given up the plan, and this, with other difficulties, led Mr. Buell to leave his wife in New England for two years. In May, 1789, he set out for Marietta with his brother, Timothy, aftewards sheriff of Washington county. Arriving safely at Marietta, Mr. Buell was joined by his friend, Mr. Levi Munsell, with whom he had been associated in the army, and they went to North Bend to join Judge Symmes' colony. Probably from fear of the Indians they soon returned to Marietta, many others leaving North Bend for the same reason.

In 1790 Messrs. Buell and Munsell opened a tavern at the Point, Marietta. This was a large frame building, and it was erected in 1789 on the lots at the corner of Front and Green streets. The frame of the building was made at the headwaters of the Ohio and floated down to Marietta. During the Indian war it was within the enclosure which formed the "Point" garrison. At this time Messrs. Buell and Munsell both lived there - Mrs. Buell having joined her husband in 1790, and Mr. Munsell having married a daughter of Colonel Alexander Oliver, of Belpre.

In 1795, peace having been declared, life was once more infused into the plans of the colonists; men left the garrisons and went to their farms; others engaged in occupations in town. Mr. Buell remained in Marietta, and built for his own residence, in 1801, a brick house, on the corner of Green and Second streets. This house is still standing, and is said to be the oldest brick house in the State of Ohio. He also built, a year or two later, the brick house on "Boiler corner." The tavern business was continued under the charge of Mr. Munsell, and became about 1801 very remunerative to the proprietors. Owing to the activity in the business of ship-building, many carpenters, calkers, and other artisans connected with the business came into Marietta, and they largely patronized this tavern. In August, 1807, there were five ships on the stocks at Marietta. Soon after, in consequence of the embargo, the business was suddenly discontinued, and several prominent business men failed and left Marietta, and laborers connected with them were obliged to seek employment elsewhere. The tavern business suffered in consequence. Mr. Munsell left Marietta in a few years, and General Buell died in 1812; but the tavern was kept as a public house by other parties until about 1830. In 1832 Mr. Joseph Holden, who had bought the property, pulled down the old frame and erected brick buildings on the lots, in which he engaged in a mercantile business. About thirty years after, these buildings were remodelled (having escaped the great fire of 1859), and finally became the property of the First National bank.

From the time that Mr. Buell decided to make Marietta his home he took an active interest in all that concerned the welfare of the town, especially in civil, political, and military affairs. In the early days of Marietta all were adherents of General Washington, and of his administration. A few years later party strife arose and Marietta people became divided in political sentiment. Mr. Buell became an adherent of Jefferson's administration. He was elected a member of the senate of the State of Ohio and served in the first, second, third and fourth assemblies - 1803 to 1805. His military service had fitted him to take part in military affairs and he was appointed major general of militia, a position at that time a very responsible one. While he was major general the so called "Burr conspiracy" arose, and Marietta became the scene of considerable military activity. In December, 1806, General Buell received an order from the governor for the arrest of Blennerhassett and the prevention of cer tain "acts hostile to the tranquility and peace of the United States,"' - z. ¢. the departure of the boats intended for the Burr expedition from the Muskingum. Acting under this authority, General Buell, with characteristic energy and method, took measures to arrest the batteaux, which had been building at Judge Joseph Barker's, on the Muskingum river. 'These boats," writes one who saw them, "were very frail, built like a skiff, sharp at both ends, and sided up with thin weatherboarding and covered. There were ten of them, of two or three tons each, and they were built under contract of Mr. Blennerhassett with Colonel Barker. They were called in derision 'Burr's flotilla.' "

One evening in December, 1806, the company of militia from the Point (there were two companies in Marietta), passed up Front street to the Washington street landing. 'They entered a building there and prepared to remain for the night. Their purpose was not understood by those who saw them, and it was thought singular that the militia should be out at that hour. In the morning it became known that they had arrested nine of Burr's flotilla while attempting to pass down the river - one boat having gone on in the darkness.

down the river; two sons of Green, about eleven and twelve years old, managed another, and had one man each to work the balance - except one - and guide them. The boat which passed by had on it three young men from Belpre. The boats were taken by the militia down into the mouth of the run below Putnam street. They laid in the run until they began to decay, and in time men and boys broke them up and carried them off in pieces. A lot of parched corn taken from them was stored in General Buell's barn, and the academy boys used to go there and help themselves to it, filling their pockets. Mr. Blennerhassett made no effort to recover his property but was obliged to flee from his home.

