Other settlers who came the first season to Marietta, as far as recollected, were as follows: Of the agents were Winthrop Sargeant. secretary of the terrirory, Judges Parsons and Varnum of the settlers, Capt. Dana, Joseph Barker, Col. Battelle, Major Tyler, Dr. True, Capt. Lunt, the Bridges, Thomas Cory, Andrew M'Clure, Thomas Lord, Wm. Gridley, Moody, Russels, Deavens, Oakes, Wright, Clough, Green, Shipman, Dorrance, the Muons, Wells, etc. The first boat of families arrived on the 19th of August, in the same season, consisting of Gen. Tupper's, Col. Ichabod Nye's, Col. Cushing's, Major Coburn's, and Major Goodale's.
In the spring of 1789 settlements were pushed out to Belpre, Waterford, and Duck creek, where they began to clear and plant the land, build houses and stockades. Among the first settlers at WATERFORD were Benjamin Convers, Gilbert Devol, sen., Phineas Coburn, Wm. Gray, Col. Robert Oliver, Major Haffield White, Andrew Story, Samuel Cushing, John Dodge, Allen and Gideon Devol, George, William, and David Wilson, Joshua Sprague, with his sons William and Jonathan, Capt. D. Davis, Phineas Coburn, Andrew Webster, Eben Ayres, Dr. Farley, David Brown, A. Kelly, James and Daniel Convers.
At Belpre (the French for "beautiful meadow") were three stockades, the upper, lower, and middle; the last of which was called "farmer's castle," which stood on the banks of the Ohio, nearly, if not quite, opposite the beautiful island since known as "Blennerhasset's," the scene of Burr's conspiracy." Among the persons at the upper were Capt. Dana, Capt. Stone, Col. Bent, Wm. Browning, Judge Foster, John Rowse, Mr. Keppel, Israel Stone. At farmer's castle were Col. Cushing, Major Haskel, Aaron Waldo Putnam, Col. Fisher, Mr. Sparhawk, and it is believed George and Israel Putnam, Jr. At the lower were Major Goodale, Col. Rice, Esq. Pierce, Judge Israel Loring, Deacon Miles, Major Bradford, and Mr. Goodenow. In the summer of 1789 Col. Ichabod Nye and some others built a block-house at Newberry, below Belpre. Mr. Nye sold his lot there to Aaron N. Clough, who, with Stephen Guthrie, Jos. Leavins, Joel Oakes, Eleazer Curtis, Mr. Denham, J. Littleton, and a Mr. Brown, were located at that place during the subsequent Indian war.
Every exertion possible for men in these circumstances was made to secure food and prepare for future difficulties. Col. Oliver, Major Haffield White, and John Dodge, of the Waterford settlement, began mills on Wolf creek, about three miles from the fort, and got them running; and these, the first mills in Ohio, were never destroyed during the subsequent Indian war, though the proprietors removed their families to the fort at Marietta. Col. E. Sproat and Enoch Shephard began mills on Duck creek, three miles from Marietta, from the completion of which they were driven by the Indian war. Thomas Stanley began mills higher up, near the Duck Creek settlement; these were likewise unfinished. The Ohio Company built a large horse mill near Campus Martius, and soon after, a floating mill.
History of Washington County, Ohio 1788-1889
by Henry Howe
Published 1898
The early settlers at Marietta established a graveyard around their now famed mound; also another at Harmar. It is one of the most interesting spots of the kind in the country. Here lie the remains of many of the eminent characters who laid the foundtions of the commonwealth. In 1846, when I first saw it, there were comparatively few memorials; now it is thickly studded with them.
On Thursday, May 12, 1886, I copied those here printed. The most imposing monument is that of Rufus Putnam. It is a noble structure of Quincy granite, of massive simplicity, and worthy of the character whose memory it commemorates:
GEN. RUFUS PUTNAM, a revolutionary officer, and the leader of the colony which made the first settlement in the Territory of the Northwest at Marietta. April 7, 1738. Born April 9, 1738. Died May 24, 1824.
Here lies the body of his Excellency RETURN JONATHAN MEIGS, who was born at Middletown, Connecticut, November, 1766, and died at Marietta, March 29, 1825.
