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 n 1807, John Dewitt moved his wife Nancy (maiden name: Culbertson), three sons and four
daughters from Pennsylvania to Virginia. The children, in order from oldest to youngest, were: Thomas, John, Margaret Elizabeth, Martha Charlotte, Nancy
Elizabeth, Alexander C. and Lydia. We believe they migrated from the
southwestern Pennsylvania region around Pittsburgh. Two more daughters would be born in Virginia:
Charlotte and Phoebe. [Note that the links for John and his son Thomas take you to their family genealogy pages.] |
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Probably
they migrated via flatboat down the Ohio river
to a beautiful bottom land on the Virginia (now West Virginia) shore.
Instead of the usual Appalachian hills rising from the river, this
bottomland in Virginia had been
scoured out over the centuries during occasional floods. The land
was
fertile and looked like a good place to start a new existence, assuming
there would be no problem with the local Indian tribes. Conflicts
with native American tribes had waned since the Treaty of
Greenville was signed in 1795, in which the the native Americans gave
up their claim to the southern two-thirds of what is now Ohio and the
southeastern part of what is now Indiana. Over the next five years over
40,000 people spread into these areas. It appears then, that John
and Nancy Dewitt decided to leave Pennsylvania and follow the
migrations westward.
Their ultimate destination was about 230 miles down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh.
This
location would soon become known as Muses Bottom (Figure 1 at *).
There were no
roads to the region so staying near the river was the obvious logic for
survival.
At that time in American history hundreds of people were moving down
the river to find new lives. On the western shore of the Ohio River was
the four year old state of Ohio that was formed in 1803. River towns such
as Steubenville and Marietta were growing, and inland, New Lancaster (now Lancaster) and Zanesville were expanding.
On the eastern river shore was Virginia and there were no towns after
Wheeling, Virginia before Muses Bottom.
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Figure 1
This map is a modified subset of a map
printed in 1815. The blue highlighted line shows the river journey
taken by the John Dewitt family in 1807. The state of Ohio is in
the upper left above the Ohio River. Pennsylvania is in the upper
right. Virginia's region that eventually became part of West Viriginia
(1863) is shown below the Ohio River. The red asterisk (*) shows
the location where the Dewitts settled at what would become known as
Muses Bottom.
Double click on the map to visit the internet site for this map at the David Rumsey Map collection, or:
http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY%7E8%7E1%7E873%7E60268:Map-of-the-Seat-of-War-in-North-Ame
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This site is a treasure trove.
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From southwestern Pennsylvania, at the time of the Dewitt migration to
Virginia, as well as migrations to more "western" lands such as Ohio, Indiana,
Kentucky, etc., (Figure 2) the primary way to travel was via boat on the Ohio
River.
In 1807 there were no steam boats and no trains, so you
could walk, ride a horse or float. (Note that the map shown above in Figure 1 was
made a few years later in 1815 so conditions were slightly better in
terms of roads... but not much!)
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Figure 2
This
map shows the typical path of migration via the Ohio River down to
the Mississippi River
in the first decade of the 19th century. The famous explorer
Meriwether Lewis (of Lewis and Clark fame) also started at Pittsburgh
on August 31, 1803, but they went a lot further than John Dewitt.
Lewis boated down to Louisville, Kentucky where he met Clark on October 14, 1803.
They then floated down to the Mississippi, and then exerted their way up the Mississippi
to the mouth of the Missouri River where they "officially" started
their exploration in 1804. They
then explored all the way to the Pacific over the next two years.
[
* = Dewitt destination and ** = Lewis destination 1]
http://www.lewis-clark.org/content/content-article.asp?ArticleID=1887
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Therefore, the typical method of moving a family
was to use a flatboat (Figure 3) and steer it down the river as it was
propelled by the
current. These boats were built in the Pittsburg or Wheeling areas and then
floated down the river to the destination which could be as far as New
Orleans via the Mississippi River.
Since there was no way to move
the boat upstream, the flatboats were dismantled and used to build things such as a cabin to live in at the
destination. They varied in size but could be huge (e.g. 12-20 ft wide and
20-100 ft long!)
If you wanted to travel back the way you came... you
walked. So these early migrations were mostly one-way journeys,
at least for families.
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Figure 3
This figure shows a small flatboat on its way down the Ohio
River. Notice how it was steered using the long rudder at the stern
(rear) and long poles at the bow (front).