After the arrest of the boats General Buell proclaimed martial Jaw, and the militia was ordered to be in readiness to appear, "armed and equipped as the law directs," immediately on the firing of the cannon. There was but one cannon in town. In the guard-house, a building which stood on Ohio street just above the "Boiler corner," a constant guard was kept. A gun was placed on the river bank, and all boats passing down the Ohio river were hailed and stopped; and as a further precaution all boats passing down the Muskingum were brought over to Marietta. These measures were taken in order to be prepared for any attempt to rescue the captured batteaux from the direction of Blennerhassett's island, and to stop any men or supplies which might attempt to pass down to aid Burr's expedition. The whole country from Pittsburgh to New Orleans was in a state of great excitement, and Burr made no attempt to resist but endeavored to conceal himself.

General Buell had no sympathy with Aaron Burr. When Burr was in Marietta, General Buell was living in a brick house* which he had erected on "Boiler corner." In this house he entertained Burr at dinner. Mrs. Buell in after years told her children that she "somewhat anxiously watched her husband on that occasion to see whether Burr's insinuating talk had any influence on her husband, and that he failed to enlist sympathy." In carrying out the orders of the governor, General Buell obeyed as a soldier, having no other idea than to do his duty. The position of major general he held until his death. Form 1803 to 1810 General Buell was associate judge in the court of common pleas. The appointment to this office under the State Constitution of 1802 was made by the legislature.

During his life, and at the time of his death, he owned a large number of city lots in Marietta. At one time he owned nearly all of square No. 57, below the alley which connects Front street and Canal street, and the greater part of the square on which his dwelling stood, with parts of 'Flat-iron square." These lots lying on Front, Green, Second and Ohio streets, are now many of them occupied by business houses. Other lots lay further out on Green street, beyond Fourth, and some on the plain. At the time of his death he also owned

General Buell died in Marietta, June 13, 1812. He is buried in Mound cemetery. Mrs. Buell died in 1831- Of their eight children, those best known in Marietta were: Daniel Hand, Hiram Augustas, Joseph and Siba (Mrs. William Slocomb).

Daniel Hand Buell, the eldest child of General Joseph Buell, was born October 1, 1790. His early childhood was spent in the garrison at the Point. When of a suitable age he was sent to New England to be educated, returning to Marietta when about twenty-one years of age, he spent the remainder of his life in that place. While he was still a young man his father died, and the management of the estate and the care of the, family interests devolved chiefly upon him. In 1814 he was engaged in editing the newspaper called the American Friend, of which he was one of the owners. He was one of the founders of Marietta library in 1829, which was for many years an institution highly prized by the reading public. Asa public man he stood high in the estimation of his fellow citizens, and held several important offices. He was for many years justice of the peace, and was mayor of the city. June, 1817, to October, 1834, he was county recorder. From 1825 to 1829 he was postmaster. In 1839 he was county commissioner. He was in the latter part of his life an earnest worker for the Episcopal church in Marietta, of which he was a member, doing much to aid it financially, and performing the office of lay reader when the church was destitute of a pastor. After a long and painful illness he died, October 12, 1843. His second wife, Theodosia Hall Buell, survived him and died in 1875. His sons became citizens of Marietta. Charles Ferdinand, the eldest, died June, 1881. He was a member of the Marietta bar. Edward W. and William H. Buell entered the drug business as partners when they were very young. They were also largely engaged as partners in the oil business for several years previous to 1869. Edward W. Buell died in May, 1875.

Hiram A. Buell, fourth son of General Joseph Buell, was born in Marietta, May 29, 1801, and was well known in that place when a young man. He was for some years in the recorder's office as an assistant, and was also engaged in other business in connection with his brother, Daniel H. Buell. In 1833 he left Marietta and went to Holly, in western New York, where he established himself in bnsiness as a merchant, with his brother, Joseph. This partnership, cemented by brotherly affection, was dissolved by the death of Hiram A. Buell, February 24, 1875.

Joseph Hand Buell, born February 22, 1809, the youngest child of General Joseph Buell, left Marietta and engaged in business with his brother Hiram, in Holly, New York, where he still resides.

