Marietta in Washington County, Ohio — The American Midwest (Great Lakes)

The Forty-Eight Pioneers

Photographed By J. J. Prats, April 23, 2017

1. The Forty-Eight Pioneers Marker, East and North Faces

Inscription. To record the names of the forty-eight pioneers who landed near this spot, April 7, 1788.

Haffield White • Jethro Putnam • Ezekiel Cooper • Amos Porter • Allen Putnam • Jervis Cutler • Benjamin Shaw • Oliver Dodge • Henry Maxon • Peletiah White • Jonas Davis • Samuel Cushing • Davis Wallis • Simeon Martin • Isaac Dodge

Rufus Putnam • Ebenezer Sproat • Return J. Meigs • Anselm Tupper • John Mathews • Peregrine Foster • Joseph Lincoln • Earl Sproat • Joseph Wells • Jabez Barlow • Phineas Coburn • Samuel Felshaw • Theophilus Learned • Israel Danton • Josiah White • Daniel Bushnell

Jonathan DeVol • Josiah Munrow • William Gray • Daniel Davis • William Mason • William Moulton • Edmond Moulton • Gilbert DeVol Jr. • Allen DeVol • Ebenezer Corey • Hezakiah Flint • Nezekiah Flint Jr. • Josiah Whitridge • Elizur Kirtland • William Miller • Benjamin Criswold

Erected 1893 by New Century Historical Society.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Settlements & Settlers. A significant historical date for this entry is April 7, 1788.

Location. 39° 24.754′ N, 81° 27.258′ W. Marker is in Marietta, Ohio, in Washington County. Marker is at the intersection of Front Street and West Butler Street

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, on the left when traveling north on Front Street. It is near Marietta Harbor on the Muskingum River. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 201 Front Street, Marietta OH 45750, United States of America. Touch for directions.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Welcome To Historic Marietta / Harmar Village (here, next to this marker); First City Power Plant (a few steps from this marker); High Water Mark (a few steps from this marker); Aftermath of Huricane Ivan (within shouting distance of this marker); Adventure Starts In Marietta Ohio (within shouting distance of this marker); 100 Horse Power Steam Engine (within shouting distance of this marker); Save Harmar Bridge (within shouting distance of this marker); Marietta, Ohio, U.S.A. (about 300 feet away, measured in a direct line). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Marietta.

More about this marker. These “forty-eight” were members of the Ohio Company of Associates, a land company formed in 1786 to settle their purchase in the newly-created Northwest Territories. In 1788 they established Marietta, Ohio, as the first permanent settlement of the new United States in the territory and are considered the founders of the State of Ohio.

Also see . . . American pioneers to the Northwest Territory. American pioneers to the Northwest Territory included soldiers

The Forty-Eight Pioneers Marker, West Face image. Click for full size.

Photographed By J. J. Prats, April 23, 2017

2. The Forty-Eight Pioneers Marker, West Face

of the Revolution and members of the Ohio Company of Associates. During 1788 these pioneers to the Ohio Country established Marietta, Ohio as the first permanent American settlement of the new United States in the Northwest Territory, and opened the westward expansion of the new country. General George Washington commented about these pioneers: “I know many of the settlers personally, and there never were men better calculated to promote the welfare of such a community.” General Lafayette of France, who fought with the Americans during the Revolution, visited Marietta on his US tour during May 1825 and described these pioneers and former officers: “They were the bravest of brave. Better men never lived.”

The first group of these early American pioneers to the Northwest Territory is sometimes referred to as “the forty-eight” or the “first forty-eight”, and also as the “founders of Ohio”. These first forty-eight men were carefully chosen and vetted by several of the co-founders of the Ohio Company of Associates, Rufus Putnam and Manasseh Cutler, to ensure not only men of high character and bravery, but also men with proven skills necessary to build a settlement in the wilderness. (Submitted on May 7, 2017.)

Additional commentary.

The Forty-Eight Pioneers Marker, South Face image. Click for full size.

Photographed By J. J. Prats, April 23, 2017

3. The Forty-Eight Pioneers Marker, South Face

1. The Founders of Ohio
Poem by William Henry Venable, April 1888

The footsteps of a hundred years
Have echoed, since o’er Braddock’s Road
Bold Putnam and the Pioneers
Led History the way they strode.

On wild Monongahela stream
They launched the Mayflower of the West,
A perfect State their civic dream,
A new New World their pilgrim quest.

When April robed the Buckeye trees
Muskingum’s bosky shore they trod;
They pitched their tents and to the breeze
Flung freedom’s star-flag, thanking God.

As glides the Oyo’s solemn flood
So fleeted their eventful years;
Resurgent in their children’s blood,
They still live on—the Pioneers.

Their fame shrinks not to names and dates
On votive stone, the prey of time;—
Behold where monumental States
Immortalize their lives sublime!

— Submitted May 7, 2017.

Ohio Company Purchase image. Click for full size.

Source: Wikipedia Commons, May 30, 2008

4. Ohio Company Purchase

The Ohio Company of Associates purchased the land shown in yellow in the lower right of this map, where Marietta is located.

The Forty-Eight Pioneers Marker image. Click for full size.

Photographed By Craig Doda, October 22, 2022

5. The Forty-Eight Pioneers Marker

Credits. This page was last revised on November 30, 2022. It was originally submitted on May 7, 2017, by J. J. Prats of Powell, Ohio. This page has been viewed 732 times since then and 80 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on May 7, 2017, by J. J. Prats of Powell, Ohio. 5. submitted on October 28, 2022, by Craig Doda of Napoleon, Ohio.