MARIETTA COLLEGE AND THE OHIO COMPANY
A Review of Professor Arthur G. Beach's
History
BY WAYNE JORDAN
A college history that is also an
outstanding contribution to
the general historical literature of
Ohio has been published in
connection with "the 100th
anniversary of the present charter of
Marietta College and the 138th of the
founding of Muskingum
Academy." The book is entitled A
Pioneer College--The Story
of Marietta,1 and was written by Arthur G. Beach, professor of
English literature at Marietta College
from 1913 until his death
in 1934.
Observing that the history of Marietta
College is inseparable
from that of the town of Marietta, Beach
starts with the story
of the Ohio Company of Associates and
its colony, the first per-
manent American settlement in the
Northwest Territory. Re-
viewing the educational aspects of the
Ordinance of 1787, he
tells how Dr. Manasseh Cutler, while
visiting Marietta in the
summer of 1788, recorded in his journal
that he and General
Rufus Putnam "climbed the high hill
northwest of Fort Har-
mar and proposed that the university
should be on this hill."
Cutler and Putnam encountered delays,
however, in founding
their university, and when it was
finally established in 1804, it
was at Athens and not at Marietta.
Meanwhile classical instruc-
tion in the Northwest Territory had its
actual beginning at Ma-
rietta in the founding of a Greek and
Latin school, the Muskin-
gum Academy, which, like Ohio
University, was a product of the
efforts of Cutler, Putnam and their
associates.
The Muskingum Academy, out of which
Marietta College
1 Privately printed; distribution
conducted by the alumni secretary of Marietta
College.
(290)
MARIETTA
COLLEGE 291
grew,
was established in 1797, the first entry in its records, dated
April
29 of that year, being as follows:
At
a meeting of a number of citizens of Marietta convened for the
purpose
of taking into consideration measures for promoting the education
of
youth, General Putnam was appointed chairman and R. J. Meigs, Jr.,
clerk.
The following resolution was adopted:
Resolved, That a committee of
six be appointed to prepare a plan of
a
House suitable for the Instruction of Youth and Religious Exercises;
and
to make an Estimate of Expense, and the most suitable means of
raising
the necessary monies, and to fix upon a spot whereon to erect the
House,
and report on Saturday next, at 3 o'clock P. M.
The
committee of six consisted of Putnam, Paul Fearing,
Griffin
Greene, Return J. Meigs, Jr., Charles Green and Joshua
Shipman,
names familiar to all students of early Ohio history.
A
building was erected "between the first Congregational Church
and
Governor Meigs's house at an estimated cost of $1,000." A
subscription
list dated May 13, 1797, was circulated and forty-
seven
signers assumed a total obligation of $1,162 for the support
of
the new institution. "As the first local subscription made for
higher
education in Marietta and also in the Northwest Terri-
tory,"
writes Beach, "the list is worthy of permanent record."
It
is a veritable Who's Who of the pioneer Northwest:
Rufus Putnam
............................................... $300
Charles Green
............................................... 40
R.
J. Meigs................................................ 40
Jabez True................................................... 36
Joseph Lincoln ............................................ 20
Ichabod Nye
................................................ 40
Joshua Shipman
.............................................. 20
Ebenezer Sproat.............................................. 40
Paul Fearing................................................. 20
John Collins
............................................... 10
Earl Sproat
................................................. 20
Joseph Buell
............................................... 20
William R.
Putnam ....................................... 30
William
Bridge (in laying bricks) ............................ 10
Perley Howe
................................................ 10
James White
................................................. 10
Josiah Munro................................................ 10
John Brough................................................. 10
Joel Bowen
.................................................. 20
W. U. Parsons
.............................................. 10
Christopher Burlingame
...................................... 10
Judson Guitteau
............................................ 10
Stephen Pierce
............................................. 15
John Matthews
.............................................. 20
292 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
Daniel Story ................................................ 30
Edwin Putnam ................................................ 20
Griffin Greene
.............................................. 20
Benjamin Tupper
............................................. 20
Samuel Thornily
.............................................. 10
Timothy Buell
................................................. 10
Azariah Pratt
.............................................. 10
Ashel Hale................................................... 10
Gilbert Devol (in work)
.................................... 20
Nathan McIntosh (in
brick) ................................. 25
Francis Thierry
.............................................. 2
Ezra Putnam
................................................. 15
Luther Shepherd
............................................. 10
John G. Petit
.............................................. 10
Levi Whipple
................................................. 10
Thomas Lane
................................................ 10
Joseph Gilman and
son ...................................... 40
Josiah Hart.................................................. 10
Jonathan Devol............................................... 10
William Skinner
............................................ 30
Dudley Woodbridge
........................................... 30
David Putnam
................................................ 20
David Putnam, Yale graduate and grandson of General Is-
rael Putnam, was engaged as the first preceptor.
