USA > Ohio > Historical collections of Ohio, containing a collection of the most interesting facts, traditions, biographical sketches, anecdotes, etc., relating to its general and local history : with descriptions of its counties, principal towns, and villages > Part 75
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91
:
f
e
512
WASHINGTON COUNTY.
salt springs in the neighborhood, but the spot was carefully concealed. Shortly after Wayne's victory, in 1794, and after the inhabitants had left the garrison and gone to their farms, a white man, who had been long a prisoner with the Indians, was released and re- turned to the settlements. He stopped at Olive Green, and there gave an account of the salt springs, and directions for finding them. A party was immediately formed, (of whom George Ewing, jr., then a lad of 17, was one,) who, after an absence of 7 or 8 days, re- turned, to the great joy of the inhabitants, with about a gallon of salt, which they had made in their camp kettle. This was, as I think, in August, 1795. A supply, though a very small one, was made there that season for the use of the frontier settlement.
Whether this salt spring was earlier known to the whites I am unable to say. It may have been so to spies and explorers, and perhaps to the early missionaries ; but this was the first discovery which was made available to the people.
Marietta College.
Marietta, the county seat, and the oldest town in Ohio, is on the left bank of the Muskingum, at its confluence with the Ohio, 104 miles SE. of Columbus. It is built principally upon a level plot of ground, in the midst of most beautiful scenery. Many of the dwellings are constructed with great neatness, and embellished with handsome door-yards and highly cultivated gardens. Its inhabitants are mostly of New England descent, and there are few places in our country that can compare with this in point of morality and intelligence- but few of its size that have so many cultivated and literary men. Marietta contains 1 Presbyterian, 1 Episcopal, 1 Baptist, 1 Methodist, 1 German do., 1 Universalist and 1 Catholic church; a male and female academy, in excellent repute ; a college, 2 public libraries, 1 bank, 1 or 2 printing offices, a variety of mechanical and manufac
513
WASHINGTON COUNTY.
turing establishments, about 20 mercantile stores, and in 1840, had a population of 1814.
Ship building, which was carried on very extensively at an early day, and then for a season abandoned, has again been commenced, and is now actively prosecuted. From the year 1800 to 1807, the business was very thriving. Com. Abm. Whipple, a veteran of the revolution, conducted the one first built, the St. Clair, to the ocean.
At that time Marietta was made " a port of clearance," from which vessels could receive regular papers for a foreign country. " This circumstance was the cause of a curious inci- dent, which took place in the year 1806 or 1807. A ship, built at Marietta, cleared from that port with a cargo of pork, flour, &c., for New Orleans. From thence she sailed to England with a load of cotton, and being chartered to take a cargo to St. Petersburg, the Americans being at that time carriers for half the world, reached that port in safety. Her papers being examined by a naval officer, and dating from the port of Marietta, Ohio, she was seized, upon the plea of their being a forgery, as no such port was known in the civil- ized world. With considerable difficulty the captain procured a map of the United States, and pointing with his finger to the mouth of the Mississippi, traced the course of that stream to the mouth of the Ohio ; from thence he led the astonished and admiring naval officer along the devious track of the latter river to the port of Marietta, at the mouth of the Musk- ingum, from whence he had taken his departure. This explanation was entirely satisfac- tory, and the American was dismissed with every token of regard and respect."
Marietta College was chartered in 1835. It was mainly estab- Ished with a view to meet demands in the west for competent teach- ers and ministers of the gospel. The institution ranks high among others of the kind, and its officers of instruction are such as to merit the confidence of the enlightened patrons of thorough education. A new college edifice has lately been reared, and from the indications given, the prospects of the institution for a generous patronage are highly auspicious. The catalogue for 1846-7, gives the whole num- ber of students at 177, of whom 60 were undergraduates, and 117 in the preparatory academy. The officers are Henry Smith, M. A., president ; John Kendrick, M. A., J. Ward Andrews, M. A., and Hiram Bingham, M. A., professors ; Samuel Maxwell, M. A., prin- cipal of the academy, and Geo. A. Rosseter, M. A., tutor.
