Theatre

American Friend, & Marietta Gazette, February 6, 1828

Theatre at Mr. M'Farland's Hall, Marietta.

This evening will be performed the Comedy of Paul Pry, and Farce of the Miss in her Teens, or a Medley of Lovers, With Songs, &c.

Old People in Newport

The Marietta Register, June 3, 1875

J. W. Kerr, Esq., furnishes us with the names of forty persons in Newport township over 70 years of age, twenty-one men and nineteen women, as follows:

Men.
Ebenezer Battelle, 96
Jasher Taylor, 86
George Davenport, 84
John Reynolds, 84
Charles Little, 80
George Reese, 80
Samuel Reynolds, 80
Samuel Clark, 77
George W. Gale, 76
William Hemmeger, 76
Moses Hanna, 76
John M. Plumer, 76
Coventon Magruder, 75
Henry Pegg, 74
Ezra O'Neal, 72
B. F. Marshall, 71
Matthew Mathers, 71
Thomas Coen, 70
Hiram Foshey, 70
B. F. Hartwell, 70
W. C. Greenwood, 70

Women.
Sarah Phillips, 83
Anna Frances, 82
Margaret Petty, 81
Sarah Newlen, 78
Mary A. Smith, 78
Eliza Guiger, 78
Harriet Greene, 77
Elizabeth Becker, 76
Mary A. Barker, 75
Margaret Reese, 75
Margaret Rowland, 74
Anna E. Rowland, 74
Eleanor Cook, 74
Louisa Davenport, 74
Elizabeth Broome, 74
Jane Leonard, 72
Jane H. Plumer, 71
Anna Magruder, 71
Martha Rosenbush, 71

Three Score and Ten

The Marietta Register, January 7, 1875

Capt. William Warren, of Marietta, furnishes us the following list of persons aged 70 years and upwards, who live in this immediate vicinity, principally in Marietta township.  This list is as near perfect as it is possible to make it - some few being omitted at their own request.  It required a great deal of labor to complete it, and it will be highly appreciated by our readers:

List of Gentlemen.
Augustus Stone, 94
Russell Fuller, 91
Zacharia Brown, 91
Sampson Cole, 90
Capt. Augustus Case (Captain in War of 1812), 90
John Boyles, 89
Solomon Dick, 88
Rev. George Cox, 87
Isaac Day, 87
John J. Preston, 87
John Baldwin, 86
Michael Braddock, 86
William Corner, 86
Weston Thomas, 85
John D. Chamberlain (Captain in the War of 1812, commanding a company under Gen. Harrision.), 85
Collis Dibble, 85
Jasher Taylor, 85
John Dulty, 84
Hartness Wells, 84
Peter Smith, 84
Hezekiah Peck, 84
Frederick North, 84
Joseph Thompson, 83
John Tidd, 83
Joseph E. Hall, 82
Nathaniel Bishop, 81
Nathaniel Holden, 81
(The two last named born the same day.)
David Wright, 81
Capt. Hiram Birch, 80
(Capt. Birch was born October 13, 1796, in Newtown, Conn.; moved to Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1800; moved to Long Reach, Ohio, in 1804, on what is now known as the Greene farm; moved to Newport, in 1808; helped make the brick for the Greene house, now owned by Capt. John Varley; commenced boating on a small batteaux, going from Pittsburgh to Louisville, in 1812; took a keel-boat, late in the fall of 1812, for Hart & McCullough, loaded with goods, from Pittsburgh to Nashville; sold the boat, and walked home; went to New Orleans in the fall of 1813 as pilot of a flat boat and walked back to Wheeling; the next two years made two or three trips on flat boats to New Orleans, each year, walked back and struck the Ohio river at Maysville, some times, and other times went to New York on vessels from New Orleans, and then walked to Pittsburgh; went on the steamer Washington in 1816, as pilot with John Wood; in June, same year, was blown up on this boat opposite the mouth of the Muskingum; neither of the pilots were much hurt; he walked to Belpre the same day.  Has followed the river as pilot and Captain of Steamboats from 1816 to the 5th of January 1868, and during this time has piloted steamboats on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers and all their tributaries.  In 1827 was blown up on the steamer Union at the Fowler Wood Yard, Sugar Creek Bend, between Cincinnati and Louisville.  Was blown up on the steamer Kanawha, at Guyandotte, in August 1829, and was scalded badly.  Had a fight with Indians up Arkansas, Webers Falls, same winter of the Florida War.  Was blown up on the Harry Dean, near Gallipolis, January 5th, 1868, and so injured as not to be able to stand up very well since, but has made a few trips as pilot since.)

Rev. Ambros Asbury, 80
John Kexel, 80
Abraham Burkhart, 80
John Delany, 80
Wm. Stanhope, 79
Col. John Mills, 79
George Elston, 79
Charles Atkinson, 79
James Jones, 79
Benjamin Geren, 79
Rev. Pardon Cook, 78
Thomas Hill, 78
Israel Barns, 77
Herman Hasted, 77
Amos Dye, 77
W. H. Combs, 76
A. T. Nye, 76
James Dutton, 76
Wm. King, 76
Captain Henry Fearing, 76
Lucius Brigham, 76
Sereno Hollister, 76
A. Woodruff, 76
Edward Davis, 76
Silas Slocomb, 76
Jacob Michael, 76
Samuel Caywood, 76
Col. David Barber, 76
Capt. William Knox, 75
Charles T. Sharp, 75
James McKee, 75
Godfrey Aplin, 75
W. Wilcox, 74
Josiah Dow, 74
Thomas Porter, 74
Joseph Jones, 74
Henry Wehrs, 74
Chad. Phillips, 74
John Schramm, 74
John Conner, 74
Jacob Lander, 74
Greydon Medlicott, 74
Wm. Warren, 74
James Dutton, 74
William Payne, 74
Daniel Miller, 74
Jacob Shaffer, 74
Conrad Bissantz, 74
Henry Weber, 74
Van Thorniley, 74
John West, 74
Peter Springer, 73
Calvin Hildreth, 73
John G. Congdon, 73
David C. Skinner, 73
Henry Weppler, 73
Johnathan Nayler, 73
John Richards, 73
Rev. William Pearce, 73
John Molter, 72
Courtland Shephard, 72
Merrit Judd, 72
Adam Baker, 72
Thomas J. Westgate, 71
John Stricker, 71
Samuel H. Fuller, 70
James W. Clogston, 70
William Clancy, 70
Dr. James Watson, 70
Eliphalet Dow, 70
Dr. Seth Hart, 70
Esq. David Barber, 70
Joseph H. Higley, 70
John R. Tucker, 70
Harlow Chapin, Esq., 70
Luther Edgerton, 70
Jacob Wolf, 70
John Barnes, 70

