Epidemics: Disease, Courage, Perseverance in Early Washington County

We rarely experience serious epidemics today. That’s why the Covid-19 virus pandemic is so unusual - and traumatic. The experience will be etched into our memory and our national psyche for decades to come. The terms social distancing, apex, surge, hot spot, flattening the curve, and shelter-in-place will become part of our lexicon. 

But in the first hundred years of Marietta’s founding, epidemics were a somewhat regular occurrence. The threat of disease was always stalking the population. There was incomplete knowledge about diseases and how they were spread. Treatments were generally ineffective. Outbreaks often happened during times of other stresses, compounding their impact. An example was the first smallpox outbreak in early 1790 which was followed by a food shortage and Indian hostility.

The 1790 smallpox epidemic began when an infected man named Welch arrived in Marietta. Concerned residents approved construction of “pest houses,” rough cabins to house the sick persons away from others. It recurred again in 1793 throughout Washington County. On August 9, the Court of Quarter Sessions ordered sick persons to be quarantined at Devol Island in the Muskingum River.

Smallpox treatment at the time offered a crude but fairly effective immunization not yet available for COVID-19. It was called inoculation or “variolization.” Tissue from smallpox sufferers was rubbed into a scratch of the person to be immunized. That person would contract smallpox, usually in a less severe form, and then was immune. 

In the 1793 epidemic, the Belpre community voted to be thus inoculated, rather than face almost certain illness and death because of close quarters in the “Farmers Castle” stockade. “Farmers Castle became one great hospital,” one historian observed. Of one hundred people inoculated, all but 5 survived and were thereafter immune.

Farmers Castle viewed at Ohiomemory.org

Lithograph originally published in Hildreth’s Pioneer History, with inscription “Ch W. Elliott Lith”

Farmers Castle was a stockade enclosing 13 houses built in 1791 to protect residents from Indian attacks.

Pioneers also endured periodic outbreaks of scarlet fever, spotted fever, conjunctivitis, measles, and what was then called “bilious fever,” (forms of malaria and yellow fever). Cholera was another deadly disease which periodically swept through America starting in the 1830s. 

Dr. Samuel Hildreth, noted physician, scientist, and historian, wrote a research paper, “On the Climate and Early History of Diseases in Ohio” in 1839. It documented epidemics in the early settlements, including Washington County. 

The epidemics of 1822-1823 were especially severe. The disease was malaria-like. Such diseases were thought to be caused by natural conditions - such as air polluted by stagnant water or decaying vegetation. Preceding the 1822 epidemic, Hildreth reported abnormally dry weather, stagnated rivers, and pest infestations of grasshoppers, gray squirrels, and potato bugs. Ugh. Sounds biblical. Before the 1823 epidemic, weather was unusually wet with lots of standing water. We know now that most of the malarial-type sicknesses are transmitted by mosquitoes. The conditions observed by Hildreth may have led to mosquito infestations that brought disease.

Many impacts were similar to the COVID-19 pandemic. There were hotspots: Marietta was one. In September 1822, at the peak of illness, 400 cases were reported within a square mile. There were also examples of heroic doctors and nurses like we’ve seen with COVID-19. One of these was Dr. Samuel P. Hildreth who reported on his experience:

“For four months in succession I ate but two meals a day, and spent from sixteen to eighteen hours out of twenty-four in attending on the sick. Through a merciful Providence my own health was good, and the only suffering was from exhaustion and fatigue through the whole of this disastrous season. The proportion of deaths was about six in every hundred cases, where proper medical attention was given to the sick; but so general was the disease that many lives were lost from a lack of nurses.”

Samuel Prescott Hildreth, Physician, Scientist, Historian

1923 Portrait by Aaron Corwine

Christopher Busta-Peck at Flickr.com

The community acted with caring support and concern. On September 15, 1822, a public meeting was held. Committees were appointed to visit the sick and give them needed supplies. Apparently there was little concern about contagion. On September 18, resolutions were adopted noting “the distressed situation of our fellow citizens and friends calls for the upmost exertions and deepest humiliation,” and that “we will exhort and encourage each other in visiting the sick....” A day of “public fasting, humiliation, and prayer” was observed on September 21. Soon after, most people were recovering, though the epidemic did not end for sure until “hard frosts came in November.” Ninety Five people died from June through November of 1822. The population of Marietta at the time was about 2,000.