For many years his time and talents were devoted to the service of his country. He successfully filled the distinguished places of Judge of the Territory northwest of the Ohio, Judge of the Supreme Court of the State of Ohio, Senator in the Congress of the United States, Governor of the State of Ohio, and Postmaster-General of the United States. < BR>In the honored and revered memory of an ardent patriot, a practica1 statesman, an enlightened scholar, a dutiful son, an indulgent father, an affectionate husband, this monument is erected by his mourning widow, Sophia Meigs.
In memory of Rev. DANIEL STORY, died at Marietta, Dec. 30, 1804, aged 49 years.
A native of Boston, Mass., graduated at Dartmouth College. He was the first minister of Christ who came to labor in the vast field known as the Northwest Territory, excepting the Moravian missionaries. Came to Marietta in 1789, as a religious teacher under an arrangement with the Ohio Company. Accepted a call from the Congregational church, and was ordained as their first pastor at Hamilton, Mass., Aug. 15, 1798. Erected by a relative of Dr. Story in Mass., 1878.
The following is on a 1arge fine-grained sandstone slab mounted horizontally on six pillars:
In memory of Capt. NATHANIEL SALTONSTALL. Born in New London, Conn., A. D. 1727; died A. D. 1807.
Was first commandant Fort Trumbull. During the Revolution he commanded the Warren frigate and ship Putnam, but was not commodore of the fleet burned at Penobscot. Also, Lucretia Lattimore, wife of the above. Born 1737, died 1824. And two children, Polly and John.
This was a tall marble monument with the insignia, a. broken sword, left in full relief. The inscription is upon its spiral and shaft:
”In honor of Col. JESSE HILDEBRAND, of the 77th Regt. O. V. L. Born at Cold Springs, Indian Reservation, an the Alleghany river, May 29,1800. Died in the service at Alton, Ill., April 18, 1863. A kind husband and father, a patriot and soldier. His life was given that our nation might live. 'Lord, thy will be done,' his dying words.”
SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF COMMODORE ABRAHAM WHIPPLE whose naval skill and courage will ever remain
THE PRIDE AND BOABT OF HIS COUNTRY.
In the 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 sceptre, and there to wave the star spangled banner. He also conducted to the sea the first square-rigged vessel built on the Ohio, opening to commerce resources beyond calculation.
Born, Sept. 26, .A. D. 1733.
Died, May 27, A. D. 1819.
Aged 85 years.
Erected by Nathan Ward. 1859.
This is the second stone erected to Commodore Whipple. The inscription is copied from that on the first stone. The author is unknown, but it is an illustration of the grandiloquent in grave-yard literature common seventy years ago.
Hildebrand was a man of local note, at one time county sheriff and also an extensive mail contractor. He was in person large and imposing and fond of military matters, before the war he was General of Ohio militia, but be had but little more following than his staff, with whom he was wont to turn out and gallop through the streets of Marietta, a gay cortege to touch the imagination of the young.
His brigade was surprised at Shiloh, receiving the first shock, but he gathered its fragments and fought heroically all day. " I never saw such coolness as he then evinced," says our informant, an officer under him. "At one time he was in our advance, sitting quietly on his horse, looking calmly around in full view of the enemy, with the bullets flying and the shells screeching around him. I was then sent with a message to him. I expected to get killed, but got back unharmed. He seemed to care nothing for his peril." General Sherman said he was "the bravest man he ever knew."
Two months after his decease, June 10, 1863, John Brough delivered his great speech at Marietta, opening the noted Vallandigham campaign. His very beginning paragraph was this beautiful tribute to the memory of Hildebrand:
“Alas,” said he, “in this vast crowd I miss the familiar face and the cordial grasp of the hand that would have delighted me much to meet. He was the loved companion of my boyhood; the political and personal friend of my manhood; one whose soul was fun of honor and integrity; an original and life-long Democrat and supporter of Jackson, when it was thought almost a crime to be one -- a Democrat without guile; and yet when the crisis of his country came he did not stop to consider party lines - he did not stop to falter as to his duty, but went forth at the head of his regiment to the field of battle, only to meet disease and death in the camp and be brought back beneath the pall and laid amid the graves of his fathers . . . One who knew him well and loved him dearly desires here alike to drop a tear and an evergreen upon his grave."
Dr. SAMUEL P. HILDRETH. Born in Methuen, Mass., Sept. 30, 1783; died July 24, 1863.
“Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.” “Friend after friend departs. Who hath not lost a friend?”
The above is the inscription for the venerable historian.
