www.greenreunion2008 >Family History >Documents of Interest >Early Newport
Speech given by Ethel Hays at the Methodist Episcopal Church Newport on October 5, 1952
The first settlement in Newport was in April, 1798. In 1799, Rev. Robert Manley, the first Methodist preacher in Washington County, visited the Newport settlement. It was one of his stopping places in his evangelistic tour. The ministers who followed him to Marietta did not neglect this way station; consequently, it was not long before a Methodist Society was organized. They first worshiped in the school house which stood near the present Bleakley home.
In 1825, it was deemed advisable to organize a regular church and this they did with less than twenty members. However, it was not until 1829 that a house of worship was ready for occupancy. This frame building was erected at a cost of $800.00 and stood on the site of our old brick school building which was torn down just a few years ago.
Rev. David Young was the first preacher after the church was occupied and dedicated. From a mere handful the membership of the church increased. Revivals were experienced from time to time and many memories cluster around the old, but never-to-be-forgotten mourner’s bench.
Letterhead
Greene’s Store
Newport-on-the-Ohio
Washington County S.E. Ohio
Return address
21 Indiana Ave.
Reading Mass.
March 18, 1951
Dear Cousins at W.D. [Will Dana] Greene’s:
My wife Mary thinks I did not answer you recent letter very well. I agree with her. I did not understand very well.
My father [Christopher Greene] and Uncle Charlie [Charles Haskel Greene] were born in a house that stood in the orchard west of [Richard] Hays,’ now Frank Edgar’s big barn as you go out Burkhart Lane, east of the little run. Carrie [Greenwood] said there were two houses in that orchard. I was in the larger one that I suppose my great Grand [John Greene, Sr.] built and lived in. [Richard] Hays had hay in it when I saw [it] and climbed the stairs. That [was] after [Richard] Hays built where Dr. [George T.] Gale lives now. I suppose my grand, the second John [Greene] in Newport built it -the small one in which my father was born. I never saw the second one and never heard of it until it was gone. My father’s father, my grand, John, second, built the first house where Burkhart lives. [My] Father, [Christopher Greene] and [his brother] Rufus lived there. Uncle Rufus [Greene] was a bachelor when they divided [the property], Father getting a little -the most land, Uncle Rufus getting all the buildings and improvements. Uncle Rufus married Ellen Echols, and Kinsor B. Davis built the addition on the from about 1870 -1,2,3,or 4.
James Richard Greene lived where Mrs. Cyrus Bayles lives now when he went to Texas & Arkansas; [that house] and [the house at] the rear of the Burkhart’s are the only ones standing that the early Greene’s lived in, unless you count the brick that mother bought, in 1864, now made into apartments, and the James B. Greene [who lived] where Frank D Kerr [lived, who] recently passed on.
I do not understand about Luther [Greene], if you will write again, plainer about him I will try to answer. It is nearly mail time.
Love and Blessings,
Cousin J.E.W. Greene
Subsisting on wild game and rattlesnake meat, they widened the path to 12 feet to accommodate 200 horse-drawn wagons hauling cannons that had been shipped from England to Virginia, and then pulled along roads to Fort Cumberland.
Historians walk Braddock's Road 250 years later A road less traveled Sunday, July 03, 2005 By David Dishneau, The Associated Press BITTINGER, Md. -- It's not much of a road -- but what a road it was.
NEWPORT ONE OF EARLIEST SETTLEMENTS
Newport had its beginning 10 years after the Marietta settlement. At the regular meeting of the Court of Quarter Sessions in Marietta in 1798, a distinct township, “all that territory lying east of the western boundary of the Seventh Range,” was set apart and named Newport Township. This included what is now the eastern third of Washington County. Six townships,including Newport Township, were within its original boundaries.
The DANAS and the GREENES share the honor of having made the first settlement in what is Newport. Both came in the same year, 1798. William and Luther DANA secured a large tract of land and erected the first log houses. The brothers were sons of Captain William DANA, Revolutionary War soldier, who settled in Belpre.
