History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 141

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 141

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GEN. JOSEPHI BUELL

Was not a member of the Ohio Company, but he was a soldier who spent two years in the western country before the pioneers arrived. The greater part of those two years he spent at Fort Harmar. He kept a diary, in which he describes the country west of the Ohio and the people who were then in it, and mentions many occurrences which, though apparently of small moment then, are now eagerly sought for as matters of history. In trying to reproduce some of the events of his life, we shall not dwell upon his ancestry or early youth. Ile was from Killingworth, Connecticut, where he was born February 10, 1760. His parents were David and Mary ( Hurd ) Buell, and he was the second of their twelve children. His first ancestor in America was William ( 1030). whose eldest son, Samuel, settled in Killing- worth, now Clinton, Connecticut, in 1664.

At the age of 22, in September, 1785. Jo- seph Buell conducted a company of 94 recruits for the army from Hartford, Connecticut, to West Point, in the capacity of orderly ser- geant. At West Point the men were assigned to Captain Strong's company of Colonel Ilar- mar's regiment. November 20th the com- pany was ordered to the western frontier. They marched across the mountains and ar- rived at Fort Melntosh, at the mouth of the Beaver River, on the Ohio. December 20. 1785, where they remained in barracks during the remainder of the winter. May 4, 1786. Captain Strong's company and that of Cap- tain Zeigler embarked for the mouth of the Muskingum, where, on the west point, Fort

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Harmar had been built, though not completely finished, in the fall of 1785. They reached the fort on the 8th, but encamped outside at the edge of some woods until the roth, when Captain Zeigler's company proceeded down the Ohio to the Miami, and Captain Strong's company moved into Fort Harmar.

On the 27th of May, 1787, Captain Strong's company was ordered to report at Post St. Vincent, now Vincennes. They de- scended the river in two keel-boats to Fort Finney, opposite Louisville, which they reached on the 3Ist. There they remained until July 8th, when they started for Post St. Vincent, arriving there on the 19th. After a very sick- ly summer, in which nearly half the men were unfit for duty, they were ordered to return to Fort Harmar, at which place they arrived No- vember 2Ist.

The succeeding summer was spent at Fort Harmar. Early in November, Sergeant Buell- obtained his discharge and returned to Con- necticiit.

In August, 1788, Sergeant Baell purchased 400 acres of land of Judge Symmies, at half a dollar an acre, paying one-half in cash, the other half to be paid in one year. It was his intention when he bought this to settle in the Miami country, of which he writes, "I think it exceeds any part of the Western world." Whatever may have been Mr. Bueli's plans for ultimate settlement, he set his face toward home as soon as he had received his discharge from the army, and reached Killingworth No- vember 27, 1788. After visiting his friends he taught school for three months, at the same time trying to perfect his plans for returning to the Western Country for settlement. Feb- ruary 15, 1789, he was married to Siba Hand. He seems to have felt much doubt about taking her into the new country, but finally decided to do so. He visited Joshua Shipman, of Saybrook, and bargained with him to furnish half the wagon and half the team which was to carry the two families to Ohio. By the first of May, however, Mr. Shipman had given up the plan, and this, with other difficulties, Jed Mr. Buell to leave his wife in New Eng-

land for two years. In May, 1789, he set out for Marietta with his brother, Timothy, af- terward sheriff of Washington County. Ar- riving safely at Marietta, Mr. Buell was joined by his friend, Levi Munsell, with whom he had been associated in the army, and they went to North Bend to join Judge Symines' colony. Probably from fear of the Indians, they soon returned to Marietta, many others leaving North Bend for the same reason.

In 1790 Messrs. Buell and Munsell opened a tavern at "the Point," Marietta. This was a large frame building, and it was erected in 1789, on the lots at the corner of Front and Green streets. The frame of the building was made at the headwaters of the Ohio and floated down to Marietta. During the Indian war it was within the enclosure which formed "the Point" garrison. At this time Messrs. Buell and Munsell both lived there-Mrs. Buell hav- ing joined her husband in 1790, and Mr. Munsell having married a daughter of Col. Alexander Oliver, of Belpre.