Among the early settlers of Marietta were many who merit ex- tended sketches ; we have, however, but space for brief notices of a few of the more prominent.
RUFUS PUTNAM was born April 8th, 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 en- listed 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 lieut. 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, having some time pre- viously 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
65
4
514
WASHINGTON COUNTY.
this county, of the convention which formed the state constitution. From this time his advanced age led him to decline all business of a public nature, and he sought the quiet of private life. He died at Marietta, May 1st, 1824, at the age of 86.
General Putnam was a man of strong, good sense, modest, benevolent, and scrupulous to fulfill the duties which he owed to God and man. In person he was tall, of command- ing appearance, and possessed a frame eminently fitted for the hardships and trials of war. His mind, though not brilliant, was solid, penetrating and comprehensive, seldom erring in conclusions.
RETURN JONATHAN MEIGS was born at Middletown, Ct., in 1765, graduated at Yale, studied law and was admitted to the bar in his native town. He was among the first set- tlers of Marietta. In the winter of 1802-3, he was elected chief justice of the supreme court of the state. The next year he resigned this office, having received from Jefferson the appointment of commandant of the United States' troops and militia in the upper dis- trict 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 constitu- tional qualification of the four years' residence in the state, prior to the election, his election was contested and decided against him. In the session of 1807-8, he was appointed sen- ator 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 post-master gen- eral of the United States, he resigned that office, and continued in his new vocation until
1823, during which he managed its arduous duties to the satisfaction of Presidents Madison and Monroe. He died at Marietta, March 29th, 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, in- telligence, promptness and stability of purpose. His moral character was free from re- proach, and he was benevolent, unambitious, dignified, but easy of access.
Rev. DANIEL STORY, the earliest protestant preacher of the gospel in the territory north- west of the Ohio, except the Moravian missionaries,* was a native of Boston, and gradu- ated 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. Ma- nasseh 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, Belprie, Waterford and Vienna, in Virginia. Mr. Story died December 30th, 1804, at the age of 49 years. He was a remarkable man, and peculiarly fitted for the station he held.t
Herman Blannerhasset, whose connection with the ill-fated project of Aaron Burr has given his name a wide-spread notoriety, was a resident of Marietta as early as 1796. About the year 1798, he commenced his improvements on the beautiful island since known by his name, embosomed on the Ohio, near the lower end of this county. He afterwards resided upon it for a number of years, sur- rounded with all that made life dear, when the tempter entered this Eden and forever blighted his earthly prospects. After years of
* Rev. Manasseh Cutler, agent of the Ohio company, although not employed as a clergy- man, in 1788, prior to Mr. Story's emigration, had voluntarily delivered several sermons at Marietta.
t The preceding biographical sketches are abridged from those elsewhere published, and written by Dr. S. P. Hildreth.
515
WASHINGTON COUNTY.
wandering, he finally died in 1822, on the island of Guernsey. His beautiful and accomplished wife subsequently returned to this coun- try, and preferred claims against the United States, but without success. She died in New York, in 1842. The island will ever remain a memento of the fate of this unfortunate family, around whose melancholy fortunes the genius of Wirt has weaved a tribute of eloquence alike imperishable.
d
C
0=
M
U'S
K
0=
IN CUM
R
80 Rods
OHIO R.
Ancient Works, Marietta.
At Marietta are some ancient works, which, although not more remarkable than others in the state, and not as extensive as some, are more generally known, from having been so frequently described and alluded to by travellers. The description which follows is from Harris's Tour, and the engraved plan from the Archeologia Americana.
" The situation of these works is on an elevated plain, above the present bank of the Muskingum, on the east side, and about half a mile from its junction with the Ohio. They consist of walls and mounds of earth, in direct lines, and in square and circular forms.