Instruction in
the classics was begun in 1800 and has been maintained
contin-
uously in Marietta since that year.
In 1815 the Academy underwent a reorganization, the Ma-
rietta School Association being formed to buy the stock
of the
proprietors and carry on their work. This was done to
enable
the institution to share in the school funds of the
district.
The trustees chosen after this reorganization were
David
Putnam, the Reverend Samuel P. Robbins, pastor of the
Congre-
gational Church, and Samuel Hoit, postmaster. Among the
later
members of the Academy Board were Dr. Samuel P.
Hildreth,
the pioneer historian, and Nahum Ward, philanthropist
and friend
of the Marquis de Lafayette.
The register of pupils in the Academy in 1817 has been
preserved and Beach includes it in his book. The first
name in
each instance is that of the parent or guardian:
Levi Barber--David Barber, Austin Barber
Wm. Crawford--Wm. Crawford
Nath'l Dodge--Hannah Dodge, Dudley Dodge
Joseph Evans--Joseph Evans
Dan'l Green--Mary Green, Richard Green
MARIETTA COLLEGE 293
Alex'r Henderson--Geo. W. Henderson,
John A. Henderson, Mary P.
Henderson, Sarah M. Henderson
S. P. Hildreth--Mary Ann Hildreth,
Charles C. Hildreth, George 0.
Hildreth
Alex'r Lawson--Alex'r Lawson
Rufus Putnam--Henry Putnam
David Putnam--Charles M. Putnam, Peter
P. Putnam, Douglas Put-
nam, David Putnam
John B. Regnier--Alfred Regnier, Felix
Regnier
Wm. Skinner--David Skinner, Wm. S.
Skinner
D. Woodbridge Jr.--Jane D. Woodbridge
Joseph Wood--James Wood
John Webber--John Webber
James Whitney--David Whitney
Ichabod Nye--Rowena Nye, Huldah Nye,
Edward Nye
Jonathan Cram--Rebecca Cram, John O.
Cram, Mary Cram
John Green--Dudley Green, Alonzo Green,
William Sprague
Caleb Emerson--Mary Emerson, William
Emerson
Azariah Pratt--Lucy Pratt, Azariah Pratt
Joshua Shipman--Samuel Shipman
Samuel P. Robbins--Samuel P. Robbins
Samuel Whipple--Percival H. Pardee
Christopher Burlingame--Edward
Burlingame
Samuel Sharpe--James Sharpe
[Not named]--William Glines
The transition from Academy to College
involved two inter-
mediate stages. First, the work of
classical instruction in Ma-
rietta was taken over by the Institute
of Education, a private
school established in 1830 by the Reverend
Luther G. Bingham,
pastor of the Congregational Church, who
had given private in-
struction in Marietta "as early as
1826." The Institute of Edu-
cation included an Infant School, a
Primary School, a Ladies'
Seminary and a High School.
The records of the closing days of the
Muskingum Academy
have been lost, but Beach writes that
"apparently it was continued
until after the Reverend Luther Bingham
had begun his private
school." The Muskingum Academy
building itself provided a
link between the old and the new, for in
1832 it was occupied by
Bingham's High School.
The second of the intermediate stages in
the transition from
Academy to College came in 1832 and 1833
when the Institute
of Education was converted into a
chartered institution with a
Board of Trustees. The first step was
taken at a meeting held
March 15, 1832. Beach writes:
294
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Dr. Samuel P. Hildreth was made chairman
and Douglas Putnam
secretary. The proposition of Mr.
Bingham and Mr. French2 was laid
before the meeting and Caleb Emerson,
Arius Nye and Dr. John Cotton
took part in the discussion. A committee
of seven was appointed with Mr.
Emerson as chairman, to report at a
meeting to be held a week later. The
report made recommended that the
proprietors appoint a board of seven.
The proprietors then nominated the following
board of trustees and their
nomination was approved by the meeting:
Caleb Emerson, James Whitney,
Samuel P. Hildreth, John Cotton, Arius
Nye, Weston Thomas and Douglas
Putnam.
