Famous Bike Rider Coming to Marietta

Marietta Daily Times, June 25, 1923

The famous Bob Lawson of New York City, who for many years has been one of the leading cyclists of America, will visit Marietta on his silver wheel tomorrow.  He will conduct a bicycle parade or run, at the conclusion of which he will tell the boys about some of his thrilling experiences and will give an exhibition on his wheel of the right and wrong way to ride a bicycle and how to get the most out of it in healthful exercise and comfort.

There will be souvenirs for every boy and girl in the run and a gold watch will be given away.

Lawson will lead the line on what is undoubtedly the handsomest bicycle in America, if not in the world.  Everybody who owns a bicycle is invited to participate in this big bicycle event.

Mr. Lawson will arrange the place of assembly and the details of the run as soon as he arrives in the city and these will be announced in the newspapers as soon as possible.

Mr. Lawson has participated in 14 six-day bicycle races at Madison Square Garden, New York City, and for many years held short and long distance records.  He originated the "whirl of death" stunt that was the principal thriller of the leading circuses and later developed the exceedingly dangerous ride down a steep incline that suddenly turned upward and threw him up into the air, landing right side up on his wheel on a platform 50 feet distant.  He made the trip from New York to 'Frisco in 361 riding hours and a trip from British Columbia to New Mexico in 124 hours.

Marriage

American Friend & Marietta Gazette, April 24, 1830

Married on the 22d inst. by Silas Cook, Esq., Mr. Charles Samuel Swartwort Baron, of Belmont Co., Ohio, to Miss Maery Wilhelmine Fustine Caroline Louise Fredericke Zeigler, of Marietta.

Death of Joseph Wood

The Marietta Republican, December 4, 1851

Decease of our oldest Pioneer.

Joseph Wood, Esq., the oldest citizen of Marietta, and longest resident in the West, departed this life Nov. 13th, 1851. 

Judge Wood was born in Burlington County, New Jersey, January 9th, A.D. 1759.  He left his native State for the Great West, in the twenty-seventh year of his age, starting for Pittsburgh, July 4th, A.D. 1785. It was his object to engage as a U. S. Surveyor in the N. W. Territory, but the Government was not then prepared for his employment.
 

He became Land Agent of Messrs. Tilton & Gibbs, of Philadelphia, in attending to their Land Claims in N. W. Virginia.

He left Pittsburgh November 28th, 1785, to locate himself at Belleville, on the Virginia shore, below the mouth of Big Hockhocking.  On his way down, he stopped at the mouth of the Muskingum River, nearly two years and a half before Gen. Putnam landed there with his company of Pioneers, to commence the American occupancy of the Great Northwest, by the location of Marietta, and the establishment of permanent settlements in that neighborhood.  Fort Harmar was established about the time of Judge Wood's emigration, as a preliminary possession.  This was offensive to the Natives, although all the Indian tribes who had any claims along the Ohio River had surrendered them to the United States, by the treaty of Fort McIntosh.  The doctrine started by Pontiac was now re-asserted, under the influence of Brant - that all lands belonged to all Indians, and that no tribe could properly cede any lands without the general consent of all.  The Indian agitations on this "exciting question" were studiously fomented by British agency.  Indian murders took place occasionally, and about the close of the year 1790 some of the Muskingum Indians bore down on the Ohio Company settlements; the massacre at Big Bottom ensued, and the settlers hereabouts were compelled to live a Block-House life, till their lurking adversaries experienced, from Wayne's army, their decisive overthrow.  

In the month of April, after the Big Bottom tragedy, the Indians invaded the Belleville settlement.  Mr. Kelley, who had removed there from Marietta, was killed - and his son Joseph, now one of the citizens here of longest residence in Ohio, was taken prisoner, and kept by the Shawanoes until rescued by Gen. Wayne, after the peace.

After this invasion of Belleville, 1791, Judge Wood removed to Marietta, and lived there "in Stockade" four years.  He then moved on a farm on "Rainbow," about seven miles up the Muskingum, where he resided till 1816.

Soon after the election of Mr. Jefferson, as President, in 1800, he was appointed Register of the United States Land Office, at Marietta - and in this office he continued till 1837.