Reverend Cornelius Springer’s memory of the 1822 epidemic was vivid, even decades later. He was stationed in Marietta with the Methodist Episcopal Church. He knew of only two people, Judge Wood and a Mr. Putnam of Harmar, who avoided the virus. He remembered that five members of a single family named Adams died. He attended the funeral of attorney and judge Paul Fearing and his wife who died within six hours of each other, early victims of the epidemic. Two sisters named Wells died together and were buried in the same grave.

Rev. Springer and his wife escaped the illness. But the next year in the epidemic of 1823, Mrs. Springer became ill. She ran a temperature for 24 days. He noted with gratitude that Dr. Hildreth cared for “Mrs. S. With great punctuality...and would take nothing for his services. His reply: I am disposed to do something for the Gospel, and I can do it in this way as easy as any other.” And further, Dr. Hildreth sent a load of wood and quarter of beef to the Springers at the parsonage. Rev. Springer also noted that local prejudice against Methodists (his church) dissipated during his two year stay, perhaps an unintended consequence of the epidemic.

Animals also suffered in some epidemics. Even COVID-19  has infected a bengal tiger. Rabies outbreaks in 1810 and 1811 affected wolves, dogs and foxes. Many domestic animals were bitten and died. Hildreth recalled that several people were bitten, though he did not remember anyone dying. He treated one such patient successfully with “free internal use of calomel and cantharides, producing strangury and ptyalism.” Don’t think I want to know what that was.

Chillicothe, Ohio, experienced Malaria-like symptoms in horned cattle and horses during a community-wide epidemic in 1839. There were similar illnesses in Washington County horses in 1815. 

Each epidemic is unique; some produce unexpected events. A deadly cholera outbreak in 1833 struck Columbus. There was panic; contracting cholera was often fatal. A fourth of the population fled to nearby communities. 100 people died. An 1849 a cholera recurrence decimated the Ohio Penitentiary population. Prison workshops became hospital wards. Guards deserted. Discipline was relaxed. For sixteen days, prisoners were not locked in cells, and yet order prevailed. Unfortunately, 118 Prisoners died, including 18 in one day.

Adversity was part of life in the early years in the Ohio Country. That included frontier hardships, Indian threats, disease, and leaving family and friends behind in the East. Ephraim Cutler, a prominent leader, recalled his arrival at Marietta in September of 1795:  “We had landed sick, among strangers, and mourning the loss of two children to disease on the trip west to Marietta. Such was our introduction to pioneer life.” He recovered and became a successful farmer and civic leader. Sadly, he lost another child, Manasseh, in the 1822 epidemic.

Sources:   

Andrews, Martin R., History of Marietta and Washington County and Representative Citizens, Chicago, Biographical Publishing Company, 1902

Brush, Edmund Cone, “The Pioneer Physicians of the Muskingum Valley,”

Ohio History Journal, a Paper Read at the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Society, in the hall of the House or Representatives, at Columbus, March 6, 1890, viewed at resources.ohiohistory.org.

DeWitt, David C., History Thursday, “Ohio’s first epidemic rock star doctor, Samuel Hildreth of Marietta,” April 9, 2020, ohiocapitaljournal.com

Dickinson, C. E., D. D., History of Belpre, Washington County, Ohio, Parkersburg WV, C. E. Dickinson, 1920

Hildreth, Samuel P., Pioneer History: Being an Account of the First Examinations of the Ohio Valley and the Early Settlement of the Northwest Territory, Cincinnati, H. W. Derby & Co., 1848.

Hildreth, Samuel P., M.D., “Address of S. P. Hildreth, M.D., President of the Third Medical Convention of Ohio, Delivered at Cleveland,” 1839

Williams, H. Z. et al, History of Washington County with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, Cleveland, H. Z. Williams and Bro., 1888

“The Second Blessing: Columbus Medicine and Health The Early Years, God’s Scourge” The Ohio State University, Health Services LIbrary, viewed at: https://hsl.osu.edu/mhc/second-blessing-columbus-medicine-and-health-early-years

Washington County Epidemics, Genealogy Trails History Group, genealogytrails.com

Ephraim Cutler’s Journey: Westward to Ohio

“When our arrangements for going west were completed, on the 15th of June, 1795, I left Killingly (Connecticut) and departed from a circle of friends from whom I had received every mark of friendship from my childhood, and who had bestowed on me at a maturer age many evidences of respect and confidence. Mrs. Cutler’s friends, as they pressed around her at parting, expressed their fears that she could not survive the journey. She answered cheerfully, that ‘she had committed herself to God, her Savior,’ and was not disheartened by any apprehensions. ...Our assembled neighbors gathered around and bade us farewell, with many good wishes and tears. Thus we left the scene of my early life, and started on this then hazardous journey and perilous enterprise.”  