Rev. Daniel Story

place which he filled for about fifteen years, first in the employ of the Ohio company and then of the Congregational church, or of the First Religious society as it was known.

He was born in Boston in 1755. emminent lawyer, was his uncle. He graduated at Dartmouth college. Dr. Story's connection with the religious history of the early settlement has been sufficiently sketched elsewhere. His services in the ministry before coming to Marietta gave promise of usefulness and the choice of Dr. Cutler was received with great satisfaction. His sermons were logical and scholarly, his conversation interesting and his manners agreeable. The last two circumstances were particularly fortunate, for his salary was extremely meagre and generous friends had to be depended upon for relief. He was compelled to mortgage his property in New England to support his contingent expenses, and after death his estate was found insolvent. He severed his connection with the church as pastor March 15, 1804, on account of poor health. His death occurred on the 15th of the following December.

Frederick J. Cutter

Frederick J. Cutter, son of Lewis J. Cutter, sr., and Eve E. (Wagner) Cutter, was born in Watertown township, Washington county, Ohio, October 5, 1839. In the spring of 1842 his father moved to Union township, where he had bought a farm in the fall of 1841. Frederick remained on the farm with his father until the spring of 1854, when he engaged to drive team on the Marietta & Cincinnati railroad, then building, about two miles below Harmar. He continued to work there until the August following, when he returned home.

In September, 1855, he began work for the Hon. W. P. Cutler on his farm about six miles below Marietta; continuing there until November, 1859. The last three winters he was with Mr. Cutler he attended school, doing chores mornings and evenings to pay for his board. In December, 1859, young Cutter went to Cincinnati and that winter attended Gundry's Commercial college. The next spring he was employed ina furniture store, where he continued until about December, 1860. Not being satisfied with the education received up to that time, he determined if possible, to find a situation where he could earn enough to pay expenses and go to school at the same time. About January, 1861, he secured a route of the Cincinnati Daily Gazette, which he kept until June, 1865.

In the fall of 1861 he entered Herron's seminary in Cincinnati, which school he attended until June, 1864, when it was closed in consequence of the death of Prof. Herron, the principal. He then attended Professor Clive's private school in the same city, one year.

By the preparation thus obtained Mr. Cutter was enabled in 1865 to enter the Sophomore class of Marietta college, graduating in 1868 with Rev. W. H. Pearce, now deceased, Professor W. G. Ballantine, and Theodore D. Dale, esq. Rev. D. W. Rhodes, Professor H.

P. Smith of Lane seminary, Rev. H. M. Walker, Charles H. Turner and J. M. Fuller were also members of his class, but none of them, except Mr. Fuller, graduated at Marietta. Two of the winters while at college he taught school to earn means to defray expenses. Mr. Cutter entered college largely upon the advice of Mr. Cutler, who, while the former was working for him, had kindly promised any necessary aid in getting through the college course.

For two years after graduating his time was divided between teaching school and working at home on the farm. In June, 1870, Mr. Cutter took entire charge of the home farm, his father, on account of age, being no longer able to attend to it.

In the fall of 1872 he began reading law with Hon. T. W. Ewart, in connection with his farm labor; and was admitted to the bar in April, 1875. After his admission he remained in the law office of Ewart & Sibley until December, 1876, when he engaged in the practice on his own account, so continuing until the present time, building up guite a good practice. He has also managed the affairs of the farm in connection with his law practice.

In the fall of 1873 Mr. Cutter was elected one of the managers of the Washington County Agricultural and Mechanical association, and continued to serve in that capacity, with the exceftion of one year, until March, 1880, when he was elected president of the association. In the fall of the same year he was reelected to serve for the year 1881.

In politics Mr. Cutter has always been a Republican, beginning first to take an interest in politics during the memorable campaign of 1860. Since his graduation in 1868 he has been each year connected with campaign work in his county, either as a member of the central or of the county executive committees, having served as secretary of the former for 1876 and 1877, and of the latter from 1878 to 1881. In 1878 he was the Republican candidate for probate judge, but his party being in the minority in the county at that time he was defeated with the rest of the ticket. During 1877 and 1878 he served as deputy United States marshal for Washington county, which is the only office of a political nature he ever held. He drew up the application for, and was mainly instrumental in, securing the establishment of the Churchtown postoffice and the tri-weekly mail between Watertown and Marietta.