Judge Wood possessed a mind of more than ordinary intelligence - had a very retentive memory, was fond of reading and of conversation.  He was strict and upright in his dealings.  He did not seem to possess a very strong physical constitution, but he was regular in his pursuits, and diet, and regimen, careful to undertake no more than he could do - and earnest to do whatever he had undertaken.  He could interest himself in the care of a few domestic animals, a small garden, &c., and even in experiments in horticulture, after he had even surpassed the age of three score and thirty.

His extended life was cheered and prolonged, no doubt, by the exemplary filial care of Miss Nancy Wood, his worthy daughter.

Daguerreotypes

Marietta Intelligencer, December 10, 1851

 

Mr. O. B. Gause, of Philadelphia, at rooms which he has just opened over the Land Office of N. Ward, Esq., is taking very superior daguerreotype likenesses.

 

Mr. G. is about to open extensive rooms in Zanesville, and will remain here only while they are fitting up - at most two or three weeks, and those of our readers who wish to avail themselves of this opportunity of obtaining very excellent likenesses, must give him an early call.

 

Superior Coal

Marietta Intelligencer, December 10, 1851

We have plenty of coal in this county, superior to the Wheeling, and fully equal to the best Pittsburg.  At present it is not accessible by any improvement which renders its transportation to our market, cheap.  We hope, however, that ere long our dwellings, shops, and manufactories may be warmed by fuel from the interior of our own hills.

 

Yesterday we received a box containing from one to two bushels of very superior coal, from Mr. Calvin O. Robinson, of Salem.  He obtained it from a vein on the farm of Mr. Ephraim Gould, of that township.  He says that, after deducting for waste in digging, pillars, &c., it will produce 1000 bushels to the square rod.

 

We want no better coal for any purpose.

Anniversary of the First Settlement of Ohio

Marietta Gazette, April 16, 1836

Agreeably to previous arrangements, the forty-eighth anniversary of the settlement of the State of Ohio, and of the great North Western Territory, was celebrated in a manner befitting the occasion, on the 7th inst., in this town.  A procession, the largest we ever remember to have seen in Marietta, composed of the citizens of Washington and the neighboring counties of Virginia, and of this State, was formed near the Court House about 12 o'clock, under the direction of A. V. D. Joline, Esq. marshal of the day.  The young ladies of the Seminary in this place, attended by their teachers; the hardy Pioneers of the West, representatives of other and perhaps better days; and the Students of the College, headed by the Professors, added in no small degree to the beauty and interest of the scene.

The procession, when formed, marched to the large Congregational Church, the band playing the National Air of Hail Columbia.  An address appropriate to the occasion, was delivered by Arius Nye, Esq., showing the origin and progress, the difficulties and dangers of the first settlement of this part of the country, and interspersed with anecdotes and reminiscences of early days.  The address, we understand, will be published.

After the address, nearly two hundred persons, among them the early Pioneers of the West (the guests of the occasion) repaired to the Mansion House, and sat down to a most excellent dinner, prepared by Mr. Lewis, who had not forgotten to lay in a choice assortment of wines.  The Star Spangled Banner, mounted on the top of a tall Buckeye tree, floated in front of the building.  Col. Joseph Barker officiated as President, and Col. Ichabod Nye, Joseph Wood, William R. Putnam, William Dana, D. H. Buell, and William Pitt Putnam, Esqs., as Vice Presidents.  The following toasts were drank, and a song composed for the occasion by a lady, was sung with much feeling by the company, after the second regular toast.

A Buckeye Ball, given at the Mansion House, closed the festivities of the day.  It were perhaps needless to say it was numerously attended, recollecting the occasion which give rise to it.  The aged and sedate, mingled with the young and beautiful, and all seemed for a time to have forgotten the cares and anxieties of life.  May the future celebrations of the day be attended with the hilarity and good feeling which has marked the present.

Regular Toasts:

1st.  The day we celebrate - the seventh of April, 1788 - When a small band of worthies planted the germ of the State of Ohio, whose roots have struck deep, and whose branches have extended like our own native forests.  Tune - Yankee Doodle.

2d.  The early settlers of Ohio - who relinquished the pleasures and comforts of civilization, to encounter the deprivations and hardships of the wilderness; many of them have lived to see that wilderness blossom as the rose.  Tune - Speed the Plough.

