History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 48

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 48

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336

HISTORY OF MARIETTA AND WASHINGTON COUNTY,

The three officers. Major White, Colonel Oliver and Captain Dodge then formed a partnership, very notable both because of its enterprise and because of its being the first corporation for doing business in the vast territory of the Northwest, since so richly teeming with great industries. They erected at these falls, about one-half mile from the present town of Beverly, Ohio, and Water- ford, grist and saw mills, and built nearby a fortification or block-house for the protection from Indian attacks of those connected with the mills. These mills, according to Dr. S. P. Hildreth and other historians, furnished the bread stuff for the colonists of Marietta for a year or so before any other mills were erected in the Northwest Territory. The products of these mills were conveyed to Marietta in piro- gues ( a kind of dugout canoe ), and attended by an anned guard. The banks of the Mus- kingum River at this time were covered with a labyrinth of foliage and vines that furnished a safe hiding place for many an unfriendly red man. As hostilities increased toward the last outbreak of the Indian wars of this special pe- riod, it became necessary to abandon the mills until the close of the war, when they were again put in operation. The millstones used in these mills were of very fine quality and quarried in the Blue Ridge Mountains. At the time of the Columbian Exposition in Chi- cago the Ohio State Historical Society asked the privilege of exhibiting these in the An- thropological Building, where they were ob- jects of great interest. The stones, in a per- fect state of preservation, remain in the pos- session of the Dodge family of Beverly, and are relies of extraordinary interest, also the gun which was used here and which Captain Dodge Ir ught with him from Massachusetts when he joined the Ohio Company. An ac- companying illustration depicts one of the mill- stones : also the gun referred to, and other ob- jects associated with the family's history.

During the Indian War Captain Dodge took his family from the settlement in what is now Waterford township to reside in the block- house in Marietta, where they had relatives.

Mrs. Susanna Morgan Dodge, wife of Cap- tain Dodge, like her kinsman, Gen. Daniel Morgan, to whose line she belonged, took a brave and active part in the frontier life of this period. According to the records of the military surgeon who came on periodical visits to Fort Harmar, Marietta, Beverly, the French settlement of Gallipolis, and other points, "there being no physicians in the forts in his absence." Susanna Morgan Dodge "cared for a number of his patients." The gifts which had shown in the society of the East were adapted with saving common sense and cour- age to the exigencies and sacrifices of life in this new country. At the mill settlement made in Waterford township by her husband, flax fields were planted and wheels for the making of thread and looms for weaving were started under her care. A linen garment made at this time is preserved by the Ohio State Historical Society. Twice a week after the establish- ment of Forts Dean, Tyler and Fry, when she had returned to their place near Beverly, she instructed the children from these settlements in the catechism of the Puritan faith and spir- itual essentials. Family worship was main- tained by her, and for many generations after her death the custom was still kept up in the same house, her works truly following her.

The Marquis De La Fayette, who had known Mrs. Susanna Morgan Dodge, at the close of the War of the Revolution, when he heard that she had joined the Ohio Company, said to an American gentleman : "There will be a Princess in the 'Courts of the Wilder- Such an impression had this matron who had come to preside over one of the best known homes in the heart of the Muskingum Valley made upon the aristocratic ally of the American cause. Her wedding ring was in- herited by Mrs. Susannah Dodge Cook, her granddaughter, of Marietta, Ohio.

Her son. John Dodge, Esq., of Beverly, Ohio, married for his first wife Mary Stone. The eldest son of this union, Dr. Israel Stone Dodge, was for 40 years a prominent physi- sician of Cincinnati and also identified with the medical college there as lecturer. His por-

MILLSTONE, COAT OF ARMS, GUN, BIBLE, AND OTHER OBJECTS BROUGHT TO THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY BY CAPT. JOHN DODGE.

( THIS MILLSTONE WAS PURCHASED BY CAPTAIN DODGE IN 1787 FOR THE MILLS THAT WERE BUILT THE FOLLOWING YEAR ON WOLF CREEK; IT WAS THE FIRST IN THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY OR OHIO. )

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.