List of Ladies.
Catharine Highland, 96
Margaret Holst, 90
Mary Thorniley, 87
Mrs. T. C. Smith, 87
Mary Bartlett, 87
Barbary Dick, 86
Lucy Gill, 86
Margaret Wisman, 86
Charlotte Eveleigh, 84
Lucinda O. Jett, 83
Mary Curtis, 83
Eliza Creel, 83
Lucretia Vinton, 83
Rebecca Whitney, 82
Eliza Davis, 82
Mary Jett, 81
Theodotia Buell, 80
Lucy Chapman, 80
M. L. Goddard, 80
Martha Cox, 80
Charlotte Stone, 80
Sophia Fisher, 80
M. H. Collins, 79
Mrs. E. Howison, 78
Eliza Bishop, 78
Edna Dibble, 78
Sarah Braddock, 78
(Mr. Braddock and wife were married in August, 1814.)
Margaret Thompson, 78
Mary Pugh, 78
Nancy Reckard, 78
Sarah Dutton, 77
Lucretia Bryan, 77
Sarah Jones, 77
Eliza Stramann, 77
Maria Thomas, 76
Kate Haag, 77
Catharine Michael, 77
Abigail Hovey, 76
Mrs. F. Burger, 76
Delilah Reckard, 76
Catharine Day, 76
Rebecca McAllister, 76
Angelina Stanley, 76
Lydia Payne, 75
Ann Cole, 75
Daphne Squires, 75
Mrs. Burkhart, 75
Anna Cisler, 75
Charlotte G. Grosvenor, 75
Eliza Buck, 75
Rebecca Geren, 74
Elizabeth Test, 74
Rebecca Sharp, 74
Laura Chamberlain, 74
Irena Buell, 74
Lydia Chesebro, 74
Sarah Fearing, 74
Mrs. Bartemas, 74
Mrs. Newton, 73
Eliza Koontz, 73
Mary Reynolds, 73
Sarah Daniels, 73
Mrs. Sutton, 73
Nancy Hutchinson, 73
Eliza Test, 73
Mrs. Courtland Sheppard, 72
Sophrona Crawford, 72
Ann Hazlett, 72
Fortune Cook, 72
Mary Butcher, 71
Nellie Kider, 71
Lucinda Connor, 70
Mary Buck, 70
Amanda Nash, 70
Polly Alcock, 70
Keziah Cherry, 70
Elizabeth West, 70

January 1, 1875.

The Centennial Tea Party

The Marietta Register, February 24, 1876

As all expected it would be, the celebration was a success.  The attendance was over a thousand, and all entered into the spirit of the occasion with zest.

There were for the relic room ladies dressed to represent the thirteen States, and the 1776 dining room was furnished with the table ware of early families of distinction.

We give some notes on the Centennial Celebration, taken hurriedly and made brief, because of the late hour and want of space.

1776 Room

Beginning here, we can not more than make mention of a few of the many relics of distinguished association in the earlier times.  We were surprised, on entering, at the extent of the collection.  To a lover of the rare and ancient, a visit to this room was worth a long journey.  Some of the articles were like the following:

A fine cane, presented by Gen. La Fayette to Mr. Nahum Ward, in Paris, in 1823.
A powder horn, presented by Burr to Blennerhassett, the property of John M. Hook.
A horn spoon, that will hold a pint, 100 years old.
Specimens of Continental currency paid Stephen Devol for building sentry boats.
An English watch, 120 years old, by Mrs. Iams.
A Bible of 1681.
A commission, signed by Gen. Washington, now in the Olney family.
Watch fobs and fancy articles of cloth, 100 years.
Silver ladel and spoon, by H. L. Nye, in use since 1760.
Gen. Artemus Ward's pistols, used in the Revolutionary War. Flint locks, of course.
A brace also used by Gen. Putnam.
Linen bed curtain, spun by Mrs. Gov. Meigs, in 1796.
Sword, hat and gloves, worn by Col. David Green, at Bunker Hill.
Silk dress, brought from England, in 1790, exhibited by Mrs. Theo. Scott.
Linen spread, the property of Maj. Thos. Stanley, 1780.
Corset made in 1765, by Miss Rose Jennings, afterward Mrs. Stephen Devol.
A piece of embroidery of 1700, exhibited by Mrs. Ralston, made by her grandmother's grandmother, Mrs. Sloan.
Tables, stands, chairs, &c., of Blennerhassett.
Oil painting of the Stockade or Campus Martius.
A dress, worn by Mrs. Harvey Kilmer 50 years ago, the age of which is not known.
A spinning wheel and reel, on which Mrs. Gov. Meigs used to spin, the property of Miss Daphne.
Oil portrait of Gen. Nath. Greene.
Ancient table ware in profusion, many of which were the relics of Paul Fearing.
The ancient patterns of candle stand, in a city supplied with gas, were a curiosity.
In this room Mr. Bennet, the artist, exhibited portraits, or rather copies of ancient ones.
A map of Federal Creek, 1790.
A painting representing the first Court in the Northwest Territory.
Lock and key of the first jail in Ohio.
Mrs. E. Tenney exhibited a warming pan, an instrument not much seen now-a-days.
A portrait of Mary Dana Emerson.
Old American dollar.
New Jersey penny.
Convex and concave mirrors.
Ancient documents too tedious to mention.
Diary of Col. David Green, 1770 to 1777, and of his son from 1781 to 1802.
An original picture of Gov. Meigs, taken while he was Governor, and presented to Mrs. Wm. Warren, in 1823, by Mrs. Meigs.
A book, the first sermon preached in New England, by the Hon. Judge Foster.
Facsimile of Gen. Washington's account current with the United States.
Stays worn by the grandmother of Mrs. Scott in 1776.
A quilt of Irish linen, stuffed with wool, by Mrs. Scott, made in 1660, brought here by Sarah Alcock, in 1790.
A military coat, presented by La Fayette to Gen. Putnam.
A saw, exhibited by Mary A. Hovey, used by her grandfather, a sea captain, before and during the Revolution.
Two oil paintings 50 years old, the portraits of the father and mother of J. S. Sprague.
The original deed of the Island, given in 1786, by Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia, to Blennerhassett, now in the possession of Mrs. Wm. Pitt Putnam.

The 1876 room was of course what all would expect.  It was modern in appearance.  There was not on exhibition the telegraph, engine, mower, reaper, street car, daily paper, railroad, or any of the business features of the age, but fair women, the work of their fair hands, the imagination of their pure minds, all arrested the attention of the visitor, and pleased the average citizen of good taste, quite as well as anything found across the hall.  There was but room for the exhibition of art, and this was confined to fine art.  There were some forty oil paintings, all done by the ladies young and old, of Marietta.  Many of these received much praise.  Modern photography was well represented by Mr. Cadwallader.

The dining room was furnished with a bill of fare on the "European plan," and "cash boys" and "girls" waited on the cashier for change.  Some of these features were carried out as well as could be expected, considering the hungry crowd.

At a little before 8, the entire company repaired to the audience room above, where the Old Folks concert and Tableaux were to take place.  The stream poured in, and soon filled the Hall, gallery and all.  The announcement that Beman Gates would have the concert in charge was a guaranty of a good programme.  The tableaux were very good, and gave great satisfaction.  In some, the costumes were especially attractive.  The Lady Washington reception was very fine indeed.  Here let us mix our account to the extent of stating that one of the chief features of the afternoon and evening in the 1776 room below was the reception by General and Martha Washington and sister.  The modern Washington looked enough like Gen. George to be his baby brother.

For the concert, the programme was ancient in appearance and style.  The elections were patriotic and hymnic.

Mr. Gates' voice was hailed above all the rest by many a listener, as a sweet echo from the land of old.  A friend, by whom we stood, said "it's twenty years since I heard Gates, and his voice comes to my ear like an old friend."  The singers all did well.  Their rehearsals were few, yet Marietta can get up a chorus on bugle call that will entertain any audience.  Some of the singers were in costume, and the chignons, worn after the style of ye grandmothers, put all the foolishness of modern styles in the background.

Jacob Mueller played the bass viol, his son Louis and Capt. Regnier the violins.  On Auld Lang Syne, Regnier led off on ye horn.  Besides this feature, the music and manner was more of the Old Folks' style.

