Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume II, Part 119

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 916

USA > Ohio > Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume II > Part 119

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).

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, Mckean, and Smith, on July 10, submitted to Dr. Cutler, with leave to make remarks and pro-

797

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."

In 1830 Daniel Webster said of this great "Ordinance of Freedom : "

"We are accustomed to praise the law-givers of antiquity ; we help to perpetuate the fame of Solon and Lycurgus ; but I doubt whether one single law of any law- giver, ancient or modern, has produced effects of more distinct, marked and lasting character than the ordinance of 1787. We see its consequences at this moment, and we shall never cease to see them, perhaps, while the Ohio shall flow."

Having succeeded by rare diplomacy in uniting the different interests involved so as to secure the enactment of an ordinance, with provisions for education, religion and prohibition of slavery, Dr. Cutler made a contract for the sale of 1,500,000 acres of land to the Ohio Company. This was signed by Samuel Osgood and Arthur Lee of the Board of Treasury for the United States, and by Manasseh Cutler and Winthrop Sargent for the Ohio Company. The price was $1 per acre, payable in "specie, loan office certificates reduced to specie, or certifi- cates of the liquidated debt of the United States." An allowance not exceeding one-third of a dollar per acre was to be made for bad lands. Section sixteen was to be reserved for schools ; twenty-nine for the support of religion ; eight, eleven and twenty-six to be disposed of by Congress ; and two townships for a university.

HOW THE FIRST SETTLERS CAME TO OHIO. By Hon. Henry C. Noble, Columbus, O.

At a meeting of the directors of the Ohio Company at Bracket's tavern, in Boston, November 23, 1787, it was ordered : That four surveyors be employed under the direction of the superintendent hereinafter named ; that twenty-two men shall attend the surveyors; that there be added to this number twenty men, including six boat-builders, four house carpenters, one blacksmith and nine common workmen, in all forty-eight men ; that the boat-builders shall proceed on Monday next, and the surveyors rendezvous at Hartford, on the first of January next, on their way to the Muskingum ; that the boat-builders and men with the surveyors be proprietors in the company; that their tools and one hoe and one axe to each man and thirty pounds weight of baggage shall be carried in the com- pany's wagons, and that the subsistence of the men on their journey be furnished by the company. After other details this order directs that "each man shall furnish himself with a good small arm, bayonet, six flints, a powder-horn and

798

WASHINGTON COUNTY.

pouch, priming wire and brush, half a pound of powder, one pound of balls and one pound of buckshot," and "shall be subject to the orders of the superintendent and those he may appoint, as aforesaid, in any kind of business they shall be em- ployed in, as well boat-building and surveying, as for building houses, erecting defences, clearing land and planting or otherwise, for promoting the settlement." " They shall also be subject to military command during the time of their employ- ment." We call attention to the military precision of this order, and its fulfil- ment to the letter in the number of men who went and the duties they per- formed.

Gen. Rufus Putnam was appointed superintendent, and Col. Ebenezer Sproat, from Rhode Island, Anslem Tupper and John Mathews, from Massachusetts, and Col. R. J. Meigs, of Connecticut, were appointed surveyors.

THE FIRST COMPANY.

"In exact compliance with this order a company of twenty-two men, including Jona- than Devoll, a master-shipbuilder, and his as- sistants, assembled at the house of Dr. Manassah Cutler, in Ipswich, Mass., on December 3, 1787. About the dawn of day they paraded in front of the house, and, after a short address from him, three volleys were fired, and the party went forward, cheered heartily by the bystanders. Dr. Cutler accompanied them to Danvers, where he placed them under command of Major Haffield White and Capt. Ezra Putnam. He had prepared a large and well-built wagon for their use, covered with black canvas, which was driven by William Gray, on which Dr. Cutler had painted with his own hand, in large, white letters, "FOR THE OHIO COUNTRY." After a tedious journey on foot of nearly eight weeks, they arrived at Sum- rill's ferry, on the Youghiogheny river (now West Newton, Westmoreland county, Pa.), January 23, 1788, where they were to build the boats to float down the rivers to the Muskingum.