For navigation, they were rigged with sweeps on the sides, a rudder or
steering-oar, and a short front sweep called a "gouger". The great side
sweeps, resembling horns from a distance, gave rise to the name
Broadhorn. The sweeps were used for directing the flatboat into the
current, or for pulling into slack water when landing, rather than for
propulsion. Some flatboats also had hawsers mounted to reels; the
hawser (rope) would be attached to a tree or stump and wound in to
assist landing. Smaller craft had a shelter with a cooking area. Larger
flatboats had a rear shelter for horses and cattle, and a forward cabin
for the family, and the largest were fully covered.
Read about life on flatboats at: http://steamboattimes.com/flatboats.html
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Another type of boat availble to some was the Keelboat (Figure 4) that could be
used to move upstream with the use of a sail, poles and ropes to pull
using oxen from the shoreline.
They were 40-80 feet long and 7-10 feet wide and had pointed ends,
rounded bottoms and keels that helped them cut through the water.
The energy that moved the boats on the river was human energy, in the
form of men using long poles to propel and steer. On a trip down a river,
flatboat operators were assisted by the current, and could make the
1950-miles to New Orleans in four - six weeks. Keel boatmen, on the
other hand, fought the current on the trip back to Pittsburgh, so the
return trip upstream took four months!
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Figure 4
The flatboat in the foreground is is dependent mostly on the current to move downstream
while the keelboat can be poled down and upstream. Note the sail on the keelboat in the background.
Read about life on flatboats and keelboats starting at Pittsburgh at: http://www.wqed.org/education/pghist/units/rivers/rivers2.shtml
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These keelboats
were
used by many explorers such as
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark as they explored the Northwest
Territory during 1803-1806.
Figure 5 shows that their initial journey was down the Ohio River from
Pittsburgh (Lewis) and from Louisville (Lewis and Clark) down to the
Mississippi River. But the next phase was up the Mississippi to their
camp at the mouth of the Missouri River. They then moved up the
Missouri River in May 1804, so a flatboat would
not have worked.
Read about Lewis's trip at: (Ohio River trip) or (WikiRef)
Boat Models
Keelboat model
Flatboat model
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Figure 5
This
map shows the path of the famous Lewis and Clark explorations.
Everything associated with the Missouri river was against the current
and therefore absolutely required keelboats. After using horses over
the continental divide, they used canoes to move down the Columbia
River to the Pacific Ocean. (WikiRef)
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When John Dewitt moved his family, they probably employed a flatboat
since they may have taken horses, cattle or mules with them as well as
two adults and seven children ranging in age from three to eighteen.
Some interesting references about the Ohio river can be found at:
Cincinnati Library's
A River Runs Through It:
Books About the Ohio River in the Library’s Collection
History of Flatboats on the Ohio River
Pioneer Lifeways: Transportation Systems
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Figure 6
Historical
fiction: In a story set in 1815, Mary and Jonathan McClure join their
parents and numerous other families on an adventurous journey down the
Ohio River. The McClures have been patiently waiting for winter's end
aboard a loaded flatboat by a riverbank in Pittsburgh. Spring thaw
makes travel on the river possible again; they set off, looking forward
to a new life on fertile land in the territory that was to become
Indiana. Sanders has written a descriptive narrative of these
courageous people who loaded all their possessions, tools, animals, and
family onto a flatboat or raft bound for a new home on unsettled land.
The daily struggles and triumphs on the river are effectively portrayed
throughout the narrative.
Ref: http://www.amazon.com/Floating-House-Scott-Russell-Sanders/dp/0027781372
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A few questions arise when one considers the Dewitt journey.
| 1. |
Where did they start from... exactly? |
2.
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What did they see along the way? |
| 3. |
Why did they choose to settle at Muses Bottom? |
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| 1. |
Where did they start from... exactly? |
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Seventeen
years before their journey, in 1790, John Dewitt was living in
Westmoreland Co, PA. In Figure 7, Greensburg was the county seat
for that county. He was living with one adult female who we assume was
his wife.
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Figure 7
This image is a subset of Figure 1 showing Greensburg which is the county seat of Westmoreland County, PA.
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Figure 8 shows the locations of counties in
Pennsylvania at the time of the first census of the United States in
April 1790. The county of greatest concern is Westmoreland (We) with
its county seat of Greensburg (* G) in the township of Hempfield.
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To be specific, in the 1790 census for
Westmoreland Co, PA in Hempfield Township, John Culbertson and a John
Dewit were listed next to each other which I assume means they lived near to each other.