Portrait of Ephraim Cutler by Sala Bosworth viewed at  https://people.ohio.edu/deanr/ephraim_c.htm

Ephraim Cutler's journey to Marietta in 1795 was especially harrowing. It is recounted from his memories of the actual events. Quotes are from his recollections, Life and Times of Ephraim Cutler. He experienced many setbacks in his early life, the trip to the Marietta area, and the first years living there. But he overcame adversity with perseverance and a positive outlook.

The journey to the new settlements in Ohio in the late 1700's was fraught with challenges. Travel was physically difficult - rugged terrain, no roads, long distances. Indians were a threat. Illnesses such as smallpox, diarrhea, bilious fever were common and could be fatal. Journey was also a metaphor for major life changes which accompanied moving to frontier settlements. Life there was radically different, often involving hardship, isolation, and lack of cultural activities. 

Ephraim, the eldest son of Manasseh Cutler, became a successful political leader and businessman in Southeast Ohio. He was was raised in Connecticut by his grandparents, but by his late 20’s had yet to find his niche. He was by then married with four children. After a failed mercantile business and losses as an agent for Ohio Company subscribers, he was restless for change. His wife Leah was in poor health. Her doctor advised that a warmer climate would be good for her. “This determined me to (move) to Ohio....and my wife approved...”

The Cutlers embarked from Killingly with a wagon, a yoke of oxen, two horses, and a milk cow “which gave us an abundance of milk on the way." They were accompanied by Colonel Israel Putnam, Israel Putnam, Jr., and their families, and Phineas Matthews. At Bethlehem PA, they stopped and visited Reverend John Heckewelder, noted Moravian missionary. Heckewelder was present at Fort Harmar treaty negotiations with Indian tribes in late 1788.

As they crossed mountains west of Carlisle PA, the pregnant wife of Israel Putnam, Jr. became seriously ill and gave birth prematurely.  They carried her on a makeshift stretcher to a home at the base of the mountain. The Putnams remained there until Mrs. Putnam could travel again. The Cutlers and Mr. Matthews continued on to the Monongahela River near Williamsport (now Monongahela PA). There Ephraim ordered a Kentucky flatboat built to transport the four families to Marietta. 

                           Flatboat illustration by Granger. Image from fineartamerica.com

A man named Becket allowed the Cutlers to stay in a cabin of theirs. The two families became close friends during the Cutlers' visit while the boat was being built. Ephraim seemed sorry to leave them when the flatboat was ready to take them on to Marietta. “I have ever felt grateful to him and to his family, not only for their friendly courtesy, but for substantial favors received.”

Ephraim and Colonel Israel Putnam took the horses and cow by land through Washington PA to Wellsburg VA (now West Virginia) on the Ohio River. The others set off in the flatboat on the Monongahela River. Surely the rest of the journey would go more smoothly, Ephraim hoped.

At Wellsburg, Ephraim and Colonel Israel met up with Colonel’s son Aaron Waldo Putnam and Phineas Matthews. Aaron had come up from Belpre to assist in bringing the flatboat down the Ohio River to Marietta. Matthews explained that the flatboat only made it about 15 miles to present day Elizabeth PA because of low water conditions on the river. He reported that Ephraim’s wife, the elder Mrs. Putnam, and Israel Jr. were all sick. The four men exchanged foreboding glances. The illnesses were likely bilious fever; it was contagious and often fatal.

The group decided that Aaron Putnam and Phineas Matthews would take the livestock downriver. Colonel Putnam and Ephraim returned to the boat. In a few days, a rise in the river allowed them to again start out in the flatboat. Now, Ephraim thought, they could make it to Marietta in a few days without further incidents. Ominously, sickness continued to afflict the group. Colonel Putnam and the Cutlers’ youngest son Hezekiah became ill. 

Below Pittsburgh progress on the Ohio River was “exceedingly slow” due to low water. They were averaging only three or four miles per day. “....we were often aground; and I, with George Putnam, was much of the time in the river lifting at the boat, to get it over the sand-bars and shallows.”

A few days later, before reaching Beaver Creek, their “dear little son” Hezekiah died. “We stopped at a new place where the owner had buried some of his family, and by their side deposited his remains.”

