History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 13

Author: Andrews, Martin Register, 1842-; Hathaway, Seymour J
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1490

USA > Ohio > Washington County > Marietta > History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio, and representative citizens > Part 13

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).

Yesterday evening as Capt. Rogers and Mr. Hen- derson (two persons employed as spies for this town) were returning from a tour in the woods, about one mile from Campus Martius. they were fired on by the In- dians. Rogers was killed and a ball went through Henderson's shirt and grazed his groin. Two other Indians fired on him as he ran off, and on his way in he met four others, but he happily made his escape from them all. We are taking every means in our power for a vigorous defense but I fear our cattle will be all killed or driven off, for we are too weak to detach parties to oppose them out of our works. . especially as we can never ascertain their numbers; have all the reason in the world to fear a decoy and ambush, and the loss of a small party from any of our posts would expose the place to almost certain destruction. You will readily perceive that our situation with respect to carrying on our farming business is little better than if we were closely besieged; nor can it be better till the government shall release us, which we flatter our- selves will be soon. by detachments pushed forward

for our immediate protection till such times as the general operations of our army shall take place.

Gen. Rufus Putnam to General Kuo.r.

MARIETTA, Aug. 22nd, 1791. DEAR SIR'

I embrace the present opportunity to thank you for your letters of the 24th of March and 7th of April last and I also thank you that notwithstanding we have no assistance but our own people till the middle of July. and the Indians in small parties continually harassing of us, yet since the death of Capt. Rogers we have lost but one man killed and one taken prisoner and we have lost a number of horses and upward of fifty head of cattle. On our part we have killed one Indian, whose body we recovered, and have reason to believe some others were killed or wounded.

We have collected most of our English grain with- out loss and we have a prospect of a sufficient crop of corn for the support of the inhabitants of the coming year.

Gen. Rufus Putnam to Gen'l Knox. (Extract.) FORT WASHINGTON, July 26th, 1792. SIR:

I herewith enclose a duplicate of my letter of the 22nd instant. with the copy of some speeches, which is connected with the business mentioned in that let- ter. Dispatches to Major Hamtramck on the subject went off yesterday by express. I have requested him to forward the speech to the Wabash chiefs and sim- ilar ones to as many other tribes as he shall think proper. 1 have considerable expectation from this business. Mr. Wells. the interpreter, tells me that the chief to whom my speech is directed on the Eel River is a very sensible man. That the British account him the best speaker among all the Indian nation, that he is the greatest chief and has more influence than all the chiefs in the Wabash country, that when he ( Mr. Wells) luft Fel River in June last, this chief was gone to the council on the Omee, but Mr. Wells thinks he is disposed to peace and as he has two sisters who are prisoners here and some other relations, Mr. Wells has no doubt but on my message he will come to the treaty, although he declined last winter on Major Hamtramck's invitation.

Through the influence of this man, I am yet in some hopes of being admitted to speak with their high mightinesses the Shawanese and other hostile chiefs.

Gen. Rufus Putnam to General Knox. (Extracts.) FORT WASHINGTON, July 22. 1792.

I think there is the highest reason to believe that Freeman, Truman and Harden are all murdered and all the people who went with them except one whom they considered as a servant or person of no consequence and for that reason spared his life. *

It is highly probable that the principal chiefs from nearly all the western tribes with a great number of warriors and others may be collected at Vincennes. * * **

By a proper management they may be detached from the tribes which have organized the war.

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.

Gen. Rufus Putnam to General Wayne. ( Extracts. ) PITTSBURGH, January 21. 1793.

Mr. William Wells, who I sent with some Fel Creek Indian- to the hostile tribes with a speech dated at Port Vincent, the 6th of October, I fear has shared the fate of poor Truman, otherwise he would have been at Muskingum before I left. The only hope is that he may have made his escape back to Port Vincent. ** *

But whether he be dead or alive, confident I am that the tribes to whom he was sent have not listened to the voice of peace nor do I believe they ever will until they get a good whipping. %

I know they are under the influence of the great- est villains in the world.

