AN ABOLITION
CENTER.
THOMAS J. SHEPPARD.
In the spring of 1802 two travelers
met in the wilderness
between Zanesville and Marietta, Ohio.
Though they rode to-
gether by day and camped together by
night, each refrained
from disclosing to the other the object
of his journey. That ob-
ject was to purchase the section of land
upon which, later on,
grew up the village of Putnam, now the
Ninth Ward of the city
of Zanesville. The travelers were John
McIntyre, the founder of
Zanesville, and Dr. Increase Mathews, a
nephew of Gen. Rufus
Putnam, who was at that time in charge
of the U. S. land office
at Marietta. Each of these men had set
out at the same time to
seek the same prize.
At the land office, a few days later,
the travelers did some
spirited bidding but Dr. Mathews got the
land. His cousin,
Levi Whipple, joined in the purchase and
later on Gen. Putnam
became a joint proprietor.
On this land, on the western bank of the
Muskingum river,
was founded, two years before Ohio
became a state, the village
of Springfield; so called from a fine
spring of water which
gushed from the rocky face of the
western hillside, and to which
a pioneer romance gave the name of
"The Lovers' Fountain."
Subsequently the name of the village was
changed to "Putnam"
in honor of its most distinguished
proprietor.
The early settlers of Putnam, while they
valued the spring
and the water power of the beautiful
river, set a higher value
on education, morality and religion.
Being of New England
stock they were ardent advocates of
human freedom, and in the
fullest accord with the great Ordinance
which had forever dedi-
cated to freedom the land on which they
had established their
homes.
This anti-slavery sentiment led to the
establishment, as early
as 1833, of a monthly meeting to pray
for the abolition of Afri-
can slavery. For many years this prayer
meeting was held in
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