The sentiment of the evening was calculated to make the old folks happy; and they were.  Gray heads dotted the audience everywhere, and the stillness that prevailed gave some indication of the interest the songs created.  As "Oft in the stilly night" was sung, a friend leaned toward us and asked, "Does your recollection go back to that?  Mine does."

When the melody of another tune chained the audience, a veteran, with white locks, whose recollection goes back three score years, kept time by the motion of his body.  Turning round, he said, "That was my mother's favorite tune," and with it came the words to his mind, on which her voice, though silent for long years, came again as a sweet inspiration, and he quoted in our ear:

                     "Oh, sing to me of Heaven,
                          When I am called to die;
                      Sing songs of sweetest ecstasy
                           To waft my soul on high."

The evening was spent all in the most delightful manner.  If the Quintette Club, with all its art, entertain an audience so well next week, it may consider itself complimented highly.

The receipts of the day and evening were something like $400.  The women may safely be trusted to dispose of it; still we cannot pass the occasion to express the hope that it may not all be sent to Philadelphia.

Record of Deaths in Washington County, for the Year 1874

The Marietta Register, January 7, 1875

December 1873

At his residence, near Williamstown, W. Va., November 2, 1873, David Hazlerigge, aged 62 years.
In Cincinnati, 25th, Mrs. Mary Van Gilder, aged 26 years, 1 month and 10 days.
In Muskingum township, 24th, Isaac Foster, aged 55 years.
In Marietta, 19th, Mrs. Catharine Peters Smith, wife of Henry Smith, aged 50 years.
In Wood county, 25th, Nancy F. Reed, oldest sister of Parkinson and John M. Reed, aged 76 years.
In Marietta, 27th, Mrs. Mary Crickard, wife of William Crickard, aged 28 years.
In Marietta, 25th, Thomas Davis, aged 19 years.
In Watertown, Dec. __, of dropsy, John Gossett, aged __ years.
In Marietta, 31st, Mrs. Cathy Ward, wife of A. F. Ward, aged 48 years.
In Williamstown, W. Va. 31st, Mrs. Elvira Flanders Putnam, wife of Lieut. G. W. Putnam, aged 37 years.

January 1874

In Marietta, 4th, Hugh A. Morris, aged 63 years.
In Harmar, 3d, of consumption, Ellen Noon, in the 17th year of her age.
In Marietta, 12th, of consumption, James Rogers, aged 23 years.
In Marietta, 7th, Milton Smith, aged 24 years.
In Dunham, 2d, Lilly, daughter of O. T. and Adda Walker, aged 2 years and 6 months.
In Zanesville, Ohio, 9th, George Hodkinson, son of M. Hodkinson, of this city, aged 34 years.
In Belpre, 1st, Mrs. Margaret Bell, in the 38th year of her age.
In Marietta, 21st, Mrs. Julia G. Kendrick, wife of Prof. John Kendrick, in her 60th year.
In Marietta, 18th, Mr. Coleman Holdren, in the 83d year of his age.
In Barlow, 11th, Mrs. Eliza J. Anderson.
In Union township, 18th, Mrs. McAfee, aged about 65 years.
In Beverly, 20th, Mrs. Ann Eliza Williamson, aged 22 years and 11 months.
At Holly, New York, 16th, Mrs. Mary Ann Buell, wife of Hiram A. Buell, aged 62 years.
In Marietta, 21st, Henry Petrie, aged 75 years.
In Aurelius township, 22d, Mr. R. St. John, aged 82 years and 16 days.
In Newport township, 23d, Mrs. Caroline Bush, wife of William Bush, aged about 28 years.
At Junction City, Perry county, Ohio, 18th, Mrs. Margaret (Dodd) Boyd, aged about 45 years.
In Aurelius, 26th, Mrs. Eliza Gevrez, aged 57 years, 5 months, and 4 days.
In Marietta, 24th, Mrs. Rachel Bennet, aged 88 years.
In Orient, Adair county, Iowa, 22d, Laura Childs, wife of Dr. T. L. Andrews.
In Prairie Du Rocher, Illinois, 17, Cower Starlin, in the 28th year of his age.
In Barlow, 19th, Neal Loynachan, aged 55 years.
In Marietta, 29th, of consumption, Mrs. Nelly Fletcher, wife of James O. Fletcher, Jr., aged 18 years.
In Marietta, 25th, infant daughter of R. D. Cole and wife, aged five weeks.
In Belpre, 27th, infant daughter of Staley and Mary Yates.
At his residence in La Fayette, Stark county, Illinois, 22d, Joseph Potter, in the 77th year of his age.
In Salem, Washington county, Ohio, 30th, Mary J. Blake, aged 53 years and 8 months.
In this city, 22d, infant son of David Stawder.

February 1874

In Marietta, 11th, Joseph Kelley, aged 48 years.
In Belpre, 6th, Johnnie B. Jones, son of Rev. Daniel I. and Frank B. Jones, aged 2 years.
In Warren, 5th, Mrs. Dorothea Elizabeth Trachel, aged 71 years.
At his residence in Muskingum township, 11th, Captain James Ward, in the 63d year of his age.
In Salem township, 9th, Jimmie, son of Robert and Mary Fulton.
At Newton, Mass., 9th, Ella E., wife of Arthur H. Bailey, aged 23 years.
In Newport, 16th, Mr. Jesse McPeat, in the 50th year of his age.
In Marietta, 2d, Mrs. Barbara Montross, aged 54 years.
At the Infirmary, 16th, Elizabeth Kyle, aged 61 years.
In Muskingum township, 19th, John Decker, aged about 32 years.
In Fleming, 17th, Bertha E. Morris, aged 4 years and 6 months.
In Newport, 13th, Mrs. Mary Edwards, wife of Mr. Robert Edwards, in the 71st year of her age.
In Newport township, 20th, Weston T. Phillips, aged about 5 years.
In Marietta, 20th, Mrs. Mary Bruce, in the 30th year of her age.
In Adams township, 18th, Mrs. Elizabeth Starlin, aged 77 years.
Of Dyptheria, 11th, Maria Iona Riley, aged 1 year, 1 month, 27 days.
At his residence in Union township, 15th, Lewis J. Cutter, Sr., aged 74 years, 11 mos. and 3 days.
At Elba, Aurelius township, 22d, Nenie, daughter of George R. and Cynthe E. Blake, aged 2 years, 9 months and 7 days.
In Salem, 24th, Jane, daughter of Russel and Fannie Haskins, aged 14 years.
In Missouri, 21, Mrs. Harriet Hill, formerly of Palmer township.
In Indiana, 27th, Helen P., wife of George Turner.
In Marietta, 25th, Michael Minch, aged 84 years.
In Palmer, 25th, Mrs. Pugh, wife of Harvey Pugh, Esq., aged 25 years.
In Macksburg, 11th, Mrs. Miriam Perkins, in the 70th year of her age.
Near Tunnel Station, 2d, Mr. James Taylor, aged 84 years.
In Marietta, 27th, Mr. William Abbott, aged 62 years.
In Lawrence township, Mrs. Anna Gray, in the 90th year of her age.
At his residence in Warren township, 13, Abraham Schaffer, Sr., aged 85 years, 8 months and 19 days.
At Coalburgh, Trumbull county, Ohio, 27th, Abba T. Burnett, aged 6 months and 26 days.