William DANA placed his cabin near what is now called Milltown, where he built the first mill. Luther DANA built his house on a part of the farm that is now the ADKINS home, just above Newport village.
---Moved From Belpre
John GREENE and his family came to Newport about the same time. GREENE built his log house on what is now the Greenwood farm. The GREENE family lived previously at Belpre. Daniel GREENE built the first brick house in Newport and on of the first in the Ohio Valley in 1808. The house has been in the GREENWOOD family for several generations. Is now the home of Mrs. Carrie GREENE GREENWOOD, widow of Junius GREENWOOD, and their son, William C.GREENWOOD. Prominent among the early families of Newport, several of which were connected with the original pioneer families of Marietta, were the BATTELLES, the James B. GREENE family, the ADKINS family, the Christopher GREENE family, the HOLDRENS, the WOODS, the HASKELLS, the FERGUSONS, the LITTLES, the BARKERS, the KERRS, the CREES, the GALES, MceLHINNEYS (I think this should be McKENNEYS), REAS, and GANOS.
---First Church Organized
Churches in Newport were not built until many years after the Newport pioneers established their homes. The Methodist Church was organized in 1825 and the first church building was erected in 1829. The present church was built in 1870. The Baptist denomination in Newport has always been a strong one. Its first church was built in 1842. The present church was dedicated in 1880. Besides the Methodist and Baptist denominations, the Church of Christ was recently organized.
---Banished Liquor Long Ago
Distilleries were numberous in Newport in the early days of the settlement. Reference to old account books of store-keepers shows that in the early days whiskey was legal tender for payment of debts. Newport takes pride in the fact that liquor was banished from the village more that a century ago, and that little liquor traffic has been carried on there since.
Debbie (Noland) Nitsche
Washington County, Ohio Historical & Genealogy "LINKS"
http://hometown.aol.com/washcohistory/Intropage1.html
History & Genealogy of Washington County, Ohio
http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/n/i/t/Debra-Nitsche//
“Ship building was commenced at Marietta in 1801 by B. I. Gilman. It was prosecuted by him and others with vigor and success till the passage of the embargo act in December, 1807. Marietta suffered greatly in consequence of that measure. ‘No town in the United States suffered so much in proportion to its capital” (Hildreth). This branch of business was afterwards revived, and ships and steamboats have been built.”p 64-65
SHIP BUILDING
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!
In 1788, the first president of the young United States had this to say about Marietta:
"No colony in America was ever settled under such favorable auspices as that which has just commenced at the Muskingum. If I was a young man, just preparing to begin the world, or if advanced in life and had a family to make provision for, I know of no country where I should rather fix my habitation."
The History of Saint Luke's Church
Marietta, Ohio
by Wilson Waters, M. A., 1884
Page 247
Alexander HENDERSON, one of the vestry men of 1826, was at one time, Cashier of the Bank of Marietta. He lived below Williamstown, in Virginia, and it is said of him that rain or shine, he always came up to Marietta to the Service on Sundays. H built the brinck house No. 126 Second street, whee the Misses STONE lived. His grandson, H. C. HENDERSON, married Miss Caroline SNODGRASS, granddaughter of Joseph E. HALL. Mrs. Jane H. HENDERSON was a devout woman and read numbeous religious works loaned her by Mr. and Mrs. BUELL who were good friends of hers. Her colored man, Caesar, often came up to Marietta on errands for her.
Pg. 249
Dudley WOODBRIDGE was the son of Dudley WOODBRIDGE, who came from Connecticut to Marietta in 1788. He was at school when his father came west, and remained there to complete his studies, then followed him to Marietta in 1794. He was at school when his father came west and remained there to completes his studies, then followed him to Marietta in 1794. He was for many years a prominent merchant, and was the senior in the firm of Dudley WOODBRIDGE, Jr. & Co., of wich Harman BLENNERHASSETT was a member. The family of his son, George M. WOODBRIDGE, are connected with St. Lukes.
