How Ohio Got It’s Nickname, the Marietta Connection

      How did a poisonous tree nut that's hard as a rock yet renowned as a good luck charm and cure for rheumatism become Ohio's nickname? "It just turned out that way," an Ohio Department of Natural Resources (“ODNR”) brochure says. Hardly a definitive answer, but there is a Marietta connection.

     The buckeye tree was common in Ohio's original forests, growing along streams and fertile bottom lands. The trees are medium sized, growing to 60 feet. There were many practical uses for early pioneers, according to ODNR:

- Cabin Building: Because the trees were easy to clear and the wood was soft and light, buckeye logs were used to build early cabins.

- Household Items: The wood was easy to work. Pioneers carved necessities like spoons, bowls, troughs, and cradles.

- Prosthetic Limbs: Due to its light weight and resistance to splitting, the wood was used in the manufacture of artificial limbs.

- Good Luck Charm: Pioneers believed that carrying a buckeye nut in their pocket would ward off rheumatism and bring good luck.

                          Buckeye Tree. It’s one of the first to leaf out in spring. Photo by author.

     The Marietta Connection: Respected historian Samuel Hildreth stated that the local Indians called the first sheriff Ebenezer Sproat "Hetuck, " meaning "Big Buckeye," because of his towering 6' 4" frame. It was an expression of respect; they’d seen him lead a ceremonial procession in September, 1788. Sproat became known as Big Buckeye, the story goes, and the nickname eventually spread to include all Ohioans. It’s a believable tale, and it connects Marietta to the Buckeye tradition.

     Some historians, including Raymond Irwin, question the Sproat Big Buckeye story: First, though a popular narrative, the story does not appear until Hildreth's Memoirs publication in 1852, 64 years after the event. Irwin says it's not mentioned in any other records in the 1700s. Second, linguists find no Native American word "Hetuck," meaning "eye of the buck." But wait, there was a contemporary mention of Hetuck. “Joseph Barker, Recollections of the First Settlement of Ohio” is an early history compiled from Barker’s own records. About Sproat, Barker wrote: “He was a fine Martial figure, his Physical Capasity occupied more room than any Man in the County. The Indians named him Old Hetuck, the Big Buckeye.” (Emphasis added, spelling and punctuation from the document). Could editors have inserted this later from Hildreth’s reference? Maybe, but the punctuation and spelling give it credibility to me. I’m an Ebenezer Sproat-Big Buckeye believer. It’s official. 

     The “buckeye” term, though, had a decidedly negative meaning in the early 1800s, referring to an inept or uneducated backwoods person. 1840 was the year that buckeye and Ohio became synonymous. William Henry Harrison, a popular Ohioan, was the Whig candidate for President. An opposition newspaper commented that Harrison “was better fitted to sit in a log cabin and drink hard cider than rule in the White House.” Harrison alertly adopted that very log cabin persona, emphasizing his humble beginnings. He was thereafter pictured in front of a cabin with a barrel of hard cider. On the cabin walls were coonskin caps and…. strings of buckeyes. His campaign went viral in 1840. Wagons with replica cabins were at every rally. The formerly disrespected Buckeye stereotype became the proud symbol of all Ohioans. Canes made of buckeye wood were a fad, sold for souvenirs along National Road – today’s U S 40. At a rally in Pennsylvania, in one two-mile long procession of 1,500 people, 1,497 carried buckeye canes. William Henry Harrison was elected but sadly died with weeks of being inaugurated.  

Image of 1940 campaign buckeye wood cane (top) and close-up (bottom) showing “hard cider” cask on top of handle.    From americanhistory.si.edu

    The Harrison campaign was probably most influential in the Buckeye story. But Washington Countians can proudly say “It started here in 1788.” Probably.

     I was backpacking once in Great Smoky Mountain National Park. The first night, there was a periodic loud clank on the metal shelter roof. The culprits were falling buckeyes. Buckeyes in Tennessee, imagine that. I felt right at home. Only later did I discover that those were yellow buckeyes, not THE official Ohio buckeyes. Oh, well.

 

 

 

Tulip Poplar, A Flowering Tree and Valuable Resource

     Each year in early May, I notice beautiful flowers lying on the ground in our woods: light green, yellow, and orange color, the size of a golf ball, with a tulip-like circle of petals. Are these from a wildflower or maybe an escapee from someone's garden? No. These small exquisite flowers are from huge 100 foot trees – tulip poplar, using the flower namesake, or yellow poplar.

     Early Ohio was heavily forested by huge trees hundreds of years old, such tulip poplar, sycamore, and oak. They were a valuable resource to the early settlers for construction and other functions. Poplar has long been a staple wood for siding, flooring, and doors. Oak, cherry, walnut, and curly maple get all the glory in fine furniture. But many of those furniture pieces also contain poplar behind the scenes - in the drawers, backing, and shelving.

Tulip Poplar flower

Tulip tree facts and observations:

USE AS LUMBER IN EARLY OHIO: Poplar boards for temporary huts were loaded on a flatboat carrying the first settlers on April 5, 1788, 2 days before they arrived at Marietta. Master craftsman Jonathan Devol used poplar extensively for boards and building walls. Rufus Putnam noted the value of tulip poplar for construction. Because the wood was straight-grained, lightweight, and resistant to warping, it was used extensively for the siding, flooring and finish work of early structures, including in parts of the Rufus Putnam house at Campus Martius Museum. Marietta’s "Old Courthouse" built in 1799 had 3 ft. thick walls made of "double tiers yellow poplar logs, 18 inches square and neatly hewed and dove-tailed at the corners of the building." Poplar logs were sometimes called "canoe wood" because Indians used them to make dugout canoes. You can see a dugout canoe at the Ohio River Museum when it reopens next year.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL STUDY. Manasseh Cutler, prominent leader and science whiz, used a huge poplar tree on the Quadranaou Mound to estimate the mound's age. He computed the tree ring age at 464 years, suggesting the tree began growing in 1324 A.D. Further study suggested that this tree was probably the second or third generation of similar trees on that mound. This meant the Marietta earthworks were over 1,000 years old at the time. Cutler’s archaeological study of the poplar trees influenced the Ohio Company leaders to preserve the earthworks and revealed that earlier civilizations had occupied this area long ago.

"WITNESS TREES." Poplars were used, along with other large trees, as "witness trees" in survey descriptions marking corners of lots. One source says there were more than 5,600 witness trees used in surveys of the Ohio Company lands in southeast Ohio. Trees were more permanent and visible than available man-made markers.

HIGH LOOKOUT FOR SCOUTS. This one surprised me. Scouts often climbed the towering tulip poplar trees for a better view to locate Indians' war parties or camp sites. These trees were often 100-150 feet tall, taller than most other trees, allowing a view of many miles. A wisp of smoke, rising dust, or a glint of reflected sunlight on a metal surface could reveal the enemy's location. Indians did the same thing. In the unsuccessful Harmar and St. Clair 1790-91 campaigns to defeat Indians in western Ohio, Army units were being observed long before they realized they were in danger.

Tallest tree in Ohio at Hueston Woods State Park, 176 feet tall 

The base of each tulip tree flower matures into a cone-shaped woody structure which distributes dozens of winged seeds over the winter. To paraphrase the oak tree proverb, “Mighty poplars from little flowers grow.” Sometimes the tulip tree releases a dripping fluid when it flowers. Not to worry, it’s sweet-tasting nectar, not “honey dew” (aphid excrement).