Pickleball: The Marietta Connection

Pickleball is now a popular paddle ball net game. It has a Marietta, Ohio connection I was unaware of. It’s history is also a fascinating case study in how differing recollections can make finding the truth a challenge, and sometimes amusing.

I recall my first encounter with pickleball. It was early one morning in the 2000’s while hiking in the scenic foothills above Palm Desert, California. The first rays of the sun cast a rosy glow across the desert valley. I was returning to the trailhead when my desert reverie was interrupted by odd sound: a hollow-sounding bonk, bonk-bonk, bonk, bonk-bonk. The source of the noise appeared as I rounded a hill. There was a tennis court with two guys hitting a ball back and forth. It was not tennis; it looked more like a ping-pong game.  I found out later that it was pickleball: a game with elements of tennis, ping-pong (table tennis), and badminton. It was invented on Bainbridge Island, Washington in the mid 60’s. Over 3 million people now play pickleball.

Pickleball game, viewed at https://www.ymcatriangle.org/programs/sports-adult/adult-pickleball

The Marietta connection: The three guys credited with inventing pickleball were Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell, and Barney McCallum. Pritchard’s wife, Marietta native Joan Sutton Pritchard, is credited with naming the game. The Pritchards met while attending Marietta College in the late 1940’s. Joan later moved back to Marietta and enjoyed a long career as a columnist for local newspapers. 

Pickleball? Strange name. Joan was a fan of Marietta College crew (competitive rowing) racing. MC crews participated in University of Washington regattas in the 1950s. Joan attended the races and cheered on the team. Her son says she was a rower herself when they lived in Washington state. The improvised paddle ball net game reminded her of improvised crews on a “pickle boat,”* made up of a thrown-together group of rowers who had not rowed in other races. So, she called it pickleball. The name stuck, sort of.

The Marietta College Crew programs have been competitive for decades. This women's rowing team claimed a silver medal in the Division III varsity heavyweight 8+ Grand Final at the 82nd annual Jefferson Dad Vail Regatta Saturday (May 8, 2021) on the Schuylkill River.

https://pioneers.marietta.edu/news/2021/5/8/womens-rowing-takes-varsity-eight-silver-at-dad-vail-regatta.aspx

There is another, more endearing, origin story for the pickleball name. The Pritchard’s family dog, a cockapoo named Pickles, often chased after errant balls and ran off with them. So, they became…..Pickle’s balls. That amusing name explanation was mentioned by someone outside the family to a reporter working on a feature about pickleball. It became a popular story for decades, mentioned as recently as 2020 in a Seattle Times retrospective. Barney McCallum and neighbors the Browns vouch for the dog name version. They recall the exact night that the dog name explanation was “officially” announced at the Pritchard’s cabin. 

Joan Pritchard debunked the dog explanation in a 2008 column in the Parkersburg (WV) News and Sentinel newspaper. She explained that the family did not have the dog until a few years after the game started. The dog was named after pickleball, not the reverse. Joel Pritchard agreed in an oral history recording. 

Image of a cockapoo (not the actual Pickles, though - still looking for that image). Cute, eh?

Pickleball was invented in 1965…..or 1966, or 1963, depending on who is telling the story. There are also variations on exactly how the game was invented. The most cited version of the “Creation Story” is that the Pritchard’s children were bored to death at the family weekend getaway place on Bainbridge Island, and they were complaining loudly. Joel and friend Bill Bell returned from golf one day. Thirteen-year old Frank Pritchard whined, “There’s nothing to do here,” repeating a phrase uttered by kids everywhere at one time or other. His father Joel countered dismissively, “When we were kids, we’d make games up, as if to say, “Go find something to do and quit griping.” Frank challenged his dad, “OK, then you can make up a game for us.” Joel and his friends did. The rest is history, so to speak.

Original pickleball court at the Pritchard’s cabin on Bainbridge Island, Washington

Viewed at usapickleball.org

Co-founder Barney McCallum has a different recollection. There is no golf game in his story. He recalled that the kids were indeed bored, but it was on a rainy Saturday when all the adults were gathered at Pritchard’s home. There was a badminton court there. He says that the adults gave the kids ping pong paddles and a baseball and told them to go play on the badminton court. Another story variation says that the participants really intended to play badminton but could not find the shuttlecock.

There is agreement that the three amigos - Joel, Bill, and Barney -  went to work and designed a game the kids could play. Initially, they used ping-pong paddles, a plastic baseball, and a tennis-type net. The youths, thankfully, were entertained. But so were the adults. Barney McCallum says he couldn’t wait to get out on the court and play the game himself. Soon, he said with a laugh in a video interview, the kids were “pushed out.” Adults found the game addicting. Other neighbors started playing. A wiffle ball soon replaced the plastic baseball. McCallum fashioned larger paddles from plywood. Rules were, well, non-existent at first. Players made their own rules. Over the next few weeks, some basic rules emerged. Pickleball was born. 

Tales about the invention of the pickleball game and the name origin illustrate the challenges of history research. Supposedly reliable sources often have differing version of past events. The researcher is left to evaluate the sources, decide which is more accurate, or accept that the exact truth is uncertain. The pickleball origin stories have such variations. That’s to be expected since several persons were involved. We see this in our own memory of events which are retold over the years. Variations and embellishments are mixed in until they become family lore, and therefore “true” in the mind of the recollector.

Joan Pritchard moved back to Marietta in the 1970s after she and Joel divorced. She was a columnist for the Parkersburg News and Sentinel and the Marietta Times. She wrote about local events, history, and personalities. Joan Sutton Pritchard passed away in 2012.

So, remember: When you hear about Pickleball - think Marietta.

*In sailboat racing, the pickle boat is the last boat to finish a race. The “pickle” term comes from the fishing industry: boats fishing for herring would come into port last, having stayed out so the crew could pickle the catch with brine.

