History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 140

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 140

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In 1801 he was appointed by President Jefferson Indian agent in the Cherokee nation, where he removed and resided until his death, which occurred in 1823.

His family consisted of three sons-Re- turn Jonathan, John, and Timothy. Colonel Meigs was held in the highest esteem in the army, in Marietta, and among the Indians, where he spent the evening of his busy life.

ARTIIUR ST. CLAIR,

First, and, practically, the only Governor of the Northwest Territory, was born in Scot- land in 1734. He became a subaltern in the British Army, and was detailed to America for duty during the French war. He was pres- ent at the storming of Quebec. In 1763 he

was given command of Fort Ligonier, in Pennsylvania, where he settled and received one thousand acres of land. He sympathized with the colonies in their difficulties with Great Britain, and at the opening of the Revolution was given command of a regiment of Conti- nentals. He was afterward promoted to the rank of brigadier-general, and before the close of the war was made major-general. He had command of Ticonderoga when it was cap- tured by Burgoyne, and was charged with everything reflectng on his honor as a mli- tary man, but a court-martial sustained his conduct and fully exonerated him. His mil- itary career although not brilliant was credit- able.

In 1785 he wes elected a representative of Ligonier, where he settled after the war, to the Continental Congress, and was afterward chosen president of that body.

The Northwest Territory was formed in 1787, and General St. Clair received the ap- pointment of governor. His home in Ligo- nier, Westmoreland county, was known as "Pott's Grove." He had made some improve- ments when his duties called him to Ohio. In the winter of 1790 he removed to Marietta with all his family, excepting his wife, who re- mained to superintend the homestead. His household at Marietta consisted of a son, Ar- thur St. Clair, Jr., and three daughters-Lou- isa, Jane and Margaret, and an aged colored woman who acted as cook. Arthur studied law, and engaged in practice in Cincinnati; Louisa was a young lady of 18; Jane was two years younger, "a girl of retiring manners and feeble constitution ;" Margaret, the youngest child, died that year with fever. Louisa has been the subject of much comment. She was quick and vigorous both in mind and body. She seemed in her element amid the wild and dangerous surroundings of the period. She was often to be seen riding on a wild and spir- ited horse at full speed through the thick woods and over logs and streams. She was one of the best pedestrians at the garrison, and frequently came out victorious in walking or running races. She could shoot a rifle with

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the accuracy of a skilled woodsman, and was exceedingly fond of the chase. Although she had a passion for athletic sports, intellect- ual pursuits were by no means neglected. She had been educated with much care in Phila- clelphia.

Governor St. Clair was removed by Presi- dent Jefferson a few months before the forma- tion of the State government in 1803. He had suffered great financial loss, and the last i years of his life were spent in poverty. He returned to his Pennsylvania farm and in vain appealed to Congress for a bounty. The Leg- 1 lature of his State recognized his services by voting him an annuity of $300, which was af- terwards increased to $600. He died on his farm in the Ligonier Valley. August 31, 1818.

ICHABOD NYE.

Was from Tolland. Connecticut. His ances- tors, both on his mother's side and his father's, were English, and came from England to America in 1639. They were of those who came here to escape religious persecution. They first settled in Scituate, and then Barn- stable, Massachusetts, the church to which they belonged coming over almost in a body. . 1 part of the family after some years moved westward to Tolland. Connecticut. The fa- ther of Ichabod Nye was George Nye. His mother was Thankful Hinckley. George Nye owned a farm at Tolland on which he resided. December 21, 1703, Ichabod Nye was born. At the age of 15 he was apprenticed to a tan- ner in Hadley, for the purpose of learning the trade. In this it was considered he had an advantage not shared by his brothers who were reared on the farm. It is probable that he finished his apprenticeship. though he entered the Revolutionary Army at the early age of 16. Among the names of Revolutionary soldiers found at the State House in Boston is the following: "Ichabod Nye, age sixteen. five feet, eleven inches high; black hair; Colonel Porter's regiment, 1779." He afterwards served in Colonel Sear's regiment, which be- longed to the Northern Army under Gates. He was with this branch of the army during

the campaign which terminated with the sur- render of Burgoyne at Saratoga.

In 1785 Ichabod Nye married Minerva, daughter of Gen. Benjamin Tupper. At the close of the war, they were residing with Gen- eral Tupper, at Chesterfield, Massachusetts.