THE SECOND COMPANY.

The other party of twenty-six, including Gen. Putnam and the four surveyors and their assistants, with equal_punctuality left Hartford, Connecticut, on January 1, 1788, under the command of Col. Ebenezer Sproat. Gen. Putnam had business in the city of New York, and did not join the division until it reached Swatara creek, just below Harris- burg. When Gen. Putnam overtook his division they could cross the creek only with difficulty, on account of the ice. That night snow fell to a considerable depth, which, with that already on the ground, blocked up the roads so that with their utmost exertions they could get the wagons no farther than Cooper's tavern, at the foot of the Tuscarora mountains, where they arrived on January 29, four weeks after leaving Hartford, a jour- ney which could now be made in probably twenty hours.

They had now reached the great mountain ranges over which all the early emigrants came in wagons, or on horseback, whose journeys were the theme of fireside talks

among them fifty years ago, and over which the Cumberland or National road was built, to facilitate communication between the growing West and seashore.

This company of pioneers ascertained that no one had crossed the mountains since the last fall of snow. They therefore abandoned their wagons, built four stout sledges to carry their baggage and tools, and harnessed their horses in single file. The men went before on foot to break the road, and after two weeks of arduous travel they also reached Sumrill's ferry on February 14, 1788.

BOAT-BUILDING.

When they arrived they found that, on ac- count of the severity of the weather and the deep snow, little progress had been made to- ward building the boats. Gen. Putnam, who had been brought up to mechanical pursuits, and as an engineer had caused many forts and works to be built during the revolution- ary war, infused new spirit into the enter- prise. The boat-builders and men already on the ground, recruited by the large party just arrived, went heartily to work under his supervision. The work now progressed rapidly under the immediate direction of Jonathan Devoll, the ship-builder. The largest boat, which the ship-builders called "Adventure Galley," was afterward named the "Mayflower" in honor of the famous vessel that bore the Puritan emigrants into Plymouth bay-an earlier but hardly a more momentous migration than the one about to embark on the Western waters. This boat was forty-five feet long and twelve wide, with curved bows, strongly timbered and covered with a deck roof high enough for a man to walk upright under the beams. The sides were thick enough to resist the bullets of any wandering party of Indians who might attack it, as they attacked and cap- tured several boats later in the season. As the "Galley " could not carry the forty-eight men, horses, wagons, baggage, tools and provisions to keep them until their crops were grown, they constructed a large flat- boat and several canoes. This flotilla was ready on April 1, and after it was loaded it left Sumrill's ferry for the Muskingum on the afternoon of April 2, 1788.

The expedition after a few stoppages by

799

WASHINGTON COUNTY.

the way came in sight of Kerr's island a little after sunrise. It was a cloudy, rainy morning, and as they neared the foot of the island Capt. Devoll said to Gen. Putnam, "I think it is time to take an observation ; we must be near the mouth of the Muskin- gum."

In a few minutes they came in sight of Fort Harmar, which was on the northwest shore of the junction of the Ohio and Mus- kingum. This had been erected in 1785-86. The banks of the Muskingum were thickly clothed with large sycamores whose pendant branches, leaning over the shores, obscured the outlet so much, that those who were on the galley in the middle of the Ohio, on this cloudy morning, passed by without observing it. Before they could correct their mistake they had floated too far to land on the upper point and were forced to land a short dis- tance below the fort.

THE LANDING.

With the aid of ropes and some soldiers from the garrison, sent to their assistance by the commander, and crossing the Muskingum a little above its mouth they landed at the upper point about noon on the 7th day of April, 1788 ever since observed as the anni- versary of the first settlement of Ohio.