Sources:

"Barney McCallum Interview," youtube.com

Barsaleau, Mary and Makinen, Julie, "How Did This Crazy Sport Get Started?", The Desert Sun, October, 2021

Dollard, Wayne, "How Pickleball Really Got Its Name," Pickleball Magazine

Hoffman Estates Pickleball, at hoffmanestatespickleball,com, including copy of a Joan Pritchard column in the Parkersburg News and Sentinel

Kerstner, Jim Historylink.org, "Joel Pritchard, Joel M. 1925-1997," Historylink.org posted 11/11/2016

"The Origins of Pickleball, How It All Began," youtube.com

"Pickleball began on Bainbridge Island in 1965.......", Seattle Times Sept 22, 2020, at seattletimes.com

Taber, Bob, "The Pickleboat: Odds & Ends," evergreenpickleball.club

USA Pickleball.org, History of the Game

"Why Is It Called Pickleball - Incredible Story behind Pickleball," pickleballhunter.com

Wikipedia, "Pickleball"

Rudolph’s Creation Story

My wife likes on-line trivia questions. Recently she asked me this question: Rudolph the Red-nosed reindeer was created for which department store? The choices were Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Neiman Marcus, or Montgomery Ward. 

My first reaction was shock that Rudolph was a marketing creation and, well, not real. He is so ingrained in Christmas lore, it seemed like he’d been around forever. The answer about which department store surprised me, too. Keep reading to see the trivia answer, followed by the Rudolph “creation story” originally posted by National Public Radio (NPR).

Popular image of Rudolph from a children’s book

https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/rudolph-red-nosed-reindeer-turns-75

Triviagenius.com answer:

Santa's reindeer are a vital part of his Christmas story, but did you know that Rudolph didn't exist until 1939? The beloved reindeer with the red nose was the creation of Robert L. May. May was a catalog writer for Chicago-based department store Montgomery Ward. Each Christmas, the store would give away free storybooks to the children. May decided to write the tale of a lonely outcast reindeer. Two million copies were printed and the story became a huge hit, inspiring songs, cartoons, and more.

NPR report 12/25/2013 (images inserted by author)

Everybody knows Rudolph was the last reindeer to join Santa's crew, but few people know about the department store copywriter who brought his story to the world.

The year was 1939, the Great Depression was waning and a manager at Montgomery Ward in Chicago decided that the store should create its own children's book for the annual holiday promotion.

The boss tapped Robert L. May, an ad man for the store, to take a crack at a story. May was a hit at holiday parties for his way with limericks and parodies. But May didn't see himself as a winner. He had always felt like a bit of an outcast, and, at 35, he felt he was far from reaching his potential, pounding out catalog copy instead of writing the Great American Novel as he had always dreamed he would.

He came back with the story of an underdog, red-nosed reindeer who was in the right place at the right time — just when Santa needed a reindeer with exceptional skills. "Can't you come up with anything better?" the boss asked, according to a May's 1975 telling in a story published in the Gettysburg Times.

But May believed in the story. He got his buddy in the art department to draw up some sketches and, together, they convinced the boss.

Image of original draft manuscript

https://www.npr.org/2013/12/25/256579598/writing-rudolph-the-original-red-nosed-manuscript

Months into the project, May's wife died from cancer. Robert became a widower and a single father. His boss offered to take the reindeer project off this plate. But May refused. "I needed Rudolph now more than ever," he later wrote. The book was a hit. Montgomery Ward's printed and distributed more than 2 million copies that year at branches across the country.

An original copy of the 1939 booklet "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" distributed free to all children who visited Montgomery Ward stores during the Christmas season. This is the front cover. Fun fact: other names were considered (Romeo, Rodney, and Reginald, anyone?) but “Rudolph” won out.

https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/rudolph-red-nosed-reindeer-turns-75

While Rudolph was hitting it big, things grew worse for May. He was living on a copywriter's salary and spent years buried in debt from his wife's medical bills.

After World War II, Montgomery Ward's then-CEO Sewell Avery, for reasons that aren't exactly clear, gave May the rights to Rudolph. (His daughter tells us that the bosses never thought Rudolph had potential as more than a holiday promotion, but we'd like to think, for the sake of this cute little Christmas tale, that his humanity won him over.)

If ever there was going to be a time for May's luck to change, this would be it. It just so happened that May's brother-in-law (Johnny Marks) was a songwriter. He hadn't made it big yet, but he was getting there. May talked him into writing a song about Rudolph. That song was picked up by none other than the singing cowboy, Gene Autry. It sold more than 25 million copies and paved the way for the classic Rankin/Bass stop-animation film.

Thanks to Rudolph, Robert May's family was taken care of financially through the end of his life and beyond. And he always delighted in being the man who introduced the oddball reindeer and his triumphant tale to the world.

And as for Rudolph, well, he, as they say, went down in history.

View Robert May’s original story (a poem) by clicking on the link below, then scroll down in the article to find the manuscript link. This is the original draft; the final version had a few changes. Also, enjoy the artwork. Read or listen carefully; it is more detailed and longer than the familiar song. The verses were written in the same rhyming cadence as “The Night Before Christmas” poem. 

https://www.npr.org/2013/12/25/256579598/writing-rudolph-the-original-red-nosed-manuscript

Merry Christmas!

Sources:

National Public Radio, “Morning Edition” broadcast, 12/25/2013, https://www.npr.org/2013/12/25/256579598/writing-rudolph-the-original-red-nosed-manuscript

“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Turns 75,” National Museum of American History, https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/rudolph-red-nosed-reindeer-turns-75

“Rudolph in Rauner,” Rauner Library Special Collections, Dartmouth College, https://raunerlibrary.blogspot.com/2009/12/rudolph-in-rauner.html

Triviagenius.com

Wikipedia

Two Gems

Valley Gem..... the name has a nice ring to it, especially since Marietta, Ohio is nestled in two valleys. Today’s VALLEY GEM sternwheeler cruise boat has been operated at Marietta for nearly fifty years by the Sands family. That boat’s namesake was a Muskingum River steamboat, also named VALLEY GEM.    Captain J. J. Sands explained that the VALLEY GEM was suggested by riverboat expert Frederick Way because that boat had the longest service on the Muskingum River without an accident.

