USA > Ohio > Pioneer history : being an account of the first examinations of the Ohio valley, and the early settlement of the Northwest territory ; chiefly from original manuscripts > Part 17
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Winthrop Sargent, the secretary of the Ohio company, was associated with Mr. Cutler, in consummating the con- tract, which was finally executed by the board of treasury, the 27th of October, and the first half million of dollars paid. At a meeting of the Ohio company in August, at the Bunch of Grapes tavern, in Boston, Mr. Cutler made a report of the verbal contract he had entered into with the board of treasury. On the 30th of that month it was voted, that a tract of five thousand seven hundred and sixty acres of land, near the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio rivers, be reserved for a city and commons. The
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city was to be laid off in sixty squares, four of which were reserved for public uses. The size of the squares and city lots was subsequently altered, and the reserve for a city reduced to four thousand acres. Resolutions were passed for the construction of houses for the use of the settlers, and also to encourage the erection of mills. At this meet- ing General James M. Varnum, of Rhode Island, was elected a director, and Richard Platt, of New York, treasurer.
At a meeting of the agents and directors of the Ohio company, held at " Cromwell's head" tavern, in Boston, the 21st day of November, 1787, it was resolved, among other things, that " the house lots shall consist of ninety feet front and one hundred and eighty feet in depth," and " that the centre street crossing the city be one hundred and fifty feet wide." At this meeting it was ordered that no more sub- scriptions for shares be received after the first of January ; and that they adjourn to the first Wednesday in March next, to meet at Providence, Rhode Island, for the purpose of drawing the eight acre lots, which are directed to be sur- veyed by that time.
" At a meeting of the directors of the Ohio company, at Bracket's tavern, in Boston, November 23d, 1787, it was ordered, that four surveyors be employed, under the direc- tion of the superintendent, hereinafter named ; that twen- ty-two men shall attend the surveyors ; that there be added to this number, twenty men, including six boat builders, four house carpenters, one blacksmith, and nine common workmen, in all forty-eight men. That the boat builders shall proceed, on Monday next, and the surveyors rendez- vous at Hartford, the 1st day of January next, on their way to the Muskingum; that the boat builders and men, with the surveyors, be proprietors in the company ; that their tools, and one axe and one hoe to each man, and thirty pounds weight of baggage, shall be carried in the com- pany's waggons, and that the subsistence of the men on their journey be furnished by the company ; that upon their
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arrival at the place of destination, and entering upon the business of their employment, the men shall be subsisted by the company, and allowed wages at the rate of four dollars (each) per month, until discharged; that they be held in the company's service until the 1st of July next, unless sooner discharged; and if any of the persons em- ployed shall leave the service, or willfully injure the same, or disobey the orders of the superintendent, or others act- ing under him, the person so offending shall forfeit all claim to wages ; that their wages shall be paid the next autumn in cash, or lands, upon the same terms as the company pur- chased them ; that each man furnish himself with a good small arm, bayonet, six flints, a powder horn and pouch, priming wire and brush, half a pound of powder, one pound of balls, and one pound of buck shot. The men so engaged shall be subject to the orders of the superintendent, and those he may appoint as aforesaid, in any kinds of business they shall be employed in, as well for boat building and surveying, as for building houses, erecting defences, clear- ing land, and planting, or otherwise, for promoting the set- tlement. And as there is a possibility of interruption from enemies, they shall also be subject to orders as aforesaid in military command, during the time of their employment. That the surveyors shall be allowed twenty-seven dollars per month and subsistence, while in actual service, to com- mence upon their arrival at the Muskingum; that Colonel Ebenezer Sproat, from Rhode Island, Mr. Anselm Tupper, and Mr. John Mathews from Massachusetts, and Colonel R. J. Meigs from Connecticut, be the surveyors ; that Gen- eral Rufus Putnam be the superintendent of all the busi- ness aforesaid, and he is to be obeyed and respected ac- cordingly ; that he be allowed for his services forty dollars per month and his expenses, to commence from the time of his leaving home."
To enable General Putnam to execute the business of the company, the directors furnished him with a commission,
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embracing full power to do and transact all matters neces- sary for the progress of the settlement. A meeting of the directors and agents was held on the 5th day of March, 1788, at Rice's tavern, in Providence, Rhode Island.