In 1795, peace having been declared, life was once more infused into the plans of the colonists ; men left. the garrisons and went to their farms; others engaged in occupations in town. Mr. Buell remained in Marietta, and built for his own residence, in 1801, a brick house, on the corner of Green and Second streets. He also built, a year or two later, the brick house on "Boiler corner." The tav- ern business was continued under the charge of Mr. Munsell, and became about 1801 verv remunerative to the proprietors. Owing to the activity in the business of ship-building many carpenters, calkers, and other artisans connected with the business came into Marietta and they largely patronized this tavern. In August, 1807, there were five ships on the stocks at Marietta. Soon after, in conse- quence of the embargo, the business was sud- denly discontinued, and several prominent bus- iness men failed and left Marietta, and labor- ers connected with them were obliged to seek employment elsewhere. The tavern business suffered in consequence. Mr. Munsell left Marietta in a few years, and General Buell

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died in 1812: but the tavern was kept as a pub- lic house by other parties until about 1830. In 1832 Joseph Holden, who had bought the prop- erty, pulled down the old frame and erected brick buildings on the lots, in which he en- gaged in a mercantile business. About 30 years after, these buildings were remodeled (having escaped the great fire of 1859). and finally became the property of the First Na- tional Bank.

Mr. Buell became an adherent of Jeffer- son's administration. He was elected a mem- ber of the Ohio State Senate and served in the first, second, third and fourth assemblies -1803 to 1805. His military service had fit- ted him to take part in military affairs and he was appointed major general of militia, a posi- tion at that time a very responsible one. While he was major general the so-called "Burr con- spiracy" arose, and Marietta became the scene of considerable military activity. In Decem- ber, 1806, General Buell received an order from the Governor for the arrest of Blenner- hassett and the prevention of certain "acts hos- tile to the tranquility and peace of the United States."- i. c. the departure of the boats in- tended for the Burr expedition from the Mus- kingum. Acting under this authority. Gen- eral Buell, with characteristic energy and method, took measures to arrest the bateaux. which had been building at Judge Joseph Barker's, on the Muskingum River. "These boats." writes one who saw them. "were very frail, built like a skiff, sharp at both ends, and sided up with thin weatherboarding and cov- ered. There were 10 of them, of two or three tons each, and they were built under contract of Mr. Blennerhassett with Colonel Barker. They were called in derision 'Burr's flotilla." "

One evening in December. 1806, the com- pany of militia, from "the Point" ( there were two companies in Marietta), passed up Front street to the Washington street landing. They entered a building there and prepared to re- main for the night. Their purpose was not understood by those who saw them, and it was thought singular that the militia should be out at that hour. In the morning it became !

known that they had arrested nine of Burr's flotilla while attempting to pass down the river -one boat having gone on in the darkness.

A Marietta man, blind in one eye. named Clark Green, had sole charge of two of these boats to bring them down the river; two sons of Green, about It and 12 years old, managed another, and had one man each to work the balance-except one-and guide them. The boat which passed by had on it three young men from Belpre. The boats were taken by the militia down into the mouth of the run below Putnam street. They laid in the run until they began to decay, and in time men and boys broke them up and carried them off in pieces. A lot of parched corn taken from them was stored in General Buell's barn, and the academy boys used to go there and help themselves to it, filling their pockets. Mr. Blennerhassett made no effort to recover his property but was obliged to flee from his home.

After the arrest of the boats, General Buell proclaimed martial law, and the militia was or- dered to be in readiness to appear. "armed and equipped as the law directs," immediately on the firing of the cannon. There was but one cannon in town. In the guard-house, a build- ing which stood on Ohio street just above the "Boiler corner." a constant guard was kept. A gun was placed on the river bank, and all boats passing down the Ohio River were hailed and stopped ; and as a further precau- tion all boats passing down the Muskingum were brought over to Marietta. These meas- ures were taken in order to be prepared for any attempt to rescue the captured bateaux from the direction of Blennerhassett's Island. and to stop any men or supplies which might attempt to pass down to aid Burr's expedi- tion. The whole country from Pittsburg to New Orleans was in a state of great excite- ment, and Burr made no attempt to resist but endeavored to conceal himself.