So on 14 April
1790 we can pinpoint John and his wife [Nancy (Culbertson)?], and her father's family to that
locale. [I added a ? about Nancy because the census record does not show family member names.]
Apparently what had happened is that John Dewitt fell in love with
Nancy Culbertson, and had married her. Then they settled down in the
house next to her parents. We believe that he married her about a year earlier.
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Figure 9
This
image shows John Dewit and John Culbertson on page 56 of the
Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania 1790 census which was recorded on 14
April 1790. There were a total of 2329 people living in Hempfield Township.
| First column: |
Name of Head of Family |
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Second column: |
Free white males of 16 years upwards including Heads of Families |
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Third column: |
Free white males under 16 years |
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Fourth column: |
Free white females including Heads of Families |
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Fifth column: |
All other Free Persons |
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Sixth column: |
Slaves |
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The confusing part about this is that their first son Thomas
died in 1879 at the age of 90 which would make his birthday 1789. So
why didn't he show up in this 1790 census as a male under the age of 16?
References:
1. Westmoreland Co. History
2. Current county map |
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So what did John and Nancy do for the next 17 years until 1807?
For one thing... they had children!
| Thomas Dewitt |
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(b. about 1789) |
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John Dewitt |
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(b. 25 Nov 1792) |
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Margaret Elizabeth Dewitt |
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(b. about 1796) |
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Martha Charlotte Dewitt |
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(b. 13 Aug 1797) |
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Nancy Elizabeth Dewitt |
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(b. about 1801-3) |
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Alexander C. Dewitt |
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(b. about 1803-5) |
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Lydia Dewitt |
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(b. about 1804) |
Other than building a family, I have no evidence of
these Dewitts anywhere in the region until they showed up in Virginia, so I am assuming they remained in the region
around Pittsburgh until 1807. Unfortunately for we descendants, there are
some missing records for the 1800 Pennsylvania census in Westmoreland
County. So perhaps those documents are critical in learning about John
Dewitt and family at the beginning of the 19th century. Also
there is no 1800 census available for Virginia but we should not expect
them to show up in Virginia until the 1810 census. [Just so you know...
Census schedules survive for 13 states for 1800. Lost schedules include
those for Georgia, Indiana Territory, Kentucky, Mississippi Territory,
New Jersey, Northwest Territory, Virginia, Tennessee, and Alexandria
County, District of Columbia. Some of the schedules for these states
have been re-created using tax lists and other records.]
A John Dewitt did show up in Fayette Co, Springhill township in the 1800 census with the following family makeup:
number of
free white males
in age categories: |
age ranges
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males
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females
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0 to 10 |
1
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0
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10 to 16 |
2
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0
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16 to 26 |
0
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0
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26 to 45 |
1
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1
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45 and older
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0
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0
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Unfortunately, this mixture of family members does not match OUR John Dewitt family.
Our John Dewitt had two boys and two girls by 1800.
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By
the time of the Dewitt migration, the counties of Pennsylvania had
changed as shown in Figure 10. Neighboring Washington County had been
split into two counties with Greene county the southernmost of the
two. In addition, the northern area of Westmoreland County had become
Indiana County. All of these changes reflected the enormous population
increase occurring as the Pittsburgh area served as a launching point
for westward migrations.
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Figure 10
1807 Map of Pennsylvania Counties:
Al is Allegheny Co. Bea is Beaver Co. Bed is Bedford Co.
Fa is Fayette Co. Gr is Green Co. In is Indiana Co.
So is Somerset Co. Was is Washington Co. We is Westmoreland Co.
* G is Greensburg. *P is Pittsburgh.
Ref: http://www.familyhistory101.com/maps/pa_cm.html
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So.... where did they start from... exactly?
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We will assume that even if they lived in in Hempfield Township, near Greensburg, Westmoreland County, they
found their way westward to Pittsburgh where many people were
beginning their journeys.
Of course their journey could have started on the
Allegany (now Allegheny) River or the Yoxhiogeni River (now Youghiogheny) or even the Monongahela River if they lived closer to those rivers.
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Figure 11
This image is a subset of Figure 1 showing Greensburg which is the county seat of Westmoreland County, PA.
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And what did Pittsburgh look like in 1807?
As you can see in Figure 12, Pittsburgh was pretty small . If you
click on the link below the painting, you will find an interesting
website that describes the painting and the buildings seen in it.
