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

The Silver Bridge Disaster

December 15, 2017 marked the 50th anniversary of the Silver Bridge collapse in 1967. The iconic 1760 foot long suspension bridge, built in 1928 on the Ohio River, connected Gallipolis, OH and Point Pleasant, WV. Its aluminum paint earned it the “Silver Bridge” moniker. 

Early photo of the Silver Bridge from Wikipedia

CLICK TO ENLARGE

The bridge was almost like family to the communities. It was an elegant landmark, the pride of the region promoted as a tourist attraction (see image below), and a vital transportation link. Suddenly, at 5:00 that afternoon in 1967, it was.....gone. Forty-six people died in the tragedy which attracted national attention. 

Photo by author of 1930s tourist brochure extolling the virtues of the Silver Bridge - and encouraging travelers to use it. CLICK TO ENLARGE

The greatest legacy of the tragedy was loss. It forever changed the lives of hundreds of victims' loved ones. Witnesses and first responders suffered nightmares, fear of water, and anxiety about crossing bridges. Most recall details vividly, decades later. Christmas season was difficult for many years. 

A positive legacy was a series of actions leading to improved bridge safety nationwide. An early safety impact was the closing of the similarly designed Hiram Carpenter bridge in St. Marys, WV. The Interstate 77 bridge in Marietta was opened a few days early because of the St. Marys bridge closing.

The Collapse

At 4:55 on December 15, 1967 rush hour traffic crossing the Silver Bridge was slowed by balky traffic signals. Dozens of cars and trucks backed up bumper to bumper on the aging bridge. Witnesses reported swaying, loud noises, then violent lurching. The bridge began falling apart, domino-like, toward the West Virginia side. The bridge deck flipped over tossing vehicles into the water “like children’s toys.” The superstructure then plunged into the river, crushing many of those vehicles.

Several survivors were rescued from the water and mangled steel on the Ohio side river bank. A large truck floated downstream. After that, the scene was eerily quiet. Hundreds of onlookers gathered, but there was little to see. The Ohio River - more than 30 ft deep - had swallowed up everything. 

A few Marietta area people were soon present at the scene. Then Sheriff Richard Ellis and a few deputies hurried down to the site to help with emergency crews. Ellis's vehicle was one of a very few that had a public address speaker. They used that for crowd control and other activities. In a Marietta Times article, Ellis described the devastation he saw on the Ohio side as "unbelievable." 

Don Yoho, Larry Barnes, and Guy Meeks from Washington County were employees of Hocking Valley Steel working on a job just north of Gallipolis. They helped extract a trapped man from a truck and brought a truck crane from their job site to help if needed.

Cliff Winstanley, Jr., the Game Warden for Washington County, was on law enforcement duty there the day after the tragedy. He was assigned  to keep unauthorized persons away from the scene on the Ohio side. There also was concern for looting; one of the damaged trucks was loaded with cartons of cigarettes.

Headline of tragedy from local newspaper. From Pinterest at 

https://www.pinterest.com/fah61/silver-bridge-collapse/

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Recovery of victims, vehicles, and bridge structure elements went on for weeks. Divers braved treacherous currents, low visibility, cold water, and a jumble of steel. A morgue was set up. The communities were flooded with reporters. Planes buzzed overhead taking aerial photos for news outlets. Interviews of witnesses and victims’ families evoked the wrenching trauma of the event. Recovered bridge parts were laid out in an open field for analysis to determine what happened. Dozens of funerals honored those lost. Hundreds of their loved ones and friends were left to carry on as best they could.

What happened and why?

The Silver Bridge had been showing signs of age. It swayed up and down when traffic loads were heavy. Jack Fowler, Director of the Point Pleasant River Museum, said in an interview that ".....(the bridge) was always swaying. It had the up-and-down motion from so much weight on it, and everybody always said wow this bridge is going to fall someday." People were unnerved by the motion. Yet many accepted it as an aspect of the bridge’s unique design. The Mayor of Point Pleasant had expressed concerns to state officials and had imposed traffic limits at times.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued a report on the bridge collapse on December 16,1970. The proximate cause of the bridge failure was the fracture of an eyebar link in the suspension chain. It was weakened by “stress corrosion and corrosion fatigue.”