In carrying out the orders of the Governor. General Buell obeyed as a soldier, having no other idea than to do his duty. The position of major-general he held until his death. From 1803 to 1810 General Buell was associate

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judge in the Court of Common Pleas. The appointment to his office under the State Con- stitution was made by the Legislature.

General Buell died in Marietta, June 13. 1812. He is buried in Mound Cemetery. Mrs. Buell died in 1831. Of their eight chil- dren, those best known in Marietta were: Daniel Hand. Hiram Augustas, Joseph and Siba ( Mrs. William Slocomb).

Daniel Hand Buell, the eldest child of Gen- eral Josephi Buell, was born October 1, 1790. His early childhood was spent in the garrison at "the Point." When of a suitable age he - was sent to New England to be educated, re- turning to Marietta when about 21 years of age, he spent the remainder of his life in that place. While he was still a young man his father died, and the management of the estate and the care of the family interests devolved chiefly upon him. In 1814 he was engaged in editing the newspaper called the American REV. DANIEL STORY. Friend, of which he was one of the owners. He was one of the founders of Marietta Li- brary in 1829, which was for many years an institution highly prized by the reading public. As a public man he stood high in the estima- tion of his fellow citizens, and held several important offices. He was for many years justice of the peace, and was mayor of the city. June, 1817, to October, 1834, he was county recorder. From 1825 to 1829 he was postmaster. In 1839 he was County Commis- sioner. He was in the latter part of his life an earnest worker for the Episcopal Church in Marietta, of which he was a member, doing much to aid it financially, and performing the office of lay reader when the church was des- titute of a pastor. After a long and painful illness he died, October 12, 1843. His sec- ond wife, Theodosia Hall Buell, survived him and died in 1875. His sons became citizens of Marietta. Charles Ferdinand, the eldest, died in June, 1881. He was a member of the Marietta bar. Edward W. and William H. Buell entered the drug business as partners when they were very young. They were also largely engaged as partners in the oil business for several years previous to 1869. Edward | connection with the church as pastor March

W. Buell died in May, 1875, and William H. in 1891.

Hiram A. Buell, fourth son of Gen. Joseph Buell, was born in Marietta, May 29, 1801, and was well known in that place when a young man. He was for some years in the recorder's office as an assistant, and was also engaged in other business in connection with his brother, Daniel H. Buell. In 1833 he left Marietta and went to Holly, in Western New York, where he established himself in business as a merchant, with his brother, Joseph. This partnership, cemented by brotherly affec- tion, was dissolved by the death of Hiram A. Buell, February 24, 1875.

Joseph Hand Buell, born February 22, 1809. the youngest child of Gen. Joseph Buell, left Marietta and engaged in business with his brother Hiram in Holly, New York.

Dr. Cutler was happy in his selection of a chaplain for the Ohio Company. Dr. Story was well qualified for the place which he filled for about 15 years, first in the employ of the Ohio Company and then of the Congregation- al Church, or of the First Religious Society as it was known.

He was born in Boston in 1755. Judge Story, the emminent lawyer, was his uncle. He graduated at Dartmouth College. Dr. Story's connection with the religious history of the early settlement has been sufficiently sketched elsewhere. His services in the min- istry before coming to Marietta gave promise of usefulness and the choice of Dr. Cutler was received with great satisfaction. His sermons were logical and scholarly, his conversation in- teresting and his manners agreeable. The last two circumstances were particularly for- tunate, for his salary was extremely meagre and generous friends had to be depended upon for relief. He was compelled to mort- gage his property in New England to support his contingent expenses, and after death his estate was found insolvent. He severed his

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15, 1804, on account of poor health. His death occurred on the 15th of the following December.

JOHN MATTHEWS,

Son of Daniel Matthews and Huldah Putnam, was born in Brookfield, Massachusetts, the 18th of December, 1705. At the age of 15, he ran away from home and enlisted in the Revolutionary Army, serving under Gen. Ruf- us Putnam, his mother's brother. He served for three years and the fortitude and endur- ance displayed by one so young were' remark- able. He was present at the surrender of Cornwallis.

