Destruction of Sacra Via

 

Drawing from "Ancient Mound at Marietta," by Samuel P. Hildreth, 

The American Pioneer, Volume 1, No. 10, October 1842, page 73.

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The Marietta Intelligencer, January 30, 1855:

The Ancient Works

Dear Mr. Editor . . .

One of the pleasantest walks about Marietta is that which takes you to across the elevated square and past the mounds in its neighborhood; but it almost makes me angry to attempt it, for I am compelled to witness the spoilations which are continually going on among our ancient works - the covered way especially. I do really wonder if the spirit of reverence has died out entirely among our citizens! One would surely think so. I don't know how I should feel if I was a big influential MAN - but as it is, I am ready to blush whenever these things are mentioned, as they invariably are by strangers visiting the place as the objects most note-worthy about here. And I have noticed in all the letters from and about Marietta, either in this paper or others, that with but one exception The Ancient Works have burnished a prominent topic.

Those mounds, the relics of those once mighty Indians now no more, and the Campus Martius - the covered way - which we should cherish as almost sacred monuments of the perils of our brave forefathers - all "passing away" and there is a road cut through the covered way in one place while the rest is being dug away to be made into brick, I believe! Oh Young America!

M. Ellen Winthrope.

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The Marietta Intelligencer, August 11, 1858:

Governor Greiner, of Columbus, was down here some ten days ago and spent the Sabbath. On looking into his paper of last Friday, which did not reach us until last night, we find a two column article headed "A Trip to Marietta." . . . We have room to-day for but a few extracts from his article:

Vandalism

Returning, we passed over the ancient works, the location of which being within its boundaries, has given to Marietta much of its celebrity.

What was our surprise and mortification to find a brick yard upon the Covered Way, and about a dozen laborers busily employed with a pick axe and shovel in digging away the ancient embankments for the purpose of making brick. This sacrilegious outrage, this almost unheard of species of modern vandalism is permitted by the authorities of Marietta, because the contractor promises to pay to the city five cents a yard for the clay to make brick of. Shade of General Rufus Putnam! Only think of it! Digging down these celebrated ancient works to make brick! the inducement five cents a yard!!! What ought to be done with a City Council that would tolerate such an outrage?

A thousand thanks for that, Mr. Greiner. Not very complimentary to the Council, to be sure, but richly deserved. Will you be so kind as to suggest what ought to be done with men who would be guilty of such sacrilege. We can think of nothing bad enough.

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The Marietta Intelligencer, September 29, 1858:

The Marietta Mound and Earthworks

In the New York Christian Inquirer we find a letter from this place, which we judge from the initials to have been written by a gentleman at present a temporary resident here. He writes upon the ancient works of Marietta. From his letter we make the following extracts:

Marietta - remarkable for its beautiful situation among the hills, at the confluence of the Ohio and the Muskingum, and for its college, the best in Ohio, and its Unitarian church, the most perfect, perhaps, as a work of art, in the West - is not less remarkable for its vestiges of a race of men of whom the most vague traditions is lost, the ancient mound-builders. The relics here are, with one exception, as remarkable as any in the Mississippi Valley. They are numerous and extensive, far more so than I had ever supposed.

I knew that in coming to Marietta I was going to the very heart of the mound region, but I cannot picture to you my surprise and bewilderment when last week, on turning a corner, I came in sight of the burying-ground and saw rising in the very midst of the city of the dead, with faultless symmetry, one of the largest mounds of the West. I do not think I could have been more impressed with an unexpected view of the Egyptian Pyramids. In the midst of fresh graves it rises, the grave of the buried Past, a perfect cone, to the height of thirty feet. Some dozen of the largest Western trees are growing upon it, one an oak of great antiquity; but older yet are a few decaying trunks where trees of an unknown age once flourished and died.

When Marietta was settled, all the earthworks were covered with a dense forest; now the trees remain but upon two. I shall have something to say by-and-by of the desecration to which they have been subjected.

A detailed account of the Mound and Elevated Square follows, and the letter thus concludes:

All these works lie on a plateau above the valley of the Muskingum, a fair and grassy plain. There is one other work which to me was as marked as any. I mean the Sacra Via, or Covered Way, as the people generally term it.

From the larger square on the plateau there leads to the river's banks one of the most imposing of roads. It is about seven hundred feet long and lies between two artificial banks, which are in the highest place some twenty feet high. The centre of this road is raised and gracefully rounded. At the foot of the banks this Sacra Via is one hundred and fifty feet wide; from the top of the banks across it is two hundred and thirty feet. Probably nowhere in the world can a finer relic of ancient roadmaking be found.

As I stood on the banks of the Muskingum and let my eye run up this masterly ancient road, and in my mind saw it thronged with the men of an ancient civilization, passing to and from their religious rites on the plateau above, and saw the altars smoking with the victims, and the mound overshadowed with the Divine presence which they adored, I felt that this communing with the Spirit of the Past had richly paid me for my visit West; for the desire to be for a time among these scenes had been one motive in inducing me to spend a few months in Ohio.

There is one great drawback here, just as there is wherever the Present comes in contact with the Past. The utilitarian spirit of the day is here before me and is doing its customary work. It does seem a sacrilege to see a miserable modern Warren Street, running up and down the middle of the magnificent Sacra Via, and to see a road cut directly through the banks which form the sides of it, in order to accommodate the wants of a tannery.

A German colony, too, has located itself on the site of the smaller square, and with making cellars and ploughing gardens and laying out streets, the day is close at hand when not a vestige of it will be seen. The Sacra Via is already harmed beyond telling by the roads which I have mentioned. The top of the large altar is a cow pasture.