The BLENNERHASSETT'S were Episcopalians, Mrs. BLENNERHASSETT being a Church member; their mansion on the island was nearly opposite Belpre, and for society, they were dependent upon the army officers and their families at Belpre, and Marietta, so it is not improbable that they would attend Divine Service at Farmers' Castle.
Paragraphs, portraits and pictures supplementary to
The history of St. Luke's Church, Marietta, Ohio
By, Wilson Waters, 1911
NOTE: The page numbers that you see in the brackets, refer to the page numbers that is printed in the book History of Saint Luke's Church in 1884. (See above)
Page 18
(page 247)
Alexander HENDERSON was the son of Alexander, of Old Virginia, where the latter served with George Washington on the Vestry of Pohick Church.
In the year 1806, the high bluff on the Ohio below Belpre nearly opposite the head of Blennerhassett Island was the scene of "an affair of honor," in which the principalw were Alexander HENDERSON and Stephen R. WILSON, father of Noah L. WILSON. Both men were wounded, Mr. HENDERSON in the hip. "On horseback he ever after road on a side saddle."
One of the wounded men was carried to Parkersburg by old Cajoe, Mecajah PHILIPS, a remarkable negro character, born a slave in Virginia. He said, "My three masters were all Episcopalians and good masters." One of them was a clergyman. In those days Virginia ministers were compelled to hire or buy slaves to cultivate their glebes, on which they depend for a living. Mecajah was taught to read and write, became a Baptist, and was finally sold to Harman BLENNERHASSETT, who objected to his preaching because of his ignorance, but gave him his freedom. He remembered Col. BURR when he came to the Island and waited on him. (Mrs. William SKINNER refused to attend the ball given in honor of Aaron BURR. She knew him to be a traitor) (Pages 23, 52).
Cajoe worked for a while at the tinners trade in Marietta. He was the father of two children by a young wife after he was one hundred years old. In 1859 he was livng near Dr. BOWEN in Waterford and was supposed to be 120 years old.
R. M. S. relates that early in the last century two young men fell out. One was named Wallace, a lawyer. The other was Dudley WOODBRIDGE, Jr., afterwards a successful merchant in Marietta. (Page 249) They went over to the Island to fight. The mother of Mr. WOODBRIDGE (a sister of Elijah BACKUS, a lawyer and first editor of Marietta), learned of the matter, and at a late moment ran down to the river, jumped into a canoe, paddled across to the Island, and told the hot-headed "boys" that if they didn't stop it she would whip them both. And they did stop it.
Dudley Woodbridge, Jr. was strongly inclined towards the Episcopal Church, and had he not been deterred by circumstances, would have become a communicant. He was a warm friend of Bishop Chase, and had a strong attachment to the Bishop's son. He was also an admirer of the Rev. J. T. Wheat, the first rector of St. Luke's and being deeply impress by a sermon he heard him preach one Sunday, expressed his appreciation of it by sending Mr. Wheat the next day a present of fifty dollars.
