Charles Devol - Obituary Notice

The Marietta Intelligencer, September 4, 1845

The subject of this notice, Charles Devol, Esq., was born at Tiverton, Rhode Island, at a place called Howland's Ferry, the 30th of June 1782. His father, Capt. Jonathan Devol, was born in that vicinity, where he had numerous connections. 

In the fall of the year 1788, the family emigrated to Marietta, then in the Territory N. W. of the river Ohio, when he was only six years old. A journey at that day was a serious and laborious affair, occupying from six to eight weeks of incessant toil, over roads that would now be called impassable. When the family arrived at Marietta, the whole region now called Ohio was one vast wilderness, excepting a few acres at the mouth of the river Muskingum.

In the spring of 1789, his father moved the family, in company with a number of others, and commenced the settlement of Belpre. By the time a few acres were cleared, and they had suffered much from a scarcity of food and other privations, the Indian War broke out, and for four years they were confined to the protecting walls of "Farmer's Castle," a strong garrison built by the settlers for their mutual defence. Near the close of the war, when only thirteen years old, he served as a soldier in Fort Harmar, performing his routine of duty and standing watch in the sentry box during the darkest nights, with the firmness of a man of thirty. When a youth he was noted for his courage and daring feats of hardihood. 

At the close of the war his father settled on a farm five miles from Marietta, on the Muskingum, where he erected a large mill, carried on ship building, with various other mechanical pursuits, in all which the subject of this memoir bore a part until he was twenty-one ears old. 

During the war of 1812 and 13, he commanded a company of cavalry on the frontiers, under General Harrison. At the close of that war he settled at the mouth of the Big Hocking on a farm and took upon himself the duties of a father of a family, as well as the duties we owe to society and the country, all which he performed with faithfulness. He served for several years as a magistrate, with the entire approbation of his constituents.

Mr. Devol was blessed with a lively, cheerful disposition, fine conversational powers, and superior personal appearance. His intelligent, sparkling eye caught the immediate notice of all strangers, while his affable manners won their lasting regard.

About five years since, while apparently in perfect health and enjoying all the comforts of an interesting family and the fruits of an independent, honestly earned estate, he was struck with paralysis of the left side of his body. When he had nearly recovered from this attack, about two years after, he was thrown from his carriage and disabled his right arm so seriously as to be useless to him and the source of unceasing pain till the time of his death, which took place on the 28th of August, while on a visit of business at Chancey, a few miles above Athens, by another and more violent paralytic stroke. For several years before his death, he had been a member of the Congregational Church, and died with a full hope of a blessed immortality. The loss of Mr. Devol has made a breach in the circle of surviving friends and relatives, which time can never fill.