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trait accompanies this article. She was also the mother of Sidney Dodge, of Iowa, of Will- iam A. Dodge, of Christopher Columbus Dodge, of Eliza, of Melissa, and of John Dodge, who died in his youth. Of the other members of this branch of the Dodge family, one of them, Sidney Dodge, moved from Bey- erly to Iowa and became a leading citizen of Muscatine County. His son, Judge John Ed- ward Dodge, was the youngest judge to sit upon the bench in Nebraska. Another of them became United States Minister to Spain, and still another a member of the United States Senate, a father and son both being in Con- gress at the same time. Of those of Captain Dodge's branch of the family who were en- gaged in the Civil War, Maj .- Gen. Granville M. Dodge, the son of his brother, Phineas, from Massachusetts, attained perhaps the greatest distinction, although the army regis- ter of the United States contains the names of a number of other relatives directly connected with the Capt. John Dodge branch who have given brilliant military service to their country.

John Dodge, Esq., of Beverly, married for his second wife Nancy N. Patterson, of Vir- ginia. Her family were closely related to the Baltimore Patersons, whose daughter, Eliza- beth, married Jerome Bonaparte, and Mrs. Nancy Patterson Dodge bore a striking re- semblance to her cousin, Madame Bonaparte. Her father and mother, Mr. and Mrs. Patter- son, came from Virginia to Waterford at a very early date in the last century, to reside near Mrs. Dodge. Mr. Patterson held several pub- lic offices in Washington County and died there, being buried near his wife and daughter. Prudence ( who was betrothed to Mr. Stewart. a statesman of Pennsylvania, at the time of her death) in the old Waterford cemetery, where are also buried a large number of the Dodge family.

The sons of Mr. Patterson were all college bred men, educated in the East. The eldest was Rev. Oliphant Patterson, an eminent Pres byterian divine, who preached over 50 consecu" tive years in the Ohio Valley and was the author of a number of theological works. He

died at Oxford. The other sons were Alfred Patterson, for many years a banker in Pitts- burg ; Thomas Patterson, a large cotton plant- er, who lived in Louisiana and Texas, dying in New Orleans; and Ewing Patterson, who entered the ministry, but died in his youth.

The children of John Dodge, Esq., of Bev- erly, and Nancy N. Patterson, of Virginia, were Patterson Oliphant Dodge and Colina N. Dodge, who married S. B. Robinson, a law- yer of Beverly, also at one time prosecuting attorney of Washington County.

Patterson Oliphant Dodge, who inherited that part of the estate of his father which re- mained of the plain land and hills back of Bey- erly after Mr. Dodge had laid out the bottom in the town proper, was the only one of Mr. Dodge's sons who remained in his native town until his death. Although absent in St. Paul and the West and in New Orleans for extend- ed periods at different times, he was deeply attached to the Muskingum Valley. He took an active interest in agriculture as prac- ticed upon his own place. He was a director in the First National Bank, established in Bev- erly, and one of the principal promoters and owners of an oil refinery built there. He also, in company with J. B. Bain, built the "Island Mills," then the largest flouring mills in Wa- terford township. He owned other manufac- turies at different periods, an iron foundry, a tannery, and also operated a steam ferry be- tween Waterford and Beverly, the rights for which he inherited from his father. Mr. Dodge was a very intellectual. as well as a patriotic man. At the outl rok of the Civil War he ffered his services to lis erului. On account , I his then failing health he was not permitted to do service, but he contributed generously to the fitting out of several military companies. Hle lrul been quite an extensive traveler in his Dan country. He died in the prime et his life. about 44 years of age, and is buried in Beverly. Ohio.

Patterson Oliphant Dodge, in 1859, had married the yolingest daughter of Ilon. Silas Heimway Jenison, a state man who was Gov- ernor of Vermont for four terms and an

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HISTORY OF MARIETTA AND WASHINGTON COUNTY,

author, residing at Shoreham, on Lake Cham- plain. The widow of Mr. Dodge, Mrs. Laura Louise Jenison Dodge, now resides with her family on the estate left to her husband. She was educated in the most cultured and exclu- sive society of the New England of her dav. and received additional advantages in the fa- mous French convent of Montreal, Canada, where she was taken by her father, Governor Jenison, receiving afterward also instruction from private tutors. Mrs. Dodge was one of the organizers of the Soldiers' AAid Society at the beginning of the Civil War. She was one of the original members of the "Ohio Temper- ance Crusade." She has presided over her household as hostess to a long succession of guests and friends, with the gentle dignity of the chatelaine of that school of manners and morals in which she was so fortunately born and reared. The last of that perfect flower of her generation whose like is not reproduced in the atmosphere of this later day. Her por- trait, reproduced from the painting by Rhine- hardt, is shown on a near-by page.