Sacred to the memory of DUDLEY W OODBRIDGE, who was born in Norwich, Connecticut, Nov. 10, 1778. Died in Marietta, Ohio. Sabbath morning, April 30, 1853. Aged 74 years.
“Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him for ever.”
Major ANSELM TUPPER. Early in life he entered the Revolutionary army as an officer. Emigrated to Marietta in 1788, and at one time was commander of the stockade fort at this place. Born at Easton, Mass., Oct. 11,1763; died Dec. 25, 1808.
Gen. BENJAMIN TUPPER, born at Sharon, Mass., in 1738; died June 7, 1792. Aged 54 years.
In memory of LYDIA McKAWEN, wife of Chas. McKawen, who died Nov. 24,1823 Aged 56 years.
Reader repent thy follies fly,
Prepare thyself and larn to die.
Slight not the warning of this stone
But make thy peace with Christ alone.
In memory of RUTH CLARK, who was born March 13, 1792. Departed this life, April 9, 1837. Aged 45 years.
Behold me now though soon forgot
I have passed the veale which you have not.
Remem ber reader you are born to die
And turn to dust as well as i.
In memory of DUDLEY TYLER, who died Aug. 8, 1826. Aged 39 years.
How strange O God that rules on high
That I should come so far to die
To leave my friends where I was bred
And lay my bones with strangers dead.
Capt. STANTON PRENTISS. Born Nov. 17, 1750; died July 26, 1826, in the 76th year of his age. A patriot of the Revolution.
The following was on a flake from a sandstone slab, that lay on the ground beside the stone and all that could be read.
My soul through my Redeemer's love
Saved from the second death, I feel
My eyes from tears of dark despair,
My feet from falling into hell
In memory of JOHN GREEN. Born in Lancaster, Mass., 1759; died Nov. 11, 1832.
A soldier from his youth.
First in the cause That freed our country from a tyrant's laws;
And then through manhood to his latest breath
In the blest cause which triumphs over death.
History of Washington County, Ohio 1788-1889
by Henry Howe
Published 1898
There is no story in the annals of Ohio that has excited so much of human sympathy as that of the Blennerhassetts. The romance of it and its pathetic finale make all impress where events of greater historical importance fade from the memory.
Harman Blennerhassett was born about the year 1767, of Irish parentage, in Hampshire, England, his mother at that date being there on a visit. He received a finished education, graduating from Trinity College, Dublin, in the same class with Thomas Addis Emmet, the heroic Irish patriot. These two studied law together and were admitted to practice on the same day in 1790. Blennerhassett rounded off his studies with a tour through Europe. In 1706 his father died, and Harman became the possessor of a fortune of $100,000. He married the beautiful and accomplished Margaret Agnew, daughter of the Governor of the Isle of Man.
In the fall of 1797 Blennerhassett and his wife arrived in New York, where their rank, wealth and educational attainments brought them into association with the leading American families. In the winter they went to Marietta, and were treated with great distinction, while locating a site for a western home. They selected the island near Belpre, which had originally belonged to Gen. Washington. The island was then in the possession of Elijah Backus, and of him they purchased the upper portion, comprising one hundred and seventy-four acres; for which, in March, 1798, they paid the sum of $4,500.
Soon after the Blennerhassetts moved into a block-house on the island, which they occupied until the year 1800, when the mansion was completed. "It was built," says Dr. Hildreth, "with great taste and beauty, no expense being spared in its construction that could add to its usefulness and beauty." The grounds about the house were laid out in a style befitting the elegant mansion.
Here for several years the Blennerhassetts lived an ideal life. Harman Blennerhassett was fond of music, literature and scientific research; his love for scientific investigation could be gratified through the possession of ample apparatus for chemical and other experiments; his literary tastes found gratification in a large and well-selected library, while the superintending of the cultivation and beautifying of his island estate was his principal occupation.
Mrs. Blennerhassett was as cultured and refined as her husband. In person beautiful, well proportioned and agile as an athlete; an expert horsewoman, a charming conversationalist and a liberal hostess. Their home was the social centre for Belpre and Marietta.
Husband and wife were devoted to each other, and united in making their home attractive to the many guests that partook of their superabounding hospitality.