General Tupper, immediately on his re- turn from the army in 1783. made known to his friends and neighbors his intention to go to the Western territory. They regarded it as mere talk on his part. He, however, immed- iately set about the formation of the Ohio Company. Mr. Nye has written: "I had engaged to come west to settle with him, and we began to prepare for the undertaking. Soon after the defeat of Shays, 1 began to collect timber to build wagons, and went with a sleigh to Williamsburg for timber of oak as there was none to be obtained in Chesterfield. nor was there a wagon fit for such a journey to be obtained in the State of Massachusetts, and but one man in our part of the State who could make one. I engaged him, however, and he built us two wagons, one for the fam- ily, or rather both families, and one for the goods and utensils belonging to them. With these we made our destination on the

Ohio bank at Wellsburg. Virginia, in com- pany with Colonel Cushing and family, Ma- jor Goodale and family, and were joined there by Major Coburn and family, and his son-in-law. Andrew Webster, and family. I left this company at Wellsburg and came overland on the Virginia side with the horses and two hired men, reaching Marietta ten days before them." They descended the river in the "Mayflower," which had been sent up for that purpose, and arrived at Marietta Au- gust 19. 1788. Their journey had occupied ten weeks, having been detained at Wellsburg, waiting for Major Coburn.

When these families arrived in Marietta, the Campus Martius was in process of build- ing. but not finished. They occupied such houses as they could obtain near the Campus Martius, generally small log houses. General Tupper soon put up a dwelling in the Campus Martius, on the southwest side, on the ground 1 afterward occupied by the residence of Ichabod

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Nye. In September, 1788, Mrs. Nye wrote as follows to some friends in New England : "We now live in the city of Marietta, where we expect to end our days. We find the coun- try much more delightsome than we had any idea of." And in November Miss Rowena Tupper writes : "The country has been so of- ten spoken of that it is needless for me to say more than that it answers every expectation.' In 1790 Mr. Nye began to sink vats for a tanyard in the extreme northern portion of the town on Seventh street. These vats were built from the timbers of the boat in which his brother, Ebenezer Nye, had descended the river, and were the first tan vats in the North- western Territory. This situation was during the Indian war, which soon followed, a haz- ardous one, but no attack was made upon him there. He afterward sunk some vats near the upper end of Third street, but the ground was unfavorable, and he finally erected buildings near the corner of Seventh and Putnam streets, where the main building of the chair company now stands. At that tine Putnam street was not opened beyond Fifth. It was at this place that the heaviest part of his business was car- ried on. His customers were from all parts of the surroundinig country, and the reputa- tion of the leather made there was of the high- est character.

During the Indian war, Mr. Nye lived in General Tupper's house in the Campus Mar- tius. Ilis brother, Ebenezer Nye, with his family and Mrs. Kelley ( a widow ) with her children, lived in the Southeast Block-house. After the close of the war Ichabod Nye pur- chased the Southwest Block-house, which had been the residence of Governor St. Clair, and resided there until 1814. He owned four lots on the south end of the square, north of Scam mel street, and he left the stockade and lived for a time in a house standing on the lot corn- er of Front and Scammel. In 1820 he built his dwelling house on the stockade, where he resided during the remainder of his life, and where two of his sons have always lived until 1880. In 1800 he erected the brick store on Putnam street now (1881) occupied by Jacob

Pfaff as a bakery. The upper story was used for the Masonic lodge ball ; the lower story for a store. In the spring of 1810 he opened a store in this building, in which he kept dry goods, groceries, shoes-in fact such goods as were in demand. In . August, 1813. he entered into a partnership with Charles Shipman, and they removed the goods to AAthens and opened a store there under charge of Mr. Shipman, then a young man, In 1816 this part- nership was dissolved, and Mr. Nye reopened his store on Putnam street, Marietta. He had also formed, in 1805, a partnership with Col. Benjamin Tupper, his brother-in-law, and they had opened a store in Springfield, now the Ninth Ward of Zanesville, Ohio. He after- ward withdrew from this partnership, and es- tablished two of his sons in the mercantile business with himself, one under the firm name of I. & AA. Nye, and the other A. Nye & Co. These were also in Springfield. He finally transferred the goods from the Marietta store and the store of 1. & A. Nve, in Putnant, to Waterford, Ohio. In March, 1819, A. T. Nye took charge of the business there, and in 1824 he purchased the stock and continued the business under his own name. After 1824 Ichabod Nye had no further interest in mer- cantile business.

