USA > Ohio > Washington County > Marietta > The ninety-fifth anniversary of the settlement of Ohio, at Marietta. Historical address > Part 3
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We stand before the world as possessing in a marvelous degree the elements of growth. Great as we are in our agri- cultural, mineral and. manufacturing industries, in our cities and villages, in our charitable institutions, we are greater still in the character of our people.
They are always coming to the front. Pardon me, I do not intend to be boastful, but to state a fact. I can say that for many years Ohio men have wielded an enormous influ-
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ence in shaping the destinies of the nation. This influence has been seen and felt in the congress of the United States, in the chief Executive office of the Nation, in the Cabinet, in the Department of the Judiciary, and in the Army.
So conspicuous has Ohio become in this regard that our envious neighbors sometimes charge us with downright greed in the matter of holding public office. As an answer to all such charges allow me to say that an investigation of the facts will show that, so far as numbers go, we have never had our full share of public places.
I can only account for this envious feeling and misappre- hension of the facts on the part of our neighbors by observ- ing that Ohio men, as a rule, fill their places so conspicuously as to occasion much favorable comment, and then the unthinking say these Ohio men are greedy, and want, and get, everything.
There is a reason, I think, why Ohio has produced so many public characters during the past thirty years. In no other State are the leading industries and great interests so equally divided as in Ohio. Our agricultural, commercial, mineral, and manufacturing interests are about equally divided-these great forces operate equally upon the minds of our people, hence the result is, we are what may be called a level-headed people.
New England and New York are a commercial and manu- facturing people. Pennsylvania is almost wholly a manu- facturing people, the South and West run largely to agricultu- ral, hence, applying the same logic as here, a more or less "lop-sided" people.
I give you this to think about.
I have been greatly pleased with my visit here, and I trust that your interest in your association may continue to grow, and that when the Centennial day comes it will equal in interest any centennial of the country, as it ought to.
Thanking you for the pleasure you have given me I beg to take my leave.
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HON. J. D. TAYLOR, M. C., from the 17th Congressional District, followed the Governor, but we regret to say that we have not been able to obtan a report of his remarks.
COL. E. S. MCINTOSH was expected to make some remarks in reference to the settlements on Wolf Creek and Olive Green. But sickness pre- vented his attendance, and also compelled him to decline a re-election as President of the association. He however sent a letter, which was read, as follows :
LETTER OF COL. E. S. MCINTOSH.
Fellow Citizens and Brother Pioneers :
Compelled by sickness I very reluctantly forego the pleasure of being with you to-day.
You meet to commemorate one of the great historical events of this Nation. The territory comprising the States of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, did not contain men enough until 1798 to entitle it to a Territorial legislature. What gigantie strides have been made since that time the now millions of inhabitants attest.
Recalling the names of some of the old Pioneers of this neighborhood, or rather more properly speaking, near Olive Green, who lived in that vicinity, perhaps from 1796 to 1810, I am reminded of Robert, Philander and Jared Andrews, Gen. Eli Cogswell and his brother Salmon, Aaron Delong, Henry Delong, Jesse and Ezekiel Davis, Stephen Clark, Na- thaniel Chapman, Phineas and Nicholas Coburn, Josiah and Ezra Sherman, Thomas Seeley, Jesse Gibbs, Peter Keith and his sons, Peter and Benjamin.
These Keiths were quite entensive manufacturers of bells for horses, cows and sheep, which with the aid of hammer and anvil they wrought from Juniata Iron. When they had accumulated sufficient stock they loaded their horses with the same and traveled about the country selling them ; and having disposed of their stock, with the money so pro- cured they entered U. S. lands, continuing their ventures until they became well-to-do farmers. Their sons are now among the wealthy men of the West.
Wolf Creek has a history not to be forgotten at this time, and I trust some one more conversant with the early history
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of that locality will have prepared some incidents of its early settlement for this meeting.
Referring to this meeting and her early recollections of this neighborhood, "Mrs. Fanny Gage," (well known to all of you as the daughter of Col. Barker), in writing to my wife says : "Born and brought up in the early days of Ohio, (the State being but six years old at the time of my birth ), its people were few and far between, and the enemies of new settlements in the wilderness, the Indians, the wild beasts, the reptiles, and, perhaps more than all, the mighty giants of the forests that overshadowed the place where they lived, gave admonition to the Pioneers of the fortitude necessary to that success.