In April, 1805, Aaron Burr first visited this island Eden. He was accorded every distinction that might be bestowed on one who had been Vice-President of the United States. Very soon after his arrival he succeeded in interesting his host in his grand scheme for the establishment of a great western empire, and before his departure in October for the Eastern States Blennerhassett had fully embraced the plans of Burr as represented by the latter.
Early in September, 1806, Blennerhassett made a contract for the building of fifteen large boats, capable of transporting five hundred men. These were to carry the adventurers down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to their settlement. Arrangements were made for large supplies of provisions, Blennerhassett spending his money freely and assuming responsibility for payment of all debts contracted, pledging more than the amount of his entire fortune.
Many friends endeavored to dissuade him from embarking on the reckless venture, but their efforts were unavailing.
In the meanwhile the United States government, suspecting that Burr was plotting secession and treason, took steps to prevent the consummation of his plans. Governor Tiffin of Ohio called out a company of militia under Captain Timothy Buell, and they were stationed on the bank of the Muskingum to capture and detain any boats descending the Ohio or Muskingum under suspicious circumstances.
On the 9th of December Blennerhassett, learning that he was to be arrested, fled surreptitiously, and when Colonel Phelps, in command of the Virginia militia, took possession of Blennerhassett's Island, he found the owners were absent. Mrs. Blennerhassett, who was at Marietta, returned to the island and found it in the possession of drunken and riotous soldiers, whom their commander had been unable to prevent from ransacking the house, ruining the furniture, and despoiling the grounds. With her children she left her ruined home, and after a trying voyage down the ice-blocked river in a small cabin flat-boat, she joined her husband on January 15th at Bayou Pierre. Blennerbassett was arrested, but after a few weeks' imprisonment was discharged. He returned to his island, but did not remain there. The house was never occupied again, and in 1811 was destroyed by fire. Removing to Mississippi, he settled on a cotton plantation in the vain endeavor to retrieve his ruined fortunes, but after a ten years' struggle was obliged to sell the plantation to pay his debts. He then wandered from place to place trying to earn a bare living for himself and family, but only sinking deeper and deeper into the depths of poverty. In 1831 he died at the home of a charitable sister in the Isle of Guernsey.
Mrs. Blennerhassett died in 1842 in a tenement house in New York city, after having for eleven years waited in vain for Congress to pay a claim of $10,000 for damage to their island property by the Virginia militia.
Of the three children of the Blennerhassetts, Dominick, the eldest, a shiftless drunkard, disappeared from St. Louis after a drunken debauch, and was never after heard from. Harman, a half-witted man, in 1854 was found dying of starvation in a New York attic. Joseph, the youngest, was killed while fighting in the rebel army.
History of Washington County, Ohio 1788-1889
by Henry Howe
Published 1898
RUFUS PUTNAM, a cousin of General Israel Putnam, was born April 8, 1738, O. S., at Sutton, Massachusetts. At the age of 15 he was apprenticed to a millwright, with whom he served four years, and then enlisted as a common soldier in the French and Indian war. He served faithfully three years, was engaged in several actions, and was at the time the army disbanded, in 1761, serving as ensign, to which office his good conduct had promoted him. After this, he resumed the business of millwright, at which he continued seven or eight years, employing his leisure in studying mathematics and surveying.
He was among the first to take up arms in the revolutionary contest, and as an evidence of the estimation in which he was held was appointed lieutenant-colonel. He was afterwards appointed, by Congress, military engineer. He served throughout the war with honor, and was often consulted and held in high estimation by Washington. On the 8th of January, 1783, he was honored with the commission of brigadier-general, haying some time previously served as colonel. He was appointed by the Ohio Company superintendent of all business relating to their contemplated settlement; and in April, 1788, commenced the first settlement at Marietta. In 1789 he was appointed by Washington a judge of the Supreme Court of the Territory. On the 5th of May, 1792, he was appointed brigadier-general in the army of the United States, destined to act against the Indians; but resigned the next year in consequence of ill health. In October, 1796, he was appointed surveyor-general of the United States, in which office he continued until 1803. He was a member, from this county, of the convention which formed the State constitution. From this time his advanced age led him to decline all business of a public nature, and be sought the quiet of private life. He died at Marietta, May 1, 1824, at the age of 86.
General Putnam was a man of strong, good sense, modest, benevolent and scrupulous to fulfil the duties which he owed to God and man. In person he was tall, of commanding appearance, and possessed a frame eminently fitted for the hardships and trials of war. His mind, though not brilliant, was solid, penetrating and comprehensive, seldom erring in conclusions.