He also drew the petition for the division of Union township among the four adjoining townships, and the success of that project was due, in a great measure, to his efforts.

Mr. Cutter, in 1879, took quite an active and prominent part in the movement to build free bridges across the Muskingum river. He served as secretary of the free bridge campaign committee, with Dr. P. H. Kelley, of Waterford, as chairman.

In religion, Mr. Cutter was brought up in the Lutheran faith. He was at firsta member of the German Lutheran church, of Watertown;afterwards, of the English Lutheran church, of Cincinnati; and, in the spring of 1874, he transferred his membership to the Presbyterian church, of Watertown. While in Cincinnati, he was connected with the Union Bethel Sunday-school as a teacher, from February, 1860, to June, 1865.

His parents were both born in Durkeim, Bavaria, Germany, and came to this country in 1838. His father was born March 7, 1799, and died February 15, 1874. His mother, born January 23, 1807, is still living. There were five sons and seven daughters in the family, all of whom are living, except his brother William, who was a member of company B, seventy-seventh Ohio volunteers, and was killed in the battle of Jenkin's Ferry, on the Saline river, Arkansas, April 30, 1864. His brother Lewis was alsoa member of the same company, and was a prisoner for ten months in Camp Ford, near Tyler, Texas, having been captured at Marks Mills, Arkansas, April 25, 1864.

Governor Return Jonathan Meigs

The oldest son of Colonel R. J. Meigs was Ohio's first governor, R. J. Meigs, jr, who was born in Middletown, Connecticut, in the year 1675. He graduated at Yale college in his twentieth year, and was admitted to the bar of his native State. In his younger years he was much given to writing poetry, but never had an ambition to come before the public as a poet. His compositions were generally of a light character, written for amusement and recreation. In 1788 he married Miss Sophia Wright and the same year came to Marietta, where he engaged in professional pursuits and farming.

After the organization of the State government, Mr. Meigs was elected chief justice of the Supreme court, which consisted of three judges. This situation was at that time difficult, as he was required to hold court in every county in the State once a year. He discharged the duties of this distinguished position until October, 1804, when he received the appointment of colonel and commandant of the upper part of the district of Louisiana which included the greater part of the Mississippi valley. In 1805, he was appointed one of the judges of the territory, a position more congenial to his tastes.

The seat of justice in Upper Louisiana, was at St. Louis. It once became the duty of Judge Meigs to pronounce sentence of death upon an Indian convicted of murder. After the execution on the same day a large athletic Indian whom he endeavored to prevent injuring some women and children on the street, assailed him with a tomahawk and «truck him several times on the head, cutting through his hat at every stroke. At last seizing the Indian by the arm, he wrested the tomahawk from him and threw it away. Furious at this occurrence, the Indian sprang upon him likea tiger, Mr. Meigs being unable to retain a grip on his naked adversary. The Indian had a belt around him from which in the scuffle he attempted to draw a large knife. A young gentleman, Mr. Hammond, seeing the knife, half removed from its scabbard, and not doubting the purpose for which it was being removed, approached with a pistol and shot the

Indian in the back. He let go the knife, started back and fell dead. This is one of a number of Governor Meigs' perilous situations. Once during the Indian war he narrowly escaped from an encounter with a party of Indians on the bank of the Muskingum. While at Detroit acting as diplomat for Governor St. Clair, he was one day leisurely standing ona boat. An Indian on the shore was aiming hisrifle. At that instant a white man standing near, snatched the gun from the Indian's hands and shook out the priming. Upon one occasion while reviewing some troops at St. Louis, a salute was fired. A musket was fired, loaded with buck-shot, many of which passed through his vest, cravat and ruffles of his shirt, and one of his epaulets was cut away. This occurrence was altogether accidental.

While serving as judge in Louisiana his health gave way, and he returned to Marietta in 1806 much enfeebled. In April, 1807, he was commissioned judge of the territory of Michigan. He resigned his commission in October and accepted the candidacy for governor of Ohio. This was one of the most exciting campaigns in the early politics of the State. His competitor was General Nathaniel Massie, one of the earliest settlers of the Scioto valley. Meigs received a majority of the votes but his election was contested on the ground that he had not been a resident of the State four years as required by the constitution. The contest resulted in favor of Massie. The contest did not seem to impair his popularity, for at the same session of the legislature he was elected supreme judge, and in September following was chosen to fill the unexpired term of John Smith in the United States senate. He was subsequently reelected senator for the full term.

