Read by M. P. Wells, Esq., April 7th, Before the Pioneer Society
The pioneer of the pioneer merchants was Dudley Woodbridge, grandfather of the Hon. George M. Woodbridge, whom you all know. He came to Marietta in the summer of 1788 and for several years his partner was Harman Blennerhassett, and the style of the firm, Woodbridge & Blennerhassett. Mr. Woodbridge was succeeded in business by his son Dudley, and George, John and William, his sons, were also in business here.
The pioneer merchants of Harmar were Col. Augustus Stone, Henry Fearing, David Putnam, Abijah Brooke and Levi and David Barber.
It will be fifty-two years next Monday since I came to Marietta. The State was then 39 years old and the town 14 years older than the State. The merchants in business at that time, April 10th, 1841, were Woodbridge & Racer; Col. John Mills; Joseph Holden; John Brophy; Nathaniel Holden; Daniel Green & Son; Stafford, McCune & Steven; Weston Thomas; Dr. John Cotton; Woodbridge & Edgerton; Slocomb & Buck; C. & S. Shipman; J. E. Hall; Wyllis Hall & Son; Hiram Hill; Noah L Wilson; F. B. Loomis and Bosworth & Wells. Very soon followed William F. Curtis; Charles Sheppard; Barber & Rolston; John Marshall; E. B. Perkins; Gurley & Cross and A. & I. Waters.
Joseph Holden did business on the corner now occupied by the First National Bank, and the store of Col. John Mills stood on the site of the Bellevue Hotel. Most of the other stores fronted on the river. The first store opened on Front Street was by Bosworth & Wells. W. F. Curtis, F. B. Loomis, Gurley & Cross, E. B. Perkins and Charles Sheppard followed. Of those involved in but one line of business, Dr. John Cotton was the pioneer in drugs; Slocomb & Buck in books; and Bosworth & Wells in hardware. The other merchants kept a general assortment of goods.
In my early life here we had neither railroads or telegraphs. The steamboat and the stage coach furnished the public means of travel. The farmers around Marietta for the most part lived in log houses and came to town to do their trading either on foot or on horse-back.
From Old Virginia customers came more than a hundred miles, as this was the nearest point at which they could obtain salt. They reached the Ohio river at "Vaucluse," opposite Newport, and the Marietta & Newport Turnpike was built to invite the trade to Marietta. The nearby planters of Virginia often sent their slaves to do their trading and allowed them to accompany them when they came themselves. Now and then they would lose them, as the people on this side always run an underground railroad with terminus in Canada.
Some few farmers owned two-horse wagons, but they were a rarity on our streets. The Marietta "Transfer Company" was then made up of four ox-carts driven by John Marshall, John Richards, Thomas Brookover and St. Clair Muncey.
Gold and silver were scarce commodities. A five franc piece passed readily for a dollar and the small change which was of Spanish origin was known as fips, bits or levies. The paper money varied in value, but most of it was at a discount of from 10 to 50 percent.
The merchants bartered their goods for the produce of the country which, outside of the usual farm products, consisted of grindstones, seneca oil, ginseng, yellow root, bear, deer, otter, mink, raccoon, muskrat and rabbit skins. A muskrat skin was legal tender for a pint of whisky and a coonskin for a quart.
The early merchants of Marietta were largely of New England origin and for the most part, men of sterling integrity, possessed of more than average business sagacity. Some of them, by their good deeds and public spirit, have indelibly impressed their names upon the history of Marietta. A Marietta merchant was one of the founders of Marietta College.
A branch of the State Bank of Ohio was established here by a Marietta merchant. It supplied a felt want and did our county great good. The Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad, connecting this city with Cincinnati, was projected and built by a Marietta merchant at a cost of several million dollars. Marietta merchants, under the name of the Marietta Ship Company, built the beautiful barques, Marietta, Muskingum and John Farnum. With their rich cargoes of Ohio produce, after leaving New Orleans, they sailed across the seas, one to Boston , one to Cork, Ireland and one to Liverpool.
Coming down to yesterday, it was the liberal subscriptions of the merchants of Marietta that made it possible for Marietta College to erect the new Academy, at a cost of $27,000, which is the pride of both college and city. And finally, the money of Marietta merchants made it possible for the pioneers to hold their banquet in the beautiful "Bellevue Hotel," in which we are now assembled.
No comments:
Post a Comment