The original VALLEY GEM was built at Marietta’s Knox and Sons boat yard in 1897. She was large enough to carry 300 passengers and 150 tons of freight but small enough to fit through the smaller lock chambers on the Muskingum River. Newton Price of McConnelsville was the captain and part owner of the VALLEY GEM.

VALLEY GEM  steamboat image on a postcard from icollect247.com

VALLEY GEM was one of over two hundred steamboats which ran on the Muskingum River. These boats were an integral part of the culture and economy of Southeast Ohio. They moved freight, farm products, passengers, and provided entertainment in the 1800’s up to about 1920. Many of them were built at Marietta’s Knox Boat Yard.

For steamboat enthusiasts, the original VALLEY GEM engineering details are as follows: She was a wooden hull sternwheel packet boat 125.4 feet long by 26.5 feet wide with 4.2 feet of draft. There were two boilers, 43 inches in diameter and 20 feet in length. The two steam engine cylinders had a 13 inch bore with a 5 foot stroke. That all added up to a state of the art steamboat which would touch the lives of thousands over nearly 20 years. She ran on the Muskingum River, mostly in the McConnelsville - Zanesville trade, from 1898 to 1917. 

The VALLEY GEM’s maiden voyage was on Friday, February 18, 1898. There were 99 passengers on board. The Zanesville Times Recorder was effusive in its description of the VALLEY GEM. Excerpts:

The steamer is indeed a gem. She is provided with each and all requirements of the United States government. The entire boat is lit up with electric lights. Her cabins and staterooms are elegantly furnished throughout. In all details and respects she is an A-1 steamer....Captain Price received many congratulations and high compliments upon his success in bringing out such a fine packet steamer.

Very laudatory verbiage, eh? How often today can a newspaper article also be your marketing message? All went well until the boat approached Zanesville. She suffered a “slight breakdown” in one of her engines, drifted downstream, and was “detained until a late hour last night” with necessary repairs. The passengers had to be offloaded from the boat. “The excursionists returned home by the steamer JEWEL and Zanesville and Ohio rail line.” It was not the ideal finish to a maiden voyage.

Steamboat VALLEY GEM at landing in Zanesville, Ohio circa early 1900's, from Muskingum Valley History Facebook page

Steamboat VALLEY GEM at unidentified location, viewed at picclick.co.uk

She ran a regular schedule from McConnelsville to Zanesville. There were also excursions and events on weekends. Captain Price entertained his Sunday School class on the boat in 1905. Crowds of 200-300 were typical for excursions; seems like a lot for a 125 foot long sternwheeler, smaller than today’s VALLEY GEM. 

There were often unexpected situations that the VALLEY GEM - and other steamboats, too - had to contend with. Examples:

3/2/1904. Riverboats usually tied up during winter. In 1904 the boat restart was delayed by ice in the river lasting 92 days, the longest stretch in 20 years. 

8/6/1899. Passengers were terrified by a severe electrical storm during a cruise. Many became hysterical; a pastor circulated and offered prayers.

9/3/1907. Two unidentified men opened fire on VALLEY GEM passengers with shotguns. Several were injured; none seriously. 

3/4/1898. The VALLEY GEM collided with a rival riverboat JEWEL. There was “ill will” from Captain Webster of the JEWEL who claimed the incident was intentional. Some area steamboats were heated rivals with the VALLEY GEM. They often raced each other to the same locks. It’s not clear if the VALLEY GEM was always the instigator. 

5/13/1899. VALLEY GEM collided with steamer ZANETTA as they raced to the Philo locks. The latter boat was heavily damaged. The two were especially bitter rivals. In 1901, the same two boats raced for the drawbridge at Gaysport. The VALLEY GEM was slightly ahead but the ZANETTA charged forward and ran into the VALLEY GEM. 

Circa 1900. A Mrs. Fanny Richardson of Malta, Ohio, recalled another racing episode between the same two boats. She hailed a ride on the ZANETTA from a country landing, unaware that the two boats were racing. Honoring river tradition, the ZANETTA reluctantly stopped and picked her up. But the boat’s crew was irate because they lost position in the race. She was shunned by all on the rest of the trip. These rivalries sound like a steamboat-era version of today’s road rage.

7/4/1908. A July 4 church excursion from Zanesville to McConnelsville on a very hot day did not turn out well for the 277 passengers. A mechanical problem delayed departure for two hours. On the return trip, several young people fainted from heat exhaustion after running to a McConnelsville baseball game and back to the boat. Others overdosed on ice cream and cold drinks and got sick. A Dr. Trout boarded at Philo to care for the afflicted passengers. Phone calls requesting doctors to meet the VALLEY GEM at Zanesville resulted in a panicked crowd of 400 jamming the wharf there.

Image and caption from Images of Marietta, White, Larry Nash Ph. D., and Emily Blankenship, Arcadia Publishing, 2004, viewed at https://books.google.com/books/about/Marietta.html?id=

The VALLEY GEM’s long run on the Muskingum River ended in 1917. The boat was sold to another company which operated her on the Monongahela River. The stated reason was Newton Price’s health, though declining business was likely a factor. Times were a-changing as automobiles, trucks, and trains were permanently disrupting life on the river. For the first time in 93 years the Muskingum River had no steamboat operating on it, though other boats later ran intermittently.

Sadly, the venerable VALLEY GEM sank in early 1918 when it was caught up in an ice jam at Morgantown WV and could not be salvaged. There was a sheriff’s sale and her equipment removed and sold. 

Image from WV History: wvhistoryonview.org. 

The wrecked VALLEY GEM from the stern. Notice the name plate: VALLEY GEM of 

McConnelsville Ohio.” The owner kept the boat's original name. New owners often gave their boat a new name, wiping out its previous identity.

Today’s VALLEY GEM sternwheel cruise boats were built and operated by Captain James E. Sands and his family. From the Valley Gem website:

Our History...