MARIETTA. May 17th. 1797. 1

SIR :

Please to deliver the Dellaware woman, widow of the murdered Indian, such goods as ;he shall choose to wipe away her tears to the amount of five dollars. RUFUS PUTNAM.

GRIFFIN GREENE, EsQ., or CHARLES GREENE.

This Indian was killed by a white man in revenge for some old injury. S. P. H.

LIST OF THE PIONEERS AT THE FORTS DURING THE INDIAN TROUBLES.

Names of the heads of families who lived in the Campus Martius at the period of the war, and began the settlement of Marietta:

Governor St. Clair, son and three daughters

Gen. Rufus Putnam, wife, two sons and six daugh- ters

Gen. Benjamin Tupper, wife, three sons and two daughters

Col. Robert Oliver and wife; two sons. William and Robert: two daughters. Nelly. married to Thomas Lord. Esq .. the other to Capt. William Burnham

Thomas Lord. Esq .. with two apprentice boys. Ben- jamin Baker and Amos R. Harvey

Col. R. J. Meigs, wife and son, Timothy

R. J. Meigs, Jr., and wife

Col. Enoch Shephard, wife and nine children- sons. Enoch. Daniel, Luther and Calvin : daughters. Es- tler. AAnna. Rhoda, Lorana and Iluldah

Charles Greene, Esq .. wife and three children: Sophia. Susan and Charles; Miss Sheffield, ister to his wife, lived with him

Col. Ichabod Nye, wife and two or three children Mai. Ezra Putram, wife and two daughters

Mai. Haffield White and son. Peletiah

Joshua Shipman, wife and three children Captain Streng, wife, two sons and a daughter Captain Davis, wife and five children

James Smith. wife and seven children

John Russell, who married a daughter of Mr. Smith Archibald Lake, wife and three sons-Thomas, An- drew and John

Ficazer Olney, wife and 14 children

Mejor Obiey, and two sons-Washington and Dis- overy

Ibenezer Corey and wife

Richard Maxon, wife and several children

Jaunes Well-, wife and 10 children

Marni Coburn, wife, two daughters-Polly married

Gilbert Devol. Jr .. Su-an, to Capt. William Mason and three sons. Asa, Phinchas and Nicholas

J neph Wood, lesa., wife and one child

Capt. John Dodge, wife and two sons-John and Sidney

Robert Alison, wife and three sons, Charles, An- drew and lugh

Flijah Warren, wife and one child

Ger-hom Flagg, wife and several children Widow Kelly and four sons

The single men recollected were-Maj. Anselm Tupper. F. W. Tupper. Benjamin Tupper. Rev. Daniel Story, Thomas Ihrchinson. William Smith, Gilbert Devol. Jr .. Oliver Dodge. Alphens Russell. Thomas Corey and Azariah Pratt

Names of the heads of families who lived in and year to Fort Harmar, during the aur:

Hon. Joseph Gilman and wife

B. 1. Gilman (son of preceding) and wife, with one or two children Paul Fearing, Esq.

Col. Thomas Gibson

Hezekiah Flint

Gould Davenport

Mrs. Welch and three or four children

Preserved Seaman, wife and four sons-Samuel, Gilbert. Preserved and Benajah Benjamin Baker, wife and one child

George Warth, wife, five sons and two daughters

Joreph Fletcher, who married Catharine Warth Pirket Merom, who married Polly Warth

Francis Thiery and wife, with two children-Pierre and Catharine

Monsieur Cookie

Mons. Le Blond

Mons. Shouman, wife and son

Mons. Gubbean

Names of the heads of families in the garrison at "the point," in 1792:

William Moulton, wife, two daughters and one son. Edmond: Dr. Jabez True boarded with them Captain Prince, wife and two children

Moses Morse and wife

Peter Neiswanger, wife and two or three childr 'n William Skinner and J. MeKinley

R. J. Meigs, Jr .. wife and one child : Charles Greene lived with them

Hon. Dudley Woodbridge, wife and children

Capt. Josiah Munroe, wife and two children

C'apt. William Mills, wife and one child C'apt. Jonathan Haskell

Hamilton Kerr

Col. Ebenezer Sproat, wife and daughter Commodore Abraham Whipple, wife and son

HISTORY OF MARIETTA AND WASHINGTON COUNTY,

Joseph Buell, wife and two children, with Levi Munsell and wife

William Stacy, wife and two or three children Joseph Stacy, wife and two or three children James Patterson, wife and child