The agents then present represented one thousand shares, and they proceeded to draw for the eight acre lots, which had been surveyed in the vicinity of the new city, at the mouth of the Muskingum river. At this meeting it was resolved, that a committee, composed of Rev. Mr. Cutler, General Varnum and Colonel May, "consider and report upon the expediency of employing some suitable person as a public teacher, at the settlement now making by the Ohio company." They reported-" That the directors be re- quested to pay as early attention as possible to the educa-
A tion of youth, and the promotion of public worship, among the first settlers ; and that for these important purposes, they employ, if practicable, an instructor eminent for liter- ary accomplishments, and the virtue of his character, who shall also superintend the first scholastic institutions, and direct the manner of instruction, and to enable the directors to carry into execution the intentions expressed in this res- olution, the proprietors, and others of benevolent and liberal minds, are earnestly requested to contribute by voluntary donation to the forming a fund to be solely appropriated thereto."
Under this resolution the directors authorized Mr. Cutler to search out and employ some suitable person to fulfill the intentions of the company. He engaged the Rev. Daniel Story, then a young man who had been but a short time in the ministry, to go on to Marietta, as a preacher of the gospel, where he arrived in the course of the next year. Further notice will be taken of this good man, among the brief biographical sketches of the most eminent of the early settlers. In this resolution we see the spirit of the primitive fathers of New England, sparkling forth in the acts of their descendants. They held that religion and learning went
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hand in hand, and were absolutely necessary in the founda- tions of civil society. This meeting of the " directors and agents, was adjourned to the first Wednesday in July next, then to meet at the settlement upon the Muskingum." After this period the subsequent meetings of the company were held at Marietta.
In pursuance of the orders of the directors of the Ohio company, a party consisting of twenty-two men, under the command of Major Haffield White, assembled at Danvers, in Massachusetts, early in December. In this advance guard were included the boat builders and mechanics. After a tedious and toilsome journey at this inclement season of the year, Major White reached his destination at Sumrill's ferry, on the Yohiogany river, at a point about thirty miles above Pittsburgh, toward the last of January, and immedi- ately commenced preparations for boat building. The sur- veyors, and the remainder of the pioneers, assembled at Hartford, in Connecticut, early in January, 1788, and com- menced their march under the command of General Put- nam, who was aided in the more immediate supervision of the men by Colonel Ebenezer Sproat. When the party reached the mountains, the roads were found impassable for wagons, by the great depth of snow. Sledges, or sleds, were constructed, and the baggage transported over the Alleghanys to the place of destination. When General Putnam arrived at Sumrill's, about the middle of February, owing to the uncommon severity of the weather, and the depth of snow, he found that little progress had been made in the construction of the boats. With this additional force of men, and under the immediate eye and direction of the superintendent, a man in the vigor of life, and bred up to mechanical employments, new spirit was infused into the workmen, and the labors of the boat yard progressed rapidly.
By the 2d day of April the large boat was ready to de- scend the river, and the company of pioneers left Sumrill's ferry in the afternoon of that day. The " Adventure
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Galley," as she was called by the builders, was afterwards named the "Mayflower." She was forty-five feet long and twelve feet wide, with an estimated burthen of fifty tons. Her bows were raking or curved like a galley, strongly timbered, and covered with a deck roof. She was intended to run up stream as well as down; but was found to be rather unwieldy, and only used a few times on voya- ges of this kind. As the galley would not carry all the men, in addition to a large quantity of provision for the future support of the company, a flat boat and three canoes were added to the flotilla. After several stoppages by the way, the pioneers of the new settlement came in sight of Kerr's island, a little after sunrise. It was a cloudy, rainy morning, and as they neared the foot of the island, Captain Devoll observed to General Putnam, "I think it time to take an observation; we must be near the mouth of the Muskingum." In a few minutes they came in sight of Fort Harmer, which was seated just opposite to the junction of that river with the Ohio. The banks of this stream were thickly clothed with large sycamore trees, whose lofty tops and pendant branches leaning over the shores, obscured the outlet so much, that a boat in the middle of the Ohio, in a cloudy day, might pass without observing it at all. Before this mistake could be corrected, they had floated too far to gain the upper point, and were forced to land a short dis- tance below the fort. With the aid of ropes and some sol- diers from the garrison, sent to their assistance by the com- mander, the boat was towed back and crossed the Mus- kingum a little above the mouth, landing at the upper point about noon, on the 7th day of April, 1788. They immedi- ately commenced landing the boards brought from Buf- falo, for the erection of temporary huts, and setting up General Putnam's large marquee. Under the broad roof of this hempen house, he resided and transacted the busi- ness of the colony for several months, until the block-houses
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of Campus Martius, as their new garrison was called, were finished.