These early settlers were truly a band of brothers and sis- ters with open hands and loving hearts ; the needs of one were the needs of all.
My father's house on the great thoroughfare from the first settled town-Marietta-was called the "free tavern," the first stopping place-and the old barrel spring gushing from the nose of the hill, whose pure, sweet water, always a luxury, made us acquainted with all the goers and comers of nearly all the Pioneers of Ohio-there was scarcely a family I did not know from Zanesville to Marietta. Never was there a grander or more determined set of men than these old Pio- neers of Ohio-what a state it has grown, how its records of good, and wise and valiant men looms up among the Nations of the earth." And she adds, "how I wish I could be with you."
Realizing the necessity of brevity when so many of you will have much to say in so limited a time, yet I cannot refrain from relating an incident connected with the " Old Red House " in which I was born. It was after the battle of New Orleans which occurred on the Sth of January, and owing to the primitive manner of transmitting intelligence the news did not reach Marietta until Feb. 22d, on which day the citizens assembled in the hall of the "Old Red House" to hold a meeting of rejoicing.
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Col. Joseph Barker was chairman of the meeting, the ex- citement running so high that while he was speaking he mounted a table, seized and raised a split bottom chair upon which he had been sitting, and in his wild gesticulations thrust the legs through the ceiling, dislodging the plastering, which came down upon the heads of the astonished audience, much to their merriment.
Wishing you all a continued and prosperous existence, and many returns of this anniversary, I am fraternally,
Your Brother Pioneer, E. S. MCINTOSH.
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LETTER FROM JUDGE WELCH.
Hon. R. M. Stimson, of the Pioneer Committee.
Dear Sir : Indispensable professional business will prevent my attendance at the coming celebration. I shall, however, be with you in spirit ; and I desire, through you, and in this form, to respond to the sentiment assigned me : "Pioneer Social Life."
Mr. President : Most of my life has been among pioneers, and it may be for this reason that I give pioneer life the preference. History, however, as well as experience, has taught me the same lesson.
Pioneers are apt to be select men and women. Nature culls them from the masses on account of their physical, mental and moral superiority. They are generally found to be men and women of courage, self-reliance, common sense, and common honesty. In most cases, moreover, they are persons who "seek a better country," as a riddance, a quaran- tine, from the diseases-the corruptions, the luxuries and extravagances of society.
The great men of any country are usually found among its pioneers, or their immediate descendants. For proof of this, read the history of Greek, of Rome, or any other civilized country settled by voluntary emigrants from an older civil- ization. History seems to teach us that truly great men can grow only in a virgin soil-a soil unblighted by the hand of
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luxury and extravagance For a young country, as well as for a young man, the true mottoes are : "Greatness from small beginnings"; "present hardships for future good." The polish of attrition is better than paint. It is better to rise up than to be raised up.
I should vastly prefer the society of Moses to that of the Pharisees ; the society of Paul to that of the Pope ; and the society of Brahma, Budha, Zoriaster, Confucius, or Lao-tse, to the society of any of their present worshipers and followers.
I concede that pioneer settlements are sometimes failures, because not composed of the right materials. Not so with the pioneers who settled here in 'SS. They were the right men in the right place. Ever since I learned their history they have been my beau ideal of great and good men. They were men of whom the nineteenth century ought to be proud. I can only repeat what I said of them once before : They lived for others, and not for themselves. Duty was their rule of action, and the love of duty their motive. They lived for the future rather than for the present. They trampled their selfish propensities under foot, and made of them stepping stones to a higher life. They were self-sacrificing, conscien- tious men,
* * combating Because they ought to combat, Conscious to find that in Martyrdom The stamp and the signet of a noble life, Is all the Science that mankind can reach.
The lives of these pioneers is a lesson. They teach us not to despise the day of small things. They teach us simplicity of life, and the honorableness of labor. They are a shining example of low living combined with high thinking. While they gazed upon the waters of the beautiful Ohio, they also gazed upon the waters above the firmament " whose pebbles are stars." While they sowed the ground with cereals, they took care also to sow it with the seed of State and National prosperity. Their windows of oiled paper gave but a dim light, yet by it they could read the ten commandments, the
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sermon on the mount, Magna Charta, the Declaration of In- dependence, and the Ordinance of eighty-seven. That ordi- nance was of their own building. It was the May Flower in which they sailed from Massachusetts to Marietta ; and the spirit of that ordinance was the gale that wafted them on their way. The good of mankind-the elevation of their race-was the star that they sailed by, and that animated every exertion, and stamped a character upon every enter- prise. By their landing here they have made Marietta the Plymouth Rock of Ohio By the ordinance of 1787, which they built and brought with them, they laid the foundation of our present prosperity and greatness. That ordinance crowned the State with school-houses, churches, colleges and academies, and checkered it with canals and railroads. Nay, it has filled the patent office with inventions, and but for that ordinance the slave would still be wearing his chains. Under such a banner, and under such men, it is no wonder that the march of empire is westward.