Nathaniel Patterson, wife and children Capt. Abel Mathews, wife and six children

Thomas Starley, wife and three or four children Eleazar Curtis, wife and a number of children

Simeon Tuttle and family

A list of the families which lived in "Farmers' Cas- fle," at Belpre, in the year 1792:

Col. Ebenezer Battelle, wife and four children- Cornelius, Ebenezer, Thomas and Louisa

Capt. William James. wife and to children-Susan, Anna, 'Esther. Hannah, Abigail, Polly, William. John, Thomas and Simeon

Isac Barker, wife and eight children-Michael. Isaac. Joseph, William, Timothy, Anna, Rhoda and Nancy

Daniel Cogswell, wife and five children-John, Abi- gail. Peleg, Job and Daniel

Capt. Jonathan Stone. wife and three children- Benjamin Franklin, Samuel and Rufus Putnam.

Col. Nathaniel Cushing, wife and six children- Nathaniel, Henry, Varnum. Thomas, Sally and Eliza- beth

Capt. Jonathan Devol, wife and six children-Henry, Charles. Barker, Francis, Sally and Nancy; with them also lived a nephew, Christopher Devol

Isaac Pierce, wife and three children,-Samuel, Joseph, Phoebe.

Joseph Barker, wife and child.

Nathaniel Little, wife and child.

Maj. Nathan Goodale, wife and seven children,- Betsey, Cynthia, Sally, Susan, Henrietta, Timothy, and Lincoln

A. W. Putnam, wife and child

William Pitt

D. Loring, wife and seven children,-Israel, Rice, Jesse, Luba. Bathsheba, Charlotte, and Polly Maj. Oliver Rice

Capt. Benjamin Miles, wife and five children,-Ben- jamin Backminister, Hubbard, William, Tappan, and Polly

Griffin Greene. Esy., wife and four children,-Rich- ard. Philip, Griffin and Susan

John Rouse, wife and eight children,-Michael. Bathsheba, Cynthia. Betsy, Ruth, Stephen, Robert and Barker

Maj. Robert Bradford, wife and three or four chil- dren

Capt. John Levins, wife and six children,-Joseph, Nancy, Esther, Matilda, John, and Fanny

Capt. William Dana, wife and to children-Luther, William, Edmond, Stephen, John, Charles, Augustus, Betsy, Mary and Fanny

Mrs. Dunham, with one or two daughters

Capt. Israel Stone, wife and 10 children-Sardine, Israel Jasper. Augustus, Columbus, Betsy, Matilda, Lydia, Polly and Harriet

Benjamin Patterson, wife and six children; with

him also lived John Shepherd, George Kerr and Mat- thew Kerr

Benoni Hurlburt, wife and four children

Col. Alexander Oliver, wife and nine children- Launcelot. Alexander. John, David, Lucretia, Betsy, Sally. Mehala and Mary

Col. Daniel Bent, wife and four children-Nahum, Daniel. Dorcas and a daughter

Joshua Fleehart, wife and four children

Unmarried men at "Farmers' Castle"-Jonathan Waldo, Daniel Mayo, Jonathan Baldwin, Cornelius Delano, Joel Oaks. James Caldwell, Wanton Casey, Stephen Guthrie, Truman Guthrie, Captain Ingersoll, Ezra Phillips, Stephen Smith. Howell Bull, Samuel Cushing. William and John Smith, Jonas Davis, Dr. Samuel Barnes,

Names of settlers and garrison at Fort Frye in 1791:

Capt. William Gray (commander of the garrison), wife and two children

Mai. Phinehas Coburn, wife and three sons-Phine-

has. Nicholas and Asa

Judge Gilbert Devol, wife, two sons-Gideon and Jonathan-and one daughter

Wanton Devol, wife and one child

Allen Devol, wife and three or four children

Andrew Storer, wife and five children

Widow of B. Converse, and eight children

George Wilson, wife and two children

Jermiah Wilson, two sons and two daughters

Benjamin Shaw, wife and three children

Nathan Kinney and wife

Joshua Sprague, wife and two children

Maj. John White and wife

William Sprague, wife and two children

Noah Fearing, wife and several children

Andrew Webster and son

Ilarry Maxon and wife

Daniel Davis, wife and two sons-William and Daniel

Davis Wilson, wife and one child

Benjamin Beadle and wife

Single men-William McCulloch, Neil McGuffey, Andrew McClure. William Newel, Samuel Cushing, William Lunt, Jabez Barlow, Nathaniel Hinkly, Dr. Thomas Farley and Dr. Nathan McIntosh

PIONEERS KILLED BY THE INDIANS.

1789.

May I, Capt. Zebulon King, near the middle settle- ment of Belpre.

August 6, Mr Patchen, assistant of John Mathews in surveying land for the Ohio Company. Killed on the north side of the Ohio River, near the mouth of the Big Kanawha, probably by the Shawanese.

1791.

Killed at Big Bottom, January 2-John Stacy, Ezra Putnam. John Camp. Zebulon Throop. Jonathan Fare- well. James Couch, William James, John Clark, Isaac

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.

Meeks, wife and two children killed at Big Bottom. Philip Stacy died in captivity.

March 13-Capt. Joseph Rogers, a scout. Killed on the ritlge north of Marietta, about a mile from the Campus Martius.

March 15-Perseus Dunham, Mrs. Brown and two children, at Newbury below Belpre.

June 17-Matthew Kerr, while in a canoe nea. the island which now bears his name.

September 28-Benoni Hurlburt, while hunting on the river Hocking. near its mouth.

October 4-Nicholas Carpenter and son. George Legget. Burns and -_ Ellis, killed on the Virginia side, near what is now called Carpenter's Run, ' of Wolf Creek. about six miles above Marietta. Tecumsch is said to have been the leader of the party.

1793.

March 1- Maj. Nathan Goodale was captured at Belpre and died in captivity.

1794.

May 19-Robert Warth, on the plain between Fort Harmar and the hill.

June-Abel Sherman, on what is now called Sher- man's Run. not far from the mouth of Olive Green Creek.

1795.

June 15-Sherman Waterman, on the south branch

September-Jonas Davis, about three miles above Belpre, near the Ohio River.

CHAPTER V.

POLITICS IN EARLY TIMES.

WASHINGTON COUNTY CREATED-GOVERNOR ST. CLAIR WITH A LEGISLATURE ON HIS HANDS-CHILLICOTHE VS. MARIETTA-A STATE CONSTITUTION-SLAVERY-DESPAIR OF THE FEDERALISTS AND EXULTATION OF THE REPUBLICANS-HARMAN BLENNER- HASSETT-LOCAL QUESTIONS CEASE TO BE THE POINT OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PO- LITICAL PARTIES-THE ERA OF GOOD FEELING-NEW QUESTIONS.

WASHINGTON COUNTY CREATED.

On Saturday, July 26. 1788, Arthur St. Clair, who had recently come to Marietta and entered upon his duties as Governor of the Northwest Territory, created the first county in this region and fittingly named it Washing- ton. At first it included more than one-half of what is now Oluo. Its northern boundary was Lake Erie from the Pennsylvania line to the mouth of the Cuyahoga, its southern bound- ary extended to the mouth of the Sciota, and its western followed that river far north of the present site of Columbus. By the erection of Jefferson County in 1797, of Fairfield in 1800 and of Belmont in 1801, Washington County had lost at least half of her original territory, but it still contained, until the State Constitu- tion was adopted, the most of the Tuscarawas and Muskingum valleys and extended along the Ohio almost to the Scioto.

To the Territorial Legislature it sent two representatives, or one-eleventh of the whole number; to the Constitutional Convention which consisted of 34 members, it sent four.

The government of the "Territory North- west of the River Ohio" from 1788 to 1798 had been simple. The governor and the three judges enacted such laws as they deemed nec-

essary, giving meanwhile the scattered settle- ments a measure of local self-government. The plan has been imitated since in Louisiana, in Hawaii, Porto Rico, and in the Philippines.