The campaign of 1810 was one of the most bitter in Ohio political history. An act of the legislature increasing the jurisdiction of justices of the peace had been decided unconstitutional by the supreme court. Polliticians endeavored to gain favor with the people by making the discussion appear to have been rendered in favor of a class and in opposition to popular rights. The majority in the legislature pandered to prejudice and passed the "sweeping resolution," a measure intended to remove a number of judges that their places might be filled by members of what was known as the "popular" party. Tammany societies were organized in different parts of the State for the purpose of making nominations and controlling the election. These societies were secret, and in order to insure fidelity an oath was imposed upon the members. General Worthington was their candidate for governor. The opposition was sensible of the necessity of making the strongest possible nominations. Senator Meigs was finally selected to make the race and was elected by two thousand majority. His inaugural address was remarkably strong. In it he enunciated a principle of his private life and public policy. 'Public excellence ascends from domestic purity and just principles, extending from families to communities, enlarges the sphere of utility and give to patriotism its proudest devotion." ing and difficult period. His management of affairs during the opening period of the War of 1812 was by no means free from criticism, but the honesty of his intentions and the wisdom of his general policy were recognized by the people, who a third time elected him to the chief magistracy of the State by an increased majority.

During his second term of office he was called, in 1814, by President Madison, to the position of postmaster general. He discharged the duties of this important position until June, 1823, when he tendered his resignation. It is not surprising that he was accused of mismanagement of public affairs. The criticism of political opponents is not necessarily an imputation against the character of an official Governor Meigs had the confidence of Madison and Monroe. Mr. Monroe observed at the time of his resignation: 'I have never had but one opinion towards you since the commencement of the war, when you were governor, and that was friendship. I believe you to be an honest man and a friend of your country. I wish you to retain your office as long as I remain President. If you resign it must be from considerations purely your own."

After his resignation, which closed a long term of public service, Governor Meigs retired to his home in Marietta, where he died March 29, 1825.

Governor Meigs was held in high personal regard among the citizens of Marietta. He was the first post master, and is said to have been quite social among the friends of his youth without regard to their condition in life. He at one time owned a square of land on which he erected in 1806 the finest house in town. The house was not completed for several years afterwards. It is now owned by M. D. Follett. His land extended from Scammel to below the Congregational church lot on Front street. An old citizen relates an incident which proves him to have been large hearted. In 1816 the corn crop was generally a failure, and those possessing this necessary article for food could command almost any price. It happened that Governor Meigs that year had an exceptionally good crop, for which speculators offered tempting prices. He directed that the corn should be sold at the low price of former years, and in small quantities, thus giving poor people an opportunity of supplying their families with this staple food.

Return Jonathan Meigs

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 devoted. To the service of his country.

He successively 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.

Ephraim Cutler

Ephraim Cutler, the eldest son of Rev. Dr. Manasseh Cutler, was born in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, April 13, 1767. At the age of three years he was placed with his grandfather, Hezekiah Cutler, in Killingly, Connecticut, and remained with his grandparents until their death, when, having lands in the Ohio company's purchase, he determined to remove to the Northwest Territory. He began this journey with his wife and four children on the fifteenth of June, 1795, and reached Marietta Septemer 18th, having been three months on the way, and buried two of his children in the wilderness between Simrell's Ferry and Marietta.

The first location was at Waterford, where he engaged for a short time in mercantile business, but in 1799 he moved with his family to lands he owned in Ames township, now Athens county. In 1806 he located in Warren, and built the stone house which continued to be his residence until his death in 1853.

His life was one of great activity and usefulness. He contributed his full share to the work of laying the foundations of civil society and material prosperity in the section of country which he had chosen for a home.

He received, in 1796, the appointments from Governor St. Clair of captain of militia, justice of the peace and quarter sessions, and judge of the court of common pleas. In 1801 he was elected a member of the territorial legislature, and subsequently, in 1802, a member of the convention that formed the first constitution of Ohio. In the convention he took a prominent part in securing the adoption of the clauses that excluded slavery from'the State, and made the encouragement of schools and education obligatory upon future legislatures.