As an interesting comparison, Figure 13 shows a similar view taken by
Patrick Wagstrom in recent times. I have not found a photo of exactly
the same view seen in the painting.
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Figure 12
Here is a view of Pittsburgh about 1804 shown here to provide a feel
for the environment when John Dewitt and family departed on their float
trip down the Ohio River in 1807. The Ohio River (left) which is formed
by the joining of the Allegheny River (upper left) and Monongahela
River (right).
Ref: http://digital.library.pitt.edu/pittsburgh/beck/
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Figure 13
Panoramic view of Pittsburgh's three river region about 2006.
Ref: http://patrick.wagstrom.net/weblog/photo
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2.
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What did they see along the way? |
The journey from the Pittsburgh area down to Muses Bottom was 210 miles
on the Ohio River and took
many days. As you can see in the map in Figure 1, only three
"major"
communities existed along their path after leaving the Pittsburgh
region. It is not known where they began their journey in 1807.
Towns along the 210 mile float journey
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1.
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Beaver, Beaver County,
Pennsylvania (WikiRef)
The first town was Beaver, Pennsylvania at the
confluence of the Beaver and Ohio Rivers northwest of Pittsburgh.
The area around Beaver was originally home to the Shawnee
tribe. Later, the Mingo, Lenape, and other displaced groups moved into
the area. The area was part of the Ohio Country that was in dispute
during the French and Indian War.
Beaver became the site of Fort McIntosh, a Revolutionary War era
Patriot frontier fort. After the war, the fort was the home of the
First American Regiment, the oldest active unit in the US Army. The
fort was abandoned in 1788 and razed a short time later.
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Figure 14
This 1815 map is a subset of the map
shown in Figure 1 above.
The blue highlighted line shows the first portion of the flatboat journey
taken by the John Dewitt family in 1807. The state of Ohio is at the left of the Ohio River. Pennsylvania is at the
right. Virginia's panhandle region is betwen the Ohio River and the western boundary of Pennsylvania.
Double click on the map to visit the internet site for this map at the David Rumsey Map collection.
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By then, the
frontier had moved westward and there was no further need for a
permanent garrison to protect the area.
The town was laid out in 1792. In 1800, it became the county seat of
the newly formed Beaver County. The first county court was established
in the town in 1804.
Since it was "only" 30 miles down river, they probably didn't spend
much time there. Perhaps the Dewitts tied up there to rest overnight?
Within a short time, they left their beloved Pennsylvania and entered
the region of Virginia known as the
"panhandle". It is so called because that area has a long and very
narrow width of land between the western edge of Pennsylvania and the
Ohio River
which still belongs to West Virginia. So its shape is suggestive
of a handle of a pan sticking up between Ohio and Pennsylvania. A
better-known example is the panhandle of Florida or Oklahoma. |
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2.
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Steubenville, Ohio
(WikiRef) (Ref2)
The second town along the Ohio river was the Ohio river town called
Steubenville. Today Steubenville is the county seat of Jefferson
County, Ohio.
In 1786, the United States government built Fort Steuben within the
area known as the Seven Ranges. The federal government had arranged for
a survey of modern-day southeastern Ohio in order to prepare for the
settlement of the Northwest Territory. Fort Steuben served two
purposes. Troops stationed at the fort were supposed to keep illegal
settlers from moving into Ohio, and surveyors used the fort as a base
of operations. The fort was destroyed in a fire in 1790.
The presence
of the fort did not keep illegal settlers from moving into the Seven
Ranges. After the fort was abandoned, some of these settlers
established a town that became known as Steubenville. The increase in
illegal settlers also led to conflicts with Native Americans in the
region.
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Figure 16
In
Steubenville, Ohio, a replica of Fort Stueben has been built near the
shore of the Ohio River. Fort Steuben was built in 1786 by the First
American Regiment for the protection of surveyors who had been sent by
the Continental Congress to map the Northwest Territory.
http://www.oldfortsteuben.com/
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Bezaleel Wells founded Steubenville on the ruins of Fort Steuben in
1797. Most early settlers were squatters from Pennsylvania and
Virginia. Wells selected Steubenville's location because it was
centered in a valley with relatively fertile soil. Much of the Seven
Ranges was hilly and had poor soil for productive farms.
In 1815, Wells
helped establish a woolen mill at Steubenville. The building was three
stories high and approximately one hundred feet long. It employed
approximately fifty men, thirty women, and forty children. The factory
produced broadcloth, a dense woolen fabric with a lustrous finish.
