People

Massachusetts Congregationalist minister and self-taught scientist who lobbied Congress for the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and negotiated the Ohio Company land purchase. His July 1787 lobbying campaign in New York — conducted while the Constitutional Convention was simultaneously meeting in Philadelphia — produced both the Ordinance and the land deal that made Marietta possible. He never permanently settled there himself.

Son of Manasseh Cutler who settled permanently in the Marietta area and became one of the most important figures in Ohio's constitutional convention of 1802. Ephraim Cutler, despite being ill with a fever, cast the decisive vote that kept slavery out of the Ohio state constitution, preserving the Northwest Ordinance's prohibition and cementing Ohio's status as a free state.

Massachusetts artillery officer and Ohio Company shareholder who served as Secretary of the Northwest Territory under Governor St. Clair. Sargent handled much of the practical administration of the territorial government at Marietta, including land records, court proceedings, and communications with the federal government. He later served as governor of Mississippi Territory.

Pennsylvania-born Continental Army general who served as President of the Continental Congress before becoming the first Governor of the Northwest Territory in 1788. He established his territorial government at Marietta, creating the legal and administrative institutions the Northwest Ordinance required. His 1791 military defeat by a confederacy of Native nations was the worst American military defeat by Native forces in the nation's history.

Wife of Rufus Putnam and one of the women who helped establish domestic and community life at Marietta. The Putnam household at Campus Martius became a center of the settlement's social life. Women of the founding generation managed homes, gardens, and children through years of frontier isolation and periodic warfare, making the survival of the community possible.

Nephew of Revolutionary War General Israel "Old Put" Putnam who settled in Marietta with the original Ohio Company group. He served as a ranger and scout during the frontier war years, operating between Campus Martius and the outer settlements. His connection to his famous uncle linked Marietta symbolically to the Revolutionary War generation that had founded it.

Massachusetts engineer officer who served as the Continental Army's chief engineer and designed the fortifications at Boston and West Point. Founded the Ohio Company of Associates with Manasseh Cutler, led the first settlers to Marietta in April 1788, and designed Campus Martius. Served as Surveyor General of the United States under Washington.

Massachusetts Continental Army general and co-founder of the Ohio Company of Associates with Rufus Putnam. Tupper had scouted the Ohio Country during the war and recognized the agricultural potential of the river lands. He was among the original settlers who arrived at the Muskingum confluence in 1788 and helped organize the community's early civic institutions.

Connecticut Continental Army officer who participated in Benedict Arnold's Quebec expedition and the 1777 Sag Harbor raid before settling in Marietta as one of the Ohio Company's original shareholders. His son, Return Jonathan Meigs Jr., became Governor of Ohio and U.S. Senator. The elder Meigs helped establish Marietta's early legal institutions.