Cutlers’ eldest daughter Mary became ill with bilious fever and soon died. Ephraim poignantly recalled their grief. “(We lost) one of the most promising children I ever knew. She was quite precocious in all her improvements...and interested all who saw her. To add to our distress we had no alternative but to commit her to the earth in the dreary wilderness, far from the habitation of any civilized being.”

As they approached Marietta, Ephraim’s wife Leah fell and broke two ribs. Then Ephraim was severely weakened by dysentery.  The group finally landed at Marietta on September 18,1795, just over three months after they left Connecticut. The Cutlers found temporary housing at "a stockade," probably at Picketed Point near the Ohio River in Marietta. 

It had been a devastating journey. But they had made it. Ephraim recalled that their feelings “were varied.“ “We had overcome the labors and fatigues of a long and perilous journey; but we had to mourn the loss of two of our dear children one just budding into life,...the other, the darling youngest son....We had landed sick, among strangers, and (with) little hope that I should ever rise in health. Such was our introduction to pioneer life.”

Ephraim Cutler home at Amesville OH where the family lived 1799-1806. The home still stands today; the current owner hopes to do some restoration work. Image from theclio.com.

When his health recovered in Marietta, there was no stopping him. He went on to become a successful farmer, public servant, educator, and political leader. Among his accomplishments:

• Co-founding Ohio University where he served as a trustee from 1820-1849
• Leading efforts to prohibit slavery at Ohio's 1802 constitutional convention.
• While in the state legislature in the 1820's he helped create statewide school standards and reform the property tax to an ad valorem system, taxing land based on value.
• He was a fervent abolitionist and supported Underground Railroad efforts.

Cutler Hall is the oldest building at Ohio University, built in 1819. It was named for Manasseh Cutler, Ephraim’s father. However, Ephraim is credited with co-founding the University and served as a Trustee for 30 years. Viewed at Ohio.edu.

What gave him the courage to persevere through these early challenges? He credits his grandparents, self education, and working with people (farming, public office, Ohio Company agent) at a young age. He also noted a "special (divine) providence (which) guides and directs the affairs of men. I can not be sufficiently thankful that God has thus preserved me. The glory and praise be to His holy name." 

Sources:

“Biography of Ephraim Cutler,” viewed at accessgeneaology.com

Cutler, Julia Perkins, Life and Times of Ephraim Cutler, Cincinnati, Robert Clarke & Co, 1890

“Ephraim Cutler”, Wikipedia.com

“Ephraim Cutler Home Page,” viewed at https://people.ohio.edu/deanr/ephraim_c.htm

Walker, Charles M., History of Athens County, Ohio, Cincinnati, Robert Clarke & Co, 1869

Williams, H.Z., History of Washington County Ohio, Cleveland, H. Z. Williams & Bro., 1881.

The French Doctor

Most of the settlers and leaders of early Marietta, Ohio, came from New England. But there was also a French connection as well. 

• French explorer Celeron’ De Bienville led an expedition down the the Ohio River Valley in 1749. They buried engraved lead plates at the mouth of major tributaries (including the Muskingum River) to claim the land for France.
• Marietta was named for Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, in recognition of France’s support during the Revolutionary War.
• And, a group of French immigrants arrived in 1790 to settle on Ohio Company lands at Gallipolis (“city of the Gauls”).

One of those immigrants who eventually ended up in Marietta was young Jean (usually appearing as “John”) Baptiste Regnier (“Zhon Bapteest RenYAY”). With access to good education in France, he was trained in architecture and medicine. The latter training would become his vocation years later. 

He was typical of many early Marietta pioneers: well educated, adventuresome, tolerant of severe frontier living conditions, and able to persevere through multiple setbacks. He ultimately became a successful doctor and civic-minded leader. 

Jean Baptiste Regnier

from OhioPix.org

Chaos gripped France as the French Revolution uprising began in 1789. Young John Regnier, his parents, and siblings were loyal to the monarchy. They were all on edge as national resistance to the rule of the king and nobility gained momentum. There was rioting and civil unrest. Privileges of nobility and feudalism were abolished.

The Regnier older children were being pressured to join the reformers.Their father feared for their well-being and made plans for all of the children to leave France for other countries. It so happened that land in America was then being offered for sale in France. That land, near present day Gallipolis, Ohio, was being sold by agents of the Scioto Company. Regnier’s father purchased land so that John Baptiste (then age 19) and his younger brother Modeste (age 14) could relocate there. 

About Six Hundred other French citizens also bought land. They sought a fresh start in America and escape from the French Revolution. However, moving from a comfortable life in France to the rugged Frontier in Ohio would be an unrelenting challenge - for the Regniers and the other French citizens.