Colonel Nye, as he was always called, hay- ing been commissioned in militia about 1804. was very little engaged in public business. He was a subscriber to the Muskingum Academy, and was always interested in educational mat- ters. He was a iren ber of the Masonic lodge in Marietta. In his youth his opportunities for obtaining an education were limited, but he was a man who road a great deal, and of the very best, and he also kept himself well in- formed on all public affairs. He had a strong and vigorous mind, and generally formed his own opinions. He was strongly attached to the adminstration of General Washington, and belonged to the Federal party as long as that party existed, and afterwards to the Whig party. He died November 27. 1840. His first wife, Mmerva Tupper, died April 20. 1836. Their children who survived infancy

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were : Horace: Panthea, who married Roth- ius Hayward, of Waterford, Ohio; Arius, Anselm Tupper, Sophia, who married Rev. Cyrus Byington, of the Choctaw Mission; Rowena, who married William Pitt Putnam, of Belpre; Huldalı, died June 22, 1838, not married; Ichabod Hinckley, Edward White .. The only children who now survive ( 1881) are Anselm T. Nye, born in the Campus Mar- tius, November 9, 1797, and Edward White Nye, born April 13, 1812. Ichabod Hinckley Nye, so well known and highly esteemed in Marietta, died at the homestead, on the stock- ade, in June, 1880. Colonel Nye married in 1840, Mrs. Rebecca Howe Beebe, who sur- vived him some years.

Ebenezer Nve, brother of Ichabod Nye, settled in Rainbow. His descendants live in Athens, Meigs and Muskingum counties. From these two brothers are descended all of the name in Southeastern Ohio, who are of English descent.

MRS. REBECCA IVES GILMAN.

The center of a circle of cultured intellects during the period of early settlement was Re- becca Ives Gilman, wife of Joseph Gilman. She was the daughter of Benjamin Ives and granddaughter of Hon. Robert Hall, under whose direction a fine mind was stored with useful information, and a taste cultivated for polite literature. Her early associates were people of culture and education.

Mrs. Gilman was bright and fascinating in conversation. } Her friendship was much sought and highly valued. But she never per- mitted her polite studies to interfere with do- mestic duty. She is described as a model housekeeper and mother. After the death of her husband in 1806, she lived in her own house at Harmar until 1812, when she re- moved with her son, Benjamin Ives Gilman, to Philadelphia, where she died in 1820.

MRS. MARY LAKE.

The name of Mary Lake was for many years a household word in the pioneer families

of Marietta. Her example both in the Revo- lution and here demonstrated the capability of a kind hearted, strong minded woman in sea- sons of distress. Mary Bird was born in Bris- tol, England, in 1742. At the age of 20, she married Archibald Lake, a seaman, and moved to St. John, New Foundland. Here he fol- lowed fishing until the place came into posses- sion of the French, when he removed to New York and engaged in ship-building. New York at an early period of the war was occu- pied by the British, and Mrs. Lake determined to be of use to hier adopted countrymen, for she enlisted heartily in the American cause, deserted the city and went into the hospitals at Fishkill and then at New Windsor, where she was the comforting angel of many suffer- ing soldiers. The war over her husband was at a loss for profitable employment, and wel- comed the news of the opening of the new ter- ritory west of the Ohio, where he could find a home.

The family came to Marietta in 1789. Mrs. Lake's kindness of heart and skill in the sick room were soon found out. Her superior in- telligence and purity of character, placed her in high esteem in the new settlement. In the spring of 1790 smallpox broke out in Campus Martus. Most of the physicians were young, and knew little of the disease. Her experi- enced services during this trying period were found of the highest value.

Mrs. Lake was a lady of intense purity, and wore all the graces of pure religion. She taught the first Sunday-school in the Territory. After the regular preaching service, Mrs. Lake gathered the children about her and instructed them from the Westminster Catechism and the Bible.

After the peace of 1795, she moved to the Rainbow settlement on the Muskingum, where she died in 1802, leaving an estimable family. Her grave is marked with a monument erected by the Sunday-school children of Ohio.

ISAAC AND REBECCA WILLIAMS.

During the toilsome period of early set- tlement two inhabitants of Virginia by kind

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offices so endeared themselves to the residents of this side, that a sketch of their lives belongs in this volume. The village facing the mouth of the Muskingum bears their name.