This resulted from a combination of wear and much greater traffic loads than anticipated in the design. The Silver Bridge was designed in the mid-1920s. The NTSB report noted that long term effects of corrosion, stress, and much heavier traffic loads were not foreseen then. Unfortunately, the increasing traffic load had not been compensated for: there were no load limits in place on the Silver Bridge.

The design of the bridge made it vulnerable to a failure of even a single suspension structural element. The suspension support came from a series of side-by-side 55 ft long steel eyebars linked together to form a chain. One of the Silver Bridge eyebars fractured at a point of stress. The companion eyebar could not bear the load and was torn apart. That was it; the suspension chain was separated, and the bridge fell apart.

The Hiram Carpenter Bridge closes, I-77 Bridge opens

Only three bridges of this suspension design were built. One was in Brazil. The other, known as the Hiram Carpenter Bridge, was only seventy miles upriver at St. Marys WV.  This bridge was closed as a precaution three days after the Silver Bridge collapse. 

The Interstate 77 Ohio River Bridge at Marietta, had been completed and scheduled to be opened on Monday, December 18, 1967. But closure of the Hiram Carpenter Bridge prompted officials to open the I-77 bridge early. Ohio Governor James Rhodes and West Virginia Governor Hulett Smith conferred Friday evening. They decided to open the new bridge that night. The Ohio Highway Patrol notified Marietta Police  at 9:06 p.m. Road crews began moving barricades and uncovering signs. Marietta leaders sprang into action. 

S. Durward Hoag was given the honor of being the first to cross the new bridge. Hoag was the owner of the Hotel Lafayette and a tireless civic booster. He was credited with influencing the decision to add I-77 to the Interstate system. He drove across at 10:19, only 73 minutes after the notification from the Highway Patrol. He was accompanied by Marietta Mayor John Burnworth and Williamstown Mayor Aubrey Rymer. Other officials were also on hand for impromptu ceremonies. Highway crews also worked to open the Interstate highway section from New Years Hill to Macksburg on the following Monday.

The Hiram Carpenter Bridge was a carbon copy of the Silver Bridge - built in 1928, just months after the Silver Bridge, by the same company, according to the same design. It, too, was a beautiful span across a scenic section of the Ohio River. However, it carried far less traffic. Walter Carpenter, a son of Hiram Carpenter, spoke about the bridge closing in an interview. He said local residents were convinced by the Silver Bridge collapse that  "the (Hiram Carpenter) bridge could fall at any time." That feeling "...sealed the fate of the bridge. The NTSB had....to condemn the bridge because they could not prove it was safe."

Photo of the original Hi Carpenter Bridge in 1970. The ferry in the foreground was used after the bridge closed in 1967. CLICK TO ENLARGE

The bridge was closed for further assessment and finally condemned June 18, 1969. A new bridge would be built. Hundreds witnessed demolition of the old bridge on June 29, 1971. Only five pounds of explosive on two sections of the eyebar suspension were required to bring it down - testimony to the design vulnerability that brought down the Silver Bridge. A new bridge was built and dedicated November 19, 1977. 

Folklore
The tragedy spawned an outpouring of curious folklore. More than a dozen songs were written. Some were recorded. One song attributes the disaster to Indian Chief Cornstalk's curse, supposedly uttered after he had been mortally wounded by soldiers at Point Pleasant in 1777. John Keel in his 1975 book The Mothman Prophecies linked the tragedy to paranormal events in the area, including alleged sightings of the Mothman.