Tears welled up as the Regnier brothers bid farewell to their family in February, 1790, at the port of Havre. A three month ordeal at sea and unknown new life loomed before them. The ship was cramped, vermin infested, and crowded. A poem “Trek of the French 500” written about the voyage includes these words:

        Rough was the voyage and long

        Fully three months in the doldrums

        Mal-de-mer (sea sickness) harassed them all

        Till existence was almost unwelcome

On many days, John lamented the decision to emigrate, especially because of the stress on his younger brother Modeste. 

They arrived at Alexandria, Virginia, in May 1790, weeks later than expected. More challenges lay ahead. The person who was to transport them to Ohio was a no show. Local residents helped them in the meantime. 

John was angered and dismayed to learn that the Scioto Company could not give them valid deeds for their land. The Scioto Company was a shameful example of land speculation. The agents including William Duer, Joel Barlow, and William Playfair (catch the irony of that name) used deceitful methods to sell American frontier land. The speculators used a technique appropriately called “dodging” - selling land they did not own. They took the buyers money but never paid the U S Treasury. The buyers ended up with nothing. It would make a great reality show today. 

Moreover, French emigrants learned that their Ohio River frontier setting was worlds apart from their expectations. The speculators painted a heavenly picture of a Promised Land to the future colonists, and were quick to cite passages from Crèvecœur’s Letters from an American Farmer: “All you have to do is rake the surface of the soil, lay down your wheat, your corn, your potatoes, your beans, your cabbages, your tobacco, and let nature do the rest. During this time, amuse yourself, go fishing or hunting.”

Land was described to potential purchasers in Europe with these superlatives:

Soil as rich as can be imagined    

Salt springs, coal mines, lead mines, clay deposits

Grapes growing wild, suitable for wine

Cotton of excellent quality

Soil able to grow wheat, rye, barley, oats, indigo, tobacco, flax, hemp.

Abundant game, fish

Nature will supply provisions for many years; no need for a market

Some of this was true, some not, and much was exaggerated. Cotton growing in Ohio? Really?

The Regniers and other French immigrants were eventually transported by wagon to Pittsburgh, then by boat down river to Marietta, then Gallipolis ("City of the Gauls," or "French City"), their new home. They arrived in October, 1790, nearly 10 months after leaving France. All were surprised, angered, and unprepared for the rough conditions. The flamboyant literature about their new home did not mention Indian threats, wilderness conditions, and isolation. Yet, they soon held a ball, complete with resplendent costumes and musical instruments brought with them.

Gallipolis, 1790. Huts constructed by the Scioto Company for newly arrived French settlers

Etching published in Historical Collections of Ohio, Henry Howe, 1847

viewed at:

 https://france-amerique.com/en/gallipolis-a-french-utopia-on-the-banks-of-the-ohio-river/

The Regnier brothers were hardy and adapted quickly. John used his architectural knowledge to build a small frame home, the first in Gallipolis. Other dwellings were log huts. They spent the next summer clearing about an acre of land. John Regnier pondered their future as the one year of free provisions from the Scioto Company ran out. Younger brother Modeste was petrified of Indian attacks and begged John to relocate.

They decided to leave Gallipolis for New York via the Ohio River in February, 1792. A few miles up the river, their boat upset. All of their provisions were lost, and they were lucky to be alive. With no money, supplies, or food they continued on foot, barely able to survive the cold and facing starvation. They were sickened eating paw paw seeds. 

The brothers finally reached Pittsburgh and then journeyed on to New York. Finding no work there, they moved on to a French community in Newfoundland  - and then back to New York State in 1794. Finally his fortunes improved. He found work - and a wife. He married Content Chamberlain in 1796. Historian Samuel Hildreth observed of Regnier: “For three years in a land of strangers, with an imperfect knowledge of their language, destitute of all things but his head and his hands....he was many times tempted to give up in despair....but his buoyant French heart enabled him to resist such thoughts...”

After several successful jobs and ventures, he again became destitute when a business agent failed to pay him. His thoughts turned to the beautiful Ohio valley. And his brother Modeste, who earlier begged to leave Ohio, now urged John to return there. 

John Baptiste Regnier decided to make medicine his vocation and to renew his medical training. He trained for a year with Doctor Lamoine of Washington PA who had come over from France on the same ship with the Regniers. Soon the John and his family again hit the road, moving from New York to Marietta. A local French baker, Monsieur Thierry, sold Regnier 100 acres along Duck Creek in Fearing Township. The area was then unsettled with few roads or bridges. 