GOVERNOR ST. CLAIR WITII A LEGISLATURE ON HIS HANDS.

In 1798 it appeared that the Territory had 5,000 free male inhabitants. According to the Ordinance of 1787, it was then time to or- ganize a representative government. Governor St. Clair ordered the election of 22 represent- tatives, who met in Cincinnati September 16, 1799. Five of these members came from ter- ritory not within the present boundaries of Ohio. Then his troubles began in earnest.

The old soldier who had fought with Wolfe at Quebec, who had served his country through the Revolution and for the last 10 years in most arduous labor on the frontier, had very strict ideas of honor and duty. Perhaps his long military experience was not the very best kind of a training for civil service, but it can be truly said that it made him scorn all schemes that had the least appearance of dis- honesty. The county seat boomer who had wished to speculate in new sites, selected not for public convenience but for his own profit,

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.

found the old Governor an obstacle in his path.

No other proof is needed of the sterling honesty of Governor St. Clair than the fact that after halt a century of faithful service. much of the time in very responsible positions. he retired a poor man. Even the tardy pension given him in his old age was taken to pay debts contracted in the government service.

In the Washington County, represented in the first and second Territorial Legislature. the population was chiefly along the larger water courses. From Gnadenhutten on the "as "yeomen" in documents written in New Tuscarawas to Marietta, and along the Ohio from Newport to Gallipolis, there were tiny settlements on the best bottoms, and a few . openings in the wilderness on the Hocking and on Duck Creek. There had been little increase in population until after the close of the In- dian war and Wayne's treaty of 1795; even in 1800 the population was only 5.427. This estimate of the enumeration probably did not include the squatters who had long ere this 1 taken summary possession of many tracts which they sometimes held in defiance of the lawful owners.

In the beginning of the period between 1798 and 1803, the people in this country knew very little about politics. Gen. Rufus Put- nam tells one of his eastern friends long before this time that some of the Kentucky settlers had the "maggot in their heads" of separation from the Eastern States, but he thought it had not troubled the people on the Muskingum.

The New England traditions had been transplanted to the new colony, and the old social order: first in rank were those who brought with them the military and naval titles they had won in the Revolution. Then there were a few professional men and the sons of the officers: These were reported in the Court of Quarter Sessions with "Esq." or "Gentle- man" after their names, a distinction which some of them wore with honor. For example, Ephraim Cutler, a son of Manasseh Cutler. would come four times a year all the way from what is now Ames township of Athens County to attend his judicial duties at Marietta.

Often in his journey to and from the court, he was compelled to hobble his horse and pass a night in the woods with a tree for shelter. For this arduous labor he received no salary, and no other remuneration than his share of costs-frequently not enough to pay his board bill. These men, who were classed in the rec- ords as "Gentlemen," seem to have realized that their position brought with it certain re- sponsibilities. There was another class known on the records as "yeomen," and it is worthy of note that some of those who were classed | England were enrolled as "gentlemen" in the Muskingum settlement. New occasions had taught them new duties and their duties well performed had given them new honors.

There were others classed as "yeomen" even here, who have borne an honorable part in our history. For example John Brough, "Yeoman," the father of the War Governor, in 1797 and again in 1708 gives a bond for $200 "to be of good behavior and observe all the laws and ordinances which are or shall be made, or be in force, relating to inn or tavern keepers." He seems to have borne a good reputation as inn-keeper and four years later he is enrolled in the "First Religious Society of Marietta as John Brough, Esq. James Ma- son, of Waterford, also a "yeoman," gives a bond about the same time to "keep a good tavern" and offers as security Daniel Converse, a young man who was then carrying the mail on horseback between Marietta and Zanesville. Mr. Converse was already well known in the settlements on account of his capture by the Indians and his subsequent escape through Canada.