The institution was named the Marietta
Collegiate Institute
and Western Teachers' Seminary and a
charter was obtained
from the Legislature. The Board of
Trustees, as finally organized
on January 16, 1833, had Dr. John Cotton
as its president, Doug-
las Putnam as secretary and John Mills,
treasurer. Other mem-
bers were Caleb Emerson, Bingham, Arius
Nye, Jonas Moore,
Anselm Tupper Nye and John Crawford.
Beach says:
Thus 45 years after the pioneers arrived
at Marietta the dream of Dr.
Cutler and General Putnam was realized.
Marietta had an institution of
college grade, gradually evolved from
the Muskingum Academy and em-
bodying the hopes and ideals of the
Ordinance of 1787 and of the compact
of the Ohio Company of Associates.
The Charter of the Marietta Collegiate
Institute and Western
Teachers' Seminary gave no power to
confer degrees and was
subject to amendment or repeal by the
Legislature. A new char-
ter without these defects was obtained
February 14, 1835. This
charter, which is the basis of this
year's centennial celebration,
changed the name of the institution to
Marietta College. The
Assembly decreed "that Luther G.
Bingham, John Cotton, Caleb
Emerson, John Mills, John Crawford,
Arius Nye, Douglas Put-
nam, Jonas Moore, Anselm T. Nye, and
their successors, be and
hereby are appointed Trustees of said
institution." In other words,
the trustees of the Institute
automatically became the trustees of
Marietta College.
Beach quotes President Israel Ward
Andrews,3 who said,
"Thus the College was founded in
1835, yet except for a new
name and with larger powers the
institution went on as before.
2 Mansfield French. who had become a
partner of Rev. Luther G. Bingham.
3 Israel Ward Andrews, president of
Marietta College, 1855-1885; associate editor
of Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society Quarterly, 1887-1888;
author of
Manual
of the Constitution of the United States (Cincinnati, 1874).
MARIETTA COLLEGE 295
The instruction was given by the same
faculty and the whole was
managed by the same trustees." Then
Beach adds:
This statement of President Andrews and
the review in an earlier
chapter of the beginnings of higher
education at Marietta make it evident
that Marietta College might naturally
regard December 17, 1832, as the date
of its inception, for on that date the
State Assembly granted a charter to
the Marietta Collegiate Institute; or
1800, the date of the actual beginning of
instruction in the Academy; or even
1797, the date of the organization of the
Muskingum Academy out of which the
College grew. Other colleges have
followed such a practice. Illinois
College did not receive its charter until
1835, yet it counts 1829 as the date of
its beginning. Wabash College dates
its beginning from the day its founders
first met to plan an English and
classical high school. There is an
uninterrupted evolution of classical edu-
cation at Marietta from the Muskingum
Academy of 1797 or 1800 through
the Collegiate Institute of 1830 and the
Marietta Collegiate Institute and
Western Teachers' Seminary of 1832.
George Wheeler Hinman, who was president
of Marietta
College from 1913 to 1918, once said,
"If, like Yale and Har-
vard, Marietta should date its beginning
from the original insti-
tution which was in the real sense its
parent, it would be accounted
the oldest institution west of the Ohio
River."
Recalling Hinman's statement, Beach
says, "Many friends
of Marietta have advocated this claim of
an earlier date for the
College with a view to adding to its age
and honor, but the record
of the trustees does not indicate that
they took an interest in this
question."
"It may be presumed," he adds,
"that the change of name
was the deciding factor in the minds of
those who determined the
matter." In any event "all
anniversary celebrations have been
based on this interpretation."
Beach himself makes no studied effort to
build up a case in
favor of a particular claim. He simply
tells the story of the "un-
interrupted evolution of classical
education at Marietta" as it is
documented in the sources that
exist. Because his review of
these sources is more complete than any
that has been made be-
fore, his book does contain convincing
material for those who
care to make a critical examination on
this score.
Despite the loss of many of the old
Academy records, which
has obscured to some extent the
relationship of Institute and Col-
lege to their parent institution, it
will be found that the facts set
296
OHIO ARCH AEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
forth in Beach's book afford an
abundance of external evidence
on this point. Because of the interest
which attaches to the Ohio
Company colony, this evidence is worthy
of review.
The first and most obvious connection
between the Muskin-
gum Academy and Marietta College is the
personal one. With
but few exceptions those who served as
trustees, patrons and
benefactors of the chartered College in
its earlier days were men
who had been in some way identified with
the Academy of 1797.