Once more, he was in the wilderness, but “he was young and in the vigor of manhood, determined to do all he could for his family,” as historian Hildreth observed. Soon a log cabin was erected. Word got around that he was a doctor. Dr. Regnier, "the French Doctor," was in great demand from all directions. He made visits to people six or eight miles away - on foot. He was able to buy a horse after a while, making his rounds less strenuous.

John Baptiste Regnier became legendary for his skill and manner. He rarely lost a patient, even to the prevalent and often fatal bilious fever. He was an excellent surgeon, repairing trauma injuries such as broken limbs. In one case, a man injured by a falling tree was cold to the touch and thought dead when Dr. Regnier arrived. He immediately ordered that a sheep be slaughtered and the skin removed. The man was wrapped in the still-warm sheepskin and soon revived.

John’s finances improved. He started a mercantile business with his brother Francis who had moved to Marietta in 1809. But soon tragedy struck the family. John’s younger brother Modeste lived on same farm as John. Modeste became ill with bilious fever while John was in Wheeling buying inventory for the new store. By the time John returned, Modeste was seriously ill and died a day later. John was devastated by the loss, especially believing that he might have saved Modeste if he had been close by.

The mercantile business thrived, and the Regniers moved to Marietta. He built a stately home and created beautiful gardens, which became an attractive model which others imitated. Soon he added a drug store as a business. His former patients continued to seek his attention, so that he remained fully occupied.

Regnier was a leader as well, serving as a charter member of State of Ohio Medical Sociey board in 1812. He was elected a Washington County (Ohio) Commissioner in 1818. He moved again in 1819 - to Duck Creek, OH (now Macksburg) in northern Washington County.

It seemed to be his passion to settle and develop new areas. Like his experiences in Gallipolis and Fearing Township, he worked at Duck Creek to develop what was a wilderness. Soon he had started a French Chateau-style home, erected flour and saw mills, and encouraged building of new roads. As Commissioner, he was instrumental in the creation of Aurelius Township, which was named for his youngest son, Aurelius. Macksburg was named for his son-in-law William Mackintosh who operated the first dry goods store there. Regnier helped design the  new county courthouse built in 1822.

John Baptiste Regnier died unexpectedly in the prime of life at age 52 in 1821 of bilious fever, the illness he had so often treated successfully in his patients. A carpenter working on the uncompleted home built a coffin, donated the land for a cemetery, and himself was the second to be buried there.

Samuel Hildreth, historian and friend of Dr. Regnier, expressed his personal loss and reaction of the community:

“...at the bedside his cheerful conversation, aided by the deep interest he actually felt in the welfare of the sick, with his kind, delicate manner of imparting his instruction, always left his patients better than he found them, and formed a lasting attachment to his person in all who fell under his care. His death was lamented as a serious calamity, and no physician in this region of the country has since fully filled the place he occupied in the public estimation.”

SOURCES:

Backus, William W., A Genealogical Memoir of the Backus Family, page 353, “The Scioto Purchase.”Norwich, Connecticut, Press of the Bulletin Co, 1889.

Brush, Edmund Cone, “The Pioneer Physicians of the Muskingum Valley,”

Ohio History Journal, a Paper Read at the Fifth Annual Meeting of the Society, in the hall of the House or Representatives, at Columbus, March 6, 1890, viewed at resources.ohiohistory.org.

“Dr. John Baptiste Regnier,” Stedman Family Research Center, viewed at Johnlisle.us

Hildreth, Samuel P., “Biographical Sketches of the Early Physicians of Marietta, Ohio,” The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 3, No. 2, April, 1849.

Historical Marietta, Ohio Blog, featuring articles “New Goods” from the Ohio Gazette and Virginia Herald dated August 11, 1808, and “Macksburg Landmark” from the Marietta Register, August 2, 1890.

Linsley, Frank P., “Trek of the French 500,” Gallia County Genealogical Society OGS Chapter, Inc., viewed at galliagenealogy.org

Sakolski, A. M., The Great American Land Bubble, New York and London, Harper and Brothers, 1932, 

Wolfe, Phillip J. and Warren J., “Prospects for the Gallipolis Settlement: French Diplomatic Dispatches,” Ohio History Journal, 

http://resources.ohiohistory.org/ohj/browse/displaypages.php?display%5B%5D=0103&display%5B%5D=41&display%5B%5D=56

Williams, H. Z. et al, History of Washington County Ohio with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, Cleveland, H. Z. Williams and Bro., 1888