March 1874

In Harmar, 3d, Mrs. Jane L. Congdon, aged 52 years.
In Beverly, 6th, Mrs. Emanuel Dickerson.
In Liberty, 7th, Dr. William F. Patterson, aged about 60 years.
In Marietta, 14th, Mr. William Nahum Ward, aged 27 years.
In Independence, 13th, Walter Brown, Sr., aged about 66.
In Coal Run, 20th, James Henry, son of Ralpha and Irena Starlin, aged 10 months.
In Harmar, 11th, Mary, youngest daughter of Mrs. Lena Gerken, aged 12 years, 11 months and 11 days.
In Marietta, 22d, George E. Smith, son of Dr. C. H. and Mrs. Sarah Smith, aged 4 years.
In Marietta, 23d, Rachel, daughter of Milton and L. V. Smith, aged 4 months.
In Marietta, 28, J. L. Peters, aged about 25 years.
In Beverly, __, Mr. G. Dickerson, aged __ years.
In Bonn, 30th, Miss Lizzie Bartmess, aged 38 years.
At New Matamoras, 25th, Mrs. Sarah M. Dana.
In Marietta, 30th, Mrs. Caroline Wendelken, aged 27 years.
In Marietta, 22d, infant son of Nimrod Burke and wife.
At Waterford, 20th, Louis Beebe, son of Charles and Sarah Beebe, aged 6 years, 2 months and 13 days.

April 1874

In this city, 19th, Nellie M. Morganstein, aged 4 years.
In Marietta, 6th, Mrs. Kate Smith, aged 28 years.
In Marietta, 20th, Mr. O. S. Darrow, aged 40 years and 9 months.
In Watertown, 16th, Adam Wagner, aged 61 years.
In Marietta, 27th, William Henry Pearce, aged 27 years.
In Marietta, 24th, Dwight P. Read, aged 9-1/2 years.
In Marietta, 24th, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Aaron Kennedy, aged about 2 years.
In Marion county, Ohio, 16th, Mrs. Hannah Messenger, in her 94th year.
In Marietta, 17th, Willie Ward Wagerly, aged 1 year, 10 months and 24 days.
In Marietta, 30th, Edward G. Brigham, aged 13 months.
At Infirmary, 22d, Benjamin Rogers, of West Virginia, aged 25 years.
At Infirmary, 29th, David Scott, aged 46 years.
In Marietta township, 30th, infant son of John and Sarah Oliver.
In Marietta, 30th, Mr. Peter Fearnley, aged 91 years, 6 days.
In Marietta, 30th, Mrs. Catharine Beltz, aged 70 years.
In Liberty township, 24th, Mrs. Elizabeth Johnson, in her 75th year.
In Marietta, 13th, Mrs. F. Lewis, aged 66 years.
In Waterford, 8th, Mr. Charles Bowen, in the 76th year of his age.
In Coal Run, 30th, Mr. Aclaniram [Adoniram?] Coffee, aged 30 years.

May 1874

In Marietta, 6th, Freddie Goeble, aged 14 weeks.
In Belpre, 28th, Mr. Sumner Oaks, aged 69 years.
In Marietta, 4th, Catharine Gerhart, aged 10 years and 10 months.
In Salem township, 13th, Mr. Joseph Stewart, aged 50 years.
In Marietta township, 17th, Mrs. Rebecca Kipp, aged 66 years.
On Sunday, 17th, at Walnut Hills, Cincinnati, Mrs. Eliza Woodbridge Rosseter, in her 83d year.
In Ithaca, New York, 22d, Prof. E. W. Evans, aged 45 years.
In Beverly, 12th, a son of Gideon and harriet krigbaum, aged 10 months.
In Chesterfield, Morgan county, Ohio, 22, Thomas Hodgin, aged about 55 years.
In Salem township, 5th, Mrs. Lucy Blake, aged 31 years.
In Waterford, 24th, Dr. George Bowen, aged 78 years.
In Waterford, 21st, Harriet N. Buchanan, aged 34 years.
In Barlow, Ohio, 17th, James Morris, aged 78 years, 9 months, and 2 days.
In Marion, 29th, Milton Pixley, in the seventy-sixth year of his age.
In Marietta, 31st, Miss Sophia Pfeiffer, aged 24 years.
In Decatur, 28th, Mr. William Johnson, in the sixty-third year of his age.
In Newport, 4th, Freddie Cooke, son of Capt.C. H. Cooke, aged 1 year and 20 days.
In Independence township, 20th, Clemmie Brown, son of Walter and Mary E. Brown.
In Salem township, 18th, Mrs. Phebe Larcomb, aged 76 years.
At his residence in Tama City, Iowa, 7th, Henry Pennell, aged 68 years and 20 days.
In this city, 11th, Valentine Hauth, aged 40 years.
In this city, 12th, Mr. Grosclos, drowned, aged 45 years.
In this city, 12th, John Edwin Eufler, aged 14 months.
In this city, 22d, Eliza Ringwalt, aged 71.

June 1874

At Wabash, Indiana, 4th, Mary Myra, wife of Rev. Charles Little, aged 21 years, 6 months and 16 days.
At his residence in Williamstown, W. Va., 19th, Jasper Roe, aged 48 years.
In Marietta, 4th, Mrs. B. E. Harshberger, aged 54 years.
In Clarington, Ohio, 19th, Mrs. Harriet E. Thompson, aged 28 years.
In Harmar, 22d, Miss Ellen Holmes, in the 81st year of her age.
In Marietta township, 13th, Elihu Woodard, aged 66 years and 9 months.
At the residence of her son-in-law, Rev. E. Sibley, of Racine, Ohio, 19th, Chene Simons, aged 88 years, 11 months, 21 days.
In Salem township, 18th, Mrs. M. J. Blake, aged 47 years.
In Fearing, 28th, Lewis Dowling, aged about 62 years.
In Williamstown, West Virginia, 21st, John N. Prettyman, aged 15 years, 11 months, 26 days.
In Harmar, 29th, Mrs. Mary Shankland,in the 28th year of her age.
In Newport, 25th, Mrs. Elizabeth Slagle, aged 69 years.
In Jackson county, Ohio, 23d, Grace, daughter of Rev. George Murray.

July 1874

In this city, 2d, Cornelius Fletcher, aged 2 years and 6 months.
In this city, 15th, son of W. T. Clogston, aged 22 months.
In this city, 17th, child of L. Blankinship, aged 4 months.
In this city, 3d, Joseph M. Bukey, aged 8 months.
In this city, 6th, Daniel Beck, Sr., aged 56 years.
In this city, 7th, Mrs. Sallie H. Alcock, in her 86th year.
In Harmar, 2d, a son of C. W. Lindner and wife, aged about 4 years.
In Harmar, 12th, Mrs. Sarah Turner, in the 67th year of her age.
In this city, 10th, Martin Luther jett, aged 2 months and 5 days.
In Wesley, 8th, Henry Faires, aged about 45 years.
In this city, 10th, Laura Maggie Pfaff, aged 6 months.
In Pana, Illinois, 8th, Mrs. C. W. Walton, wife of Rev. James Walton, in the 58th year of her age.
In Parkersburg, West Virginia, Newell Dale Johnson, aged 27 days.
In Muskingum township, 11th, Daniel Zimmer, in the 83d year of his age.
6th, Lizzie Estella Walcott, aged three months and fifteen days.
In this city, 17th, Elsie May Pearce, aged about one year.
In Salem, 16th, Mrs. Adeline Steward, aged about 38 years.
At Grandview, 12th, Mrs. J. E. Reinitz, aged about 40 years.
In Fairfield, 12th, Freddie Trotter, aged 1 year, 10 months and 18 days.
In this city, 22d, Emma, daughter of Bernard and Mary Rodick, aged 3 months and 2 weeks.
In Harmar, 22d, Mrs. Mahala McDonald Soule, aged 60 years, 8 months and 10 days.
At the County Infirmary, 30th, Mrs. Jessie Hinkly, aged 56.
In Columbus, 22d, Lucy Matilda Hoffman, in the 53d year of her age.
In this city, 31st, Anna Belle Ketter, aged 9 months.
Near Williamstown, West Virginia, 21st, Mrs. Rebecca Beason, in her 87th year.
In Barlow, 24th, David C. Breckenridge, aged 80 years.
In Palmer, 25th, George Hildebrand, in his 70th year.