Extracted from the 'original' book
Submitted by Debbie Noland Nitsche
Gaff, Alan D., Bayonets in the Wilderness, Norman, OK, University of Oklahoma Press, 2004
“At one point during the summer of 1792, Capt. John Haskell had sent in returns of his ordnance and quartermaster stores at Fort Harmar but ‘omitted an inspection return of Clothing as the troops are almost naked; they have not any that can be returned.’ Several of his men had lost most of their clothing in St. Clair’s fight, while others had been issued inferior uniforms when mustered in a year previously, and ‘service on the river, and scouting in the woods has rendered them unfit for further use.’ A veteran of the Revolution, Haskell ruled the Marietta community with strict military discipline. Joseph Barker, one of the first settlers there, remembered, ‘The Gates were Closed at sundown & sentrys [sentries] sat on the adjacent Blockhouses, which prevented any passing until sunrise next morning; this produced some confliction between the Military & the Citizens.’ Some civilians chafed at Captain Haskell’s restrictions and refused to live inside the stockade, braving the Indian threat so they could stay in their homes. Despite the isolation, military duty at Fort Harmar was not particularly onerous. One private described his feelings while stationed there; ‘We are now very well off, and receive the best of provisions, cloathing and money every three months—besides that, the pleasure of hunting and sporting upon the beautiful banks of the pleasant Ohio.’ He boasted, ‘I never lived better and more at my ease since I was born, than I do now.’” (page 91)
“Mindful that convoys moving from Fort Hamilton to Fort Jefferson would take two days to cover that distance, Lieutenant Colonel Wilkinson decided to build a new post halfway between those two garrisons. He described this new post as ‘a four sided polygon, with small but regular Bastions, on a square of 120 foot.’ The palisade was constructed of large logs, with a ditch and embankment all around the perimeter. ‘A fine spring gushing out of the Earth’ about sixty paces from the palisade ensured a constant supply of fresh water for the garrison. Wilkinson christened this new post Fort St. Clair. Several months after the fort’s construction, Wilkinson reported the strength of garrisons at the western posts under his command, which served to illustrate the miniscule number of troops available to protect settlers in the Northwest Territory.
….
These totals included all soldiers present, including the sick and officers’ servants who, in Wilkinson’s opinion, ‘will probably never perform solders duty.’
“There were several controversies involving Wilkinson’s soldiers and civilian authorities, the first of which started on February 12, 1792, with a quarrel between Captain. Thomas Pasteur, assigned to the garrison at Fort Washington, and a storekeeper named John Bartle. Pasteur lured Bartle to the fort on a pretext of conducting some business, then ‘falling on him there in the presence of his myrmidons, beat him very severely.’ Bartle immediately sought out an attorney, John Blanchard, who filed suit against the captain. Pasteur became so enraged at how Blanchard characterized him in court that he sent Sgt. David Nesbit and about thirty privates to ‘inflict personal chastisement on the lawyer and all who might be disposed to defend him or his cause.’ A riotous ‘affray’ ensued when Nesbit’s party encountered a posse of civilians, led by Judge William McMillan, on Main Street. This affair could have gotten out of hand and, in Wilkinson’s opinion, ‘might have proved fatal to 40 or 50 Persons, but for the seasonable interposition of Capt. Haskell, who was an Accidental Spectator of the commotion.
“Wilkinson reported the affair to Secretary Know, saying this ‘most lawless outrage’ had threatened ‘to destroy that harmony & mutual confidence between the Citizens & Soldiers of the United States.’ ‘To avert such consequences in future, and to restrain the licentious habits of the soldiery,’ Wilkinson decreed that henceforth all duties beyond the confines of Fort Washington, even such routine tasks as going for water, wood, or provisions, would be done only by regular detachments under noncommissioned officers, who would be held responsible for any misconduct. No private would be allowed outside the garrison without written permission from an officer. Nesbit was reduced to private, then turned over to the territorial judge, who tried him in civil court for ‘riotously and unlawfully assaulting William McMillan Esquire.’ He was found guilty, fined three dollars, ordered to post a bond to guarantee his good behavior for six months, and sentenced to receive fifteen lashes 9which was remitted). The following year Captain Pasteur ws found guilty of instigating the assault and also fined three dollars.” (pages 13-14)