Major John Patterson Dodge, eldest son of Patterson Oliphant and Laura Louise Jeni- son Dodge, was educated for the profession of medicine, practicing several years in Beverly in partnership with Dr. Charles M. Hunston and afterward lived some time in Arizona and California. He was a graduate of Starling Medical College, of Columbus, Ohio, and also attended post-graduate courses there and at the New York Post-Graduate School and Hos- pital. At the beginning of the Spanish- American War. Dr. Dodge was appointed by President Mckinley brigade surgeon with the rank of major, serving until the disbandment of the Cuban and Puerto Rican forces on the staff of Generals Andrews, Wade and Coleby. His services in the Montauk Detention Hospi- tal work and elsewhere are given very honor- able mention in the report of the Surgeon- General, Sternberg, upon the Spanish- Amer- ican war. His portrait accompanies this sketch1.

Dodge, was educated in the public schools and college of Beverly, and afterward took a busi- ness course at Poughkeepsie, New York. He has been engaged in the lumber and drug busi- ness previous to his removal to California. He is at present a resident of Kansas City, being connected with a chemical company. He is the last of the family of Ex-Gov. Silas Heimway Jenison to bear his name.

The daughters of Patterson Oliphant and Laura Louise Jenson Dodge were Virginia Ve Dodge, who lives at the Dodge place, Bev- erly, and Agnes Dodge, a young lady who died in 1890. Agnes Dodge was a very gifted musician, her inspirational power being of a high order. She had produced several mus- ical compositions of merit for the piano and banjo, and was also the possessor of a soprano voice of extraordinary quality and scope, that had been cultivated by the best masters. Her early death deprived the world of the fruition of a genius that would doubtless have made a brilliant career for itself.

.All the members of the Dodge family from the earliest settlement of Washington County have been members of the Masonic order and loyal to its principles. During the time of the disaffection in the United States with Mason- ry on account of the supposed killing of one Morgan, the Mount Moriah Lodge of Bev- erly, Ohio, one of the first in the State, was enabled to maintain itself in its proceedings through this period by the courtesy of John Dodge, Esq., who gave up the finest upper room in his house for the use of this lodge. ! There the members met secretly until public , disfavor was removed.

The political faith of the Dodge family has been that of the Republican party since the day of its establishment in 1856. Vari- ous members of it have been prominently iden- tified with its work and interests. All have been loyal to its principles.

John Dodge, Esq., the founder of Beverly and of Beverly College, was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, in the year 1784, and came as a child to live in the block-house at Marietta

Jenison Brooks Dodge, second son of Pat- terson Oliphant and Laura Louise Jenison ; with his parents during the Indian wars of

MRS. LAURA LOUISE JENISON DODGE. FROM THE PAINTING RY RHINFHARDE.)

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that period. At their close in the last decade of the 18th century the home where he was reared was built by his father, Captain Dodge, on the left bank of the Muskingum, in what is now the town of Beverly. Although John Dodge, Esq., inherited a goodly estate, he was the promotetr of a great number of enter- prises in his day which not only added mater- ially to the fortune left him but increased the general prosperity of the region where his family, as pioneers of the Northwest Terri- tory, had cast their lot.

Early in the century it was the desire of Mr. Dodge to advance the educational inter- ests of the community in which he lived ; he therefore obtained from the State of Ohio a charter for the establishment of a college, in- tended by him to be the nucleus of a large in- stitution for classical instruction. He built entirely at his own expense a substantial brick building of three stories well arranged for the purpose for which it was designed in that day, and secured the co-operation of well known educators. The bell placed on this building was from a noted firm of bell mak- ers and is one of the finest-toned in the valley.

In the life time of John Dodge, Esq., he made liberal and frequent gifts to several schools and to the promotion of religious works. His home was a rendezvous for all ministers of Puritan faith who frequented the vicinity where he lived, or who passed through the valley bound east or west. In order that Beverly College might draw to itself strength from outside sources, Mr. Dodge vested the charge of this institution in the synod of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church but not as a sectarian school. Benjamin Dana, a friend of the same faith as Mr. Dodge. later co-oper- ated with him toward the support of the col- lege, by giving a tract of land and coal bank. in order that the revenue from these might help to maintain the college at Beverly.