August 1874

In this city, daughter of Henry Wendelken, aged 5 months.
In this city, 12th, son of William H. Koontz, aged 2 months.
In this city, 13th, child of M. Hamilton, aged 2 weeks.
In this city, 29th, Earl A. Lenhart, aged 3 months.
In this city, 4th, Maud Adelia Dunn, aged 7 months and 5 days.
In Union, 24th, Joseph Burke, aged 24 years and 3 months.
At Salt Lake City, Utah, 24th, Robert Paxton, in the 45th year of his age.
In this city, 27th, Miss Fannie Wiseman, aged 29 years.
In Marietta township, 39th, Mrs. Rachel Brown, relict of the late George H. Robinson, aged __ years.
At his residence in Plymouth, Washington county, Ohio, Peter B. Lake, in the 73d year of his age.
At Biddle Institute, Charlotte, North Carolina, 21st, Sarah Rhea, only daughter of Rev. J. H. and Sarah J. Shedd, aged 8 years.
At his residence, 12th, Isaac Brooks, aged 96 years and some months.
Near this city, 19th, Celia Grace, daughter of M. G. and M. Wagner, aged 9 months.
In Corinth, Mississippi, 19th, Edgar Wiebel Dean, aged 9 months and 21 days.
In this city, 23d, Mrs. Anna Dye, wife of Dudley Dye, aged about 20 years.
At Lewis Station, Henry county, Missouri, 16th, Mrs. Polly E. Dana, wife of the late Capt. Augustus Dana, and sister of Capt. Birch, aged about 70 years.
At Cow Run, 23d, Capt. Alfred Finch, aged 57 years.
In this city, 24th, John Chase, Sr., in the 74th year.
At Macksburg, 20th, William Markey, aged about 45 years.

September 1874

In this city, 27th, Maria Morris, aged 3 months.
At Roxbury, Morgan county, Ohio, 4th, Augusta, infant daughter of J. J. and Sarah Montgomery, aged 6 weeks and 3 days.
In Union, 17th, Mary, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Tiemann, aged about 2 years.
In Harmar, 21st, John L. Beltz, in the 36th year of his age.
In this city, 16th, Mrs. Sarah Starling, in the 44th year of her age.
In this city, 17th, John Cripps, in the 60th year of his age.
In Columbus, 15th, Maj. W. H. Bisbee, in the 45th year of his age.
In Harmar, 24th, Anthony Noon, in the 62d year of his age.
In Watertown, 22d, Mrs. Charles Peters, aged 58 years.
In Windsor, Morgan county, 24th, James Wallace, aged 68 years.
In Harmar, 25th, Miss Elizabeth Hooden, in the 16th year of her age.
In Osceola, Polk county, Nebraska, 20th, Albert L. Gushee, aged 11 months and 5 days.
In Harmar, 8th, Mrs. Hannah Marshall, aged 68 years.
At Cow Run, 3d, infant daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth Ward, aged 26 days.
In this city, 2d, Howard Darlington, son of Dr. Z. D. and Mrs. C. E. Walter, aged 2 years.
At New Matamoras, 1st, Enoch Theodore Dana, aged 1 year, 5 months and 20 days.
In Newport, 16th, Estella Kidd, aged 5 years, 3 months and 19 days.
In Elk River, Minnesota, 6th, Mrs. Sophia Shockley, aged 35 years.
In Independence township, 24th, Miss Altis Farnsworth, aged 19 years.
In this city, 10th, Mrs. Sophia A. Gephart, wife of Jacob Gephart, aged 33 years.
In Millersburgh, Iowa, 25th, Mrs. Emeline Morris, wife of Joseph R. Morris, in her 26th year.
At Hull, Canada, 11th, Jane B. Wheeler, aged 60 years.
At Dresden, Missouri, 8th, John Andrew Morris, aged 1 year, 1 month and 17 days.

October 1874

In this city, 5th, Mrs. Elizabeth Baker, aged 55.
In Newport, 13th, Mary mcElroy, aged 76.
In Watertown, 3d, Mrs. Mary Dannelson, aged 85 years.
At Pine Grove Crossing, 1st, of heart disease, John P. Lloyd, of Ironton, Ohio, aged 8 years.
In Corinth, Mississippi, 4th, Ernest Clinton Tibbetts, aged 17 years, 5 months and 20 days.
In Newport, 8th, infant son of Samuel and Sarah J. Wells.
In this city, 14th, Mrs. Lizzie A. Curtis, wife of R. L. Curtis, aged 34 years and 5 months.
In Aurelius, 17th, Mary Perkins, aged 20 years.
In this city, 17th, Maggie Perkins Sanborn, aged 3 months and 18 days.
Saturday morning, 10th, Mrs. Lucretia Potter, relict of the late Wylys Hall, Sr., aged 84 years and 7 months.
At the County Infirmary, Samuel R. Smith, in his 94th year.
In Allegheny City, 1st, Albert Addison, only son of John J. and Hannah S. Welshan, in the 16th year of his age.
In Watertown, 21st, Elias Woodruff, aged 82 years.
In Pana, Illinois, 5th, Bertha May, only daughter of Douglas A. and Lizzie N. Gilbert, aged 5 months and 22 days.
In this city, 5th, Mrs. Elizabeth Bayer, aged __  years.
In this city, 22d, Mary Anne Holden, aged 11 months and 13 days.
In Harmar, 10th, Mrs. Anna Adams, aged 74 years and 10 days.
In Allegheny City, 20th, Luella May, second oldest daughter of John j. and Hannah S. Welshan, aged 12 years, 5 months and 26 days.
In Allegheny City, 14th, Annie Lee, youngest daughter of John J. and Hannah S. Welshan, aged 7 years, 6 months and 8 days.
In Cincinnati, 6th, Charles Edward, infant son of Mr. and Mrs. C. Baker, aged 2 years and 13 days.
At Cutler, 25th, Mary H., infant daughter of G. W. and Mary E. Ward.
In Fort Scott, Kansas, 27th, Mrs. Wilhelminia Patterson, daughter of William Hoppmann, of this city.
In McConnelsville, 19th, Adaline Story, wife of Andrew Story.
In Nebraska City, 9th, Mrs. Orilenna May Judd, wife of M. H. Judd, formerly of Marietta, aged 39 years.
In Williamstown, West Virginia, 14th, Nellie Maria, daughter of Jseph P. Richardson, aged 2 years, 3 months and 11 days.
In Brooklyn, New York, 14th, Lida H., daughter of Edward A. and Amelia Turner, aged 1 year, 1 month and 22 days.
In Barlow, 31st, James Lamb, aged about 7 years.
in Batavia, Iowa, Elsie, only daughter of Rev. John Williams, formerly of this place, aged 1 year.
In Palmer, 30th, Marcus Thomas, Sr., aged 73 years.