History of Washington County, Ohio 1788-1889
by Henry Howe
Published 1898
RETURN JONATHAN MEIGS was born at Middletown, Ct., in 1765, graduated at Yale, studied law and was admitted to the bar in his native town. He was among the first settlers of Marietta. In the winter of 1802-03 he was elected chief justice of the Supreme Court of the State. The next year he resigned this office, having received from Jefferson the appointment of commandant of the United States troops and militia in the upper district of Louisiana, and shortly after was appointed one of the judges of the Territory of Louisiana. In April, 1807, he was commissioned a judge of Michigan Territory; resigned the commission in October, and becoming a candidate for governor of Ohio, was elected, in a spirited canvass, over his competitor, General Massie; but not having the constitutional qualification of the four years' residence in the State, prior to the election, his election was contested and decided against him. In the session of 1807-8 be was appointed Senator in Congress, which office he afterwards resigned, and was elected Governor of Ohio in 1810. In the war with Great Britain, while holding the gubernatorial office, he acted with great promptness and energy. In March, 1814, having been appointed Postmaster-General of the United States, be resigned that office, and continued in his new vocation until 1823, during which he managed its arduous duties to the satisfaction of Presidents Madison and Monroe. He died at Marietta, March 29, 1825. In person he was tall and finely formed, with a high retreating forehead, black eyes, and aquiline and prominent nose. His features indicated his character, and were remarkably striking, expressive of mildness, intelligence, promptness and stability of purpose. His moral character was free from reproach, and he was benevolent, unambitious, dignified, but easy of access. He was named from his father, Return Jonathan Meigs, a colonel of the revolutionary army, and one of the surveyors for the Ohio Company and of the first settlers at Marietta. In his early life he was called Return Jonathan, Jr.
History of Washington County, Ohio 1788-1889
by Henry Howe
Published 1898
REV. DANIEL STORY, the earliest Protestant preacher of the gospel in the territory northwest of the Ohio, except the Moravian missionaries, was a native of Boston, and graduated at Dartmouth in 1780. The directors and agents of the Ohio Company having passed a resolution in 1788, for the support of the gospel and the teaching of youth, Rev. Manasseh Cutler, one of the company's directors, in the course of that year engaged Mr. Story, then preaching at Worcester, to go to the West as a chaplain to the new settlement at Marietta. In the spring of 1789 he commenced his ministerial labors as an evangelist, visiting the settlements in rotation. During the Indian war from 1791 to 1795 he preached, during most of the time, in the northwest block-house of Campus Martius. The Ohio Company at the same time raised a sum of money for the education of youth, and employed teachers. These testimonials sufficiently prove that the company felt for the spiritual as well as the temporal affairs of the colonists.
When the war was over Mr. Story preached at the different settlements; but as there were no roads, he made these pastoral visits by water, in a log canoe, propelled by stout arms and willing hearts. In 1796 he established a Congregational church, composed of persons residing at Marietta, Belpre, Waterford and Vienna, in Virginia. Mr. Story died December 30, 1804, at the age of 49 years. He was a remarkable man, and peculiarly fitted for the station he held.
The preceding biographical sketches are abridged from Hildreth's Pioneer Sketches. It is stated above that Mr. Story was the earliest Protestant preacher at Marietta. He was the first employed as a clergyman, but prior to his emigration, in 1788, Rev. Manasseh Cutler, agent of the Ohio Company, had voluntarily delivered several sermons at Marietta.
History of Washington County, Ohio 1788-1889
by Henry Howe
Published 1898
MANASSEH CUTLER was born in Killingley, Conn., May 3, 1742; died in Hamilton, Mass., July 28, 1823. He worked on his father's farm, and prepared for college under the Rev. Aaron Brown, of Killingley, entering Yale, from which he graduated with high honor in 1765. The following year he married Mary, daughter of Rev. Thomas Balch, of Dedham, Mass. Studying law, be was admitted to practice in the Massachusetts courts in 1767. In 1769 he commenced the study of theology under the direction of his father-in-law. The next year he was licensed, and commenced preaching at Hamlet parish (then a part of Ipswich afterward Hamilton). He was ordained pastor Sept. 11, 177l and continued his pastorate here until his death in 1823.