But thanks to a few wise souls, the smaller altar is fenced, and the mound is in the cemetery, and they are safe. No, not quite safe. Some are discussing seriously the expediency of excavating the sides of the latter and putting tombs therein. It makes me almost provoked, that is to day, it carries me about as far as Paul would have me go, in "being angry and sinning not," to see this utilitarian spirit wreaking its dollar-and-cent spite upon these mysterious remains. The intention of the first settlers of Marietta was to have them sacredly preserved.

In the frontispiece of the Smithsonian volume of Squier and Davis, you have a good colored view of the Marietta remains. The last picture in the work is a colored engraving of the great mound. In the body of the book is a chart and a full description. I suppose the volume is in most good libraries. That gives a better account than I can give, for I feel the need, of engraving to tell the whole story in a worthy way. But no view equals the seeing. When you look at that mound and stand on the altars, and throw your glance up the Covered Way, you are in the very presence of the past, and the spirit of that gray, dim, mysterious Past oppresses you with its vague and uncertain shadows, but delights you with the bewilderment which it awakes.

W. L. G.

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The Marietta Republican, March 29, 1861:

Sacra Via Destroyed

Sacra Via has been destroyed; several thousand yards of earth have been cut away and made into brick by the retiring member of the Council from the Second Ward. It is pretty generally understood that he has never paid or offered to pay therefore. If this be true would it not be well for voters to ponder the matter well before consenting to return him again?

One of the most beautiful spots in our City has been destroyed by our iconoclastic Councilman, and though he cannot restore the view, he should be compelled to make some recompense for his vandalism. Think of this, voters of the Second Ward.

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History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens, Martin Register Andrews (1902), page 367:

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church 

[Old church building on lower Fourth Street, demolished in 1917.]

The church was begun in 1850 and after three years completed. The greatest amount subscribed by any one individual was $100, and that amount was given by but three persons, i.e., Father Perry, Hugh Brennan and John Burke.

What may be of interest to state is the fact that the clay our of which the bricks for the new building were made was taken from an old Indian mound - supposed to be an old prehistoric fortification, situated about where now passes Sacra Via street.

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The Marietta Times, May 20, 1869:

John Greiner Song

The following original song was sung by Governor Greiner at a gathering of the Odd Fellows, in this place, on Wednesday night, 12th inst.

Floating down the blue Muskingum,
     In the merry month of May;
Forests filled with sweetest music,
     Fields with flowers in bright array,
Coming all, with hearts as lightly
     As the dancing waters flow;
On the way to Marietta,
     On the river Ohio.

Nestling homesteads, blooming orchards,
     "Cattle on a thousand hills;"
Sparkling through the fragrant meadows,
     Murmuring brooks, and crystal rills;
Valley of the happy Elk-Eye,
     Richer landscapes who can show!
Journeying on to Marietta,
     On the river Ohio.

Odd Fellows of the Ancient Order
     Built the mystic Covered Way;
"Campus Martius," "Sacra Via,"
     Mounds and Plain, their skill display.
Good old fellows - funny fellows,
     Did a heap of work to show
Our Grand Lodge in Marietta,
     On the river Ohio.

Proudly thought the ancient builders
     Of these Mounds and Way and Plain,
Monuments of skill and labor
     Should forever here remain.
Vain! - for hands so sacrilegious,
     Clay upheaved so long ago,
Make the bricks for Marietta,
     On the river Ohio.

Now, strange fellows, queer good fellows,
     All Odd Fellows, here we see,
The White - the Pink - the Blue - the Green
     And the scarleted degree.
Boasting nigh four hundred Lodges,
     Thirty thousand members true,
All like these, in Marietta,
     On the river Ohio.

They feed the hungry, clothe the naked,
     Stand by those who stand in need;
Fear the Lord and love your neighbor,
     Is the true Odd Fellows' creed.
Aid the Daughters of Rebecca;
     Then, when you to Heaven will go,
You'll remember Marietta,
     On the river Ohio.

When our Order it shall govern,
     Men no more will be deceivin',
Wives no longer will be scolding,
     Odd Fellows will then be even.
Every maid shall have a sweetheart,
     Every widow have a beau,
And a home in Marietta,
     On the river Ohio.

Daughters of Rebecca, blooming,
     Brethren, they are something slow,
Don't get home till nearly midnight,
     Dearest Becky's - is that so?
Ridin' a goat is rather tiresome,
     Sad experience tells us so;
Prove it we can in Marietta,
     On the river Ohio!

A Relict

 The Mariettian, April 23, 1870

Another memorial of the long past age of the Mound builders, who flourished and "fought, bled and died" in Marietta a few thousands - or perhaps hundreds of thousands - of years ago, has just been discovered and brought to light. It was found on the lot of George Slocomb, on the northeasterly side of Sixth Street, between Washington and Warren, while making preparations for gardening.

It is a leaden image, about an inch long and half an inch in diameter. The head is long, the forehead high, the nose large, and the eyes deep sunk. It is cut off apparently where the mouth ought to be. On the top is left a little cap-like circle, as though designed for attaching a string, in order to wear the image as an ornament around the neck. It is very heavily coated with oxide, an evidence of its great antiquity. The Cabinet of Marietta College is the appropriate place for it.

Burial Mound Being Excavated Here Brings to Light Man's Ancient Past

The Marietta Daily Times, September 18, 1956

By Shirley Guinta

In 1936 Reed Hallock and friend dug haphazardly into a mound. They finished their job, "dragging a skeleton behind."

Reed Hallock and friends are still digging into mounds but in a much more scientific manner.