Broadcloth was expensive and many people could not afford to buy it.
The factory closed during the Panic of 1819. Wells also opened the
first bank in Steubenville.
By the late 1840s, Steubenville was a flourishing community of seven
thousand people including a sizable number of African Americans. It had
eleven churches, five woolen mills, two glass factories, a paper mill,
and an iron foundry. Coal mined from the surrounding area powered most
of these manufacturing establishments.
Steubenville, Ohio, and the Nineteenth-Century Steamboat Trade
OHIO HISTORY CENTRAL: Steubenville
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So in 1807 as the Dewitts floated by Steubenville, Fort Stueben was a
decade gone, and the shores of Ohio welcomed settlers rather than
viewed them as squatters... but the Dewitts kept floating down the Ohio.
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3.
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Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia)
(WikiRef)
The
third town along the Ohio river was the Virginia river town called
Wheeling. On a smaller level, Wheeling was another important place
where migrations began. It is certainly possible, but unlikely
that the Dewitts set sail from Wheeling.
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Ebenezer, Silas, and Jonathan Zane were the first and original settling
family near the present day City of Wheeling. The settlement, called
Zanesburg, is believed to have occurred in 1769. Other notable families
joined the settlement including the Shepherds, the
Wetzels, and the McCollochs. It was officially
established as a town in 1795 and incorporated in 1806. By an act of
the Virginia General Assembly on December 27, 1797, Wheeling was named
the county seat of Ohio County.
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Figure 17
This 1815 map is a subset of the map
shown in Figure 1 above.
The blue highlighted line shows the first portion of the flatboat journey
taken by the John Dewitt family in 1807. The state of Ohio is at the left of the Ohio River. Pennsylvania is at the
right. Virginia's panhandle region is betwen the Ohio River and the western boundary of Pennsylvania.
Double click on the map to visit the internet site for this map at the David Rumsey Map collection.
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The
Wheeling area in the late 18th century was the site of significant
strife between white settlers and the surrounding native
americans. To help defend the settlers, a Fort was built on
ground where modern Wheeling stands today.
From Fort Henry’s humble beginning as “a small Fort at the Mouth of the
Wheelin” it rose to become the second most important fort for the
defense of the frontier and was surpassed only by Fort Pitt.
Construction of the fort was undertaken in June of 1774 following Vice
Governor John Connolly’s orders under the authority of Lord Dunmore,
then Governor of the territory of Virginia.
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Figure 18
Fort Henry in 1777, located at what is now the city of Wheeling
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On it’s completion the fort
was named Fort Fincastle in honor of Lord Dunmore. The construction of
the fort was supervised by Col. William Crawford and completed before
the middle of July.
The fort was in the shape of a rectangle, 225 feet long by 150 feet
wide. It was located in the 1000 block of present day downtown
Wheeling, West Virginia. It consisted of four two story blockhouses and
a palisade wall. Within the walls were barracks for the militia, a
store house, a commander’s quarters in the center. The main gate was
located in the east wall, facing a clearing where some 20 to 30 log
homes were located at the base of the hill.
The militia was made up of settlers who were responsible for the
defense of the fort at both the siege of 1777 and 1782 as well as the
aborted siege of 1781. There were no regular soldiers at any of the
sieges.
On the eve of the American Revolution the fort was renamed Fort Henry
in honor of Patrick Henry, the Revolutionary Governor of Virginia.
Read more at .... (Ref)
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Boat-building Flourished Here Too! (ref)
The placid Ohio river, passing the city
of Wheeling since pioneer days has been an avenue of transportation.
Historical records disclose that by the beginning of the 19th century
boat building was one of Wheelings leading industries. Here was one of
the centers of transfer from the east to the flat boats and keel boats
destined to float down the river, many never to return. Large number of
workers were employed here building the flat boats and keel boats,
because most of the boats were broken up at the end of the down-river
journey and the wood, used to build cabins, barns and other buildings.
Regular boatmen traveled the river as a business, floating their boats
down to St. Louis, Memphis, Natchez and New Orleans, returning via foot
and horseback to Wheeling to have another boat constructed for their
next trip. During the mid- summer navigation on the Ohio was only
possible as far north as Wheeling.