He served as chaplain under Col. Ebenezer Francis in the 11th Massachusetts Regiment in the Revolutionary war, taking a gallant part in the action in Rhode Island in 1778. Returning to Hamlet parish before the close of the war he studied medicine, and began with much success to minister to the physical as well as the spiritual welfare of his people. He continued the habits of study acquired in youth, and, notwithstanding the many duties of his active life, found time to make extended researches into astronomy, meteorology, botany and kindred sciences, to which he had been attracted during his college course. He was the first to examine the flora of New England. Over 350 species were examined by him and classified according to the Linnaean system. As a scientist, his reputation was second only to that of Franklin. Honorary degrees were conferred upon him by Yale, Harvard and other institutions, and he was elected to honorary membership in many scientific, philosophical and literary societies.
When the association of Revolutionary officers was organized for the purpose of locating and settling on bounty lands in the West, Dr. Cutler took an active part in the movement, and was one of a committee of five appointed to draft a plan of an association to be called the "Ohio Company." In 1787 be was appointed by the directors of the Ohio Company its agent to make a purchase of lands upon the Muskingum. In June, 1787, the Continental Congress being then in session in New York, he visited that city for the purpose of negotiating the purchase. It was while on this mission to Congress that he visited Philadelphia and met Benjamin Franklin, who received him with great cordiality, and with whom he was much pleased, their tastes and pursuits were very much alike .
While Dr. Cutler's mission to Congress was for the purchase of lands for the Ohio Company, the purchase was dependent upon the form of government of the territory in which those lands lay, and Dr. Cutler's energies were as much engaged in the provisions of the ordinance then before Congress for the government of the Northwest Territory as in the purchase. He was eminently fitted, both by nature and acquirements, for the great diplomatic work required of him, and was so successful that he united the discordant elements so as to make possible the enacting of those wise and beneficent measures relating to education, religion and slavery in the ordinance that was passed by Congress July 13, 1787. Having arranged the purchase of lands for the Ohio Company, he returned to his home.
In December, 1787, the first company of men under Gen. Rufus Putnam set out for the Muskingum, and arrived at Marietta April 7, 1788. The following July Dr. Culter started in his sulky to visit the new settlement, and arrived there August 19th after a Journey of 750 miles, which he accomplished in twenty-nine days. He was present at the opening of the first court in the Northwest Territory, and was greatly interested in the ancient earthworks in the vicinity of Marietta. After a short time he returned to New England, and, although he contemplated removing with his family to the new settlement, he found it would require too great sacrifices, and abandoned the project.
In 1795 he was tendered a commission as Judge of the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territory, but declined it. In the fall of 1800 he was elected as a Federalist to Congress, and after serving two terms declined a re-election. He was elected a member of the American Academy in 1791, and contributed a number of scientific papers to its "proceedings."
Felt's History of Ipswich, Mass., says: "In person Dr. Cutler was of light complexion, above the common stature, erect and dignified in his appearance. His manners were gentlemanly; his conversation easy and intelligent. As an adviser he was discerning and discreet. His mental endowments were high."
"The Life, Journal and Correspondence of Rev. Manasseh Cutler, LL.D.," prepared by his grandchildren, Wm. P. Cutler and Julia P. Cutler, and published in two volumes by Robert Clarke & Co., of Cincinnati, is a most valuable history of the inception of Ohio:
Although Dr. Cutler never settled in Ohio, three of his sons, Ephraim, Jervis and Charles, were residents.
History of Washington County, Ohio 1788-1889
by Henry Howe
Published 1898
CHARLES CUTLER was born March 26, 1773; graduated at Harvard in 1793; taught the South Latin School, Boston; served in the army two years; then studied law, and came to Ohio in 1802 on account of ill health. He taught school at Ames; among his pupils was Thomas Ewing. He died at the age of thirty-two.
History of Washington County, Ohio 1788-1889
by Henry Howe
Published 1898
JERVIS CUTLER was born in Edgartown, Mass., September 19, 1768; died in Evansville, Ind., June 25, 1844. He came to Ohio with the band of pioneers led by Gen. Rufus Putnam, and on April 7, 1788, cut the first tree on the present site of Marietta. He was for a time an officer in the army, and in 1808 was stationed at Newport Barracks.
Maj. Cutler learned the art of engraving. In a letter to a friend he says: "I had not tools to work with, and never saw an engraver at work in my life." In 1824, while in Nashville, Tenn., he pursued the profession of an engraver, and was employed to engrave plates for banknotes in Tennessee and Alabama. He was a man of much versatility of talent, and a great taste for the fine arts.