Two of the nine trustees named in the
Charter of 1835,
Emerson and Moore, had been teachers in
the old Academy.
Another trustee, Douglas Putnam, the
largest single donor to the
institution in its early days under this
charter, was a son of Mr.
David Putnam, first proprietor of the
Academy and later a mem-
ber of its Board. Douglas Putnam was
himself a product of the
Academy, his name appearing in the
register of pupils for 1817.
Anselm T. Nye was a son of Ichabod Nye,
whose name appears
in the original list of Academy
subscribers as well as in the list
of its patrons in 1817, and a grandson
of General Benjamin Tup-
per. Mills was the son of a
Revolutionary officer who had joined
the Ohio Company settlers. Both he and
Cotton, an eminent
physician who had lived in Marietta
since 1814, were identified
socially, culturally and in a business
way with the families who
had sponsored the Academy. Arius Nye and
Crawford did not
serve under the new charter. The
remaining member of the
Board, Bingham, already has been
identified.
Hildreth, who presided over the meeting
at which first steps
were taken to convert the Institute of
Education into a chartered
college, was another whose personality linked
the Academy and
the College. A former trustee and patron
of the Academy, he
served for a time on the board of the
Collegiate Institute. He
remained an active supporter of Marietta
College, his gifts in-
cluding more than 500 volumes to the
Library besides his valued
collection of natural science specimens.
Still another of the original trustees
of the Collegiate Insti-
tute was James Whitney, whose name
appears in the list of
Academy patrons of 1817. Other ties of
this kind are shown in
MARIETTA COLLEGE 297
Beach's history. William Slocomb, who
was engaged in 1820 as
principal of the Muskingum Academy, was
one of the early sup-
porters and later a trustee of Marietta
College. In 1845 Slocomb,
by making a generous financial pledge,
launched a successful
movement for a new college building, the
oldest structure on the
present campus. One of the largest
subscribers to this project
was Ward, previously mentioned as an
Academy trustee.
Names of other trustees who served the
College during its
first half century under the present
charter emphasize still more
the relationship to the Muskingum
Academy and the Ohio Com-
pany.
Colonel William Rufus Putnam, a trustee
of the College
from 1849 to 1881 and one of its
financial benefactors, was a
grandson of General Rufus Putnam,
foremost among the Academy
founders and member of the Committee of
Six which arranged
for the first building. Colonel William
Putnam's father was the
William R. Putnam whose name appears in
the subscribers' list
of 1797.
Other Board members of this period were
Charles M. Put-
nam, former Academy pupil and son of
David Putnam; William
P. Cutler, a grandson of Manasseh
Cutler; Samuel Shipman, for-
mer Academy pupil and son of Joshua
Shipman, an Academy
founder; General Rufus R. Dawes, a
great-grandson of Manasseh
Cutler; Lieutenant-Colonel Douglas
Putnam, Jr., a grandson of
David Putnam.
Beach quotes from an address given by
Andrews in 1860:
The College at Marietta was the natural
outgrowth of this settlement
by the Ohio Company. The descendants of
the men of the Revolution and
their associates in the Ohio Company,
whose ideas of civil liberty were
embodied in the immortal ordinance of
1787, were the founders of Marietta
College, and they have been its warmest
and most steadfast friends and its
most generous benefactors. To speak of
no others, the families of the two
Putnams, General Israel and General
Rufus, of Dr. Manasseh Cutler and
of General Benjamin Tupper, have
furnished eight trustees.
Another evidence of the oneness of
Academy, Institute and
College is the fact that each was the
handiwork of New Eng-
landers. Before the trustees of the
Academy engaged Elisha
298
OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
Huntington4 as principal in
1816 they specified in a letter sent to
Harvard, Yale and Dartmouth that they
were looking for a man
"capable of teaching all those
branches that are usually taught
in the best academies" and added
that the people of Marietta
were "attached to the Yankee
manners and customs." The trus-
tees of 1835, like the founders of 1797,
were New Englanders.
Cotton, Emerson and Moore were born in
Massachusetts and
Bingham was a native of Vermont. Douglas
Putnam, Mills and
Anselm T. Nye were born in Marietta of
New England parents.
Putnam was a graduate of Yale, Cotton of
Harvard, Bingham
of Middlebury, and Moore had spent three
years at Dartmouth.