November 1874

In Belpre, 2d, Daniel Ellenwood, in his 74th year.
In this city, 11th, Augusta Friederica Lorey, aged 7 months and 28 days.
In Salem township, 10th, Mrs. Maria Matthews, in her 72d year.
In this city, 23d, James Dutton, aged 76 years.
In Watertown, 18th, Emily Bohl, aged 14 years.
In Fairfield township, 15th, Thomas Dunbar, aged 84 years and 1 month.
In Keokuk, Iowa, 19th, Mrs. Mary P Parkhurst, in the 47th year of her age.
In Harmar, 21st, Mrs. Maria Brabham, in the 60th year of her age.
In this city, 19th, Frederich Conrath, aged 42 years.
In Harmar, 27th, Mrs. Mary Stevens, aged 54 years.
25th, son of Ezra and Eliza Mankins, aged 8 days.
At Cambridge, 30th, Mrs. Mary Ann Norman, aged 78 years.
In Belpre, 29th, Gertrude P. Currier, aged 11 months and 19 days.
In Anoka, Minn., 23d, Samuel Griggs, aged 67 years.
In this city, 12th, child of James Fletcher, aged 8 months.

December 1874

In this city, 3d, Mrs. Lucretia S. Vinton, in the 83d year of her age.
In Overton, Nebraska, Mrs. Susan Still, aged 34 years.
In this city, 12th, Jacob Schaffer, aged 73 years.
In Barlow township, 19th, William H. Morris, in the 37th year of his age.
In Aurelius township, 10th, Mrs. Mary Wilson, aged 25 years.
At her residence in Barlow, 6th, Mrs. Elizabeth Hartson, in the 75th year of her age.
In this city, 16th, Mrs. M. L. Goddard, in the 80th year of her age.
In this city, 18th, Lucretia Bryan, aged 77 years.
In Coal Run, 2d, Ervin Hall, in the 40th year of his age.
Near Coal Run, 12th, Levi Six, aged about 50 years.
In Belpre, 20th, Harriet Hollister Stone, aged 53 years.
In Beverly, 25th, R. R. Prentice, aged 29.
In Harmar, 26th, Mrs. Carrie Newbey, aged 31.
At the Infirmary, 15th, Lucinda Noland, aged 2 years.
At the infirmary, 26th, Milton Conley, aged 26.
In this city, 25th, Elizabeth Towsley, aged 54 years.

Abduction of Ohio Citizens

Marietta Intelligencer, July 24, 1845

The gentleman who kindly consented to fill the editor’s chair during his absence, last week, made no announcement of the late outrage committed upon 3 citizens of this county, by a body of Virginians, for the reason, we suppose, that the reports of the matter were so contradictory that the truth could not be sell ascertained.

Whatever dispute there may be as to minor details of the offence, the following particulars are doubtless correct:

On the night of the 9th inst. Mr. Craton Loraine, Mr. Peter M. Garner, and Mr. Mordecai Thomas, all citizens of Decatur, in this county, were seized on the Ohio Shore, by a body of men from Virginia, taken by force, and without process of law, to Parkersburg, where they were committed to jail. On the 18th inst. They were examined before a called County Court, and committed for trial before the Supreme Court to be held in September next – bail for their appearance having been refused. The facts that led to the abduction of these men are these:

On the evening of the 9th, six negroes, claimed as slaves of Jno. H. Harwood, living twelve miles below Parkersburg, made their escape into Ohio. Mr. H. having knowledge of their purpose, secured the services of some of his neighbors, who came over in advance of the negroes, and concealed themselves near the bank. Soon after midnight the negroes came over, and were met on the bank by Loraine, Garner, Thomas, and four others, who were aiding them in the removal of their baggage from the canoe, when the three above named were seized, as above stated, and taken to Virginia, together with five of the negroes.

With the defence of these captured men, or of those who may aid slaves when escaping, we have nothing to do. If offences are committed against the laws of Virginia, within her jurisdiction, let the offenders be legally demanded of the Governor of Ohio, the criminals removed by legal process, and the penalty of the violated law inflicted.

The claim that Virginia sets up is, that citizens of Ohio, living here, and who have never set foot on Virginia soil, are amenable to her laws! That is bad enough – too bad – so bad that a Kentucky jury upon their oaths would not, and we trust a Virginia jury will not, sanction it. But in this case, Ohio citizens are seized upon their own soil, and without process of law removed by people of another State from our territory by violence, under a pretence that they have committed a crime – where? Not in Virginia, but in their own State, to whose laws alone they are amenable, and where alone they can have a constitutional trial – viz: by a jury in the county where the act was done.

And will the citizens of Ohio, will the authorities of the State, quietly submit to such indignities? They will merit the scorn of all MEN if they do. If our laws will permit a foreign mob to seize freemen, citizens of Ohio, and violently carry them as felons into a foreign jurisdiction, let it not henceforth be said that they are made for our protection.

“Ah, but these were fanatics, meddling with what was none of their business – incendiaries, negro stealers!” Tell us not that; for if they were, and we care not what beside, the right to kidnap them confers the right to kidnap the best citizens in the State, and whoever would himself be safe must repel the principle as unjust, unholy, and full of wrong.

Recent Deaths of Several Former Residents of Marietta

The Marietta Register, March 11, 1875

I hand you an obituary notice of the late Mrs. Maria Grimes, of Dayton, at the advanced age of 93 years.  Mrs. Grimes was the daughter of Charles Green, one of the pioneers of Marietta, who came here early in the fall of 1788, and resided here for more than twenty years.  He was one of the early business men of Marietta, and you published, about two years since, the obituary of his son, Captain William G. Green, of St. Louis.

The next is that of Paulius Emelius Wood, son of the late Judge Joseph Wood, of Marietta, and for many years Register of the Land Office.  Mr. Wood was born in 1793, in Marietta, as stated in an obituary published in the Wood County Sentinel, a copy of which I hand you, with a request that you will insert it in the Register.

The next is that of Hiram A. Buell, son of the late Gen. Joseph Buell, and brother of the late Daniel H. Buell.  He was born in Marietta, and resided here for many years.

The last is that of Rev. Samuel P. Hildreth, son of the late Dr. S. P. Hildreth.  Mr. Hildreth was born in Marietta in 1821, and has resided for many years at Dresden.  More formal notice of Mr. Buell and Mr. Hildreth will, I presume, be furnished to you by their friends.

March 8, 1875.
A. T. Nye

Mr. Charles Sullivan's Studio

The Marietta Gazette, July 25, 1835

It is, perhaps, not generally known that some beautiful productions of the pencil, by a native artist, of no common genius, are to be seen, at present, in an upper room of the new court house. Whoever has an eye and a heart for the unsurpassed beauties of the Ohio scenery, may spend an hour, with peculiar pleasure, in the study of Sullivan’s splendid pictures. His studio at present exhibits some exquisite landscapes, in a finished state; where strength and clearness of color is united with fine drawing and accurate study of nature.

I have spoken of Mr. S. as a native artist, it may be added that he is almost wholly self taught. His principal studio has been La belle riviere, where the ever varying enchantments of the earth and the heavens, beneath skies burning in golden tints, or frowning with the thunder cloud, were his books and his models. The landscape painter, more than any other, realizes Mr. West’s maxim, that “light and shadow never stand still,” and the principal charm of Sullivan’s canvass is its sky – the touchstone in landscape painting. He has most happily verified the oft repeated assertion, that “the poet and the painter are one.” He is the poet and painter of nature.