Mr. President, I repeat, give me pioneer society; and if you allow me to select, I say, give me the society of the pioneers of 1788. Though born seventeen years after their landing here, and though they have all long since left the stage of action, yet I still enjoy and profit by their society; for though dead they still speak.
Very Resp'y, JOHN WELCH.
Athens, O., April 2, 1883.
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SPEECH OF GEO. M. WOODBRIDGE, ESQ.
The subject assigned me, "The Early Merchants," is not one of my choice. I have held, and if at liberty to-day to do so, I should boldly express the sentiment, that almost all of what we enjoy we owe not to Jefferson, the undoubted author of the thoughts and much of the identical language of the ordinance of 1787, or to Nathan Dane, the Congressman to whom Daniel Webster ascribed the honor of its introduc- tion and passage through Congress, or to merchants, poli- ticians, or physicians, lawyers, or doctors of divinity, but to those who cleared the forest, tilled the ground, built the houses, mills and ships, set out the orchard's, cared for the cattle and sheep, doing all this, oft time, with their guns upon their shoulders. I believe that but for the hardy pioneers, the workingmen of the territory, the second year after 17SS would have found lawyers, merchants, politicians, adventurers, school teachers and preachers on their way to the settlements, their old homes and quiet firesides.
But I will not away from the subject assigned me.
The earliest merchants of the Northwest Territory were, Dudley Woodbridge, Sr., Charles Green, R. J. Meigs, Joseph Lincoln, Abner Lord, Benj. I. Gilman, Dudley Woodbridge, Jr., Wm. Skinner, H. Blennerhassett.
At an early subsequent date we find that Levi Barber, Ich- abod Nye, Augustus Stone, Joseph Holden, James Whitney, Col. Noble, and Jonathan Cram were retailers of merchan- dise and buyers of the productions and pelfry of the country.
At still a subsequent date, but in very early times, Weston Thomas, D. C. Skinner, John Mills, W. and J. E. Hall, D. T. Morgan, Luther Edgerton, D. C. Racer, Nath'l Holden, Sam'l Shipman, D. P. "Bosworth, D. Putnam, Jr., Col. D. Barber and D. B. Anderson were found among ourmerchants.
Where did the early merchants buy their goods ? Chiefly east of the mountains. I have in my possession the original invoices of the first store goods ever brought to Marietta. The accounts were in pounds, shillings and pence, and the articles most in demand were powder, shot,
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lead, flints, tobacco, rum, whisky, fish hooks, shoes, wool hats, spinning wheel irons, common crockery, nails, glass, tea, snuff, gun locks, men's wear, &c., &c., &c. There was no division then of dry goods, hats, shoes, glass ware, hardware, &c., but everything was gathered under one roof.
Goods were carted and brought astride horses to the upper Ohio river, thence by pirogue, flat boat, and later, by keel boat, to the mouth of the Muskingum. In this transit, months were often necessary and the annoyances of delay very great.
Where did the first traders spread their wares and open out their stock ? This is a question not easily answered. I confess I do not know, though I have investigated the matter pretty closely. Dr. Hildreth, in his invaluable history, says in speaking of a period after the Indian War : "Muskingum street was then the 'Cheapside' or ' Merchant's Row' of Ma- rietta, where all the business was done," and yet I have papers showing that the goods received by the first merchants of Marietta in 1789 were carted to the stockade and it is nat- ural to suppose were sold there.
Who purchased the offered goods .? Everybody.
Take for instance the article of whisky. Short would be the list of those who did not use it. On all occasions and by everybody was it provided. I will give you a copy from the original of a few papers which will prove what I say under this head.
Journal Entry :
1795.
May 8. Thomas Stanley, Dr. To 1 qt. brandy for Arbitration. BELPRE, Sept. 30, 1791. SIR: Please to send me by bearer two gallons of whiskey, and I will positively pay you out of the money due me for being a soldier. Your most obedient and humble servant,
EBEN. BATTELLE.
