Ohio History Journal

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LUCY BACKUS WOODBRIDGE, PIONEER MOTHER

LUCY BACKUS WOODBRIDGE, PIONEER MOTHER

 

January 31, 1757--October 6, 1817

 

By LOUISE RAU

 

Distant secluded, still, the little village of Grand-Pre

Lay in the fruitful valley.

At the confluence of the Ohio and the Muskingum Rivers,

hidden beneath its giant elms and maples, Marietta, named for the

fascinating Marie Antoinette, takes one back to bygone days when

Ohio was a wilderness peopled by red men. Here in the foot-

hills, New England made her first outpost during the early years

following the Revolution. Here speculation in real estate was

inaugurated on a vast scale by the Ohio Company. Here came

men of ambition, soldiers of the Revolution, to seek the livelihood

which was growing increasingly difficult to earn in the villages of

the East. Fortunately for the present generation, many papers1

of those early days are still to be found in attics, and it is from

one of these collections that the following sketch has been pieced

bit by bit.

 

1 It was many and many years ago in the little village of Nor-

wich on the Thames River that Lucy Backus opened her eyes

upon a world that was to bring her varied adventures and trans-

plant her to distant climes. The Backus family is said to have

been founded by William     (or, according to some, Stephen) who

came from Norwich, England, and was living in Saybrook, Con-

necticut, as early as 1637. He was twice married, his wives having

been Sarah Charles and Mrs. Anne Bingham. About 1659, accom-

The manuscripts used in this paper belong to the Woodbridge-Gallaher Collec-

tion of 1,100 items in the Library of the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical

Society, recently acquired from Charles Penrose, grandson of Mrs. J. A. Gallaher of

Marietta, Ohio, a great-granddaughter of Lucy Backus Woodbridge. A few items

from the Burton Historical Collection of the Detroit Public Library have also been

used, as noted. For further information concerning the Woodbridge-Gallaher Collec-

tion see description of same by Dr. Harlow Lindley, pages 443-450, this issue.

(405)