In these matters of most vital importance to a new commonwealth he followed up, in practical application upon the soil of Ohio, the same principles of organic law that had been placed in the ordinance of 1787 by the efforts of his father, Dr. Mannasseh Cutler, when he negotiated with Congress for the purchase of lands for the Ohio company.

He also exerted himself successfully in introducing into the constitution a judiciary system, which, in opposition to a proposed Virginia plan, brought the courts of justice within convenient reach of all the people, instead of compelling them to resort with their suits to the political centre of the State.

He was appointed by the territorial legislature one of the commissioners to take charge of the school and ministerial lands in this part of the State, and to provide for their lease and improvement.

In 1819 he was elected to the legislature, where he devoted himself unceasingly to the accomplishment of two of the most important ubjects that ever engaged the attention of that body. One was an ad valorem system of taxation - the other a system of common schools. Although the constitution had imposed a positive obligation upon the law making power to encourage schools, nothing had been done or attempted until he introduced the first bill in 1819, providing for a school system. He was a member of either the lower house or the senate until 1825, and had the satisfaction of seeing both of his favorite measures so far matured that it could be said that Ohio had systems of taxation and schools. These systems have both progressed in their application to growing wants, and have been perfected by subsequent legislation; but at no period of their progress was more ability, industry, and energy required than was given to them in their incipient stage by Ephraim Cutler.

In presenting the unjust burden imposed upon this section of Ohio by the prevailing system of taxation, under which lands in Hamilton county worth fifty dollars per acre paid no more tax than our land worth fifty cents per acre, Dr. Andrews in his History of Washington County thus alludes to Mr. Cutler's success:

In the winter of 1819-20 Judge Ephraim Cutler, a representative from this county, introduced into the legislature a joint resolution that property should be taxed according to its true value, which passed the house of representatives. In the fall of 1823 he was elected to the senate and again renewed his efforts to secure a reform in the revenue system. He was appointed the chairman of the committee on the revenue. The project of a canal between Lake Erie and the Ohio river had come up, and Judge Cutler had succeeded in convincing the friend of that measure that it must inevitably fail unless based upon a broad judicious, and equitable system of taxation. To him more than any other are we indebted for the law then enacted. The language of his cotemporaries clearly shows that he was regarded as the author.

Hon. Samuel F. Vinton writes from Washington, December 21, 1824: ''We ought to offer up our most unceasing prayers that your plan for the equalization of taxes may at the same time be adopted. Without it, inevitable ruin would await the sparse peopled and sterile parts of the State. In fact, those parts of the State will be virtually ruined under the present system of taxation in defraying the ordinary expense of the Government.

Ingenuity, in my opinion, could not devise a system more unequal, unjust, and offensive. 1am decidedly in favor of improving the inland navigation of the State by canals, if possible, but I hope you will perseveringly press upon the legislature your plan of taxation in conjunction with it."

The Hon. Eleutheros Cooke, in a letter dated Sandusky, October 13, 1828, thus speaks of Mr. Cutler's services: "As the author and founder of our new and excellent system of revenue and taxation, I shall ever consider you as richly entitled to the gratitude of the State. In this part of the country you are known as the author."

Caleb Atwater, in a letter to Judge Cutler, dated Circleville, January 22, 1825, says: "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."

Henry Dana Ward writes: Shrewsburg, Masachusetts, August 14, 1825. 'I have heard from you and of you through my brother (Nahum Ward, esq., of Marietta), and have felt with you and for you in wishing your revenue and school bills into legislative being, and now rejoice with you in the commencement of the grand Ohio and Lake Erie canal; and pray that the school bill may go into as effectual operation as the revenue law. These are great works, long and ardently desired, and perseveringly labored for. You have borne a distinguished part in giving them life, and I hope they may long continue a source of satisfaction to you."

Nahum Ward, esq., writes, Marietta, Ohio, January 12, 1825: 'We are greatly indebted to you for you services in the senate and all acknowledge it."

He was positive and earnest in his political views, and never swerved from his convictions upon questions of National policy. In his youth he adopted the principles that governed Washington, Adams, and their compeers, and thus incurred the stigma of Federalist. This, of course, was enough to shut his way to political promotion or success, but it is true that no man in Ohio, in 1825, stood higher as a statesman of integrity, ability, and comprehensive views of State policy than himself.