Today Hallock and other excavation enthusiasts are organized into the year-old Marietta Archaeological Society. Since July 1 the major project of four of the society's eight members has been the excavation of a mount on the Chester A. Ralston Farm in Oak Grove.

With whisk brooms and small trowels in hand, the diggers have already uncovered six cremation burials (evidenced by skull, jaw or teeth fragments), flint points, stone axes and scraps of pottery in the small four feet high, 45 feet in diameter mound.

For Information Only

However, Hallock stresses, the mound is being excavated strictly for the sake of archaeological information and not for art effects [artifacts].

All members of the digging crew have learned the proper methods of digging so that no vital information which might be uncovered will be destroyed. The area has been staked off into five-feet squares, the standard staking procedure for working on such a site.

Notes are being kept on all findings of the group. Notations are made on the depth at which any material was found. The society will publish a book on its work after the excavation is completed.

"Of course," Hallock added, "we wouldn't be digging into any of these historic mounds if they weren't going to be destroyed anyhow."

"This particular mound on the Ralston farm was going to be plowed under by Mr. Ralston to make way for more farming area. He gave us permission to excavate before he leveled off the land."

Mound's Discoverer

Richard Patterson, 15-year-old Marietta High School junior, is responsible for having discovered that the Ralston mound was going to be destroyed. An archaeological enthusiast, he notified Hallock of the situation and opened the road for the interesting and informative excavation.

"Dick has been our foreman in the field, we might say," laughed Hallock, president of the society. "He spent his entire summer working on the mound. He even worked in the rain to further the job along."

All workers on the mound are volunteers. Hallock and Edward Williams, the third crew member, donate their time after daytime work hours and on weekends. Paul Byrd, Marietta College senior, spent several of his free afternoons working at the site during the summer.

A few other workers, one of whom was David Ray, have helped out at the site at various times during the past three and a half months. These volunteers, Hallock hopes, will eventually become members of the Marietta Archaeological Society.

Rigors of Excavation

Circumstances under which the men have worked are discouraging enough to daunt the initiative of any but the most enthusiastic group. The mound was completely covered with poison ivy in July and, in clearing the foliage from the site, all the workers were stricken to some degree with the uncomfortable rash.

A huge hickory tree standing in the center of the mound added to the group's worries. The 115-year-old tree had been struck by lightening several years ago but continued to stand as a towering protection over the mound.

After cutting the tree off level with the ground, the men dug into the ground around the trunk, little by little cutting out the roots of the aged tree.

The remains which the crew has found tell an interesting story. Hallock explained that the people who buried their dead in the mound were of the Adena culture (1000 B.C. to 100 B.C.), ancestors of our historic Indians. Hallock explained that Indians did not build the mounds as present-day beliefs would lead us to understand.

The fact that the ancient people buried their dead indicates their belief in preservation of the body for a Hereafter. Because of the presence of items found in the mound which had to come from areas other than this locale, the archeologists believe that the Adena people had developed a trading system with people in other areas.

Agriculturists

Known as existing in the "Early Woodland" period, the Adena people hunted (as proven by the flint points and stone axes found in the mound) and had agriculture.

Pieces of pottery vessels which were found indicate that the Adena people were the first to make pottery vessels rather than stone vessels. All of their pottery was very crude and was not grit tempered. No indication of decoration is shown but the Adenas did develop lug or knob-type handles on the vessels.

Charcoal found in the mound will be sent to a university to undergo tests to determine the age at which the mound was built.

"Actually," Hallock said, "man probably came into this area 8000 years before the Adena culture began."

Studies have shown that Washington County was part of a huge lake around 9000 B.C. when a glacier covered the land north of here (the glacier probably started in this area near Pittsburgh, circled around northern Ohio and then met what is now the Ohio River near Cincinnati). After this Ice Age had passed, man undoubtedly came into this area, as Hallock explained.

"Marietta is resting on archaeological remains and our society is trying to educate the people as to the wealth that they have here."

Uselessly Destroyed

"The last survey taken of mounds in Washington County was completed in 1914 but most of the 102 mounds indicated in that survey are no longer in existence, proving that the people are uselessly destroying these mounds that can tell so much about our past," Hallock said.

At present, the group is about half done in its excavation venture. Barring setbacks, such as more poison ivy maladies, they hope to complete the task before freezing weather sets in. This time a wiser Hallock and friends will finish their job with a set of informative notes to accompany the "skeleton" they'll drag behind.

A Live Man Dug Out of Marietta Mound

 The Marietta Register, April 23, 1886

Such was the startling statement made in all the dwellings and on the streets of the little town of Marietta sixty-five years ago. Some believed it, many doubted it, but all were anxious to know the fact. The unbelieving were referred to as truthful a man as lived on Fifth Street; he said "it was true that he had aided in the work."

To make my story short, Father G., who was the grave-yard sexton, had a flock of sheep which were allowed to roam among the tombs, watched by his three sons. Weary of the monotony of looking after the flock by night, the boys with shovel and hoe determined they would to their minds unsolve the mystery of the great mound.

When darkness had spread over the earth, they began their work on the top of the elevation and almost noiselessly put down a hole six feet deep. The elder was below, arranging for further work, when in a moment the sides began to give way and before he could be rescued the dirt fastened him. 

Quick haste was made by one of the frightened boys with the news to his father. Armed with bottle of spirits and a good raw-hide, the old fellow climbed the fence and up the sides of the mound to its summit. With great industry, but more noise, the earth was pitched away and the youngster was relieved from his prison confinement only to feel the rod as soon as he recovered, for thus violating the sacred place and making a town talk at the expense of the family. In the Mound Annual can all this be found, and much more.