Jervis Cutler, a lad of sixteen (son of Rev. Manassah Cutler, who did so much to secure the liberal provisions of the ordinance of 1787 and the grant of lands to the Ohio Company), always claimed that he was the first person who leaped ashore when the boat landed ; and was also the first to cut down a tree, which commenced the settlement of Ohio.

The weather in the valley had been so mild that the vegetation on landing was in striking contrast to the place of their em- barkation, where snow still lingered in the hollows. The buffalo clover and other plants were already knee high and afforded a rich pasture for the hungry horses.

At the time of landing, Capt. Pipe, a principal chief of the Delaware Indians, who lived on the headwaters of the Muskingum with about seventy of his tribe, men, women and children, was encamped at the mouth of the river, whither they had come to trade their peltries with the settlers at Fort Har- mar. They received the strangers very graciously, shaking hands with them, saying they were welcome to the shore of the Mus- kingum, upon whose waters they dwelt. The pioneers immediately commenced landing the boards brought from Buffalo for the erection of temporary huts and setting up Gen. Putnam's large marquee. Under the broad roof of this hempen house he resided and transacted the business of the colony for several months until the block-houses of Campus Martius, as their new garrison was called, were finished.

On the 9th the surveyors commenced to lay off the eight-acre lots. The laborers and others commenced to cut down the trees, and

by the 12th about four acres of land were cleared. Log-houses were built to shelter their provisions and for dwellings. All were delighted with the fertility of the soil, the healthfulness of the climate and the beauty of the country. Their town was at first called Adelphia, but this name was changed as soon as the directors met on July 2 to Marietta, in honor of Marie Antoinette, the Queen of that French king and nation who had helped these brave men in the times that tried men's souls."

FIRST SCHOOLS.

The Marietta pioneers turned their atten- tion to the education of their children very soon after their arrival in Ohio. In the sum- mer of 1789 Bathsheba Rouse, daughter of John Rouse, from New Bedford, Mass., taught a school in Belpre, and for several subsequent summers in Farmer's Castle. The first teacher in the Marietta settlements was Daniel Mayo, a graduate of Harvard, who came from Boston in the fall of 1788, and during the winter months taught the larger boys and young women in Farmer's Castle. In July, 1790, the directors of the Ohio Com- pany appropriated one hundred and fifty dol- lars for the support of schools in the three settlements in the territory.

MUSKINGUM ACADEMY.

Before the first decade had passed steps were taken to establish a regular academy at Marietta. On the 29th of April, 1797, a number of the citizens convened "to consider measures for promoting the education of youth," and a committee was appointed to prepare a plan of a house suitable for the in- struction of youth and for religious purposes, to estimate the expenses, and recommend a site. The committee consisted of Gen. Rufus Putnam, Paul Fearing, Griffin Greene, R. J. Meigs, Jr., Charles Greene and Joshua Ship- man. At the end of a week the committee made their report at an adjourned meeting. They presented a plan of the house, estimated the expense at $1,000, and recommended city lot No. 605-the lot on Front street north of the Congregational church.

The report was accepted as to the plan of the house, the cost and the location ; but the method of securing funds was modified, so as "to assess the possessors of ministerial lands in proportion to the value of their re- spective possessions." The sums thus paid, either by assessment or subscription, were to be considered as stock at the rate of ten dol- lars a share ; and the stockholders were enti- tled to votes according to their shares. At a meeting in August of that year fifty-nine shares were presented, of which thirty be- longed to Gen. Putnam.

Thus originated the Muskingum Academy, which was probably the first structure of the kind erected in the Northwest Territory. It was used for educational purposes till 1832, when it was removed to Second street, near

800

WASHINGTON COUNTY.

the Rhodes block, where it is still standing. It was also used on the Sabbath as a place of worship till 1809, when the Congregational church was completed. - Centennial Address by Israel Ward Andrews, LL. D., July 4, 1876.

FORT FREYE.