All of us like to dream about what we would like to do with our lives, but few of us have the determination to carry our dreams to completion. Captain James E. Sands, Sr., and his wife Peggy were an exception to the rule. After much personal sacrifice, they managed to put their first 98 passenger sternwheeler into operation in 1973. With the assistance of Capt. Fred Way, they named the boat Valley Gem, after a historic packet boat that plied the Muskingum River between Marietta and Zanesville, Ohio during the previous century. It was an immediate success. For more than ten years, he and his oldest son Jimmy Sands, also a licensed pilot, brought pleasure to thousands of passengers with trips on both the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers.

Captain Sands always felt he could improve upon the design of the Valley Gem. He spent several years designing a brand new boat. With the assistance of his friends, master welder Ivan Arnold, electrician Charles Shockey and mechanical engineer Tom Hudson, he completed the new Valley Gem Sternwheeler in 1989. It was designated the Flagship of the Muskingum Navy, with Captain Sands as Commodore. Sands specifically designed the boat for the Muskingum River.  It has two decks so that it can clear the low bridges. It is not wider so that it fits in the hand-operated locks. It is a well maintained all-weather boat with a heated or air-conditioned lower deck for passenger comfort. Then, in 1990 on the day of the Sternwheel Festival Races, tragedy struck the Sands family. Jimmy, at 32 years of age, died after a prolonged illness. Captain Sands, his wife Peggy and their son J.J. carried on.

Captain James Sands passed away in 1998, after living his dream of being a riverboat captain for 25 years. He knew and loved the rivers, and enjoyed sharing river stories with the passengers. His wife Peggy retired from the business in September 2003. She handled reservations for the boat for almost thirty years. Their son, Captain J.J., and his wife, Captain Heather now continue the family tradition, and you can meet them and enjoy a wonderful trip on an authentic sternwheeler here in historic Marietta throughout the year. They look forward to seeing you and extend a heartfelt welcome aboard.

The first VALLEY GEM was 70 feet long by 18 feet long and could hold 98 passengers. Captain James E. Sands, a former contractor then 45 years old, built the boat with a friend. “We worked on the boat for nine months and put 32 tons of steel in it.” The steel was acquired at no cost from a truck accident. Cruises in 1974 departed daily at 1, 2, 3, and 4 pm.  Fares were $1.50 for adults, 1.00 for children.

Captain Jim Sands first VALLEY GEM launched in the fall of 1973. Postcard from Walter Havighurst Special Collections at Miami University Library, Oxford OH, Bowden Postcard Collection Online

https://digital.lib.miamioh.edu/digital/collection/postcards/id/20758

Captain Jim Sands piloting the VALLEY GEM pictured in a September 21, 1974 in a Dayton Journal Herald newspaper article.

Your author talked with Captain Sands when the VALLEY GEM started service. I was active in the Marietta Area Chamber of Commerce at the time. We were thrilled to see another tourist attraction added to Marietta’s historic attractions. I asked him if the boat would operate on a limited schedule, naively thinking that this would be part time and that there would not be enough demand for full time operation. I was wrong. He was all in. This was now his livelihood; the VALLEY GEM would operate every day (seasonally). It’s been like that non-stop for almost 50 years.

Captain Jason (“JJ”) Sands recalled that former President George H. W. Bush rode aboard the first VALLEY GEM during a stop at Marietta in the 1988 presidential campaign.  The campaign motorcade came to the VALLEY GEM boat landing. JJ’s late brother Jimmy was Captain of the VALLEY GEM for the cruise. Candidate Bush briefly piloted the boat “flawlessly.” 

Advance arrangements were quite thorough. Secret Service agents took possession of the VALLEY GEM during the visit. The boat was inspected for weapons. Divers went under to check the hull for munitions. The Secret Service set up portable armor plates in pilot house for protection. Several agents with sniper rifles were on board during Bush’s cruise.

The current VALLEY GEM is 157 feet long by 25 feet wide and weighs 100 tons - much larger than the first boat. She can carry up to 296 passengers. The paddle wheel is powered by a Diesel engine and a chain drive rather than the steam engine propulsion common until 100 years ago. 

Building this new and improved VALLEY GEM was an adventure. Since this was a larger “K boat” it required Coast Guard approval. Most vessels of this type were built by boat building companies familiar with the procedures. JJ explained that this bureaucratic process was a challenge for  “amateurs building a boat in a hayfield.” 

He said that the plans for the new boat had to be sent in three different times to Coast Guard officials who then failed to respond, claiming the plans didn’t exist.  Those plans were “discovered” and approved only after the Sands asked Charlie Bacarisse, then an advisor in the Bush 41 White House, to intervene.  Bacarisse had been a former deckhand on the VALLEY GEM and was present when candidate Bush visited Marietta. The construction site was an open field along the Ohio River below Marietta. A Coast Guard inspector with an attitude visited the site one day and stated dismissively, “there will never be a boat built here.” He was wrong.

Today’s VALLEY GEM which began service in 1989

The current VALLEY GEM has been in service now for over 30 years, carrying tens of thousands of visitors. Recently, the Discovery Plus cable TV channel was on board filming a segment. The episode host was Clint Harp, the carpentry artisan who often appeared on the Fixer Upper program on Home and Garden TV (HGTV) cable channel series featuring Chip and Joanna Gaines.

JJ remembered an impromptu rescue operation on a VALLEY GEM cruise with the Marietta College baseball team. A john boat transporting 3 crew members to shore from an Ohio River towboat. It was a very windy day; whitecaps and sizable waves kicked up on the river. The boat gradually took on water from the waves and capsized. Two of the guys on board climbed on top of the capsized boat. The lady passenger on the john boat would not let go of the bag with her belongings and nearly drowned. Luckily, the VALLEY GEM was passing by on a cruise and rescued all of them using the landing ramp.

The VALLEY GEM is a family operation run by James and Peggy’s son, Jason, and his wife, Heather. In an Ohio Magazine  article this spring, Heather Sands explains: “Jason is a mechanic, I do marketing, and our family friend Don Sandford is an electrician. (And) we all captain the VALLEY GEM. It is all personal and thoughtful. We want to make sure it is a family-oriented place because we are family.” You can learn more about the VALLEY GEM tours, events, and food service at valleygemsternwheeler.com.