Some people say that 1,000 years ago this country was more densely populated than now. I have not time now to give my views on this subject, but I must tell you about one of their burying places. On the top of the hill back of the old Platt place, northeast from the Court House about one mile, from the beginning there has been a heap of earth rising above the surface of the ground about seven feet, thirty-five feet long and at the broadest place about fifteen feet wide. Some have supposed it natural, others have supposed it the work of the Mound Builders.

With the support of the owner of the land, Mr. Adam Brown, on the 20th day of this month (that is Tuesday of this week), Capt. Sayre and myself, with excellent assistants, began the work of discovery. After going down with a hole six feet square for four and one-half feet, we came to a flat rock six feet long and three feet wide and five inches thick, evidently brought from a distance and placed with a purpose where it was. Underneath this we knew was the treasure, perhaps something that would tell us when and by whom all these works were made.

The long stone was with difficulty and great care removed. Underneath it - Oh what a find. We were not sold. You will not be sold if you pay your quarter and see all the interesting things we unearthed, exhibited as they will be on Thursday and Friday evenings of this week at the Presbyterian Fair in the Clarke house on 4th Street.

W.

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The Marietta Register, April 30, 1886:

That Mound Story

Mr. Editor: In the Register of April 23d someone over the signature of "W." tells a great cock and bull story about a live man being dug out of Marietta Mound. He commenced by saying, "such was the startling statement made in all the dwellings and on the streets of the little town of Marietta sixty-five years ago. Some believed it, many doubted it, but all were anxious to know the fact. The unbelieving were referred to as truthful a man as lived on Fifth Street. He said, "it was true that he had aided in the work." To make my story short, Father G., who was the graveyard sexton, had a flock of sheep which were allowed to roam among the tombs, watched over by his three sons . . .

Now, in regard to the above statement, I am prepared to say from personal knowledge, that not one word of the essential points in the same are true. The whole story was a fabrication from beginning to end, put forth as one of the wonderful events that took place in the early days of our pleasant little town. 

It so happens that I was well acquainted with "Father G." as referred to above. I am his eldest son and happened to be 15 years old at the time this event should have occurred. My father was sexton at the time and for some years after, but never dug a half dozen graves in the graveyard during his life time. Myself and grandfather, Jimmie Hill, dug nearly all the graves from 1820 to 1825. I was intimately acquainted with all concerned about the Mound Cemetery from my early boyhood days until I was a man grown, and know that there never was a hole of any kind or at any time dug in the summit of the mound in question. 

It is true that "Father G." had a large family, that I am the eldest son, that at the time of this event I had one brother who was a boy some 12 years old, the third boy spoken of was dead at the time, the fourth boy happened to be a girl. So that there could not have been more than two boys able to operate at the time. We had sheep at the time that were allowed to run at large, as did others. There was but little or no fence around the cemetery at the time, to prevent our sheep or others from feeding there, and the idea of watching our sheep at night is far fetched and untrue.

My father was a poor mechanic who raised a large family by his industry; he was an honest, industrious and truthful man. His boys wore linsey and went barefoot in the summer, but they were honorable and upright. A raw-hide was an article never used or kept in the family to my knowledge. There was no town talk about the event at the expense of the family.

What he calls "Mound Annual" I confess to be a document that I have never seen, but should like to do so. However, no odds for the Mound Annual, I know that the whole story is false as to the event, not a syllable of it is true. 

I do this in self-defense, as I happened to be a live boy at the time of the great event, and thank God that I am alive yet and in good condition, and surrounded by a few old residents that lived in that day to whom I can appeal for my truth and veracity.

William Glines

Corner of Putnam and Front Streets

The Marietta Register, August 10 1865:

Public Sale of Valuable Real Estate!

Will be sold at public auction on the 14th cay of August, A.D. 1865, on the premises themselves the following real estate, to-wit: All the landed property belonging to the estate of Mrs. Mary S. Jackson [Mary Sophia Meigs], deceased, situate in the city of Marietta, Ohio, and vicinity, and commonly called "The Meigs Property;" that is to say - 

- A lot on Ohio street in Square No. 68.

- Lots Nos. 566, 567, 568, 569 in Square No. 37.

- Lots Nos. 593, 594, 598, 206, in Square No. 45, situate on Front and Scammel streets, which lots will probably be subdivided into 60 feet lots fronting on the principal streets and running back 180 feet to an alley.

- Also lot No. 2 in Square No. 22, opposite the old graveyard.

- Lots Nos. 39, 64, 65, 105, 1005, 1006 in Square No. 5 on Front street, opposite the tanyards.

- Also lot No. 597 and parts of lots Nos. 595 and 596, fronting on Front street, 150 feet, running back to an alley 180 feet, including the old Mansion House, office &c.

- Also that valuable property at the corner of Putnam and Front streets, now occupied by Joseph L. Stephens and others as business rooms, owned by David Barber, Esq., in common with the devisees of Mrs. Mary S. Jackson, deceased, fronting on Front street 180 feet, running back 45 feet. Will be sold in lots to suit purchasers. The present lessees are to have one month to remove their wooden structures.

- Also a valuable 8 acre lot lying between the Fair Ground and the Muskingum River, subject to the present tenancy.

- Also another 8 acre lot and some fractions, making together 11 acres and a fraction, say 85-100 of an acre, on the river bottom adjoining lands of A. T. Nye, Esq., and others, subject to the present occupancy.

- Also that very desirable and valuable tract of land on the Muskingum River, 5 miles from the city, adjoining James Ward's lands, at the first lock on the river above the city, known as Duvall's Lock [Devol], containing 13-3/4 acres.

- Also 50 acres of valuable timbered land, 1 mile east of Duvall's Lock and adjoining lands of W. B. F. Duvall and others, with some oil prospects.