One of the subjects in our own lovely Marietta. The individual householder, may, perhaps, feel dissatisfied with this picture, because he does not find in it, as large as life, every stick and stone upon his own premises. But to the eye which, from a distant point of observation, looks upon the town as a single feature upon the face of the landscape – a striking one, indeed, amid all the attributes of loveliness which it possesses – will admire the judgment and skill which have harmonized and subordinated it to the other objects. The coloring of this picture has been thought too vivid, or, as it is technically termed, too warm. I do not think so. Let it be remembered that the foliage is that of autumn. May I attempt to describe it? I would do it thus: One night of frost, one breath from the cold northwest, and the morrow’s sun looks out upon colors bright as his own beams, and more variegated than the tints of his many colored bow. It is as if the earth were spanned by one great Iris, throwing its beauties over mountain and valley and stream. If the sunset skies of Italy are flushed with a more gorgeous radiance, they look not, as ours do, on an earth which gives back a picture of magnificent coloring, that even the glories of the firmament do not outshine: it is as if the very air were painted. The colors below so mingle and harmonize with the colors above, that there seems a very blending of earth and sky. Such are the sky and the foliage which Mr. S. has copied with so much truth and spirit in his view of Marietta.

His studio is not without a more general attraction – some fine portraits. To the many, it is the portrait of myself, my wife, my children, or my friends, that interests more than any delineation of natural scenery, or composition of historical event. This is not peculiar to any place or country: it is so in New York, and London, and Paris, as well as in the villages of the interior. If any desire to secure likenesses that seem “veritable flesh and blood,” living and breathing, as it were, in the very atmosphere surrounding them, Mr. S. can given them. He has executed, by way of first studies in this branch of his art, three portraits, the originals of which being resident here, the fidelity of the likeness can be satisfactorily determined. No one, I am persuaded, who has ever seen our Prosecuting Attorney [Arius Nye] before the Court, illuminating “a point of law,” would hesitate a moment in recognizing the Websterian bumps of his ample forehead, as the original of this portrait.

Mr. S. has made also a splendid painting of the soi-distant “Emperor of the World.” The drawing is very accurate – the likeness is perfect – and he has happily seized the expression of Mr. [Edward Postlethwayt] Page’s really fine face, at the moment when it is glowing with his most “sublime and mysterious ken.” “All things,” says the Padra, “are doubled, one against another,” and in this portrait, we have the “Page of Nature” in a Page of Art. There was never anything half so magnificent as his drapery possessed by “Hindoo Chrishna’s 16000 women,” or “160000 sons.” This portrait alone, would repay the trouble of a visit to Sullivan’s studio.

The other portrait is one of our clergy. Not being familiar with his face, I cannot say how good the likeness may be; but as a composition, it is well drawn and firmly painted.

Mr. S. is engaged, moreover, in giving lessons to a class of young gentlemen. I have seen some of their performances. They are equally creditable to the master and his pupils. There can be no greater mistake than the general impression, that drawing is a mere feminine accomplishment. In truth, there is scarcely a profession or pursuit in life, where it is not highly desirable, and frequently important to possess a competent knowledge of this art. And all the time and money expended in the acquisition of it will be richly remunerated in the taste for the refined and innocent pleasure which it gives at home, in place of the doubtful, and often dangerous, relaxations of youth abroad. Mr. Sullivan has two pupils in oil painting: one of them, well known among us, for his original efforts as an amateur, has seized so readily, and so boldly, the scientific principles of the schools, as to give large promise of eminence in the art. Indeed, his last production places the fact of his possessing a high order of talents, beyond doubt. He has only to persevere in a course so worthily and laudably begun, to be entitled to take rank with the distinguished sons of American genius. Mr. S. speaks highly also of his other pupil’s talent, and casts his horoscope among the stars of the first magnitude.

May I not conclude with the expression of the hope that this “seat of learning,” as it is well entitled to be called, will foster, with becoming liberality, this one of the Fine Arts? It is characteristic of genius and extraordinary merit, to be modest and retiring; the subject of this article is eminently so. This public notice of him will be, I doubt not, as annoying to his diffidence, as I trust it will be gratifying to your numerous readers.

W.

Henry Clay

Marietta Intelligencer, May 23, 1844

Henry Clay passed Marietta on his way home on Friday morning last, on the steamer Little Pike.  The boat stopped here an hour or more, and many of the citizens of Marietta and Harmar embraced this opportunity of paying their respects to him.

He appeared to be in fine health, and (as well he may) in excellent spirits.

Hon. Thomas Ewing was in company with Mr. Clay.

                                     *     *     *     *     *

The citizens of Marietta and Harmar who had the pleasure of a trip to Parkersburg on Friday last, in company with Henry Clay, desire publicly to express their obligations to the officers of that excellent boat, The Little Pike, for the attentions shown them on that excursion.  No charge was made for our passage, and we were otherwise most hospitably entertained.

Captain William Burnham

The Marietta Register, March 18, 1875

William Burnham was one of the early settlers of Ohio.  He was not one of the first company which came in April 1788, but he must have come early in the summer of that year.

It is barely possible, at this day, to give any satisfactory sketch of Mr. Burnham's life, as reliable materials for so doing are difficult to obtain.  He was born in Ipswich, Massachusetts, in 1760, came to Ohio at the age of 28, and married at Marietta, 1789, Miss Christian Oliver, daughter of Col. Robert Oliver, who had come to Marietta the same year that Mr. Burnham came, but later.

The settlement of Marietta consisted of the "Campus Martius" on the hill, and the lower garrison, called the "Point," the last mentioned being now the principal business portion of Marietta.  Previous to the Indian war, Mr. Burnham built a house at the "Point," and resided there during the war.  After the close of the war, he removed to his farm in Waterford township, about two miles north of Wolf Creek Mills, and resided there several years.  About 1801, he returned to town, and opened a public house in Harmar, then a part of Marietta.

At one period, from 1800 to 1807, business was very active in Marietta, especially business connected with ship building.  Mr. Burnham, at his public house, became acquainted with many prominent business men, his house being a place where they were accustomed to resort.  The embargo, however, put a stop to ship building.  Some of those engaged in that business were compelled to suspend, and many persons being out of employment, sought occupation in other places.  Ship building and all business connected with it was ended.

Probably on account of the decrease in his business, Mr. Burnham, in 1808, removed to Zanesville, taking his family and his goods up the river in pirogues.  The pirogue was a boat much used in those days, and was almost the only mode of transportation up the rivers.  It was similar to a canoe, only larger, being hewn from large poplar or pine trees, and was often forty or fifty feet in length, carrying four or five tons, and requiring several men to manage it.

In Zanesville, Mr. Burnham opened a public house, on Main street.  In 1803, Zanesville contained but ten houses, and Springfield, now Putnam (now Zanesville - Ed. Reg.) on the opposite side of the Muskingum river, contained but fifteen.  Although Zanesville had not been long settled, it was growing rapidly when Mr. Burnham went there.  It was one of the most important towns in the interior of the State, being on the line of travel from the West and Southwest, including Kentucky and Tennessee, to the East.

In May, 1796, Congress passed an act granting to Ebenezer Zane three sections of land in Ohio - one section at the crossing of the Muskingum river, where the city of Zanesville is now situated; one section at the crossing of the Hock Hocking, at what is now Lancaster; and one on the Scioto river, opposite what is now Chillicothe - on condition that he should open a road from a point opposite Wheeling, Virginia, through Zanesville, Lancaster, and Chillicothe, to a point opposite Limestone, now Maysville, Kentucky, establishing ferries on the Muskingum, the Hock Hocking, and the Scioto, at the points named above - there being no towns there at that time.  The road was to be opened by January 1, 1797.  Patents to be issued to him on the opening of the road to travel.  It is presumed that the road was completed according to the act of Congress, as these patents were issued to Mr. Zane.  The income from the ferries belonged to Mr. Zane also.  The opening of this road was an era in the history of the State, and it became a very important thoroughfare, and continued to be such until the establishment of steam navigation on the Ohio, about 1820, drew off a great part of the Southern and Southwestern travel.