The Sands family’s two VALLEY GEMS, and the original VALLEY GEM, each have their engineering pedigrees, stories, and events.  But they were all about people - people living, working, and having fun on the river.

Notes:

• Steamer RUFUS PUTNAM made the initial Muskingum River steamboat voyage in January 1824 - going from Marietta up to the Putnam community near Zanesville. It was a daring voyage since there were no dams at the time. The trip had to be made when water levels were high and the current was swift and potentially dangerous. Read more about that voyage here: http://earlymarietta.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-little-steamboat-that-could.html
• The Muskingum River Navigation System was one of the first lock and dam systems in the country, placed in service in 1841. All of the locks and dams are still operational today with limited hours for recreational craft. Consult the Muskingum River State Park website for schedules and updates.

George Washington and the Ohio River Valley

The George Washington we know was an accomplished person in so many ways - surveyor, military and civic leader in Virginia, Commander-in-Chief in the Revolutionary War, and first President of the United States. He was also an astute businessman who owned large amounts of land, including tracts in the Ohio River valley, some within 20 miles of Marietta. His lifelong primary interest and passion was the land: surveying, farming, investment, and development.

Below are two advertisements to lease or sell the Ohio River tracts. 

The first, published in 1784, sought to lease the land. There were three Ohio River tracts with a total of 10,000 acres located below the Little Kanawha River. One of those is still referred to locally as “Washington Bottom.”

Image from Marietta College Special Collections. Click here for a more detailed view: 

https://cdm16824.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16824coll7/id/659/rec/1

The lease advertisement offered an incentive for the lessee to build a home and farm the land. He offered three different - and unusual by today’s standards - lease terms: ten years with no renewal, ten years with renewals of ten years “for ever,” and 999 years. The lessor could specify the acreage to be leased. There was an elaborate rent schedule; the amounts varied by term. The mode of payment included a "Spanish Milled Dollar of the present coin and either gold and silver in that proportion." Payment could also be in the form of barter items such a "staple commodity....if the parties....can agree upon a medium value for it." 

George Washington or whoever wrote the ad was skilled at marketing verbiage, delivered with just the right combination of practical facts and hyperbole. His description of the land: “....the whole of (the land) is River low grounds, of the first quality...a great deal of it may be converted to the finest mowing ground imaginable, and uncommonly profitable for flock(s).”

The second advertisement is dated February 1, 1796; he was still President at the time. This ad had two sections: 

The first part was to lease parts of the Mount Vernon Estate and was the lead headline on the ad: 

TO BE LET, and Possession Given in Autumn.

The farms appertaining to the Mount Vernon Estate, in Virginia; four in number; adjoining the Mansion house farm. Leases will be given for the term of fourteen years to real farmers of goodreputation and none others need apply. 

Punctuation was exactly as it appeared in the ad, including italics. Note that the words “real” and “good” are not italicized, apparently for emphasis. He plainly wanted only good neighbors on farms adjoining his mansion farm.  

Image from Marietta College Special Collections. More a more detailed view, click here

https://marietta.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p16824coll7/id/910/

The second part of the ad, “FOR SALE; the following Lands, viz.,” listed for sale the four Ohio River tracts, plus others. The tract listed as “SECOND” was “3 or 4 miles” below the Little Kanawha River, and “about 12 or 15 miles below “Mariette (sic).” The ad invites potential purchasers to “examine them critically,” presumably for full disclosure. He also includes some beneficial attributes:

• “...they may be considered as the cream of the country in which they lye (sic), being the richest interval lands on the two rivers......(and) are unquestionably among the most valuable on the Western waters...” 
• “That all of (the tracts) are patented in my name, many years’ ago...and, that the titles to them are indisputable.” This was a true benefit. Land at that time often had uncertain titled ownership. A “Patent” (similar to a deed documenting ownership of land acquired by grant or claim) was the most reliable evidence of ownership. 
• The land had been surveyed, and inquirers could see the survey reports.

Terms for the purchase: one fourth of the price up front “when the bargains are concluded,” and balance paid as a mortgage loan over 5 years “with interest, annually, and punctually paid.”

Most of these lands were never sold and ended up in his estate. A few deals fell through for lack of payment. George Washington died in 1799; his estate listed 52,195 acres of land in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, Kentucky, and the Ohio Valley.  

Some background helps understand George Washington’s interest in land and land development. George Washington was educated mostly through home schooling - and life experience -  at a very young age. He did not have a formal school education; much of what he learned was from acquaintance with woodsmen and plantation foremen. 

His father died when George was eleven years old, and he became the ward of his half-brother Lawrence Washington. He likely helped his mother manage Ferry Farm where they lived. By his early teens, George Washington had learned tobacco farming, surveying, and raising farm stock. 

Lawrence’s marriage to Anne Fairfax of the well-to-do Fairfax family opened valuable contacts for young George. He accompanied George William Fairfax on a surveying party into western Virginia at age 16. The following year through the sponsorship of Lord William Fairfax he gained an appointment as the official surveyor of Culpeper County, Virginia. Biography.com noted, “This experience (as a surveyor) made him resourceful and toughened his body and mind. It also piqued his interest in western land holdings, an interest that endured throughout his life with speculative land purchases and a belief that the future of the nation lay in colonizing the West.”

Washington eventually became a wealthy man, partly from his marriage to Martha Custis, but also from land that he acquired and managed throughout his life. His half-brother Lawrence died of tuberculosis in 1752. George inherited one of Virginia’s most prominent estates, the Washington family lands which became Mount Vernon. He was 20 years old. Land holdings at Mount Vernon eventually grew to about  8,000 acres.