When in his 21st year, John Mathews joined the party of pioneers sent out by the Ohio Company, and was one of that little band of 48 who first landed at the mouth of the Muskingum. Later he was appointed one of the surveyors of the Northwest Territory, to- gether with Rufus Putnam, R. J. Meigs, Eb- enezer Sproat and Anselm Tupper. In 1789 or 1790 while young Mathews was in charge of a surveying party, his party was attacked by the Indians and all were killed excepting himself and two others. They escaped only by the timely aid of some men who were mak- ing their way down the Ohio River in a flat- boat. They cautiously put for shore for Mat- hews and his companions and all reached Fort Washington in safety.

In 1791, John Mathews was associated in business with William Bull, a New York agent. In 1800, 1801 and 1802, he was engaged with Colonel Sproat in locating land- warrants. A little later he set up a store at Marietta in partnership with his brother, In- crease Mathews. He was also concerned in a store at Lancaster in company with Elnathan Scofield.

In 1803 he was married to Sarah Wood- bridge and settled upon a farm at Moxahala, in Muskingum County. During that same year he built the first sawmill on the Ohio and when the first plank was sawed, it was considered an event of such importance that it was carried from Moxahala to Zanes-

ville on the shoulders of four men, accompa- nied by a band of music.

Mr. Mathews devoted much of his time to fancy gardening and brought to Ohio the first fancy fruits, such as peaches, pears and plums. He was also associated in business for some years with Ed. Buckingham. In 1820, he was elected Senator. Thomas Hammond speaks of John Mathews as "a man of fine principles, true to his convictions, faithful in every accepted trust, steadfast in friendship and unyielding in his opposition to what he believed to be wrong or of questionable utility, modest and retiring in disposition, and always an earnest and devout churchman, being an Episcopalian in belief."

-George M. Woodbridge.

EPHRAIM CUTLER,

Eldest son of Rev. Dr. Manasseh Cutler, was born in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, April 13. 1767. At the age of three years he was placed with his grandfather, Hezekiah Cutler, in Killingly, Connecticut, and remained with his grandparents until their death, when, having lands in the Ohio Company's Pur- chase, he determined to remove to the North- west Territory. He began this journey with his wife and four children on the 15th of June, 1795, and reached Marietta September 18th, having been three months on the way, and buried two of his children in the wilderness between Simrell's Ferry and Marietta.

The first location was at Waterford, where he engaged for a short time in mercantile bus- iness, but in 1799 he moved with his family to lands he owned in Ames township, now Athens County. In 1806 he located in War- ren, and built the stone house which contin- ued to be his residence until his death in 1853.

His life was one of great activity and use- , fulness. He contributed his full share to the work of laying the foundations of civil so- ciety and material prosperity in the section of country which he had chosen for a home.

He received, in 1796, the appointments from Governor St. Clair of captain of militia. justice of the peace and quarter sessions, and

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judge of the Court of Common Pleas. In 1801 he was elected a member of the Terri- torial Legislature, and subsequently, in 1802. a member of the convention that formed the first Constitution of Ohio. In the convention he took a prominent part in securing the adop- tion of the clauses that excluded slavery from the State, and made the encouragement of schools and education obligatory upon future legislatures.

In these matters of most vital importance to a new commonwealth he followed up. in practical application upon the soil of Ohio, the same principles or organic law that had been" placed in the ordinance of 1787 by the efforts of his father, Dr. Manasseh Cutler, when he negotiated with Congress for the purchase of lands for the Ohio Company.

He also exerted himself successfully in in- troducing into the Constitution a judiciary system, which, in opposition to a proposed Virginia plan, brought the courts of justice within convenient reach of all the people, in- stead of compelling them to resort with their suits to the political center of the States.

He was appointed by the Territorial Leg- islature one of the commissioners to take charge of the school and ministerial lands in this part of the State, and to provide for their lease and improvement.

In 1819 he was elected to the Legislature where he devoted himself unceasingly to the accomplishment of two of the most important objects that ever engaged the attention of that body. One was an ud valorem system of tax- ation-the mother a system of common schools. Although the Constitution had im- posed a positive obligation upon the law mak- ing power to encourage schools, nothing had been done or attempted until he introduced the first bill in 1819, providing for a school sys- tem. He was a member of either the lower House or the Senate until 1825, and had the satisfaction of seeing both of his favorite meas- ures so far matured that it could be said that Ohio had systems of taxation and schools. These systems have both progressed in their application to growing wants, and have been

perfected by subsequent legislation ; but at no period of their progress was more ability, in- dustry and energy required than was given to them in their incipient stage by Ephraim Cut- ler.