Isaac Williams was born in Pennsylvania in 1737. In early life his parents removed to Winchester, Virginia, then a frontier town. He was fond of hunting, and soon became ac- quainted with the out of the way places of the wild country in which he lived. When he was 18 years old the Colonial government em- ployed him as a spy to watch the movements of the Indians. He served in the army of General Braddock, and was connected with the military movements in the west during the French and Indian War. He was one of the first settlers of Brooke County. ( West) Vir- ginia. He removed west about 1769. He had previously visited the Ohio on hunting and trapping expeditions, which he made annually. He accumulated large tracts of land by mak- ing entries under the Virginia laws. Clearing and planting one acre in corn entitled the hold- er to $400.

While residing in Brooke County he be- came acquainted with and married Rebecca Martin, a widow. Her first husband had been killed by the Indians.

Mr. Williams accompanied Lord Dunmore in his campaign against the Indians in 1774, and was present when the treaty was made near Chillicothe. Mrs. Williams had come to Vir- ginia in 1771, and was living with her brothers near the mouth of Grave Creek. While liv- ing here an incident occurred which proves that she was a very remarkable woman. She made an expedition to her sister's, 50 miles down the river in a canoe. On her return, night overtook her. and she determined to go ashore and wait for the rising of the nyomn. On returning she found it necessary to wade a few steps to reach the canoe. When just in the act of stepping on board, her foot rested on the cold, dead body of an Indian who had been murdered a few days before. Without screaming, she stepped into the canoe and rowed on her way homeward.

In the spring of 1773 Joseph and Samuel

Tomlinson, her brothers, entered 400 acres of land in the bottom opposite the mouth of the Muskingum, which they presented to their sis- ter Rebecca in consideration for previous ser- vices. In 1786, Fort Harmar having been built and garrisoned, Mr. and Mrs. Williams desired to occupy their land. Saplings had grown on the clearing made 15 years before, but the land was easily reduced to a state of cultivation.

This early settlement on the Virgina side was a fortunate circumstance for the early set- tlers of Marietta. Mr. Williams, by the time the New England colony arrived, had his farm under a good state of cultivation, and during the distressing famine of 1790 supplied the hungry pioneers on the other side of the river with corn, of which he had a large crop. Speculators, always ready to take advantage of peoples' misfortunes, urged him to take $1.25 a bushel for his whole crop. "Dod rot 'em," said the old man, "I would not let 'em have a bushel." When a purchaser came he proportioned the number of bushels to the number of members in the family, in order that he might be able to serve all alike. He charged no one more than 50 cents per bushel, the current price in plentiful years. In the fullest sense he improved his opportunity for doing good.

Rebecca was skilled in the healing art, and often relieved distressed pioneers and hunt- ers by the application of simple remedies. Mr. and Mrs. Williams were always social, clever, and kind. They liberated their slaves in later years, and left them substantial tokens of friendship. Mr. Williams never missed an op- portunity to indulge his passion for hunting. "even in his old age. The citizens of Marietta mourned his death in September, 1820, as one of their own number.

COL. WILLIAM STACY,

A man highly esteemed for his many excel- lent qualities, and honored for his services and sufferings in the cause of freedom, has many descendants yet living in the county. He was a native of Massachusetts, and when the out-

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break at Lexington aroused American patri- otism, he was the first member of the New Sa- lem militia company to renounce his allegiance to the king. The company was reorganized, and entered the American service with Mr. Stacy as captain.

In 1778 Captain Stacy was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel of Col. Ichabod Al- den's regiment of the Massachusetts Line. He was with his regiment on the perilous cam- paign, in 1778, against the Indians and Tories in the Cherry Valley, New York, and was a witness of the slaughter of November IIth, in Oneida County. Colonel Stacy was here taken prisoner, and was taken a distance of about 200 miles to an Indian village near the present site of Geneva. After a council of the chiefs, he was sentenced to be burned. The Indians were under the command of Joseph Brant whom Colonel Stacy saw in the sur- rounding crowd, while the fires were being kindled under him. It is said that be gave Brant the sign of Freemasonry, and that that chief, whose word was law, directed his re- lease.

Colonel Stacy was held as a prisoner by the Indians for four years. After his release he returned to his farm at New Salem until 1789, when he removed with his five sons and one son-in-law with their family to Marietta. Two of the sons, John and Philemon, were victims of the attack on Big Bottom, January 2, 1791. John was killed, and Philemon was taken prisoner, and died in captivity. Gideon, the youngest son, settled in New Orleans, and established a ferry across Lake Pontchartrain. The remaining member of the family settled in this county.