He made his first land purchase in 1752, 1459 acres along Bullskin Creek in Frederick County, Virginia. Over the next 50 years, he continued scouting for and buying or claiming land.  A major land opportunity for Washington was the availability of “bounty land” for military service in the French and Indian War. A 1754 proclamation issued by Virginia Governor Dinwiddie offered land as an inducement to enlist. Washington himself had served in that conflict (some say his actions actually started the war) as commander of a Virginia militia regiment. 

The war ended in 1763, but a royal proclamation prohibiting the grants west of the Appalachian mountains stalled the land grant process. Washington began a nearly 20 year campaign to have the grants issued for those who had served under him - and for himself. He began quietly scouting out potential land tracts with Colonel William Crawford , a surveyor friend of his, saying in a letter to Crawford:

I can never look upon the proclamation in any other light (but this I say between ourselves) than as a temporary expedient to quiet the minds of the Indians.....(The proclamation must be rescinded), of course, in a few years....Any person who neglects hunting out good lands, and in some measure marking and distinguishing them as his own, in order to keep others from settling it will never regain it. 

He encouraged Crawford to begin secretly exploring the land and making claims. He even gave Crawford a cover story if his actions came under suspicion: “All of this can be carried on by silent management.....under the guise of hunting game...” As opportunities were uncovered, Washington directed Crawford to “...advise me of it....and I will have the land surveyed to keep others off and leave the rest to time and my own assiduity.” The two men continued to collaborate until Crawford’s death* in 1782.

Finally, in 1769, Washington obtained approval to identify lands for granting. He conducted an exploratory trip in 1770 down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh to the Kanahwa River. For more on this expedition from another blog post, click here: “George Washington Was Here.” 

Fortunately, Washington documented this Ohio River trip in a journal. It is fascinating reading. His observations were astute and practical. He pointed out potential sites for mills (mills powered by water were an essential power source for early settlements), farming, grazing, and other activities. 

They passed the Marietta on October 26 and 27, 1770, as noted in these journal excerpts - spelling and punctuation as in the journal:

“Friday 26th......we Incampd just above the mouth of a creek (Little Muskingum River)and just above an island (Buckley Island).

Saturday 27...we came to the mouth of the Muskingham...This river is abt 150 yards wide at the Mouth; a gentle stream runs out of it, and is navigable a great way into the Country for Canoes.” Washington knew that the Muskingum River was a substantial waterway, apparently from Indian contacts. 

Washington was constantly vigilant for land grants as they were offered by the Commonwealth of Virginia. In the letter below he asks for more details about an upcoming land grant and requests that eligible veterans be given sufficient opportunity to attend the meeting and benefit from the distribution of land. He also sought to buy or trade with veterans to acquire land for himself. Here is the wording of the letter to surveyor John West who was involved with the land grant issuance, with the image of the original letter below: 

    

                                                                                    Mount Vernon Sept.12.1773 

Dear Sir: By two letters just come to hand from Col. Stephen and Capt. Hog, I conclude you are returned. These letters appear to have come by you, and refer to a copy of the Resolves entered into at Winchester, which I should be obliged to you for the perusal of; and to know what method you have adopted to give the absentees notice of your meeting on the Kanawha the 20th of October as the time, to those who live at a distance & are to get notice of it yet…to prepare, if they had any other business upon hand to engage them. The reason of my desire to be informed in this matter is on Muse’s account, who I would wish to be early advised of the meeting since he rely upon [it] for the conduct of his part. I should be glad also to know whether you propose to attend the division of the land yourself, and as near as you can guess, the time you will set off.

                                                                   I am D Sir

                                                                                    Your Most Obed. Serv.

                                                                                            G Washington

Viewed at raabcollection.com, https://www.raabcollection.com/george-washington-autograph/george-washington-signed-sold-washington-seeks-justice-veterans-war-who

Washington was ultimately not as successful as he had hoped with the Ohio Valley land. Attempts to lease or sell it were mostly unsuccessful. Yet he remained fervent in his belief of the future potential of the Ohio River region. Author Christopher Coleman captured Washington’s fervor for western expansion, including a quote from Henry Cabot Lodge:

He had been the protagonist of western expansion long before he dreamed of independence. When the latter had been won “the thought that engaged his mind most was of the best means to give room for expansion, and to open up the unconquered  continent to  the forerunners of a mighty army of settlers. For this purpose all his projects for roads,  canals, and surveys  were formed and forced into public notice. He looked beyond the limits of the Atlantic colonies. His vision went far over the  barriers of the Alleghanies; and where others saw thirteen infant  States backed by the wilderness, he beheld the germs of a great empire.”

He supported the efforts of Rufus Putnam and others to settle the Ohio Country and expand the United States westward. About the settlement at Marietta in 1788, Washington said: 

No colony in America was ever settled under such favorable auspices as that which has just commenced at the Muskingum (River). ... If I was a young man, just preparing to begin the world, or if advanced in life and had a family to make provision for, I know of no country where I should rather fix my habitation...

*Colonel William Crawford was brutally tortured and killed in 1782. He was captured after leading a failed expedition against Wyandot and Delaware Indians near Upper Sandusky, Ohio. Delaware chief Captain Pipe helped defeat the “Crawford Expedition” and was present at Crawford’s torture and death. Pipe later became more cordial in dealings with white settlers, including those at Marietta. He was often present at Fort Harmar and was reportedly a dinner guest in Rufus Putnam’s home. Putnam, who knew of Pipe’s connection to the Crawford execution, remained wary of Captain Pipe.

Sources:

Abbott, W. W., “The Young George Washington and His Papers,” February 11, 1999, at Washingtonpapers.org. 

Cleland, Hugh, George Washington in the Ohio Valley, Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Press, 1955, viewed at archive.org. 

Coleman, Christopher, “George Washington and the West,” Indiana Magazine of History, Vol 28, No 3, September, 1932

DiSarno, Nicole, George Washington University, “The Kanawha Tracts,” mount Vernon.org

“George Washington,” Wikipedia.org

George Washington Estate, Enclosure: Schedule of Property July 9, 1799, viewed at:

https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/06-04-02-0404-0002

Gardner, Andrew G., “How Washington Made His Millions,” CW Journal, Winter 2013, viewed at 

Hart, Lorna, “Washington in the Ohio Valley,” Pomeroy OH Daily Sentinel, October 28, 2020. 