In presenting the unjust burden imposed upon this section of Ohio by the prevailing system of taxation, under which lands in Ham- ilton County worth $50 per acre paid no more tax than our land worth 50 cents per acre, Dr. Andrews in his "History of Washington County" thus alludes to Mr. Cutler's success :

In the winter of 1819-20 Judge Ephraim Cutler, a representative from this county, introduced into the Legislature a joint resolution that property should be taxed according to its true value. which passed the house of representatives. In the fall of 1823 he was elected to the Senate and again renewed his efforts to secure a reform in the revenue system. He was ap- pointed the chairman of the committee on the revenue. The project of a canal between Lake Erie and the Ohio River had come up. and Judge Cutler had succeeded in convincing the friend of that measure that it must in- evitably fail unless based upon a broad. judicious and equitable system of taxation. To him more than any other are we indebted for the law then enacted. The language of his cotemporaries clearly shows that he was regarded as the author.

Hon. Samuel F. Vinton writes from Washington, December 21. 1824: "We ought to offer up our most unceasing prayers that your plan for the equalization of taxes may at the same time be adopted. Without it, inevitable ruin would await the sparse peopled and sterile parts of the State. In fact. those parts of the State will be virtually ruined under the present system of taxation in defraying the ordinary expenses of the government.

"Ingenuity, in my opinion. could not devise a system more unequal. uniust and offensive. I am decidedly in favor of improving the inland navigation of the State by canals, if possible, but I hope you will perseveringly press upon the Legislature your plan of taxation in conjunction with it."

Hon. Eleutheros Cooke, in a letter dated Sandusky, October 13, 1828. thus speaks of Mr. Cutler's services: "As the author and founder of our new and excellent system of revenue and taxation, I shall ever consider you as richly entitled to the gratitude of the State. In this part of the country you are known as the author."

Caleb Atwater, in a letter to Judge Cut- ler, dated Circleville, January 22, 1825, says : "You are doing nobly. Press forward with your equal taxation, the school system, the

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canals, and immortalize this Legislature. What must be your sensations on the prospect you now have of carrying into effect the greatest objects ever presented to our Legislature. Press forward I say in your career of doing good. Posterity will call you blessed."

Henry Dana Ward writes: Shrewsbury. Massachusetts. August 14, 1825. "I have heard from you and of you through my broth- er (Nahum Ward, Esq., of Marietta), and have felt with you and for you in wishing your revenue and school bills into legislative being, and now rejoice with you in the com- mencement of the grand Ohio and Lake Erie Canal, and pray that the school bill may go into as effectual operation as the revenue law. These are great works, long and ardently de- sired, and perseveringly labored for. You have borne a distinguished part in giving them life. and I hope they may long continue a source of satisfaction to you.'

Nahum Ward, Esq .. writes, Marietta. Ohio, January 12, 1825: "We are greatly indebted to you for your services in the Sen- ate and all acknowledge it."

He was positive and earnest in his political views, and never swerved from his convictions upon questions of National policy. In his youth he adopted the principles that governed Washington, Adams, and their compeers, and thus incurred the stigma of Federalist. This, of course, was enough to shut his way to polit- ical promotion or success, but it is true that no man in Ohio, in 1825, stood higher as a statesman of integrity, ability, and compre- hensive views of State policy than himself.

He was ever the active promoter of every useful public enterprise and accepted an ap- pointment from the citizens of Marietta in 1837, and again in 1839, to visit Baltimore for the purpose of securing the examination of a railroad route to the Ohio River, with a view to making Marietta its crossing point.

In 1839, he represented the Whigs of this district at the national convention that nomi- nated General Harrison for president.

In 1836 he was a member of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church which

met in Pittsburg, and also in 1837 at their meeting in Philadelphia, at which time the separation of the church into "Old School" and "New School" took place.

He was early appointed a member of the Board of Trustees of the Ohio University at AAthens, and gave the interests of that institu- tion his constant and devoted attention for many years.

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History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 141

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