- Also three other tracts of timbered land on the west side of the Muskingum River, near the said Duvall's Lock, one tract containing 68 acres, being part of 100 acre lot No. 12, R. 9, T. 3.

- Another tract contains 72 acres, part of 100 acre lot No. 13. Also, lot No. 14, part of 100 acre lot No. 14, containing 80 acres. All very valuable for timber, and together the making of a good up-land farm. These lands have been in request for oil purposes.

- We also propose to sell that valuable estate situate in the Ohio River, opposite Marietta, known as Kerr's Island, or Triplit's [Triplett] Island, (lately called Jackson's Island), estimated to contain near 200 acres of very superior land. Propositions have been made by oil men to bore on this property.

Terms of Sale - One-half cash in hand; the residue in two equal payments of six and twelve months, with interest from day of sale, secured by mortgage on the premises so sold.

James M. Jackson, Executor for himself and other heirs of Mary S. Jackson, deceased.

 

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The Marietta Register, August 31, 1865:

The Sale of the Business Corner of Front and Putnam Streets

Two weeks ago we published the amount of the sale on the 14th inst. of the part of a lot on the lower corner of Front and Putnam streets, this city - viz: 171-1/2 feet on Front street by 45 on Putnam, including the old two-story brick building, for the total amount of $11,350. The details of the sale may be of interest to many of our readers. It was sold in seven divisions, facing Front street, each 45 feet deep, as follows:

1. To West & Varley, corner, with brick building, 46 feet on Front and 45 on Putnam, $4,500.

2. To Martin Wendelkin, 23 feet, $1,280.

3. To John Schramm, 21 feet, $1,285.

4. To J. G. Theiss & Bro., 27-1/2 feet, $1,310.

5. To Fred. Wehrs, 16-1/2 feet, $1,085.

6. To Lewis Leonhart, 18-3/4 feet, $1,005.

7. To John Leonhart, 18-3/4 feet, $885.

The ground only was sold, except on the corner - the frame buildings on divisions 2, 3, 4, and 5, belonging to persons who held leases, to expire in four weeks after the sale. Divisions 6 and 7, next to the canal, have no buildings on them at present. The property was sold at auction by the representatives of the Meigs Estate, David Barber holding a part interest therein.

Omitting the corner, the rest of the ground sold for $49.60 per front foot, 45 feet deep; or $1.10 per square foot for the whole ground.

It should be noted that, while this property is valuable, yet it is not in the main business part of Marietta. It is on one of the two chief business streets, but above the heavy trade, yet valuable for retail stands.

The brick building, we may state, was erected about the year 1817 by Henry P. Wilcox - the same who built the house where Col. Mills now lives; and who left Marietta within a few years after.

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The Marietta Register, February 23, 1886:

Guitteau Corner

"Hallo, Mister, are you hunting up old things yet? If you are, you will see a great lot at the Guitteau Corner," was the greeting of a friendly teamster who stopped his span of horses to give me the good news.

At the instance of a friend who the night before had told me of this wondrous find in the old house at the corner of Front and Putnam streets, I had hunted up Mr. John Mankin and from him was promised the sight of all he had taken home, and now to know that many old things were with Capt. West and Mr. Buck started me for their coal office. They kindly allowed me to look over all they had gathered, but one thing I had heard of was not among them - the leather mail bag of 1820. 

Soon I traced this to Postmaster Grosvenor. Finally, and with his consent, I had a full look at it and contents. Now I propose telling your readers all about what I saw, excepting two things - that don't concern the dwellers here-abouts in 1886.

First I will speak of the building. As early as 1816 it was built by Gov. R. J. Meigs and Mr. Henry P. Wilcox. The north room was occupied as a store and the south room as the Post Office. The store goods were owned by Gov. Meigs, and Mr. Wilcox was Postmaster from 1818 to 1825. And right here I will answer a question often asked me about Marietta Postmasters, who they were, and when they served.

Gen. Tupper distributed letters from 1788 to 1794, I believe. R. J. Meigs, Jr., handled the mails from 1794 to Oct., 1795. Josiah Monroe from Oct. 1795 to 1800. David Putnam from 1800 to 1802. Griffin Greene from 1802 to 1804. Phillip Greene from 1804 to 1806. Griffin Green, Jr., from 1806 to 1815. Sam Hoit from 1816 to 1818. H. P. Wilcox from 1818 to 1825. David Morris from the summer of 1825 to late in 1825. Daniel H Buell from 1825 to 1829. A. V. D. Joline from 1829 to 1841. Abner L. Guitteau from 1841 to 1850. F. A. Wheeler from 1850 to 1853. Nathaniel Bishop from 1853 to 1857. A. D. McCormick from 1857 to 1861. Sala Bosworth from 1861 to 1870. William B. Mason from 1870 to 1878. S. L. Grosvenor from 1878 to 1886. Each one of these men, excepting A. Guitteau in his second term, represented the party in power during his employment as Postmaster. But I am away from my subject.

This old building has been variously occupied since the days of Wilcox. At one time John K. Joline taught school in the north part of it. The Jolines printed a paper in it. A. V. D. Joline occupied the south part of the building for a Post Office. Abner L. Guitteau used the building for a Post office and grocery for several years. The Marietta lodge of Free Masons occupied the upstairs for years. Mr. Elijah B. Guitteau, Mr. Stephens, Mr. Brigham and others at times had salesrooms in it.

It has recently changed hands and is being overhauled from cellar to garret, and many old papers and curious things have been brought to light. Notably the papers of Gen. Wilcox, dating back to 1810, Gov. R. J. Meigs, H. P. Wilcox, A. V. D. Joline, John K. Joline, &c.