The following list embraces the names of the pioneers who first landed at the mouth of the Muskingum, the 7th day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight:
General Rufus Putnam, superintendent of the settlement and surveys.
Colonel Ebenezer Sproat, Colonel R. J. Meigs, Major An- selm Tupper, and Mr. John Mathews, surveyors.
Major Haffield White, steward and quarter master.
Captain Jonathan Devoll, Captain Josiah Munroe, Cap- tain Daniel Davis, Captain Jethro Putnam, Captain Wil- liam Gray, Captain Ezekiel Cooper, Peregrine Foster, Esq., Jarvis Cutler, Samuel Cushing, Oliver Dodge, Isaac Dodge, Samuel Felshaw, Hezekiah Flint, Hezekiah Flint, jr., Amos Porter, Josiah Whitridge, John Gardner, Benjamin Gris- wold, Elizur Kirtland, Theophilus Leonard, Joseph Lincoln, William Miller, Jabez Barlow, Daniel Bushnell, Ebenezer Corey, Phinehas Coburn, Allen Putnam, David Wallace, Joseph Wells, Gilbert Devoll, jr., Israel Danton, Jonas Da- vis, Earl Sproat, Josiah White, Allen Devoll, Henry Maxon, William Maxon, William Moulton, Edmond Moulton, Sim- eon Martin, Benjamin Shaw, Peletiah White, amounting to forty-eight persons.
N. B. Colonel Meigs did not arrive until the 12th of April.
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THE WELCOME. - EARLY VEGETATION.
CHAPTER IX.
Indians welcome the pioneers to the shores of Muskingum .- Early vegetation, -Surveyors commence work. - Letter of one of the settlers. - Reasons for selecting the mouth of Muskingum for a settlement. - Letter of General Par- sons. - Thomas Hutchins. - Description of lands. - Topography .- Saltlicks. - Crops of corn .- Plan of the city .- Ancient works reserved. - First meet- ing of the agents and directors of the Ohio company, at the mouth of Mus- kingum .- New city named Marietta. - Reasons for it. - Classical names for the earth works .- Police officers and regulations for the government of the settlement .- Fourth of July .- General Varnum delivers oration .- Gov- ernor St. Clair arrives. - Addresses the citizens .- Commission. - Names of judges. - Laws promulgated .- Titles of courts .- Excellence of the laws.
AT the time of the landing of the first settlers, Captain Pipes, a principal chief of the Delawares, with about seventy of his tribe, men, women and children, were encamped at the mouth of the river. They had come in a few days be- fore, for the purpose of trading their peltries with the set- tlers, at the garrison of Fort Harmer. They received the new comers very graciously, shaking hands with them, and saying they were welcome to the shores of the Muskingum, on the heads of which stream they resided.
The contrast in the appearance of vegetation between the region they had left three or four days before, where patches of snows still lingered in the hollows, and that of the bottoms on the Ohio, at their new home, was very strik- ing, and was a theme of remark for many years after. The pea vines, and buffalo clover, with various other plants, were nearly knee high, and afforded a rich pasture for their hungry horses. The trees had commenced putting forth their foliage, the birds warbled a welcome song from their
1
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LETTER OF A SETTLER.
branches, and all nature smiled at the approach of the strangers.
On the 9th of April, two days after the landing of the pioneers, Colonel Sproat and Mr. Mathews, with thirteen men, were sent out by the superintendent to survey the eight acre lots for the company. They were commenced thus early for the convenience of the new settlers, who were expected on immediately, and would commence clearing them for cultivation. They were located on the bottom lands, a few miles above the new city, both on the Ohio and Muskingum rivers. The people not engaged in surveying were occupied in cutting down the trees, and erecting log houses, for the shelter of the provisions, and dwellings for themselves. By the 12th of the month, they had cleared about four acres of land, at the junction of the Muskingum with the Ohio.