After the massacre at Big Bottom, the set- tlers of Waterford and those at Wolf Creek Mills united and constructed Fort Freye, about half a mile below the site of Beverly, on the east side of the Muskingum. It was an ir- regular triangle, and built similarly to Campins Martius. The fort was completed early in March, 1791, and garrisoned by forty men under the command of Capt. William Gray.

On the 11th of March a party of Wyandot and Delaware Indians made an ineffectual

attack upon the fort. The settlers had been expecting the assault, as a friendly Indian named John Miller, at the risk of his life, had given them timely warning.

Besides those at Fort Harmar, Campius Martius, Farmer's Castle and Fort Freye, there was a garrison at Plainfield-now Wa- terford-named Fort Tyler, for Dean Tyler, one of the pioneers.

FIRST MILLS.

Grinding corn by hand was a very laborious proceeding, and the early settlers offered large grants of land for the construction of mills. The first successful mills built in the territory were those on Wolf creek, about two miles from its mouth, built in 1789 under the di- - rection of Maj. Haffield White. They were of very great service to all the settlements.

WOLF CREEK MILLS, 1789.

A saw mill was completed on Duck creek in September, 1789, but a heavy flood so damaged the mill and dam that they could not be readily repaired, and the Indian war coming on the mill was abandoned. Later a saw and grist mill was constructed on Duck creek, which sawed much of the lumber used in Marietta buildings, also the lumber used in the construction of the Blennerhassett boats.

FLOATING MILL.

In the summer of 1791 the settlers at Bel- pre determined to undertake the construction of a floating mill. Esquire Griffin Greene, a few years before while travelling in France and Holland, had seen mills erected on boats, the current of the water revolving the wheel. He explained the plan to Capt. Devoll, who built the first floating mill in the settlements. The "County History " describes this mill as follows : "The mill was erected on two boats, one of them being five, the other ten feet wide and forty-five feet long. The smaller one was a pirogue made of the trunk of a large hollow sycamore tree, and the larger

of timber and plank like a flat-boat. The boats were placed eight feet apart, and fas- tened firmly together by heavy cross-beams covered with oak planks, forming a deck fore and aft of the water-wheel. The smaller boat on the outside supported one end of the water-wheel, and the larger boat the other, in which was placed the mill stones and run- ning gear, covered with a light frame building for the protection of machinery and miller. The space between the boats was covered with planks, forming a deck fore and aft of the water-wheel. This wheel was turned by the natural current of the water, and was put in motion or stopped by pulling up or pushing down a set of boards similar to a gate in front of the wheel. It could grind, according to the strength of the current, from twenty-five to fifty bushels of grain in twenty-four hours. It was placed in a rapid portion of the Ohio, about the middle of Backus (now Blennerhas- sett) Island, a few rods from the shore and in sight of Farmer's Castle. The current here was strong and safe from the Indians. With the aid of a bolting cloth in the garrison very good flour was made."

801

WASHINGTON COUNTY.

RELIGIOUS BEGINNINGS.

The oldest building in the State of Ohio, now used as a place of public worship, is the Congregational church in Marietta. It is known as the "Two Horn " church, a name applied on account of the towers projecting above the roof. The building was planned and its erection superintended by Gen. Rufus

Putnam. It was dedicated May 28, 1809, and cost $7,300. Although the oldest now standing, this was not the first church within the present limits of Ohio, but the first ser- mon delivered in the Northwest Territory, other than those delivered to Indian audi- ences, was that preached Sunday, July 20, 1788, by Rev. William Breek, in the north- west block-house of Campus Martius. In the

THE TWO HORN CHURCH.

This is the oldest church standing in Ohio. It faces the handsome little park that lines the Muskin- gum for several hundred yards above the upper bridge.

same building, on August 24, Dr. Cutler preached the second sermon delivered in the territory to whites. He also, on August 27th, attended the first funeral in the new settle- ments. Rev. Daniel Story, who arrived in the spring of 1789, was the first regular pas- tor settled in Marietta.