I have only time to speak of a very few of them. It would not have answered for us fellows who live in find houses and don't pay our debts to have lived seventy years ago around here. Listen:

"Mr. Silas Cook: Sir: - You are requested to stay the service of the writ of attachment until Saturday at 10 o'clock. I will be accountable for General Wilcox so far as to deliver his body on that day. In the suit of J. M. vs. Joseph Wilcox - 17 Nov., 1813. Timothy Buell, Sheriff."

Within the remembrance of the writer, a nicely dressed gentleman with ruffled shirt was in jail bounds for five months for debt. 

There used to be wolves as well as dogs around here. Read:

This agreement made between Joseph Wilcox and Thomas Reynolds of Marietta, witnesseth that I, Thomas Reynolds, take this 6th day of July, 1812, one ram of the merino breed, said ram is 7/8 blooded, has horns of a middling size, with a hole in each ear on the following conditions: (viz.). Then followed the conditions, the last of which is that said Reynolds is to secure said ram from the wolves and dogs, but said Wilcox insures the life said ram against all unforeseen accident and natural death.

Another:

Article of agreement between Joseph Wilcox and Samuel Shepard. Said Samuel Shepard takes of said Wilcox a part of a square of land situated in Marietta called the Elevated Square. Said land is to be put in flax and corn - 1-1/2 acres to be put flax. Furth conditions unnecessary to copy, signed Marietta, 10th March, 1811.

And so on I could write of interesting things contained in these papers, but the morning bell for six o'clock is ringing and I must close.

Postage in those days for a double sheet letter from Philadelphia to this place was fifty cents; now it is four cents.

W. 

Old Marietta Papers - Number 12

The Marietta Register, December 11, 1863

"Old Marietta Papers" was a series of columns compiled and published in 1863 and 1864 by Rodney M. Stimson, editor of "The Marietta Register."

Advertisers in 1819:

A new firm in dry goods appears, Jan. 14 - Payne & Lawton. George N. Gilbert appears as Secretary of Mount Moriah Lodge, No. 37, Masons, at Waterford.

Feb. 19, Benjamin Corp offers for sale his two-story brick dwelling house on Fourth street, with ten city lots, four adjoining house and six on the opposite side of the street, for $2200, $500 in cash, the rest in yearly payments not to exceed six years, with interest. This is the house now [1863] occupied by Prof. E. B. Andrews. Think of that house and 10 lots in that quarter for $2200!

March 29, Michael Deterly, "anxious to leave Marietta," offered his house for sale, also six orchard lots on Butler street between Fifth and Sixth; his anxiety was not gratified, for he still lives on one of those lots.

May 21, 1819, Dr. John Cotton gave notice that he had removed from Harmar to Marietta, "to the dwelling house on the Plain, formerly occupied by Dr. J. B. Regnier" - the house now occupied by J. L. Stephens.

The Committee of Arrangements of the American Union Lodge No. 1, Masons for celebration of St. John's Day, June 24, 1819, consisted of Weston Thomas, James M. Booth, Samuel H. Gates, Robert Crawford, L. D. Barker.

July 19, Sampson Cole, "New Tavern," upper end of Ohio street, "known by the sign of the Gray Horse."

Items for the Year 1820:

July 4, 1820, celebration, Caleb Emerson, Esq., delivered the oration, which was published in the Friend of July 20.

John P. Mayberry was Receiver of Land Office in Marietta in Aug. 1820, since a well known citizen of Parkersburg.

Aug., 1820, Mr. Prentiss removed the Printing Office from Front street to Fifth street, just east of where the College now stands. The printing office in Marietta from its first establishment, Nov. 1801, to 1808, was on the Stockade; in the latter year it was removed to the Point.

Sunday morning, Oct. 8, 1820, the house of Caleb Emerson, Esq., on Front street, was destroyed by fire, together with most of the furniture, clothing and valuable papers.

Quadranou. In 1820 a bitter controversy sprung up between a writer in the Friend, who signed himself "Fair Play," and Caleb Emerson, who was then in the Town Council, on one part, and Benjamin Willard on the other part, in relation to the elevated square known as the "Quadranou." This square had been in the possession of D. Hartshorn, who sold it to Rev. Joseph Willard, a brother of Benjamin Willard. It was claimed on part of the Willards that they held it by "a regular conveyance, duly executed, acknowledged," &c. Hartshorn had sold the possession, and under this they began plowing down the ancient works therein. The Council leased the square to c. D. G. Bonny, and put him in possession, the plowing was stopped, and citizens went and repaired the ancient works. The Council claimed the square as a reservation granted to the town "for public works, or public buildings, and for the benefit of indigent orphan children," and published a caution against "trespassers." The Willards disputed the "legal and equitable title" of the town. Words ran high. The newspaper war was waged hotly from April 14th to July 28th, 3-1/2 months, when the editor closed it because it had become "so extremely personal." The "Friend" announced that the subject would be brought before the Court for decision. The town still continues in possession of the "Quadranou."

Election in 1820:

For Governor, the vote of Marietta stood Ethan A. Brown 144, Jeremiah Morrow, 108.

The county voted as follows:

For Governor - Ethan A. Brown, 510; Jeremiah Morrow, 442.

For Congress - Levi Barber, 642; Thomas Scott, 272; Henry Brush, 125.

Representative - Timothy Buell, 415; Alexander McConnell, 365; Joseph Barker, 358; William M. Dawes, 352; Ephraim Cutler, 342; Amzi Stanley, 197.

Commissioners - John B. Regnier, 611; John True, 408.

Sheriff - Silas Cook, 393; Harry Hill, 299; Jesse Loring, 170; Enoch Hoff, 156.