After the death of his first wife Colonel Stacy married Mrs. Sheffield, a lady of high rank. He died at Marietta in 1804.

MAJ. ANSELM TUPPER,

Eldest son of Gen. Benjamin Tupper, came to Marietta as one of the surveyors of the Ohio Company, April 7. 1788 .. Previous to that time he had been in the Western country with

his father, engaged in the survey of the seven ranges.

General Tupper entered the service of his country immediately after the battle of Bunker Hill. At that time his son Anselm was very young, only 13, but he was with his father in an engagement on North River, in August, 1776. In 1779 when 16 years of age, he re- ceived the appointment of adjutant in the reg- iment of Colonel Sproat, of the Massachusetts Line, in which position he served until the close of the war. This regiment was engaged at Trenton, Princeton, Monmouth and other battles. Major Tupper enjoyed the confidence and personal friendship of his commanding of- ficer.

Immediately upon their arrival at the Mus- kingum, in 1788, the surveyors began their work, and continued it until driven into the forts by the hostility of the Indians. During the Indian war, Major Tupper lived in the Campus Martius. He taught the first school opened there in the Northwest Block-house. He was a man of intellectual ability and espe- cially in mathematics had the reputation of be- ing a good scholar. He is said to have pos- sessed a refined and polished address, and was of fine personal appearance and military bear- ing. . An oil portrait exists, representing him when very young, in the uniform of the Massa- chusetts regimental officers. He was appointed post major of the Campus Martius, and contin- ued in this position during the war. He was the favorite of the officers in the garrison, es- pecially of Colonel Sproat, and his wit, some- times in verse, seemed to give them great sat- isfaction though at their expense. On one oc- casion, when Colonel Sproat was left behind in a foot race with Dr. Story, the minister, Major Tupper wrote some lines, in which the following gave a momentary offense to Col- onel Sproat :

It was a point, they all gave in. Divinity could outstrip sin.

Some poetic pieces were written by him in connection with Masonic celebrations, he be- ing a member of the Masonic lodge. His

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verses generally had for their subject some lo- cal event, among others "The Indian Feast." to commemorate the dinner given to the In- dian chiefs at the Campus Martins, Another piece was a parody on the "Battle of the Kegs," and was called the "Battle of the Mus- kingum," a humorous account of the affairs which occurred at Marietta in connection with the capture of Blennerhassett's boats, usually called Burt's flotilla. This was published in a Lancaster paper, and afterwards in Safford's "Life of Blennerhassett."

About 1801 Edward W. Tupper engaged in ship building in Marietta. One of his ves- sels, the "Indiana," was built five miles up the Muskingum. Another, called the "Orlando," was built at the foot of Putnam street, Mari- etta. The "Orlando" went out under the com- mand of Capt. Matthew Miner, and Major Tupper went out as second officer. The ves- sel arrived at New Orleans the fourth of July, 1804, and found the city in great commotion. celebrating the first Fourth of July since the cession of Louisiana to the United States gov- ernment. They then crossed the Atlantic to the Mediterranean Sea, up to Trieste, at the head of the Adriatic. She was soll, and Ma- jor Tupper returned home by way of Eng- land. After his return to America he went to Gallipolis, to be with his brother, Edward. His health failinig, he returned home to Mar- ietta, where he died. December, 1808, at the house of his sister, Mrs. Ichabod Nye. He is buried in Mound Cemetery, by the side of his father, and near his old friend and commander, Colonel Sproat.

COL. BENJAMIN TUPPER,

Youngest son of General Tupper, was born in Chesterfield, Massachusetts. He came to Mar- ietta with his father in 1788. In 1802 he mar- ried Martha Putnam, daughter of Gen. Rufus Putnam. For several years he was receiver of the United States Land Office at Marietta. In 1806 he removed to Springfield, afterwards Putnam, Ohio, and entered into mercantile business with his brother-in-law, Ichabod Nye.

He afterward formed another partnership. . which continued until his death, in 1814. Of his children, but one is now ( 1881) living, Mrs. Catharine Munam, of Zanesville, Ohio. His only son, Benjamin, died some years since. Ifis youngest grandson, Theodore Tupper. died on the battlefield at Shiloh, at the age of 19. His body was not recovered. In his death the name of Tupper became extinct in the family line of Gen. Benjamin Tupper.

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History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 140

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