He was ever the active promoter of every useful public enterprise and accepted an appointment from the citizens of Marietta in 1837, and again in 1839, to visit Baltimore for the purpose of securing the examination of a railroad route to the Ohio river, with a view to making Marietta its crossing point.

In 1836 he was a member of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian church which met in Pittsburgh, and also in 1837 at their meeting in Philadelphia, at which time the separation of the church into Old school and New school took place.

He was early appointed a member of the board of trustees of the Ohio university at Athens, and gave the interests of that institution his constant and devoted attention for many years.

In all the private relations of 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 a 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.

He was one of the busy workers, who at the right time, and in their appointed sphere, 'dug deep and laid broad the foundations of many generations." Such labors may not be heeded, may even be desecrated and destroyed - but history must make their record "well done."

Harman Blennerhassett

The story of Blennerhassett has been often told, and volumes have been written upon his romantic and melancholy career; but as he was, in a measure, identified with the early history of the locality of which this work treats (though never a resident of Washington county), we propose giving a brief sketch of his life.

the year 1767, in Hampshire, England, while his parents were there upon a visit. Shortly after his birth, the family returned to their residence, Castle Conway, in the county Kerry. When Harman became of proper age, he is known to have been sent to the famous Westminster school, and he completed his education at Trinity college, Dublin, as a classmate of the celebrated Thomas Addis Emmitt. They read law together at the King's court, Dublin, and were admitted upon the same day, in 1790, to practice in the courts. Blennerhassett, however, being the heir expectant of a large fortune, paid but little attention to the law, but travelled considerably, and cultivated his tastes for literature, science, and music. His father died in 1796, leaving Harman his splendid estate. About this time he became involved in political troubles in Ireland, and resolved to cast his fortune in the new world, with the republican principles of which he was in close sympathy. Accordingly, he sold his estate to his cousin, Lord Ventry, and went to England, preparatory to removing to America. Here he married the beautiful and accomplished Miss Margaret Agnew, (daughter of the lieutenant governor of the Isle of Man), who was to share his beautiful island home upon the Ohio and his sad misfortunes. They arrived in New York in 1797, and in the fall of the same year, drawn by the fame of the western country, he came to Marietta, in which place he passed the winter. His time was spent in social pleasure and in seeking a location for a home in the vicinity. It is said that at one time he had a thought of building a castle upon Mount Dudley, being influenced toward that end by Dudley Woodbridge, esq. He finally, however, selected the island in the Ohio near Belpre, and fourteen miles below Marietta, with which his name has ever since been connected. The island was the property of Elijah Backus, and had been originally located in 1770 by George Washington, who owned an extensive tract of land upon the Virginia shore, just below, which was known as Washington bottom. The upper portion of this island, containing about one hundred and seventy acres, was purchased by Mr. Blennerhassett for the sum of four thousand five hundred dollars, in March, 1798. Soon after he moved to it with his wife and one child, and took up his residence in one of the block-houses that remained as a relic of the Indian war. In this block-house he lived for two years, while his mansion was in process of construction. The family residence near the upper end of the island was completed in the year 1800, and was the wonder of the western country. "It was built," says Hildreth, "with great taste and beauty, no expense being spared in its construction that could add to its usefulness or splendor." The main building was fifty-two feet long and thirty feet wide. Porticos extending in front half encircled a beautiful lawn, and connected with the central structure two large offices. The entire front measured over one hundred feet. Colonel Joseph Barker, of Belpre, was one of the architects and builders. The beautiful house was fittingly surrounded. The forest trees in the immediate vicinity were cleared away, the unevenesses of the ground were smoothed, and a lawn containing several acres was secured in front of the mansion, while gardens were laid off at either side and made rich with the bloom of every flower which was native to, or could be grown in, the climate. From the house to the head of the island a broad avenue was opened through the thick wood, affording a view of the river for several miles above. Carriage-ways and nicely gravelled walks led in and out among the forest trees, the planted shrubs and the well kept gardens. Bowers and grottos lent their beauty to the scene. Nature and art were combined to produce all that could be desired in a luxurious and tasteful home. Nor was the useful neglected. Beyond the ornamental gardens were planted fine orchards, and beyond these - occupying the central portion of the island - was a farm of an hundred acres of rich land, upon which grew bountiful crops. The farm was kept under the most perfect cultivation, and the gardens and grounds carefully tended by men who were skilled in their callings, and who had at their command a large number of slaves, which Mr. Blennerhassett, being within the jurisdiction of Virginia, was permitted to own. Within the residence of the-Blennerhassetts all things were in keeping with the surroundings. The house was finished in a high style of art, and in perfect taste. The lofty ceilings were bordered with beautiful plaster cornices, or gold mouldings; the floors were covered with carpets of richest color, the walls with pictures and elegant mirrors. The furniture was massive and grand - the most beautiful that the foreign markets afforded. Mr. Blennerhassett had a large library, embracing all departments of literature, which he had bought in London, and an ample apparatus for making those experiments in natural philosophy and chemistry, of which he was fond. He spent much of his time in literary and scientific investigation, but devoted all of the attention that was needful to the beautifying of his wonderful home. Mrs. Blennerhassett, like her husband, was cultured and elegant. She possessed rare accomplishments, was very charming in conversation, and immediately became an admired favorite in the refined society of Marietta and Belpre. The Blennerhassetts often visited these places, and, by both their substantial qualities of mind and many graces, shone brightly in the social circles of the pioneers. When at home they were seldom without visitors, and they entertained their guests with all of the ease, dignity and elegance that good taste and culture, with wealth at their command, can exhibit. Domestic felicity was not wanting in their beautiful home. Husband and wife, according to all accounts, were exceedingly fond. Whether entertaining a gay throng of visitors, or secluded in their forest-embowered and water-begirt villa, their days passed joyously, andin an almost ideal happiness. But into this Eden the tempter came.