" The largest square fort, by some called the town, contains 40 acres, encompassed by a wall of earth from 6 to 10 feet high, and
516
WASHINGTON COUNTY.
from 25 to 36 feet in breadth at the base. On each side are three openings, at equal distances, resembling 12 gateways. The en- trances at the middle are the largest, particularly on the side next to the Muskingum. From this outlet is a covert way, formed of two parallel walls of earth, 231 feet distant from each other, measuring
Mound at Marietta.
from centre to centre. The walls at the most elevated part, on the inside, are 21 feet in height, and 42 in breadth at the base; but on the outside average only five feet in height. This forms a passage of about 360 feet in length, leading by a gradual descent to the low grounds, where, at the time of its construction, it probably reached the river. Its walls commence at 60 feet from the ramparts of the fort, and increase in elevation as the way descends towards the river ; and the bottom is crowned in the centre, in the manner of a well-founded turnpike road.
" Within the walls of the fort, at the northwest corner, is an ob- long elevated square, 188 feet long, 132 broad, and 9 feet high ; level on the summit, and nearly perpendicular at the sides. At the centre of each of the sides, the earth is projected, forming gradual ascents to the top, equally regular, and about 6 feet in width. Near the south wall is another elevated square, 150 feet by 120, and 8 feet high, similar to the other, excepting that instead of an ascent to go up on the side next the wall, there is a hollow way 10 feet wide, leading 20 feet towards the centre, and then rising with a gradual slope to the top. At the southeast corner is a third elevated square, 108 by 54 feet, with ascents at the ends, but not so high nor perfect as the two others. A little to the southwest of the centre of the fort is a circular mound, about 30 feet in diameter and 5 feet high, near which are four small excavations at equal distances, and opposite each other. At the southwest corner of the fort is a semi-circular para- pet, crowned with a mound, which guards the opening in the wall. Towards the southeast is a smaller fort, containing 20 acres, with a
517
WAYNE COUNTY.
gateway in the centre of each side and at each corner. These gateways are defended by circular mounds.
"On the outside of the smaller fort is a mound, [shown in the engraving,] in form of a sugar-loaf, of a magnitude and height which strike the beholder with astonishment. Its base is a regular circle, 115 feet in diameter ; its perpendicular altitude is 30 feet. It is sur rounded by a ditch 4 feet deep and 15 feet wide, and defended by a parapet 4 feet high, through which is a gateway towards the fort, 20 feet in width."
Harmar, from the Virginia shore of the Ohio.
Harmar is very pleasantly situated on the south bank of the Musk- ingum, opposite Marietta. It contains 1 Methodist church, a male and female academy, 5 mercantile stores, 1 steam mill, 1 extensive foundery, a large hotel, (shown on the left of the view,) and had in in 1840, 692 inhabitants. Steamboat building has been extensively carried on here. It will probably become a manufacturing town, a grant having lately been given by the state to use the waters of the Muskingum at the dam.
The following are the names of small villages in this county, with their population in 1840. Beverly 317, Plymouth 141, Watertown 126, and Lowell 92. The last named has since much increased. It is on the Muskingum, 10 miles above Marietta, where a high dam across the river furnishes much water power, and will probably at some future day make this an important seat of manufactures.
WAYNE.
WAYNE Was established by proclamation of Gov. St. Clair, Aug. 15th, 1796, and was the third county formed in the N. W. Territory. Its original limits were very extensive, and were thus defined in the .