National Archives, Founders Online, “From George Washington to Samuel Lewis 1 February 1784,” viewed at https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/04-01-02-0066

Redmond, Edward, Senior Reference Librarian, Geography and Map Division, “Washington as Land Speculator, “ George Washington Papers Collection, Library of Congress, Washington, DC, viewed at loc.gov. 

“William Crawford (soldier),” Wikipedia.

The Dean of Hollywood

You may not know that a prominent movie star, producer, director and industry leader was born in Marietta. I didn’t until I learned about Hobart VanZandt Bosworth. Few people have heard of him, except maybe historians and long time Hollywood residents. That’s because Hobart was active in stage and silent movies in the early 1900’s. He was a prolific actor as well as a producer, director, and movie company owner - including part owner of the early Paramount Pictures studio. This guy was amazing; his own life would make an inspiring and entertaining movie.

Publicity portrait circa 1920

He was born in Marietta in 1867, the son of Daniel P. Bosworth, Jr. and Clara VanZandt Bosworth. He proudly traced his ancestry back to Massachusetts colonists Miles Standish and John and Priscilla Alden on his father’s side, and New York’s Van Zandt family, the first Dutch settlers in the new world, on his mother’s side. 

The Bosworth family are descendants of Marietta founder Rufus Putnam. Hobart’s grandfather Daniel P. Bosworth was a prominent Marietta merchant whose name appeared on the Bosworth-Wells building built in 1840 at 155 Front Street. Hobart’s great uncle was Sala Bosworth Jr., a well known Marietta artist. Marietta Times columnist Joan Pritchard noted that because of their lineage “great things were expected of Hobart Bosworth and his younger brother Welles.”

But “great things” often start from humble beginnings. Not much is reported about his early life in Marietta. His mother died when he was 6. His father remarried, but Hobart developed an intense dislike for his step mother. The family lived on Fourth Street; his name appears in 1880 census records. Hobart stated to an interviewer in 1914 that he was “ill-used and cruelly treated” and ran away from home at age 11 to New York City.  Yet he later admitted, “I know, now that I can look back dispassionately, that my stepmother really treated me well, better than I deserved.”

His unlikely path to stardom begins at sea, as a cabin boy on the clipper ship SOVEREIGN OF THE SEAS out of New York. He recalls that on his twelfth birthday, the ship was right off Cape Horn. That voyage ended five months later in San Francisco.  There were two Marietta connections that he made then. Just after the voyage while sleeping on a park bench near Trinity Church, he remembered hearing organ music from the church. A Captain Roberts told him later that Hobart’s uncle was the organist. Hobart never mentioned his name of if he met him. The same Captain Roberts also told him that Hobart’s grandfather had built the ship MARIETTA* and had sailed her to San Francisco.

He spent three more years at sea, later explaining that "All my people were of the sea and my father was a naval officer." He then worked numerous odd jobs. By age 21, he had worked as a stevedore, miner, a boxer and wrestler, rancher, stage hand, and eventually stage actor. He became an expert horseman as a ranch hand. Love of horses became one of his signature interests later in life.

Another of his lifelong interests was painting. “I was always interested in art,” he said later, “and felt I might make a success as a landscape painter.” On the advice of a friend, he got work as an extra at the California Theater in San Francisco to pay for art instruction. “I suped** and painted,” he said. Life was good. 

Landscape Painting by Hobart Bosworth. Setting and time period not known. Bosworth created many works, though few seem to be in the public domain. Viewed at invaluable.com where this painting was offered for sale.

He was given a few bit speaking parts, piquing his interest in acting. Hobart signed on with a touring company and then the Alcazar Theater. By age 21, he had played most of the famous Shakespearean roles, though he admitted “with truth and sorrow, I was the worst exponent of Macbeth the stage has ever known.” An illustrious acting career was underway. And he continued painting, especially later in life, and produced numerous art works. 

Bosworth in costume, early in his career. From Wikipedia.org.

His early career featured mind-boggling twists and turns. He moved on from San Francisco - perhaps because he was broke. Bosworth: “I got stranded and took a Denver and Rio Grande train by the underneath route and landed in Park City, Utah.” Underneath route - maybe his term for hitching a ride hobo-style on the train? He worked pushing an ore wagon in a mine to raise money. To escape the mine, he found a job with magician Hermann the Great as an assistant. They toured in Mexico. 

During this time, he saw his father for the first time in eleven years; the occasion is not reported. Hobart recalled, “He looked at me and said, ‘Hum! I couldn’t lick you now, son.’” He never saw his father again. There must have been an estrangement. I found nothing further in Hobart’s public comments making reference to his family or his roots in Marietta.

He returned to New York and worked for ten years in theater playing in Shakespeare plays, mostly in minor roles. He finally gained lead roles in Julia Marlowe’s acting company. Just as he was emerging as a star in the New York theater world, he was stricken with Tuberculosis sometime around 1900. He was forced to withdraw from the theater. Tuberculosis (“TB”) was a scourge at the time. There was no known cure; it was often fatal. Rest was thought to be the only way to survive. Hobart rested for a while but soon came back to the theater. He worked harder than ever. “Harrison Gray Fiske featured me in Marta of the Lowlands, and I became a broadway star,” he recounted later. But the end was in sight. He was forced to retire again after losing 70 pounds.

Eventually he moved to the drier climate of Tempe, Arizona. There he did odd jobs, rested, painted, and worked on recovery . “I kept fighting, fighting, fighting,” he exclaimed,  “And I won out.” The quote is from an article about Bosworth in Movie Pictorial, a popular movie fan magazine which interviewed Hobart in 1914. He had just started the Jack London*** series of movies. The article was titled “A Jack London Hero: Hobart Bosworth and his Fighting Career.” It began with an overview. “Hobart Bosworth’s life reads like one of the stirring (movie) tales he produces. If there ever was a fighter, he was one....Mr. Bosworth has had to fight that most insidious of all enemies, disease. Again and again, physicians (and those) who knew him have given him up. But he never gave himself up. His passionate will to live has (saved his life and helped him) in achieving success.” 