The Dodge Park .- At the time that John Dodge, Esq., founded the town of Beverly, he gave for park purposes a piece of land very beautifully located on a plain in the upper part of the town. It had been a portion of the

land grant made his father, Captain Dodge, for his services in the War of the Revolution. It was also a spot held as an Indian confer- ence ground, and he considered that it would be of special interest for the purpose for which he donated it on account of its historic asso- ciations. No improvements were made on this however by the town which received the gift, until within the last decade when the granddaughter of Mr. Dodge, Miss Virginia Ve Dodge, asked the Town Council the priv- ilege of planting it with trees and shrubbery in order that it might be completed in her life time according to the original intention of the donor. Miss Dodge was elected by vote of the people, park director. The Park is now very well grown and a great improve- ment to the town. It was for about 50 years after the gift was made used as a circus ground, common and pasture. Mr. Dodge also gave to the town of Beverly a plat of ground adjoining the lock walls which would answer for a boat landing and serve other pur- poses of conveniences. Since the government took charge of the Muskingum River im- provements, this plat of ground has been kept in a beautiful lawn and has a very sightly little house for the lock keeper and makes an inviting approach to the village.

John Dodge, Esq., also made gifts of land to churches of all the denominations then ex- isting in Beverly on which to erect church buildings. He was the means of making the town of Beverly, which he named for his . birthplace Beverly, Massachusetts, the beau- tiful and famous spot that is now known to be. as a resort and place of residence, in a valley so widely celebrated for its charms.

Hamilton Brooks, son of Melissa Dodge and Maj. Samuel Brooks, was prominently as- sociated with the business of Beverly previous to the Civil War and operated in company with his uncle. Patterson Oliphant Dodge, the "Island Mills," then the largest in Beverly. Following this he moved to Memphis, Ten- nessee, where he has since become one of the wealthiest and most honored men of that place.

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HISTORY OF MARIETTA AND WASHINGTON COUNTY,

WATERTOWN TOWNSHIP.

Watertown township is the largest in the county, containing an area of 4212 square miles.

At the date of its establishment. June 4. 1806, Watertown, then Wooster. included only the fourth township of the tenth range. The commissioners at a subsequent meeting set off of Waterford and attached to Wooster that part of the town of Waterford lying in the third township of the tenth range, and the eleventh range, and so much of the eighth township of the eleventh range as lies south of the west branch of Wolf Creek.

At the September session of the commis- sioners, 1813, six sections, 31 to 36, of Union. were set off and annexed to Wooster. The name of the township was changed from Wooster to Watertown, December 6, 1824, the object being to avoid the annoyance of having two Woosters in the same State, there being a town and township bearing that name in Wayne County. The name "Watertown" was selected in honor of the Waterman family, one of whose members lost his life in the early settlement.

Watertown received an important addition of territory in 1877 when Union township was partitioned. Union township, when originally estillished in 1812. inchuled the whole of township three, range nine, and sections 31. 32. 33. 34. 35 and 30, of township three. range nine. This tract had previously been a part of Marietta and Adams. Watertown as it existed before 1813 had originally been a part of Waterford.

bow Creek allottment, then west to the south- west corner of lot number Io, in same allott- ment, then north to the northeast corner of lot number 16, then west to the line of Watertown township, then south to the place of beginning, was annexed to Watertown township. The territory constituting Watertown was or- iginally embraced in Marietta and Water- ford. Legal divisions generally became smaller as the population grew more dense, but every change of boundaries but one (when Palmer was established ) has resulted in the enlargement of this territory.

Much of the early history of Watertown is embraced in the history already given of the expansion of the Ohio Company. The valley above Wolf Creek was settled in 1797 by an English family named Mellor ; soon followed by Mathew Corner, John Bacon and James Quigley. Two servants of the Blennerhas- setts came into Wolf Creek after the ruin of their master.

The first school in Watertown was taught in 1799 by Nathaniel Gates. Schools were in existence on West Branch and in the Star- ling neighborhood at an early date. Several mills have been erected on the site of the orig- inal Wolf Creek Mills previously described. A mill at Watertown was erected as early as 1825 by John Paine.

The village of Watertown sprang up at the intersection of the Marietta-Lancaster road and the county road from Waterford. The first store here was opened in 1828 by Abijah Bre Es, who was also first postmaster. Church- town P. O. was established in 1875 with M. Jurdan as postmaster.