518
WAYNE COUNTY.
act creating it. "Beginning at the mouth of the Cuyahoga river, upon Lake Erie, and with the said river to the Portage, between it and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum; thence down the said branch to the forks at the carrying place above Fort Laurens , thence by a west line to the east boundary of Hamilton county, (which is a due north line from the lower Shawnese town upon the Scioto river,) thence by a line west-northerly to the southern part of the Portage, between the Miamis of the Ohio and the St. Mary's liver ; thence by a line also west-northerly to the southwestern part of the Portage, between the Wabash and the Miamis of Lake Erie, where Fort Wayne now stands ; thence by a line west-northerly to the southern part of Lake Michigan; thence along the western shores of the same to the northwest part thereof; (including the lands upon the streams emptying into the said lake ;) thence by a due north line to the territorial boundary in Lake Superior, and with the said boundary through Lakes Huron, Sinclair and Erie to the mouth of Cuyahoga river, the place of beginning." These limits embrace what is now a part of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and all of Michigan, and the towns of Ohio City, Chicago, Sault St. Mary's, Mackinaw, etc. The surface of the county is mostly roll- ing, but interspersed with numerous glades of level land ; the pre- vailing soil is a deep clayey loam, capable of the highest fertility. Coal of an excellent quality abounds in the northeastern part, and excellent quarries of limestone in the south: it is one of the best counties for wheat in Ohio. The principal productions are wheat, oats, corn, grass, potatoes, sheep and swine. The following is a list of its townships in 1840, with their population.
Baughman, 1741
Franklin, - 1504
Perry, 2100
Canaan,
1826
Green,
1751
Plain, 2134
Chester, 1985
Jackson,
1645
Salt Creek, 2223
Chippewa, 1787
Lake,
1145
Sugar Creek,
2223
Clinton,
873
Milton,
1352
Wayne,
1841
Congress,
2008
Mohecan, 2046
Wooster,
3119
East Union, 1864 Paint,
1610
The population of Wayne, in 1820, was 11,933; in 1830, 23,327; and in 1840, 36,015, or 68 inhabitants to a square mile. In Feb- ruary, 1846, the principal part of the townships of Jackson, Lake, Mohecan and Perry were taken from Wayne to form a part of the new county of Ashland.
This county was named from Gen. ANTHONY WAYNE. He was born in Chester county, Pa., January Ist, 1745. After leaving school he became a surveyor, and paid some atten- tion to philosophy and engineering, by which he obtained the friendship of Dr. Franklin, who became his patron. He entered the army of the revolution in 1775, and was made brigadier general in 1777. He was in the army through the war, and particularly distin- guished himself in the battles of Brandywine, Germantown and Monmouth. His attack upon Stony Point, in July, 1779, an almost inaccessible height, defended by 600 men and a strong battery of artillery, was the most brilliant exploit of the war. At midnight, he led his troops with unloaded muskets, flints out, and fixed bayonets, and without firing a single gun, carried the fort by storm and took 543 prisoners. He was struck, in the attack, by a musket ball in the head, which was momentarily supposed to be a mortal wound ; he called to his aids to carry him forward and let him die in the fort. The crowning acts of
519
WAYNE COUNTY.
his life were his victory over the Indians on the Maumee, and the treaty of Greenville in 1795. His life of peril and glory was terminated in 1796, in a cabin at Presque Isle, (now Erie, Pa.,) then in the wilderness. His remains were there deposited, at his own request, under the flag-staff of the fort, on the margin of Lake Erie ; and were removed in 1809, by his son, to Radnor church-yard, Delaware county, Pa. Wayne was one of the best generals of the revolution. He was irresistible in leading a charge, and a man of great impetuosity of character, bordering on rashness ; but he conducted his last campaign with great caution and skill.
Killbuck's creek, in this county, was named from Killbuck, a Del- aware chief. His village, called Killbuck's town, was on the road from Wooster to Millersburg, on the east side of the creek, about 10 miles south of Wooster. It is laid down on maps published as early as 1764. When the country was first settled, Killbuck was a very old man. There were several chiefs by this name.
Central View in Wooster.
An Indian settlement stood just south of Wooster, on the site of the Baptist burying-ground. It was named Beaver-hat, from an Indian chief of that name, who resided there with a few others. His Indian name was Paupelenan, and his camp or residence was called by him Apple chauquecake, i. e, " Apple Orchard." The In- dian trail from Pittsburgh to Lower Sandusky, passed just north of Beaver Hat.