The settlers seemed much delighted with their new home, and spoke highly in its praise, as appears by one of their letters, of May 18th, addressed to a citizen of Worcester, Massachusetts, and dated at " Adelphi," as the new city was called; and retained this name until the 2d of July, when the directors changed it to Marietta. He says :
" This country, for fertility of soil and pleasantness of situation, not only exceeds my expectations, but exceeds any part of America, or Europe, I ever was in. The cli- mate is exceedingly healthy ; not a man sick since we have been here. We have started twenty buffaloes in a drove. Deer are as plenty as sheep with you. Beaver and otter are abundant. I have known one man to catch twenty or thirty of them in two or three nights. Turkies are innumer- able; they come within a few rods of us in the fields. We have already planted a field of one hundred and fifty acres in corn.". Another writer of July 9th says, " the corn has grown nine inches in twenty-four hours, for two or three days past."
Much has been said and written as to the wisdom of the
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LETTER OF GENERAL PARSONS.
Ohio company, in selecting their purchase as they did, in the hilly and broken region of country on the borders of the Ohio river, at and below the mouth of the Muskingum, when they might have chosen a more level and fertile region.
Some circumstances then existed, which influenced them in the matter, that have since been done away. One was the danger of hostility from the Indian tribes, few of whom lived within a hundred miles of their purchase, and were therefore the less to be dreaded. Another was the proximity of Fort Harmer, garrisoned by a battalion of United States troops, whose walls might protect them in a time of danger, and serve as a check to the daring of the savages. General Parsons, one of the directors of the Ohio company, had visited the country bordering the Ohio river, in the year 1785, as low down as the mouth of the Big Miami, in the capacity of a commissioner to treat with the Shawanese Indians. From that place, dated Fort Finney, December 20th, 1785, he wrote to Captain F. Hart, of Fort Harmer, as follows: "Since I left the Muskingum, I have been as far as the falls of Ohio, one hundred and fifty miles below this place. From the Muskingum to the falls, the lands preserve a great uniformity in appearance and quality. The first place that drew my attention for a settlement, after I passed your post, was the Great Kenawha, in lati- tude thirty-nine degrees, about one hundred and twelve miles below you. This is a fine river, navigable about eighty miles, which will bring us within one hundred miles of the Virginia settlements. The lands on the Indian shore are preferable to those on the Kenawha. The next place for settlements is this spot. The Miami is a large fine river, on which the Shawanees, and other nations, live. The lands are very fine." He concludes by saying, "I have seen no place since I left you, that pleases me so well for a settlement, as Muskingum.
Doctor Cutler, who negotiated the purchase, before 14
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DESCRIPTION OF LANDS.
completing the contract, consulted Thomas Hutchins, the geographer of the United States, where to make the location. He gave him the most ample information of the western country, from Pennsylvania to Illinois, and advised him, " by all means to make the location on the Muskingum, which was decidedly, in his opinion, the best part of the whole western country. Colonel Ebenezer Zane, a man well acquainted with the territory north-west of Ohio, also coincided with this advise. Had the counsel of Mr. Hutchins been strictly followed, and the purchase selected from lands on the Muskingum above the mouth of Licking creek, at the forks of the Muskingum, a country with which Mr. Hutchins was familiar, having visited that region in 1764, as engineer for the army under General Bouquet, the selection would have been far superior to that at the mouth, and along the margin of the Ohio. This would have brought them into the vicinity of the most powerful tribes, and further removed from the older settlements in western Pennsylvania, and the hope of aid from any of the military posts, which were generally near the Ohio river. When we take into consideration the early period of the settle- ment, and all other matters connected therewith, the pur- chase was not so bad a one. The lands were not bought with a view to speculation, but for actual settlement, by a large portion of the share holders, and nothing prevented its speedy accomplishment, but the breaking out of the In- dian war. At the close of that disastrous period, the cur- rent of emigration was diverted from Muskingum, to the vicinity of Fort Washington, and the more fertile region of the Miami and Scioto.