In 1812 he published a" Topographical Description of the State of Ohio, Indiana Territory and Louisiana." The view of Cincinnati in 1810, in our work, is copied from one in that.
History of Washington County, Ohio 1788-1889
by Henry Howe
Published 1898
EPHRAIM CUTLER, eldest son of Rev. Manasseh Cutler, LL. D., was born April 13, 1767. He was brought up at Killingly, Connecticut, by his grandfather, Hezekiah Cutler, a man of sterling integrity and patriotism, who at his death made him sole legatee of his estate. At the age of twenty, April 8, 1787, he married Leah, daughter of Ebenezer Attwood. Having three shares in the Ohio Company’s purchase, he left Killingly for the West, June 15, 1795, and arrived at Marietta, September 18th of that year. Two of his children died on the way.
He settled at Waterford, on the Muskingum, and engaged in mercanti1e business until May, 1799, when he removed to his land on Federal creek, where he owned 1,800 acres and opened a farm and built a mill. He was appointed by Gov, St. Clair judge of the Court of Common Pleas, justice of the peace, captain and afterward major of the militia. He was a member of the Territorial Legislature, and also of the Convention which formed in 1802 the Constitution of Ohio, and to him belongs the honor of introducing into it the section which excluded slavery from the State.
In 1806 he established his family on the bank of the Ohio, six miles below Marietta, where his wife died at the age of forty-two years, leaving four children. He married, April 13, 1808, Sally, daughter of William Parker, of Newburyport, Mass., by whom he had five children.
Judge Cutler became a trustee of the Ohio University at Athens in 1820, and was unceasing in his efforts to promote the prosperity of that institution. He served in the State Legislature as representative or senator, from 1819 to 1825, and was known there as the friend and advocate of common schools, introducing into that body in 1819 the first bill for their regulation and support, and as the author of the ad valorum system of taxation which was the foundation of the credit of the States, enabling her to make canals and other improvements. In 1839 he represented his Congressional district in the Whig Convention at Harrisburg, Pa. when Gen. Wm. H. Harrison was nominated for the Presidency. He was a ruling elder for many years, and twice a delegate to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the United States. He died peacefully at his home, July-8, 1853, aged eighty-six years.
History of Washington County, Ohio 1788-1889
by Henry Howe
Published 1898
ABRAHAM WHIPPLE was born in Providence, R. I., September 16, 1733; died in Marietta, O., May 29, 1819. Early in life he commanded a vessel in the West Indian trade, but during the old French war of 1759-60 he became captain of the privateer "Gamecock," and captured twenty-three French vessels in a single cruise. In June, 1772, he commanded the volunteers that took and burned the British revenue schooner "Gaspe" in Narragansett bay. This was the first popular uprising in this country against a British armed vessel.
In June, 1775, Rhode Island fitted out two armed vessels, of which Whipple was put in command, with the title of commodore. A few days later he chased a tender of the British sloop "Rose," off the Connecticut shore, capturing her after sharp firing. In this engagement Whipple fired the first shot of the Revolution on the water.
He was appointed captain of the "Columbus" on December 22, 1775, and afterward of the schooner "Providence," which captured more British prizes than any other American vessel; but she was finally taken, and Whipple was placed in command of a new frigate of the same name, in which, when Narragansett Bay was blockaded by the British in 1778, he forced his way, in a dark and stormy night, through the enemy's fleet by pouring broadsides into it and sinking one of their tenders. At that time he was bound for France with important dispatches that related to a treaty between the United States and that government, and after a successful voyage he returned in safety to Boston.
In July, 1779, while commanding the "Providence" as senior officer, and with two other ships, he attacked a fleet of English merchantmen that were under the convoy of a ship-of-the-line and some smaller cruisers. He captured eight prizes and sent them to Boston. The value of these ships exceeded $1,000,000. In 1780 he went to Charleston, S. C., in an endeavor to relieve that city, which at that time was besieged by the British; but he was captured and held a prisoner until the close of the war. He subsequently became a farmer at Cranston, R. I., but in 1788 he connected himself with the Ohio Company, and settled at Marietta.
-Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography.
History of Washington County, Ohio 1788-1889
by Henry Howe
Published 1898
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