history

Washington County Chapter
Ohio Genealogical Society
PO Box 2174
Marietta, OH 45750-7174

www.WashOGS.org

History

Washington County was the first county settled in the old Northwest Territory. Marietta, Ohio, was settled on 7 April 1788 by the Ohio Company of Associates, a group of Revolutionary War officers who were paid for their services in land. Like many other places in the United States, it was named for George Washington, and yes, Washington had first-hand knowledge of this area. His survey party camped at present-day Reno, Ohio, on 26 October 1770.

His opinion of the new settlement in June 1788 was glowing:
"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."

Washington County was one of the the original counties in the state of Ohio and the first to organize. Marietta, Ohio, was named by the Revolutionary War veterans after Marie Antoinette for her contributions in the American Revolution. Marietta, Ohio, was a planned community, with the streets and lots drawn up before the Ohio Company land was sold.

Prehistoric earthworks (mounds) have existed in the county since the Hopewell and Adena cultures, as described by Squier and Davis.

Marietta Earthworks, by Charles Whittlesey, in Squier & Davis,
Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley

Early fortifications were the pentagonal-shaped Fort Harmar (1785), on the west side of the Muskingum River

from "Opening The Door West" a PBS historical documentary about the founding of the
first settlement in the Northwest Territory at Marietta, Ohio.
www.openingthedoorwest.com

"Campus Martius" on the east side of the Muskingum River,

from "Opening The Door West" a PBS historical documentary about the founding of the 
first settlement in the Northwest Territory at Marietta, Ohio.
www.openingthedoorwest.com

and the "Picketed Point" at the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers in Marietta,

 from "Opening The Door West" a PBS historical documentary about the founding of the 
first settlement in the Northwest Territory at Marietta, Ohio.
www.openingthedoorwest.com

Fort Frye up the Muskingum River,

 from "Opening The Door West" a PBS historical documentary about the founding of the 
first settlement in the Northwest Territory at Marietta, Ohio.
www.openingthedoorwest.com

and Farmers' Castle in Belpre.

Farmers' Castle

 from "Opening The Door West" a PBS historical documentary about the founding of the 
first settlement in the Northwest Territory at Marietta, Ohio.
www.openingthedoorwest.com

Joel Barlow
Blennerhassett Island
Harman Blennerhassett
Sala Bosworth, artist
Gov. John Brough
General Don Carlos Buell
Camp Putnam
Campus Martius
Celeron de Bienville's Expedition
Ephraim Cutler
Manasseh Cutler
Beman Gates Dawes
Vice-President Charles Gates Dawes
Celeron de Bienville
Donation Tract
William Duer
Fort Harmar
French Grant
Frances Dana Gage, abolitionist and suffragette
Joseph Gilman
Alexander Hill
Lt. Gov. (briefly Gov.) Nancy Putnam Hollister
Marietta and Cincinnati Railroad
Marietta College
Marietta Earthworks
Lydia Moulton
William Moulton
C. William O'Neill
The Ohio Company of Virginia
The Ohio Company of Associates (Northwest Territory)
Samuel Holden Parsons
General Rufus Putnam
Winthrop Sargent
Wyllys Silliman
Charles Sullivan
Treaty of Fort Harmar
Benjamin Tupper
James Varnum
Washington County, Ohio
Washington State Community College, Marietta, Ohio
Gov. George White

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