Aaron Burr made his first appearance in the west in the spring of 1805. He visited Mr. Blennerhassett and filled his mind with the prospect of a splendid land speculation in the far southwest - an innocent plan which concealed a scheme of foulest treason and revolution, The next summer he returned to the west again, visited the island home and remained for some time in Marietta, a number of the leading citizens receiving him with marked attention, while others did not attempt to conceal their abhorrence of him as the murderer of Alexander Hamilton. Burr was now busy in developing his plans for dissevering the west from the east and founding a vast empire in the Mississippi valley and the Mexican provinces, but his design was carefully concealed under the pretense that what was designed was the colonization of a rich country. Dark suspicions, however, were whispered about, that the wily and subtle schemer meant much more than he openly avowed. Interest in the proposed mysterious adventure ran high, and there was much of conversation upon the subject, and the newspapers were filled with communications approving and disapproving of Burr's plans. A series of articles of the former nature, written by ''Querist" were severely censured by another series signed "Regulus," the authorship of which was unknown at the time, and for many years later, but which were undoubtedly from the pen of Jared Mansfield, who had located in Marietta in 1803, having been appointed surveyor general of the United States by Jefferson.* But notwithstanding the very general opposition to Burr's schemes, the leader rallied around him, by his fascinating ways and persuasive. tongue, many young men of the vicinity. His brilliancy blinded many people to the monstrosity of his character, and he made himself during his stay in Marietta an almost universal favorite. 'The lady who would not dance at the "Burr ball" in Marietta was regarded as a person who carried her prejudice altogether too far.t It was not strange that Blennerhassett should have been beguiled by the artful plotter, nor that having once consented to enter into the project represented to him he should have become deeply interested in it, and devoted his time and money freely to its advancement.

Early in September, 1806, the contract was made for the building of the boats which were to convey the adventurers to their settlement. Mr. Blennerhassett became responsible for the payment and furnished money also for the purchase of provisions. By the last of October the public mind had become filled with vague apprehensions of danger. In the vicinity of Marietta many people began to look upon the preparations of Burr and Blennerhassett with curiosity not unmixed with disfavor. The attention of the general Government had been called to the fact that they were at work organizing an expedition thought by some to be inimical to the interests of the United States, and Jefferson had sent spies to watch the conspirators. The fact that Blennerhassett was entirely innocent of a design to do aught against the United States, was shown at this time. He called upon the Government agent, and talked frankly about the proposed settlement. The surmises of

+This lady, as we learn from an obituary of her sister, Mrs. Margaret Patterson, published in a Terra Haute newspaper, was the late Mrs. William Skinner. ''She withheld her presence from the ball room and gave as a reason that Colonel Burr was plotting treason against the Government.