3d.  The memory of Washington - The Father of his country.  (Drank standing.)

4th.  The constitution of the U. States - The principal safe guard of our Liberties.  (Drank standing.)

5th.  The memory of Lafayette - The friend of man in every clime.  (Drank standing.)  Tune - Dead March.

6th.  The United States - May the citizens of the different States ever bear in remembrance that in union there is strength.  (3 cheers.)  Tune - Washington's March.

7th.  The memory of General Anthony Wayne.  (Drank Standing.)  Tune - Roslin Castle.

8th.  The framers of the Constitution of Ohio. - Men of sound heads and honest hearts.  Tune - Constitutional March.

9th.  The State of Ohio. - Possessing within herself all the elements of moral and political greatness, her march to the highest rank among her sister States, can only be impeded by folly and wickedness in her public councils.  May her destiny be as glorious as patriotism can desire.  (3 cheers.)  Tune - Ohio Grand March.

10th.  Robert Lucas - Governor of Ohio; every inch a man.  He is fit to rule over every inch of our Territory.  (6 cheers.)

11th.  The County of Washington - The first lodgement of civilization in the North Western Territory.  Bearing the revered name of the Father of his Country, may her citizens ever imitate his virtues.

12th.  Our Literary Institutions - May they ever remain nurseries of sound learning and correct moral principles.  (3 cheers.)  Tune - Ode on Science.

13th.  The Fair Sex the world over - The Buckeye Ladies of Ohio, worthy representations of the stock from which they came.  (13 cheers.)  Tune - Come! Haste to the Wedding!

Volunteer Toasts:

By Col. Nye - Ohio -With her rising generation: May they enjoy, improve and perpetuate the advantages won by the toils and privations of the Fathers of our Country. 

By D. H. Buell - The memory of the late Gov. Meigs - Emphatically a man of the West, whose history is strongly identified with that of Ohio; a soldier - a statesman - a patriot.  (Drank standing.)

By A. V. D. Joline - The great and growing West - The extension of Territory and the admission of new states into the Union - the expediency of which once question by statesmen of a particular class - But through the bounteousness of nature and numerical force, the enterprising younger will, at no distant day, give law to the doting elder, and thus perpetuate the integrity of the Union; and with it the happiness, enterprise and glory of a great people.

By George Dana - The memory of one of natures noblemen - The Indian Chief Cornstock.  Ye children of civilization, admire and blush.

By Dr. S. P. Hildreth - The memory of Isaac Williams.  (Drank standing.)  

Previous to the announcement of the above sentiment, Dr. Hildreth made an interesting narrative of the services and sufferings of Mr. Williams, in the early settlement of Western Virginia, which will probably be published.

By N. Ward - The memory of Manasseh Cutler.

Mr. Ward read, to the great gratification of the company, an article prepared by Dr. Cutler, about the time of the first settlement at this place, entitled "Ohio phoebia," full of wit and humor, intended as an answer to the objections to the settlement of the West. We hope it will be published.

By Amos Dunham - The young Buckeyes of Ohio - Thrifty cions from the old Yankee stock.  With proper cultivation, they will be in no way inferior to the old Putnam russet.

By John D. Chamberlain - The Buckeye State - Engrafted into the Tree of Liberty, may its branches overshadow the world.

By C. B. Flood - Henry Jolly.

By David Barber - The memory of Com. Abraham Whipple - Who fired the first gun on the Atlantic during the revolutionary war, and navigated the first square rigged vessel out of the Ohio and Mississippi, into the ocean.

By L. H. Goddard - Our Host & Hostess - Mr. and Mrs. Lewis - They deserve our thanks for the entertainments given us this day.

Letters were received from Gov. Lucas, Hon. Jacob Burnet, Dr. Daniel Drake, and ex-Gov. Trimble (who had been invited) and read at the table; some of them contained sentiments, which were drank and cheered.

Letters were also received from Gen. William Henry Harrison and ex-Gov. Brown, who were also invited to attend the celebration, but their letters did not arrive until after the seventh.

By Jacob Burnet - The Pioneers of the West - The first in order of time are the settlers at Marietta; honor to their memory - happiness to their descendants.

By D. Drake - The State of Ohio - The Northern Key-Stone of American Confederacy.