Records disclose that in 1811 the steamboat New Orleans,
built in Pitsburgh, made the first voyager down stream, under the power
of steam-driven paddles, to the Mississippi. An item in the Wheeling Repository,
first newspaper published here in 1808 states that the schooner, Nancy,
of 100 tons burden was launched in Wheeling, at a ship-building yard on
the banks of the Ohio, "which was launched with great eclat" on June 27
of that year. In 1816 the first side-wheeler the "Washington" was built
in this city and launched by Henry M. Shreve, a prominent pioneer boat
builder. It was the first boat of this type to negotiate up-stream with
a cargo.
References:
- The
following reference provides a feel for the first explorers and
settlers along the Ohio River before 1800. EXPLORATION & EARLY
SETTLEMENTS IN WEST VIRGINIA: (Ref)
-
Historical references for Ohio County, West Virginia: (Ref)
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History of the Upper Ohio Valley: (Ref)
-
Story of Fort Henry: (Ref) (WikiRef)
As for the Dewitts...
It is likely that they stopped off at Wheeling for various needs, but obviously they moved on down the river.
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4.
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Marietta, Ohio
(WikiRef)
The fourth and last town on the Dewitt migration along the Ohio river was the Ohio river town called Marietta.
The year was 1788. A group of 48 men of the Ohio Company of
Associates arrived at the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio rivers
and established the first permanent settlement in the Northwest
Territory. It was named Marietta in honor of Marie Antoinette, the
Queen of France, who had aided the young country in its battle for
independence from Great Britain.
This odyssey had actually begun in 1770 when a young surveyor began
exploring large tracts of land west of his native
Virginia. During the Revolutionary War, this
surveyor, George Washington, told his friend, General Rufus Putnam, of
the beauty he had seen in his travels through the Ohio Valley and of
his ideas for settling the territory. After the war, the newly formed
country found itself with little money but blessed with natural
resources. As a result of this cash deficit, men who had served in the
revolution were paid, not with cash, but with warrants for land in the
Northwest territory. There was one problem with these warrants,
however. The Federal Government did not own the land it offered
until the passage of the Ordinance of 1787 which ceded ownership of the
Northwest Territory to the government. The Ohio Company of
Associates planned to buy 1.5 million acres of land from congress with
provisions it had written in the ordinance which allowed veterans to
use their warrants to purchase the land.
When this group of 48 men, led by General Rufus Putnam, arrived, they
brought with them the first government sanctioned by the United States.
Fort Harmar, a military outpost built three years prior, lay across the
Muskingum River. The Native Americans were not pleased with
the arrival of the settlers who immediately started construction of two
forts, Campus Martius, which stood at the site of the museum which
today bears it's name, and Picketed Point, at the confluence of the
Muskingum and Ohio Rivers. At the same time, a community was also being
built in the wilderness from plans made before the groups departure
form Boston.
In 1785, the Treaty of Harmar was signed, bringing some resolve with
several Native American nations in regards to trade, controversy and
boundaries.
The families of the settlers began arriving within a few months, as did
Governor Arthur St. Clair who presided over this new territory,
and, by the end of 1788, 137 people populated the area. The Treaty of
Greenville was signed with the Native Americans in 1795, thus allowing
the settlers to move from the safety of the fortresses and to spread
out into the surrounding territory.
Religion was important to these first settlers and services were held
on a regular basis, but it wasn't until 1796 that a church was
chartered. This first church was Congregational and it's charter was
unusually inclusive due to the varied religious backgrounds of it's
members. The congregation constructed the first church building in
1807.
Since many of the settlers had been officers during the revolution, and
were highly educated, education was also a priority for these first
settlers. That first winter saw the beginning of basic education
for the children at Campus Martius. In 1835 the community leaders
founded Marietta College.
Marietta's location on two major navigable rivers made it ripe for
industry and commerce from the start. Boat building was one of
the early industries with even ocean going vessels being constructed
and sailed down river to the Mississippi and on to the Gulf of
Mexico. Brick factories and sawmills supplied materials for homes
and public buildings. An iron mill, along with several foundries
provided rails for the railroad industry and Marietta Chair Factory
supplied furniture. And then there was oil!
(Ref)
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UNDER CONSTRUCTION...
Trip from Pittsburgh to Marieta
They Saw AMERICA Born
By DORA DAVIS FARRINGTON
Copyright, 1941
http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~davidca/america/america.htm#e
Historical Collections of Ohio
By Henry Howe
Vol. II
©1888
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~henryhowesbook/washington1.html
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