Wooster, the county seat, named from Gen. David Wooster, an officer of the revolution, is 93 miles northeast of Columbus, and 52 southerly from Cleveland, on the stage road between the two places. It is situated near the junction of Apple with Killbuck creek, on a gradual slope of ground, elevated about 50 feet above the latter, and is surrounded by a beautiful undulating country. To the south, from the more elevated parts of the town, is seen the beautiful valley of the Killbuck, stretching away for many miles, until the prospect is hid by the highlands in the county of Holmes, 12 or 14 miles distant. Wooster is compactly and well built, and is a place of much business. The view was taken near Archer's store, and
1
-
t
r, it e
e t
520
WAYNE COUNTY.
shows a part of the public square, with the west side of Market street : the county buildings are shown on the left, and the spire of the Baptist church in the distance. The town contains 1 Presby- terian, 1 Methodist, 1 German Lutheran, 1 German Reformed, 1 Seceder, 1 Disciples, 1 Lutheran, 1 Baptist church, a female sem- inary in good repute, 4 grocery, 10 dry goods, 2 hardware, 2 book and 3 drug stores, 1 bank, and had in 1840, 1913 inhabitants, and now is estimated to contain 2700. Carriage making is extensively carried on.
This county lies within what was once called "the New Purchase," a very extensive tract, lying south of the Reserve, east of the Tus- carawas, north of the Greenville treaty line, and extending as far west as the western line of the Reserve. The land office for this tract was at Canton, Col. Thomas Gibson, register, and Col. John Sloan, now of Wooster, receiver. The first lands were sold in this district at Canton, in 1808, when was purchased the sites of Mans- field, Richland county, Wooster, and a few scattering tracts in the purchase.
Wooster was laid out in the fall of 1808, by the proprietors, John Beaver, William Henry and Joseph H. Larwill, on a site 337 feet above Lake Erie. The first house built in the county was a log structure now standing on Liberty street, in Wooster, immediately west of the residence of William Larwill. It was raised about the time the town was laid out, and was first occupied by William Lar- will and Abraham Miller, a young man. The next spring the father of the latter moved in from Stark county, with his family-the first that settled in the town-and opened it as a house of entertainment. About the same time, James Morgan, from Virginia, settled with his family on Killbuck, just north of the old Indian town. In 1810, the yellow brick building on the north side of Liberty street, adjoining the public square, was erected by John Beaver, being the first brick edifice erected in the county. In the fall of 1808, a road was cut from what is now Massilon, to Wooster, which was, it is said, the first road made in the county. The first state road running through the county, from Canton to Wooster, was laid out in 1810, by the commissioners.
When Wooster was settled, there were no white inhabitants be- tween it and the lake; on the west, none short of the Maumee, Fort Wayne and Vincennes; on the south, none until within a few miles of Coshocton, and those on the Tuscarawas were the nearest on the east. Wooster was made the seat of justice for the county, May 30th, 1811. Previously, the whole county was comprised in Kill- buck township, which had, by the census of 1810, but 320 inhab- itants. Wooster was not the first county seat. The spot chosen by the first commissioners was on an eminence now known as Mad- ison hill, about 14 miles southeast of the town, on land then owned by Bezaleel Wells & Co., which place they called Madison. But a single cabin was afterwards built there. The selection displeased
521
WILLIAMS COUNTY.
the people of the county, which resulted in the legislature appoint- ing new commissioners, who located it at Wooster.
The first mill was erected in the county in 1809, by Joseph Stibbs, of Canton, on Apple creek, about a mile east of Wooster. Some time after, Stibbs sent a man by the name of Michael Switzer, who opened for him, in a small building attached to the mill, a store, con- sisting of a small stock of goods suitable for the settlers and Indians.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.