The territory of Union had grown smaller A meeting house of the Methodist denom- ination was the first to be erected in Water- town township. It was called Wolf Creek Chipel and was built in 1802 of the west branch. The "First Methodist Society of Wester" was incorporated in 18IO. . A Methodist Church was built on the North Marietta reid in 1830 and the Salem was organized in 1885. The First Presby- by annexations to Watertown. Adams and Muskingum, and finally the town. December, 1877, lost its identity entirely. The part bounded by a line beginning at the southwest corner of section 26, and running due east to the southwest corner of section eight. then north to the south line of "Wiseman's Bot- tom allottment." then west to the southwest . Church in 1871. The Watertown Church corner of Wiseman's Bottom, then north to the southeast corner of lot number five, in Rain- , terian Church of Wooster was incorporated

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in November, 1821. Ten years later the church in Waterford was organized. In 1848 a village Presbyterian Church was organ- ized. In 1853 the two Presbyterian churches united. The First Universalist Church was built in 1835 and reorganized and rebuilt, after de- struction by fire, in 1870. In 1845 a Luther- an society purchased the Methodist Church but built a new church in 1855. A Catholic Church was organized about 1850. Two churches were built in 1866,-the Ave Maria Church on Rainbow Creek, the other on land donated by Mr. Judson. The Catholic Church in Watertown is one of the finest in the county. The United Brethren society built Pleasant Grove Chapel in 1871.

The following sketch, kindly furnished tis by Deming L. Breckenridge, of Watertown, will be read with interest by many who live in other parts of the county.

THE BRECKENRIDGE FAMILY.

During the times of commotion when Bruce and Baliol were contending for the throne of Scotland, many emigrated from the Lowlands to the Highlands, some taking up their abode in the mountain region and others occupying the fertile glen near the sea-shore. Among the latter, settling in Argyleshire in the Highlands, were the ancestors of the Breck- enridges of this county.

John and AAndrew Breckenridge were grandfathers to those of the name first com- ing to Washington County. The children of John were Hugh. John, Andrew, Isabell, Will- jam, Thomas, Peggy, Mary. and Jane. Oi these only four ever came to this country. Isa- bell married John Clark and settled in Virgin- ja. Thomas came to this country in 1830 and settled in Belpre, where he died a for years since. His family have mostly moved to the West. John and Mary came at a later date. Andrew Breckenridge, Esq., of Belpre and the late John, David and George Breckenridge. of Barlow. were sons of Hugh. "Deacon" John and Rey. Thomas Breckenridge, of In- diana, were sons of John. Thomas Brecken- ridge, of Barlow, and his several brothers.

some of whom have moved from the county, were sons of David Breckenridge a descendant of Andrew,-brother of John referred to, and a son of Hugh Breckenridge.

The children of Andrew Breckenridge, who married Nancy Brown, were: Robert, born February 24. 1794; Isabell, January 7, 1796: John and Hugh, who were twins, May 12, 1798; Edward, January 25, 1803; Will- iam, December 10, 1805 : Elizabeth, March 30, 1808: and Nancy, October 10, 1815. All were born in Argyleshire. All of these be- came residents of Washington County and their descendants with few exceptions have remained here, really comprising the Brecken- ridge family solid of the county.

Robert, who came first, was married to Catharine Harvey. April 25, 1818. They left Greenock for America June Ist, landed in New York, September Ist, and walked the greater part of the way from there to Philadelphia and from there to Pittsburg, whence on keel- boat they journeyed to Marietta, arriving in October. 1818. They first settled in Wesley township removing to Barlow in 1828, where Mr. Breckenridge died October 2. 1871. By his death the Barlow Presbyterian Church lost not only its senior elder, but also one of its main supporters. His wife survived hia a number of years. Their family of six chil- dren were: Nancy, Catharine. Isabell, Eliz- abeth, James HI. and Mary Ann. Catharine died December 21, 1839: Isabell died May 21. 1865: Nancy died in September, 1893; and Elizabeth, who married James Milligan, is also dead.

Isabell, daughter of Andrew and Nancy ( Brown) Breckenridge, married James Col- ville in 1814. They came to America in the fall of 1837. Their family of eight children were: Nancy, Isabell, Robert, Andrew. James, Martha, John and Am, three oi with have died- I hn in October, 1853. . . drew in the spring of 1863, and Nancy in July, 1804. Mr. Colville was born in Scot- land. 1791 and died April 2, 1877. His wife died February 2, 1870.

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History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio, and representative citizens, Part 48

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