Coroner - John Merrill, 505; Samuel Nixon, 2__; Nicholas McDouglas, 106.

Col. Levi Barber of Harmar was elected to Congress in this (3d) district - Barber 3,188; Henry Brush of Chillicothe, 2,778; and Thomas Scott of Chillicothe, 2,473. Col. Barber had been elected in 1816; he was defeated by Henry Brush in 1818; and was now elected to his second and last term in Congress.

For the Legislature, Washington was now classed with Morgan. Capt. Timothy Buell of Washington, and Alexander McConnell of Morgan, were elected Representatives. Capt. Buell was Sheriff at the time of his election, which was successfully contested on that ground; and a special election was held on Dec. 20th to fill the vacancy, at which Capt. Buell was again elected, his term of Sheriff having then expired, beating Col. Joseph Barker 178 in Washington and 91 in Morgan.

Presidential Election:

Remarkable! The Presidential Election in 1820 took place in Ohio Nov. 3d, and no mention whatever is made in the "Friend" that any such thing as a Presidential Election was to take place, except to give a list of the names of the candidates for Electors, and after the electio not a single return was published in the paper, neither of Marietta, Washington County, the State of Ohio, or the Nation! It will be recollected that there was no opposition to the re-election of President Monroe, every electoral vote being given for him, except that William Plummer of New Hampshire voted for John Quincy Adams.

Marriages in 1820:

Jan. 13, Jacob Johnson and Anna Baker of Wooster (Watertown).

Jan. 26, William Alcock and Sally Posey.

Feb. 12, William Waterman and Abigail Sharp.

Feb. 26, Phinehas Beardsley and Mrs. Mary Ann Gevrez of Aurelius.

March, Cornelius Tinkham and Hetty Plumer.

March 26, Charles Sylvester and Rhoda Bodwell.

In Fearing, March 26, Daniel Viall and Mary Hildebrand.

March 2, Lewis Johnson of Salem, and Lucretia Warren of Union.

April 7, Christopher Warren and Maria Loge, and on the 9th, Joseph Murray and Nancy Nichols, all of Fearing.

April 11, Notley Drown and Polly Hook.

April 16, Caleb R. Harris and Candace Wells of Fearing.

April 20, Weston Thomas and Miss Maria McFarland.

April 19, in Salem, William Wharff and Deborah Clay.

Mary 4, in Fearing, Samuel Porter and Mary Palmer.

May 25, in Lawrence, Nathan Davis, Jr., and Eliza Dye.

May 31, Joseph Thompson and Margaret Reckard.

June 9, Tillinghast Cook of Wood Co., Va., and Betsey Russel of Washington Co., O.

July - James Mullen and Sarah Rowland of Newport.

July 25, Judge Ezekiel Deming and Mrs. Abigail Stanley.

Aug. 5, Junia Jennings and Hannah McCabe.

Aug. 10, in Adams, William McAtee and Mrs. Nancy Mason.

Sept. 23, Capt. Charles Bosworth and Betsey Wilson.

Oct. 26, Jason Humiston and Mrs. Margaret Shaw, both of Wooster (Watertown).

Oct 22, Elisha Davis and Mrs. Susanna Mason of Adams.

Nov. 18, Joseph G. Harris and Irene McAllister.

Nov. 19, Edwin Corner of McConnelsville and Rachel Howe of Marietta.

Nov. 30, in Warren, Levi L. Waterman of Charleston, Va., and Mary Ann Cutler.

Dec. 26, William W. McIntosh of Marietta and Mrs. Hannah Regnier of Aurelius.

Dec. 24, Oliver Rice Loring of Belpre and Miss Fanny Warren.

Deaths in 1820:

In Wesley, Feb. 12, Benjamin Danley, aged 22, son of John and Amy Danley.

In Fearing, Feb. 24, Jonathan Chapman, 72.

April 7, Joseph Irwin, 77.

May 10, Charles McKewen, 75.

June 3, Mary, daughter of Jonathan Cram, 12.

Sept. 6, the wife of Gen. Rufus Putnam, 83.

Sept. 30, in Belpre, Mrs. Rebecca Rouse, 70.

Sept. 25, in Virginia, opposite Marietta, Isaac Williams, in his 84th year; he lived there before Marietta was settled.

In Union, Nov. 23, William Lake, 22.

Advertisers in 1820:

Samuel Brown began a select school, Feb. 28, in "Buell's School House."

June 7, Joseph Morris & Co., Wool Carding, on Stockade.

Aug., John Stewart, Tanner, in Warren.

Mill Stones

Mill Stones, O' ye! the refiners of grain

Roll from my quarry again - and again,

Fashion'd by A. Wolf, of skillful pow'r

And certain to yield the best of flour.

Contrasted with which, Laurel Hill, Raccoon,

Shew vain as to phiz of man a baboon.

Situate 'tween Duck Creek and Muskingum;

From Marietta ten miles on New Year's Run.

Cheap - lasting - tenacious - flinty - whole;

None better t'insure the miller his toll.

Inquiries are answer'd (if free postage)

By me, your obsequious - Edward P. Page.

O what a bother to fumble for rhyme;

Hard, as mill-dam roar with music in chime.

Marietta, Feb. 11, 1820. 

Sacra Via Destroyed

The Marietta Republican, March 29, 1861:

Sacra Via has been destroyed; several thousand yards of earth have been cut away and made into brick by the retiring member of the Council from the Second Ward. It is pretty generally understood that he has never paid or offered to pay therefore. If this be true would it not be well for voters to ponder the matter well before consenting to return him again?