P. S. When at Marietta last, I left at your store, a powder horn and small bullet pouch, which please send me if you can find it.
Pray send wife a little tell.
E. B.
The writer of the above order was a man of high charac- ter and great merit, and the Chaplain of Farmers Castle.
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$650894
MARIETTA, Nov. 19, 1805.
Begin to raise the bridge over Duck Creek.
The amount of whiskey that has been given for the use of raising Duck Creek bridge.
Thursday, Nov. 14, Dudley Woodbridge, Jr., gave four gallons of Peach Brandy.
Friday, Nov. 15, four gallons given by subscription.
Saturday, Nov. 16, no whiskey called for, rained } day.
Thursday, Nov. 21, four gallons given by subscription.
Friday, Nov. 22, four gallons brought up by W. W., 1 gallon given by said William, one by Mathew Backus, one by Judge Meigs and one by Maj. Lincoln.
Saturday, Nov. 23, three gallons got by self.
Sunday, Nov 24, 2 gallons by D. W., Jr.
Monday, Nov. 25, 3 gallons brought by Judge W.
Tuesday, Nov. 26, 3 gallons brought by Judge W.
Wednesday, Nov. 27, 3 gallons brought by Judge W.
Thursday, Nov. 25, broad side of bridge fell down.
Tuesday, Dec. 10, 1805, raised up the broad side again; two gallons given by Chas. Green.
N. B. Mr. Deams informs me that he got the first day that they began to raise Duck Creek bridge four gallons from Col. Lord, and second day three gallons from Mr. Adams.
This bill includes all the whiskey that has been given in for the use of raising Duck Creek bridge, except what was brought up by individuals that no account was taken."
The above paper bears the following endorsement :
" Bill of the whiskey that was given for Duck Creek Bridge."
What had early merchants to do ?
They aided in clearing ground, building cabins, barns, forts, roads, bridges, school houses, churches, paying teach- ers, paying preachers, building cotton factories, woolen fac- tories, rope walks, fulling mills, saw and grist mills, potteries, canoes, pirogues, flats, three masted vessels, digging salt wells, purchasing and collecting peltries from the blue ridge to the Rocky Mountains, then sending them to France and Russia.
To give you some idea of the magnitude of this part of their business : One merchant had collected and brought to Marietta in one year S00 bear skins, from the territory that is now West Virginia. And now I come to two other employ- ments, which it fell to their lot to engage in. The first was to manage a lottery and to attend to the sale and drawing of the tickets. Don't spurn me as a libeller, but look at this, the original of which I possess.
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A BILL.
For raising by way of lottery, money to build a bridge across the mouth of the Muskingum river.
Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of the State of Ohio, that Rufus Putnam, Dudley Woodbridge, Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr., Joseph Buell, Benjamin Ives Gilman, Paul Fearing, Abner Lord, William Skinner, Earl Sproat, Giles Hempstead, Edward W. Tupper, Dudley Woodbridge, Jr., David Putnam, Matthew Backus, Hallam Hempstead, and Levi Barber, be and are hereby appointed managers to raise by way of lottery, a sum not exceeding twenty thousand dollars, to be applied in' erecting a bridge across the Muskingum, between the mouth of a run coming into said river, near the market house and the Ohio river ; and a majority of said managers, shall be at all times a quorum to do business. Five sections to the bill.
MUSKINGUM BRIDGE LOTTERY.
From the rapid sale of tiekets in the Muskingum Bridge Lottery, the Managers of said Lottery, at their meeting on the 14th of December, Re- solved, that Thursday, the 7th of April next, be the day on which the drawing of the Lottery will commence.
The bridge across the Muskingum river at Marietta, the place affixed by the Legislature of this State, will be of great public utility, must be readily acknowledged by every individual living in the State, especially to the inhabitants of Marietta, the proprietors of lands in the Ohio Com- pany purchase, and to the inhabitants of the towns adjacent. All per- sons wishing to encourage so laudable an undertaking are invited to buy; those persons who act on pecuniary motives only, have now an oppor- tunity of increasing their fortunes.
Signed by the Chairman of the Managers.
Marietta, December 16, 1807.