The following description of that portion of the com- pany's lands, lying in the south-east part of the tract, as given by an intelligent settler, will show that the pioneers were well satisfied with the quality of the soil :
" From the eastern boundary to the Muskingum, the dis- tance of about five miles, the intervales, or what are called
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TOPOGRAPHY - SALT LICKS.
in the west, " bottoms," are from one-half to three-fourths of a mile wide, and of the richest quality of soil. Adja- cent to these lie the second bottoms, which are elevated plains, of a thinner soil, and of a more loamy or sandy character. Back of the second bottoms the country rises into hills, clothed with a heavy growth of timber, princi- pally oak. In many places the sides of the hills are cov- ered with beech and sugar tree, and the tops with chesnut or some variety of oak. The hills are not high ; from one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet above the water in the Ohio. They are separated by deep hollows, in which flow small streams of water, many of which are fed by
springs. The uplands afford a fertile, clayey soil, well adapted to the culture of wheat and all the small grains, grazing, &c. In this distance there are two large creeks, tributaries of the Ohio, called Little Muskingum and Duck creek. These are bordered with rich bottom lands, and the hill sides afford suitable tracts for farming.
"We have found several salt licks within our surveys, and are assured there is a salt spring about forty miles up the Muskingum, from which a sufficient quantity of salt, for the supply of the country, may be made. Some gentlemen at Fort Harmer doubt this information, but think a supply may be made at a spring on a branch of the Scioto."
As a specimen of the fertility of the new country, the fol- lowing fact is given :
" About a dozen families moved to this place a year ago last March, and settled opposite to Fort Harmer, on the Virginia side of the Ohio. Their lands were the same as ours, and entirely new. They raised one thousand bushels of corn last season; and although the winter was very se- vere, they wintered, without any hay, making use of the husks and stalks, with some corn, between sixty and sev- enty head of neat cattle and horses ; fattened a sufficient quantity of pork for their own consumption; besides win- tering a large number of swine."
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PLAN OF THE CITY.
In laying out and plowing the grounds for the new city, the main streets were made to conform to the course of the Muskingum river, which is north, forty degrees west, and extends up that stream one mile one hundred and twenty rods. ,They are ninety feet wide and crossed by others at right angles, which are seventy feet wide. The main streets are designated by numbers, and the cross streets by the name of some distinguished person. One of these streets, a little north of the centre of the plat, is one hun- dred and twenty feet wide, and called Washington. They are about half a mile in length. Broad and extensive pub- lic grounds, for commons, were reserved on the bank of the Muskingum. And as the city included the ancient re- mains of a fortified town, the most interesting portion of these were preserved by including them in squares, appro- priated to the public use. These consisted, first, of an ad- vanced work containing a conical mound of earth, the base of which is three hundred and seventy-six feet in circum- ference, and thirty feet in perpendicular hight. It is sur- rounded by a parapet, or bank of earth, five hundred and eighty-six feet in circumference, and fifteen feet thick, with- in which is a ditch, fifteen feet wide and three feet deep. On the north side next the old town is an open space, with- out wall or ditch, as a gateway.
They also reserved in the same manner the two truncated pyramids, or elevated squares, which lie within the principal fortifications. They are similar in form to those since dis- covered in Central America, and described by Stephens. These are of earth, while those are built of stone, and were the elevated sites of public buildings. One of them is nearly square, and is raised about six feet above the surface of the high plain on which it stands. The sides measure one hundred and fifty-three by one hundred and thirty-five feet. The top is perfectly smooth and level, and is reached on three of the sides by regularly graduated ascents, about twenty feet wide; while on the fourth, or south side, is an
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NAMED MARIETTA.
indented recess of the same width. The other elevated square lies on the north-west side of the old town. It is two hundred feet long by one hundred and twenty-four wide, and is six feet in hight. The graduated ascents are alike on all the sides. To the latter was attached a public square containing three acres and one third, or ten city lots ; to the former two acres and two thirds, or eight city lots. These reservations are lasting monuments of the good taste of the directors of the Ohio company.
The first meeting of the directors and agents, west of the mountains, was held "on the 2d day of July, 1788, and continued by adjournment to the 14th day of August, on the banks of the Muskingum, and near the confluence of that river with the Ohio." . It was, doubtless, convened under the marquee of General Putnam, as no building was then erected, of sufficient dimensions to hold them. There were present at this meeting, as follows: Generals Samuel H. Parsons, Rufus Putnam, and James M. Varnum, directors ; Colonel John May, Winthrop Sargent, Colonel Archibald Crary, Major William Corlis, Colonel Return J. Meigs, Cap- tain Aaron Barlow, Colonel Ebenezer Sproat, Major Haf- field White, and General Rufus Putnam, agents. The ยท shares represented amounted to six hundred and sixty-nine. They passed the following resolution as to the name of their new city :
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