One of the most beautiful spots in our City has been destroyed by our iconoclastic Councilman, and though he cannot restore the view, he should be compelled to make some recompense for his vandalism. Think of this, voters of the Second Ward. 

The Marietta Intelligencer, September 29, 1858:

The Marietta Mound and Earthworks.

In the New York Christian Inquirer we find a letter from this place, which we judge from the initials to have been written by a gentleman at present a temporary resident here. He writes upon the ancient works of Marietta. From his letter we make the following extracts:

Marietta - remarkable for its beautiful situation among the hills, at the confluence of the Ohio and the Muskingum, and for its college, the best in Ohio, and its Unitarian church, the most perfect, perhaps, as a work of art, in the West - is not less remarkable for its vestiges of a race of men of whom the most vague traditions is lost, the ancient mound-builders. The relics here are, with one exception, as remarkable as any in the Mississippi Valley. They are numerous and extensive, far more so than I had ever supposed. 

I knew that in coming to Marietta I was going to the very hear of the mound region, but I cannot picture to you my surprise and bewilderment when last week, on turning a corner, I came in sight of the burying-ground and saw rising in the very midst of the city of the dead, with faultless symmetry, one of the largest mounds of the West. I do not think I could have been more impressed with an unexpected view of the Egyptian Pyramids. In the midst of fresh graves it rises, the grave of the buried Past, a perfect cone, to the height of thirty feet. Some dozen of the largest Western trees are growing upon it, one an oak of great antiquity; but older yet are a few decaying trunks where trees of an unknown age once flourished and died.

When Marietta was settled, all the earthworks were covered with a dense forest; now the trees remain but upon two. I shall have something to say by-and-by of the desecration to which they have been subjected.

A detailed account of the Mound and Elevated Square follows, and the letter thus concludes:

All these works lie on a plateau above the valley of the Muskingum, a fair and grassy plain. There is one other work which to me was as marked as any. I mean the Sacra Via, or Covered Way, as the people generally term it. 

From the larger square on the plateau there leads to the river's banks one of the most imposing of roads. It is about seven hundred feet long and lies between two artificial banks, which are in the highest place some twenty feet high. The centre of this road is raised and gracefully rounded. At the foot of the banks this Sacra Via is one hundred and fifty feet wide; from the top of the banks across it is two hundred and thirty feet. Probably nowhere in the world can a finer relic of ancient roadmaking be found.

As I stood on the banks of the Muskingum and let my eye run up this masterly ancient road, and in my mind saw it thronged with the men of an ancient civilization, passing to and from their religious rites on the plateau above, and saw the altars smoking with the victims, and the mound overshadowed with the Divine presence which they adored, I felt that this communing with the Spirit of the Past had richly paid me for my visit West; for the desire to be for a time among these scenes had been one motive in inducing me to spend a few months in Ohio.

There is one great drawback here, just as there is wherever the Present comes in contact with the Past. The utilitarian spirit of the day is here before me and is doing its customary work. It does seem a sacrilege to see a miserable modern Warren Street, running up and down the middle of the magnificent Sacra Via, and to see a road cut directly through the banks which form the sides of it, in order to accommodate the wants of a tannery.

A German colony, too, has located itself on the site of the smaller square, and with making cellars and ploughing gardens and laying out streets, the day is close at hand when not a vestige of it will be seen. The Sacra Via is already harmed beyond telling by the roads which I have mentioned. The top of the large altar is a cow pasture. 

But thanks to a few wise souls, the smaller altar is fenced, and the mound is in the cemetery, and they are safe. No, not quite safe. Some are discussing seriously the expediency of excavating the sides of the latter and putting tombs therein. It makes me almost provoked, that is to day, it carries me about as far as Paul would have me go, in "being angry and sinning not," to see this utilitarian spirit wreaking its dollar-and-cent spite upon these mysterious remains. The intention of the first settlers of Marietta was to have them sacredly preserved.

In the frontispiece of the Smithsonian volume of Squier and Davis, you have a good colored view of the Marietta remains. The last picture in the work is a colored engraving of the great mound. In the body of the book is a chart and a full description. I suppose the volume is in most good libraries. That gives a better account than I can give, for I feel the need, of engraving to tell the whole story in a worthy way. But no view equals the seeing. When you look at that mound and stand on the altars, and throw your glance up the Covered Way, you are in the very presence of the past, and the spirit of that gray, dim, mysterious Past oppresses you with its vague and uncertain shadows, but delights you with the bewilderment which it awakes.

W. L. G.

  

Warrant for a General Town Meeting

The Marietta Gazette, July 19, 1834

To Griffin Greene, Esq., Marshal of the Town of Marietta - Greeting:

You are hereby commanded to notify the qualified electors of said Town, in the manner authorized by law, that a general Town Meeting will be held at the old Court House on Saturday, the 19th inst. at 2 P.M.

1st. To choose a Chairman and Clerk; then to take into consideration the resolution of the Council of the 12th ult. which is as follows, viz:

Resolved, That the Mayor be authorized to call a general Town Meeting, to answer and act on the following articles:

     1st. Whether the Town will advise and agree to the purchase of ground for the enlargement of the Mound Burying Ground.

     2d. Whether the Town will agree that the Streets between the Mound square and the square easterly thereof be enclosed and occupied as a part of the Burying Ground.

     3d. To act on any other business which may be submitted in relation to said Burying Ground.

     4th. To act on such propositions as may be submitted relative to amendments of the Charter of the Town.

And due return make of this warrant, with the service thereon.

given under my hand and seal of the Corporation, at the Mayor's Office, this first day of July, A.D. one thousand eight hundred and thirty four.

Nahum Ward, Mayor.

A true copy.

     Attest Griffin Greene, Marshal.