Back to his story: He moved on from Tempe to San Diego which was said to have the best climate in the country. There in 1909 his career received a fortuitous boost: involvement in the fledging movie business. After resurrecting his theater career at the respected Belasco Theater Company in Los Angeles, TB forced him to give up that job. Meanwhile, William Selig, whose Chicago company Selig Polyscope produced short feature films, had set up a makeshift studio in Los Angeles. It is was the first movie studio in California. Francis Boggs, Director of Selig Polyscope, offered Hobart Bosworth the leading role in a short movie. Hobart’s reaction to Boggs’ offer was surprising: “I was heartily indignant,” Hobart recalled. He believed acting in the unproven film medium would be demeaning for an accomplished theater actor. Boggs was persistent, declaring that film-making was an honest and reputable activity. He even offered to withhold Bosworth’s name from the credits. Bosworth’s concern seems amusing now, but then movies were totally new, unproven medium.

Bette Hart and Hobart Bosworth in The Roman made in 1910, one of the very first movies made in Hollywood, from Wikipedia.org

Hobart Bosworth accepted Boggs’ offer and starred in the short film “In the Power of the Sultan,” considered by some as the first movie made in the western U.S. Hobart found the movie-making process awkward and tedious compared to the theater. But soon he was hooked. He realized movies allowed him to continue his passion - acting - in a way that accommodated his tuberculosis limits. Actual filming was done in short bursts with long rests in between. He could work in the open air since movie sets then were outdoors to capture ambient light. And these were silent movies; no speaking was required, so his TB weakened lungs and voice were not a limitation. Bosworth later reflected, “I believe that...motion pictures...saved my life. How could I have lived on and on, without being able to carry out any of my cherished ambitions? What would my life have meant?”

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Montage of Hobart Bosworth images from a Google search. There are hundreds of these in Google search and other sources. During his career, his image appeared in thousands of photos, posters, and movie scenes

Soon he was acting in other movies. Not only that, he was writing and directing many of them. He claims that during his time with Boggs, he wrote 112 films and directed many of them himself. Granted, many of the early films were short, not feature length. Yet this is an example of what impresses me so profoundly about Hobart Bosworth: he was so versatile, creative, and hard working. In this case, he was just learning about acting in the fledgling movie art form. Then he immediately leaped forward to writing screen plays for, and directing, additional movies.

He formed his own production company, Hobart Bosworth Productions Company, in 1913 to produce several films based on Jack London novels. He produced, directed, and acted in most of the films, among them, The Sea Wolf, The Valley of the Moon, and John Barleycorn. In 1916 Bosworth’s company was absorbed in to the famous Paramount Studios. He remained a part owner of Paramount for a time, along with early movie moguls such as Jesse Lasky, Samuel Goldwyn, and Cecil B. DeMille.  Bosworth Productions Company and it’s successors produced 31 films, most of which starred Bosworth.

Publicity booklet for The Sea Wolf, produced by Bosworth’s production company in 1913, viewed at abebooks.com

  

After he sold to Paramount, his leadership role in the movie industry faded. His health may have been a factor in this change. Plus, he was in his fifties by then. From the late 1910’s, he transitioned to acting only - usually in supporting roles, often as prominent characters in secondary “B” movies. But he kept active, appearing in dozens of movies through the 1920’s  He was often cast as a fatherly type in roles like governors, clergymen, fathers, sheriffs, and judges. His roles over his career were phenomenal in variety: Jack London and Shakespearean characters, Kit Carson, George Washington, Braveheart, Robert E. Lee, Wizard of Oz, Jesus Christ, Spanish Explorer Cortez, Davy Crockett, Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, Kaiser Wilhelm. He played cowboys, Indians, royalty, explorers, sea captains, politicians, soldiers - often with elaborate costumes. 

Hobart Bosworth as Jesus Christ in Business is Business (1915) and a clergyman in The Scarlet Sin (1915). Viewed at whosdatingwho.com. It is bizarre that these photos showed up on a dating website, announcing that “Hobart Bosworth is possibly single.”

He made the transition to talking pictures, and his voice recovered. His later roles in the 1930’s were often cameo roles or bit parts, probably due limited demands for an actor over age 60. But he kept at it. His last film appearance was in 1942, the year before his death.

Bosworth became a fixture in Beverly Hills. He was active in the community and built his “dream home” on Hillcrest Road. Bosworth was known for riding his horse Cameo around town and talking to everyone. He helped fund construction of the Beverly Hills equestrian trail which ran along the median on Sunset Boulevard. It opened in 1926; Hobart served on the trail’s board. 

Grand opening of the Beverly Hills equestrian trail in 1926

He was active in civic groups and good friends with neighbor Will Rogers. He was affectionately called the “Dean of Hollywood” for his pioneering role in the movie industry. Hobart Bosworth was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6522 Hollywood Boulevard.

Photos of Hobart with his horse and autograph message (above) and at his “dream home” on Hillcrest Road in Beverly Hills (below)

Bosworth was a prodigious actor, director, and producer. He is credited with appearances in over 250 movies from 1908 to 1942, directing 44 from 1911 to 1915, writing screenplays for 27, and producing 11 movies from 1911 to 1921. His actual count might be many more. And that was after a stage career that spanned nearly 20 years. How many movie stars of today can cite numbers like that? He certainly passed the “great expectations” test predicted from the accomplishments of his Marietta ancestors. Hobart VanZandt Bosworth truly was a star.

Walk of Fame star on Hollywood Boulevard

*Without further information, it is hard to verify this statement and identify which MARIETTA vessel it might have been. There were several.

** A supernumerary (“supe”) was a theater extra - a person with a nonspeaking role or part of a crowd.

***Jack London was a popular author of rugged adventure stories published in the early 1900’s. Hobart Bosworth was a pioneer in introducing well known novels to the movie screen.