Another thing that at first may appear even more mon- strous. Sometimes they bought slaves. Listen :
To all people to whom these presents may come greeting :
Whereas, Dudley Woodbridge, Esquire, of Marietta, in the County of Washington and State of Ohio, paid to Joseph Cook, of the County of Wood, in the State of Virginia, the sum of two hundred dollars as the price of my freedom, and that the said Cook might have no further right to my services. Now, know ye, that in consideration of said sum so by the said Dudley paid to my use, as also in consideration of fifty cents re- ceived to my full satisfaction of the said Dudley, I, Sukey Morris, Jate of said county of Wood, now of Marietta, aforesaid wife of Jack Morris, of said Marietta do hereby covenant to and with the said Dudley by and with the consent of my said husband to work and labor for the said Dud- ley for and during the term of one year and six months from and after the date of this Instrument, or in default thereof to pay to the said Dud- ley the sum of three hundred dollars. In witness whereof I the said Sukey Morris and also the said Jack in testimony of his assent to this agreement have hereunto set our hands and seals this 21st day of March 1805.
her Signed, Sukey X Morris mark
Witness
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There is nothing more striking in the history of the early business men of Marietta than their particularity in recording every transaction in detail, as if for long after reference. For instance there may be found as in a journal or note book the history of every rise in the river, every Indian alarm, the movement of troops, the building of forts, store houses, dwelling houses, &c., &c. I can, from these old papers, tell you of the cost of the old log jail and Court House ; the cost in items of several old houses, gone long years ago, others still standing weather beaten by the storms that fell upon the wigwam of the savage as well as in these after years. Here also we find the cost of the first clearings and who did the work, the action of Congress and the State Assembly, but more especially all the particulars of every business trans- action. For instance-there stands partly imbedded in the ground, at the junction of the three principal streets of Mari- etta an iron boiler ; the corner has long years ago taken its name, boiler corner, from the same. I have in possession book memorandums, the date of its arrival here, its weight, where it was made, the cost of same, the charges, freight and expense of hauling same from the river shore. I can, de- rived from the same source, tell you of all the cargoes of the early ships sent seaward from this port of entry, and their receptions along shore and in foreign ports.
Also from among the same papers can be found the date and circumstances under which Dudley Woodbridge, Jr., and Herman Blennerhassett became mercantile partners, the former only eighteen years of age, also their great regard and esteem for each other, the regrets of each when it was found that Mr. B.'s plans would bring separation, their correspond- ence about a dissolution-the statement of their profit and loss of seven years extensive business-propositions and acceptance of settlement-drafts given by D. W. in purchas- ing all of H. B's interest in trade after deducting certain payments then made, and filed away among same papers all of those drafts paid in full and Mr. B's acknowledgement of all indebtedness paid to his full satisfaction.
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So I find among these papers and books a full account of all the circumstances of business partnerships with numerous people. Notably with Thos. Pierce, Augustus Stone, Coi. Noble, Dan'l Converse, Dan'l Green, John Mills, D. T. Mor- gan, Sam'l Shipman, D. C. Racer, &c., &c., and in any hour of any day I can show to any inquisitive person the amount of capital employed, the amount of money made or lost, the amount of bad and doubtful debts outstanding and indeed the smallest transactions of the months or years of a business connection. Who in these days does business in this way ?
Before I close, allow me to speak of the great age to which many of the early merchants lived : William Skinner, 72; Col. Levi Barber, 54; Joseph Holden 92: Augustus Stone, 99; Dudley Woodbridge, Sr., 75; Weston Thomas, 90 ; John Mills, 89 ; Wyllis Hall, 74 ; Chas. Greene, 68; Dudley Wood- bridge, Jr., 74; D. B. Anderson, 64. Still living-David Put- nam, 76, Col. David Barber, 84 ; J. E. Hall, 90 ; D. C. Skin- ner, 82 ; D. T. Morgan, 77 ; Luther Edgerton, 78 ; D. C. Ra- cer, 78.
MR.D.W. CALDWELL, Secretary of the Cincinnati Pioneer Associa- tion, spoke briefly, referring to the fact that Adelphi was first suggested as the name of the town at the mouth of the Muskingum ; that the date of the settlement here was but a few months earlier than that of Cincin- nati, and that the builder of Fort Harmar also erected Fort Washington, at Cincinnati. He then read a letter of Judge Burnet's, of Cincinnati, in answer to an invitation to attend the Marietta Pioneer Celebration on the 7th of April, 1836, and in behalf of his society (which he said was "now in session in Cincinnati") presented the letter to this Association.
Thereupon, at President Andrew's suggestion, the following telegram was sent to the Cincinnati Association :
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