“In addition to the new recruits sent down the Ohio to Hobson’s Choice, Secretary Knox ordered Lieutenant Colonel Clark to forward ‘all the continental troops above Fort Washington, save 120 non commission officers & Privates.’ Following the departure of these men, defense of the Pennsylvania and Virginia frontier fell primarily upon companies of militia raised for six months’ service, although Clark did oversee the construction of a small fort at Wheeling. The bungled administration of Clark’s small command on the Upper Ohio infuriated Wayne, who termed his conduct to be ‘highly criminal, being a Neglect of duty & disobedience of Orders.’ Apparently, that officer had all but ignored the posts at Gallipolis and Marietta, both of which could have used some guidance. But the end of August 1793, the small garrison at Gallipolis, commanded by Captain Cummins, had been ravaged by intermittent fever. Cummins, the only officer present, reported that he had been suffering from that malady for ten days and that two dozen of his forty-two men were sick. While Cummins battled disease, Captain Haskell primarily contended with ‘unfavorable ideas towards the soldiery’ at Marietta. Some Virginia state troops stationed there were ‘under no discipline or subordination’ and spent their time insulting the regular troops. Traders in the village stirred up trouble when Haskell refused to pay the debts of his men, even though he had warned merchants not to trust the soldiers. Haskell’s ‘delicate’ situation was compounded even further by his inability to convene a court-martial to punish incorrigibles in his company. When these two companies joined the legion shortly afterward, twenty of Cummins’s troops were still ‘sick debilitated & unfit for duty,’ and fourteen of Haskell’s men had contracted smallpox.” (page142)
“Wilkinson had taken a ‘super convoy’ back to Fort Washington, leaving Fort Greeneville on Novermber 13f [1793]. This column was part of a new system instituted after Lowry’s defeat. No longer would supply trains be guarded by detachments of only 150 men, for now escorts consisted of about a dozen companies and numbered about 400 men.” ( page 176)
“[Lieutenant Colonel] Hamtramck’s escort for his super convoy consisted of the companies of ….Jonathan Haskell [12 companies in all]… The command left Fort Greeneville on December 3 [1793] and arrived at Fort Washington in the cold and snow six days later. This would be the last convoy before winter set in, so the contractors and quartermaster made every effort to get supplies up to the advanced posts.” (page 178)
“Plagued by worries about the construction of Fort Greeneville, dissent among his officer corps, a contractor that did not ship enough supplies, a War Department that had fled the nation’s capital, and even an occasional Indian threat, General Wayne now learned that an epidemic of smallpox had broken out at Fort Washington. Haskell’s company had introduced that disease into the Cincinnati area when it reached Hobson’s Choice on October 1 [1793?]. Now Captain Peirce reported that some of his men had become infected…and a few of them had died…. Finding it impossible to stop the spread of this dreaded disease, Peirce consulted with Surgeons Richard Allison and Joseph Strong, who advised him to inoculate every man who had not already been immunized. The captain found 21 soldiers who had not yet contracted smallpox, had them inoculated, and by mid-December they wree all ‘in a fair way of recovery.’ …
“Wayne clung steadfastly to his belief that ‘cleanliness & regularity in diet, is ever conducive to health, & on the Contrary—that irregularity and & want of that attention are the principle causes of disease in all Armies.”’ (page 182)
Battle of Fallen Timbers, August 20, 1794
Haskell commanded a company at Fallen Timbers
“As the roar of battle continued toward the left flank of Major Haskell’s Fourth Sub-Legion, General Wayne took several steps to reinforce those troops. He first ordered Hamtramck to advance Lieutenant Colonel Strong’s Second Sub-Legion obliquely to the left of Haskell. This movement was led by Captain Miller’s battalion of infantry, which encountered ‘a very heavy fire’ but arrived in time to halt the Indian advance.” (page308)
“Major Haskell, commanding the Fourth Sub-Legion, said, ‘The troops charged upon them with the bayonet, and drove them two miles, through a thicket of woods, fallen timber, and underbrush, when the cavalry fell upon and entirely routed them.’ Benjamin Price, one of Haskell’s company commanders, received an order to charge, ‘which was pursued with a great deal of velocity, and without the smallest halt for three-fourths of an hour; after which time there was not an enemy to be found.” (p310)