For the first 10 years of our history, the choice of leaders did not vex the minds of the settlers. They were too busy in building up homes. In 1798. at the first election for rep- resentatives from Washington County t. the Territorial Assembly, Paul Fearing was elected by almost unanimous vote, and his colleague was Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr., who a little later belonged to a different party. With the meeting of this Legislature at Cincinnati, in

100

HISTORY OF MARIETTA AND WASHINGTON COUNTY,

1799, the disciples of Hamilton and the follow- , the Federalists rallied about Governor St. ers of Jefferson came into conflict.

The Legislative Council, consisting of five members appointed by President Adams, was of course in harmony with Governor St. Clair. Its duties were similar to those of our State Senate. In this Council sat Col. Robert Oliver until 1803. But in the House there were the representatives of a new order-men who were destined to be leaders of the new State. In1 the Ross County delegation were Nathaniel Massie, Edward Tiffin and Thomas Worthing- ton. They were the champions of a "New Revolution." The friends of Jefferson looked to France rather than to Old or New England for their political models. For its second ses- sion this Legislature met at Chillicothe by the direction of Congress, which had then erected the Territory of Indiana.

Before the second Assembly of the Terri- tory was called together, Paul Fearing had gone to Washington as delegate and Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr., had been appointed judge of the Supreme Court of the Territory. Will- iam Rufus Putnam, a son of Gen. Rufus Put- nam, and Ephraim Cutler, whom we have al- ready mentioned, were elected to fill the vacan- cies.

The writings of Mr. Cutler, which have been preserved in a very interesting book writ- ten by his grand-daughter, Miss Julia P. Cut- ler, give a pretty full account of the proceed- ings of this last session of the Territorial Leg- islature. Evidently Washington County had able representatives at this time.

Clair, but they were fighting a defensive battle and soon the Federalists of Washington Coun- ty were left with none to help them but the rep- resentatives from Jefferson and Trumbull coun- ties, in the north and east, and those from the : district about Detroit, which was then known as Wayne County.

The Jeffersonians wished to get rid of the Wayne County delegation by assigning all its inhabitel territory to Indiana. The counter movement of the Federalists was not exactly a secession, but the formation of a new State east of the Scioto, which would include about the original area of Washington County. Al- though this would have made a State larger than those once proposed by Jefferson for the Northwest Territory, we may now rejoice that the Buckeye State was not created with such restricted boundaries.

CHILLICOTHE VS. MARIETTA.

The proposal was especially distasteful to Chillicothe, which applied to become the per- manent capital. The toast of William R. Put- nam expressing the wish that "the Scioto may have the borders of two great and flourishing States" was especially displeasing, for it was apparent that neither of these prospective States would choose a town on the border for a capital. This proposal for a division of what is now Ohio seemed to meet the approval of all the leading citizens of Marietta, even of Judge Meigs and others who were afterwards consid- ered Republicans. In Chillicothe the feeling was so bitter against the movement and also against Governor St. Clair and his friends that there were attempts to incite a riot. We will let some of the witnesses of these events describe in their own language the acts and feelings of those days. It was a period when parties were forming and political disputes were separating old friends.

If we look closely at a township map of Ohio we shall find two systems met at the Sci- oto. On the eastern side, the land is laid out in squares and rectangles with mathematical precision-an emblem of the Federalist love of order. On the western side the township and farm lines are zig-zag and crooked, suggesting the Republican love of freedom for the individ- ual. Throughout Washington County the ideas of Hamilton prevailed; in Ross and Adams the Virginia settlers had brought with Mr. Cutler says : them Jefferson's ideas of personal liberty-at "A mob collected and attacked Gregg's least for the white man. In Hamilton County , house, where the Governor, Judges Burnet and

IOI

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.

Sibley, Colonel Oliver, General Schenk, and the Detroit and Washington County members boarded. An entrance was forced into Gregg's house, in the hall of which a citizen of Chilli- cothe (Michael Baldwin) met and struck Mr. Schieffelin, who immediately drew his dirk, and would assuredly have wounded the man, had not his arm been caught by some friends who were near."

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History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 13

Author: Andrews, Martin Register, 1842-; Hathaway, Seymour J Publication date: 1902 Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 1490

Author: Andrews, Martin Register, 1842-; Hathaway, Seymour J
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: Chicago : Biographical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 1490