By tracing the history of the town of
Marietta as he traces
the history of the College, Beach makes
it clear that each in-
stitution in the succession which he
describes was a community
project. Academy, Institute and College
were developed and
maintained by the same men who were
leaders in other com-
munity enterprises of the time. That this is true of the
Academy will be conceded at once by any
student of Ohio
history who reads the subscription list
of 1797. The names
there are those identified with most of
the "firsts" in the Ohio
Company settlement, whether religious,
political or economic.
That the College was fostered in the
same manner is demon-
strated by the careers of the trustees
of the 1830's. The names
of Mills, Cotton, Nye, Putnam, Hildreth,
Emerson and Shipman
are stamped on every community
undertaking of the period,
whether it be the founding of a library,
a historical society or a
temperance society, the management of a
bank, or the promotion
of a trans-Allegheny highway, a county
fair or a railroad.5
So closely is this leadership linked to
the leadership of the earlier
period by financial, cultural and family
ties that it would be im-
possible to tell where the one left off
and the other began.
Closely allied is the additional fact
that the College continued
to draw most of its students from the
same relatively small com-
munity which had been served by the
Academy, and in large part
4 Later lieutenant-governor of
Massachusetts.
5 Israel Ward Andrews, Centennial
Historical Address, 1876 (Cincinnati, 1877),
is of interest in this connection.
MARIETTA COLLEGE 299
from the same families. The secondary
instruction which had
been given in the Muskingum Academy was
continued in the
College Preparatory Department, which
was maintained until
1913. Andrews in 1876 remarked, "It
is an item of historical
interest that about sixty of the
graduates of the College are the
lineal descendants of those who settled
on the lands of the Ohio
Company prior to 1800, representing more
than forty of the early
settlers."
Still another fact which emphasizes the
inseparableness of
Academy, Institute and College is their
relationship to the Con-
gregational Church. Marietta College is
not a sectarian insti-
tution, and Beach lays stress upon this
point. He quotes the first
public pronouncement of the
incorporating trustees which was
that "no sectarian peculiarities of
belief will be taught," and he
points out that this non-sectarian
character was further confirmed
in 1907 when the College, without
modification of its policies, was
elected to share in the Carnegie
Foundation. However, it is in-
teresting to note that six of the eight
presidents of Marietta Col-
lege have been Congregational ministers
and that graduation exer-
cises are held by long-established
custom in the Congregational
Church. One who reads Beach's book may
observe that this
relationship is one which goes back to
the early days of the
Muskingum Academy. The first Board of
that institution pro-
vided "that the minister or pastor
of the First Religious Society
in Marietta shall have the liberty, from
time to time, to instruct
the pupils, provided it is not more than
half a day in any one
week."
The first religious society was a
Congregational body and the
pastor who was called upon to give the
instruction was the Rev-
erend Daniel Story, the first
established minister in Marietta.
Robbins succeeded to the Congregational
pulpit in 1806 and, as
has already been noted, served as a
trustee of the Academy.
Bingham assumed the pastorate in 1826
and it was he who, using
the old Academy building for a time,
founded the Institute and
then helped to convert it into the
College which was to carry
its work and the work of the Academy. He
was a trustee of
300 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
the College for ten years under the
present charter, and his two
immediate successors in the
Congregational pulpit were trustees,
the Reverend Thomas Wickes being on the
Board from 1849 to
1870
and the Reverend Theron H. Hawks from 1871
to 1885.
This tie, while not a formal
affiliation, is one which must com-
mand attention in connection with the
other evidence which has
been cited.
Enough has been said to show that while
Marietta College
was chartered as such in 1835 it did not
have its beginning in
that year. The charter simply
represented an advanced stage in
a development which had begun in the
early days of the Ohio
Company settlement. In presenting for
the first time a historical
narrative which makes this clear to all
readers, Beach has ren-
dered a distinct service to those who
wish to study the educational
foundations of early Ohio. The scope of
his book, however, is
much wider. It is what is now
customarily described as a human
document, filled with interesting
personalities, anecdote and ob-
servation, mirroring life as it has been
lived in Ohio from wilder-
ness days till now.
The trustees of Marietta College made a
happy selection when
they commissioned Beach to write such a history.
The College
of which he writes was his own alma
mater and to it he had given
years of scholarly devotion. His father
before him, Professor
David E. Beach, occupied the chair of
moral philosophy and was
likewise a graduate of the institution.
His maternal grandfather,
D. Howe Allen, was professor of
mathematics in the Marietta
Collegiate Institute and a member of the
faculty of Marietta
College until 1840.
In every sense the author of A
Pioneer College was the
product and true representative of the
cultural evolution which
he describes so ably.