In those early days, nearly all travel going East was on horseback.  Mr. Burnham's inn, at Zanesville, became well known and deservedly popular, and was largely patronized by travelers.

Mr. Burnham resided in Zanesville until his death, in 1820, at the age of sixty years.  He was a man of affable manners, genial social qualities, very intelligent and fond of reading.  He never accumulated a large property, and after his death his family returned to the old Burnham farm, near Wolf creek, Waterford.

Mrs. Burnham died five years after her husband, in 1825, at the age of sixty.  She was from Chester, Massachusetts.  When in her youth, she had united with the church.  Several years fater her marriage, she was received by letter, at the same time with her mother, into the Congregational Church of Marietta, which had been organized December 6th, 1796.

Mrs. Burnham was a lady of fine personal appearance, very interesting character, and from her youth was possessed of very marked qualities as a Christian.

The children of William Burnham and Christian Oliver were:

Abigail, born 1798; married William H. Harris, 1822.

Mary Oliver, born September 19, 1795; married W. O. Banock, April 25, 1827; died 1851.

Sarah Judith, born November 20, 1800; married Ezekiel Wood, September 11, 1823; died April 16, 1841.

Lucy Chrate [sic Choate], born May 7, 1802; married Samuel Orr, 1829.

Robert Oliver Burnham, born January 5, 1806; he was the only son, and died August 17, 1815.

Mrs. Harris is now living in Zanesville; and Mr. Orr is also living, in Missouri.

Miss Nellie Oliver, only sister of Mrs. Burnham, married Thos. Lord, Esq., Associate Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, Washington county.  They resided on the Muskingum, nearly opposite the mouth of Big Run, in Adams township, Washington Co.

A. T. N.

Marietta, Sixty Years Ago

The Marietta Register, April 1, 1875

In 1815 an uncle [Timothy Flint] of the writer of this article, left Massachusetts, where he had been settled for 14 years, under a commission from the Connecticut Missionary Society, to labor in what was then the far West.  The colony of ex-revolutionary soldiers from New England, for twenty-seven years, had been developing its settlement at Marietta.  Taking with him his entire family - wife and three children - he made the journey in his own conveyance, in about one month, to Pittsburgh.  From thence they floated down the river to Marietta, which they reached about the middle of November.  Here he remained for some weeks, and then passed on to Cincinnati, and, after laboring as a minister in that region and in the States of Kentucky and Indiana, he was transferred to St. Louis.

After a residence of ten years at the West, he wrote a series of letters, containing his recollections of the country.  Retiring from the direct work of the ministry, he gave himself to literary pursuits, composing works which, a recent number of the "New Englander" declares, point him out as "a writer of real merit, and master of a style that for clearness and beauty is seldom equaled."

He made several visits to Marietta, and his letters embody his reflections upon the place from 1815 to 1824, when his letters were published.  The work is now out of print, but I have thought your readers might be pleased to read what he wrote, and so have transcribed a portion for the columns of the Register.  To many of the incidents spoken of by the author, I remember to have listened in my early years, and, often reading over his works, I have though he possessed a rare felicity and power of embodying in glowing and appropriate language his impressions of the outward, and what he conceived and felt of the inward and spiritual world.

But let us see what he says of Marietta as seen sixty years since.  He writes:

"We landed at Marietta, just above the mouth of the Muskingum.  It is a considerable village.  In the forms of the houses and the arrangements about them, you discover that this is an establishment from New England.  A number of well informed and respectable emigrants from that country had preceded us, and had just arrived in the village.  Mr. R., a pious and amiable man, who has since deceased, was minister there.  I had letters to the venerable General Putnam, the patriarch of this colony.  We were here once more in the society of those who had breathed the same air, had contemplated the same scenery, and been reared amidst the same institutions with ourselves.  You can imagine the rapidity of discourse, the attempt of two or three to narrate their adventures at the same time, and the many pleasant circumstances attending the renewal of a long suspended intercourse with congenial society.

"There is something very pleasant and rich in the aspect of the wide and level bottom here.  There is a fine steam mill, built of stone, across the Muskingum, spouting up its column of vapor, and the accompaniment of boat-building and mechanical labors give the place an aspect of business and cheerfulness.  The place has, however, suffered more than once from inundation, which has much retarded the advancement of its growth.  We hear much of the flourishing and populous settlement up the Muskingum, a river whose banks are said to be pleasant and healthful.  The river, which here falls into the Ohio, is broad, shallow, and considerably rapid.  The Ohio backs it up, at times, to a considerable distance.  A laughable incident is said to have occurred on this river, from this cause.  During the thick fogs that often happen here, it is well nigh impossible for the boatmen to judge of directions, to ascertain which way is up, or which way down the river.  In such circumstances, a boat came down the Ohio near the Muskingum shore, was drawn into the mouth of the river by the current that was backing it up, and was proceeding to ascend it in the fog.  When the hands had made some miles up the river, they were hailed, and the usual questions were asked: namely, where from? and where bound?  To this last question the reply was, to New Orleans, and they were with difficulty convinced, that they were making headway up the Muskingum.

"To return to Marietta.  General Putnam was a veteran of the revolution, an inhabitant of Marietta, one of the first purchasers and settlers in the country.  He had moved here when it was one compact and boundless forest, vocal only with the cry of owls, the growl of bears, and the death-song of the savage.  He had seen that forest fall under the axe - had seen commodious, and after that, splendid dwellings rise around him.  He had seen the settlement sustain an inundation, which wafted away the dwellings, and in some instances the inhabitants in them.  The cattle and all the improvements of civilization were swept away.  He had seen the country suffer all the accumulated horrors of an Indian War.  He had seen its exhaustless fertility and its natural advantages triumph over all.  He had seen Marietta make advances towards acquainting itself with the gulf of Mexico, by floating off from its banks a number of sea vessels built there.  He had seen the prodigious invention of steamboats experimenting on the Ohio, and heard their first thunder, as they swept by his dwelling.  He had witnessed a hundred boats, laden for New Orleans, pass by in the compass of a few hours.  He had surrounded his modest, but commodious dwelling with fruit trees of his own planting; and finer, or more loaded orchards than his, no country could offer.  In the midst of rural plenty, and endeared friends, who had grown up around him - far from the display of wealth, the bustle of ambition and intrigue, the father of the colony, hospitable and kine, without ostentation and without effort, he displayed in these remote regions, the grandeur, real and intrinsic, of those immortal men, who achieved our revolution.  Of these great men, most of whom, and General Putnam among the rest, have passed away, there seems to have arisen a more just and a more respectful estimate.  Greater and more unambitious men no age or country has reared.  Cato's seems to have been their motto - 'esse quam videri.'"

From Marietta the author of this extract went to Cincinnati, and St. Louis, and residing in the West till 1840, returned to his native place and there died of consumption.  In addition to his work entitled the "Last Ten Years" ["Recollections of the Last Ten Years"], he wrote extensively of the West, was editor of a magazine published at Cincinnati, and in 1833, was editor of the Knickerbocker Magazine in New York.

W.