In 1791, while the settlers were occupying

the garrison in consequence of the Indian war, Sunday-school was organized in the stockade by Mrs. Mary Lake, an elderly lady who had been engaged in hospital work dur- ing the Revolution. This is said to have been the second Sunday-school in America, and was the first in the Northwest Territory.

FIRST PUBLIC CELEBRATION.

The first public celebration in the Northwest Territory was held on July 4, 1788, the twelfth anniversary of American independence. It was to be expected that the Revolutionary soldiers that landed at Marietta would observe the day with appropriate ceremonies. They commenced at daylight with the firing of the Federal salute by the cannons of Fort Harmar. The principal exercises took place on the Marietta side of the Muskingum, where, at one o'clock, Gen. James M. Varnum, one of the judges of the territory, delivered an eloquent and appro- priate address.

" A repast, consisting of all the delicacies which the woods and the streams and the gardens and the housewives' skill afforded, was served at the bowery. There was venison barbecued, buffalo steaks, bear meat, wild fowls, fish and a little pork as the choicest luxury of all. One fish, a great pike weighing one hundred pounds and over six feet long-the largest ever taken by white men, it is said, in the waters of the Muskingum-was speared by Judge Gilbert Devoll and his son Gilbert."

802

WASHINGTON COUNTY.

The day was not all sunshine. " At three o'clock," says Col. John May, "just as dinner was on the table, came on a heavy shower which lasted half an hour. However, the chief of our provisions were rescued from the deluge, but injured materially. When the rain ceased the table was laid again, but before we had finished, it came on to rain a second time. On the whole though we had a handsome dinner."

After dinner a number of toasts were drank, among which were those to Con- gress, Generals Washington and St. Clair and the Northwestern Territory, and to " the amiable partners of our delicate pleasures." Several Indians were present and enjoyed the festivities, excepting when the cannon were fired. Col. May's journal says " the roar of a cannon is as disagreeable to an Indian as a rope to a thief, or broad daylight to one of your made-up beauties." He also states that " pleased with the entertainment, we kept it up until after twelve o'clock at night, then went home and slept till daylight." A graud illumination of Fort Harmar closed the ceremonies of the day.

TOMAHAWK IMPROVEMENTS.

When the pioneers arrived at Marietta, they found that several families had settled on the Virginia side of the Ohio river and near the mouth of the Muskingum. Among these were Isaac Williams and his wife, Rebecca, who in March, 1787, had moved into a little log-cabin, near the present site of Williams- town.

Isaac Williams was a trapper and hunter ; he would select a desirable tract of land, girdle a few trees, plant a small field of corn, and claim the property by right of what were called "tomahawk improvements." This would entitle him to 400 acres of land, the right to which was generally sold to the first- comer for a few dollars, a rifle, or some other small consideration.

"Tomahawk improvements" were recog- nized by the State of Virginia as entitling the holder, on the payment of a small sum per acre, to the right of entering 1,000 acres of land adjoining the claims. In some local- ities, within the present limits of Ohio, per- sons undertook to hold lands by right of "tomahawk improvements," but Congress sent out troops to remove them and burn their cabins.

THE "FAMINE !"

During the season of 1789 Mr. Williams had raised a very large crop of corn. Not so with the settlers of Marietta and Belpre, who having planted their corn later in the season than Mr. Williams, had it so badly damaged by an early frost that it was unfit to eat, and produced sickness and vomiting. As a consequence food became very scarce during the winter of 1789-90, and many fam- ilies came so near the point of starvation before the crops of 1790 arrived at maturity that the season was designated as the "Famine." Corn having reached the high price of $2 per bushel, Mr. Williams was be- sieged by speculators who offered him large prices for his supply, but he refused to sell, except to settlers and at the usual price of fifty cents per bushel-proportioning his corn

according to the number in the family. Mr. Williams continued to reside on his farm until his death in 1820, at the age of 84 years. He lies buried under the oaks on his own farm.

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.

Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume II, Part 119

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893 Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio Number of Pages: 916

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 916