Historical collections of Ohio in three volumes ; an encyclopedia of the state : with notes of a tour over it in 1886 contrasting the Ohio of 1846 with 1886-90, Vol. III, Part 67

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Columbus, Ohio : Henry Howe & Son
Number of Pages: 1200

USA > Ohio > Historical collections of Ohio in three volumes ; an encyclopedia of the state : with notes of a tour over it in 1886 contrasting the Ohio of 1846 with 1886-90, Vol. III > Part 67

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WASHINGTON COUNTY.

Officers, 1888 : Sidney Ridgway, Mayor ; George Weiser, Clerk ; Charles Connor, Treasurer ; Jacob H. Dye, Marshal; John M. Hook, Street Commissioner. Newspapers : Register, Republican, E. R. Alderman & Sons, editors and publishers ; Leader, Republican, T. F. Davis, editor and publisher; Times, Democratic, Samuel MeMillen, editor and publisher ; Yankee Trader, A. L. Rider, editor and publisher ; Marietta College Olio, Societies of Marietta College, publishers. Churches : 1 Protestant Episcopal, 1 Presbyterian, 2 Congregational, ,2 Methodist Episcopal, 2 Evangelist, 1 Baptist, 1 Catholic, 1 United Brethren, and ^ 1 Unitarian. Banks :' Dime Savings Society, Jewett Palmer, president, C. H. Newton, treasurer ; First National, Beman Gates, president, E. M. Booth, cashier.

Manufactures and Employees .- Marietta Register, printing, etc., 15; Jacob Brand & Co., oak harness leather, 6 ; A. T. Nye & Son, stoves, etc., 41 ; Phoenix Milling Co., flour and feed, 17; Marietta Chair Co., chairs, 465 ; Smith & Fore- man, doors, sash, etc., 6 ; Marietta Chair Co., chair material, 36 ; Strauss, Elston & Co., flour, etc., 6 .- State Report, 1888.

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

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

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

THE ANCIENT WORKS.

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

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WASHINGTON COUNTY.

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

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

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

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80 Rods

OHIO

ANCIENT WORKS, MARIETTA.

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

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

MUSKINGHAM

SITE OF MARIETTA AND HARMAR, 1788.

SITE OF MARIETTA AND HARMAR, 1888.

THE DESIC FIRM

COMMODORE ABRAHAM WHIPPLE.

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WASHINGTON COUNTY.

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

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

Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846. THE MOUND AT MARIETTA.

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

THIE MOUND CEMETERY.

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

On Thursday, May 12, 1886, I copied those here printed. The most imposing monument is that of Rufus Putnam. It is a noble structure of Quiney granite, __... of massive simplicity, and worthy of the character whose memory it commemo- rates :

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

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

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

To the honored and revered memory of an

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WASHINGTON COUNTY.

ardent patriot, a practical statesman, an en- lightened scholar, a dutiful son, an indulgent father, an affectionate husband, this monu- ment 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 minis- ter of Christ who came to labor in the vast field known as the Northwest Territory, ex- cepting the Moravian missionaries. Came to Marietta in 1789, as a religious teacher un- der an arrangement with the Ohio Company. Accepted a call from the Congregational church, and was ordained as their first pastor at Hamilton, Mass., Aug. 15, 1798. Erected by a relative of Dr. Story in Mass., 1878.

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

In memory of Capt. NATHANIEL SALTON- 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 Penob- scot. Also, Lucretia Lattimore, wife of the above. Born 1737; died 1824. And two children, Polly and John.

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

"In honor of Col. JESSE HILDEBRAND, of

the 77th Regt. O. V. I. Born at Cold Springs, Indian Reservation, on the Alle- ghany river, May 29, 1800. Died in the service at Alton, Ill., April 18, 1863. A kind husband and father, a patriot and soldier. His life was given that our nation might live. 'Lord, thy will be done,' his dying words."

SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF COMMODORE ABRAHAM WHIPPLE whose naval skill and courage will ever remain

THE PRIDE AND BOAST OF HIS COUNTRY 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 Commo- dore 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 com- mon seventy years ago. -

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

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

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

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

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WASHINGTON COUNTY.

"Alas," said he, "in all this vast crowd I miss the familiar face and the cordial grasp of the hand that would have delighted me much to meet. He was the loved companion of my boyhood ; the political and personal friend of my manhood ; one whose soul was full of honor and integrity ; an original and life-long Democrat and supporter of Jackson, when it was thought almost a crine 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 de- sires here alike to drop a tear and an ever- green upon his grave."

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

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

The above is the inscription for the vener- able historian.

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

"Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him for ever."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How strange () 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 JJuly 26, 1826, in the 76th year of his age. A patriot of the Revo- lution.

The following was on a flake from a sand- stone 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 Lan- caster, Mass., 1759 ; died Nov. 11, 1832.

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

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

HISTORIC MISCELLANY. OUTLINE HISTORY OF THE ORDINANCE OF 1787.

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

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WASHINGTON COUNTY.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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FOR THE OHIO!

DR. CUTLER'S CHURCH AND PARSONAGE AT IPSWICH HAMLET, 1787. The place from which the First Company started for the Ohio, December 3, 1787.

WASHINGTON COUNTY.

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

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

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

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

OHIO COMPANY'S OFFICE, BUILT IN 1788. This is yet standing near the Muskingum, about three-fourths of a mile from its mouth.

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

In March, 1787, three directors were appointed : Generals Samuel H. Parsons and Rufus Putnam, and Dr. Manasseh Cutler. Major Winthrop Sargent was made secretary, and at a meeting held the following Angust Gen. James M. Var- num, of Rhode Island, was made a director and Richard Platt, of New York, elected treasurer.

General Parsons, as agent for the Ohio Company, failed to accomplish any sat- isfactory results, and he returned to Middletown. Dr. Cutler was then appointed agent, and on July 5, 1787, arrived in New York, Congress then being in session in that city. The following day he delivered to Congress his petition for pur- chasing lands for the Ohio Company, and proposed terms and conditions of pur- chase.

A new committee, consisting of Messrs. Carrington, Lee, Dane, MeKean, and Smith, on July 10, submitted to Dr. Cutler, with leave to make remarks and pro-

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WASHINGTON COUNTY.

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

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

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Historical collections of Ohio in three volumes ; an encyclopedia of the state : with notes of a tour over it in 1886 contrasting the Ohio of 1846 with 1886-90, Vol. III, Part 67

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893 Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Columbus, Ohio : Henry Howe & Son Number of Pages: 1200

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Columbus, Ohio : Henry Howe & Son
Number of Pages: 1200