Statue located in Point Pleasant WV of the legendary Mothman - from Wikipedia

Increased emphasis on bridge safety

One positive Silver Bridge legacy was a new emphasis on bridge inspections and safety. On December 20, 1967, only five days after the Silver Bridge tragedy, President Lyndon Johnson appointed a task force to study bridge safety. The Highway Safety Act of 1968 passed on August 24, 1968 included a provision for the Department of Transportation to establish a formalized program for bridge inspection. It was also to train personnel needed to perform the inspections. States began to review their bridge inspection programs. Only 17 states were found to have adequate such programs. Fifteen months later, 10 more states had revised their standards and 24 states initiated new programs. 

Ironically, the NTSB report stated that the flaw that caused the failure ..."could not have been detected by any inspection method known in the state of the art today (1970). To paraphrase one observer: "The fatal flaw which spawned better bridge inspection procedures could not have been detected, no matter how good the inspection (at the time)."

The bridge task force issued its report in March, 1969, finding that of 563,000 bridges in the country, about 70% were built prior to 1935. Many of these "would need repair or replacement in the intermediate future." The report concluded that there were about 24,000 “critically deficient” bridges on the Federal-aid system and that repair or replacement of the bridges would cost $6 billion. Another 64,900 critically deficient bridges were not on a Federal-aid system and would cost state and local governments an additional $8.8 billion to repair or replace. Bridge concerns became a major infrastructure focus which persists to this day.

Silver Bridge Survivor stories

Survivors and witnesses have told and retold their poignant Silver Bridge stories over the years. Frank Wamsley was a 28 year old truck driver headed home to Point Pleasant in a gravel truck with a friend. His cousin Barbara and her husband Paul Hayman were crossing the bridge towards Ohio. He passed them and waved. Frank's uncle, Marvin Walmsley, was also on the bridge with two friends. Frank's truck sank with the bridge; he managed to escape and was rescued. His passenger and everyone in Marvin Wamsley's car died. His cousin Barbara and her husband made it across.

Howard Boggs was on the bridge with his wife and their 18 month old daughter. He commented, "The bridge is sure bouncing around today." Minutes later he found himself on the bottom of the river outside of his car. Somehow, he does not remember, he surfaced and was rescued. His wife and daughter perished.

Tractor trailer driver Bill Needham, then 27 years old, of Ashboro, NC, was grumbling about the traffic back up.  Soon he was in the water. "It (the bridge) just went. We hit the the water and sank like a rock." He managed to escape, surface, and cling to a floating box until rescued. His driving partner, Robert Towe, married with three small children, did not make it out of the truck. Needham is now retired and recalled the event in a recent Associated Press article about the event. "I expected to be killed. I really did."

Point Pleasant resident George Byus came home from work. His wife wanted to go to the Bob Evans restaurant on the Ohio side to eat. He protested that he was too tired. His wife and two daughters went across the bridge to get take out food. They never returned. One of the daughters was never found.

The day of the collapse Steve Darst had driven his uncle across to the Ohio side. Traffic on the bridge was backed up because of a faulty traffic light. He sat uneasily on the bridge. He recalled, "I didn't like the feeling....I told my uncle, 'Hang on, I'm going to fly this bridge.' I passed 40 some cars and went through the red light..I probably hit 90 (miles per hour)." Later he hustled back across the bridge to Point Pleasant - just before it went down.

A pregnant Charlotte Wood started over the bridge from Point Pleasant. She had visited her parents and was headed home to Gallipolis. The bridge began shuddering. She recalled her riverboat captain father talking about barges striking bridge piers. Immediately she started backing off the bridge. Her car stalled. It coasted back and stopped just beyond the edge where the bridge dropped off. She was helped off the bridge in shock by State Trooper Rudy Odell and Robert Rimmey. "It wasn't my time to go," she said later, "The Lord had something else for me to do. I had twins in (the following) April, a boy and a girl. I didn't know I was going to have twins at the time. The Lord left me here for that, I'm sure of it."

Sources:

"Hi Carpenter Memorial Bridge," excerpt from History of Pleasant County, West Virginia to 1980 by Walter Carpenter, viewed at wvgenweb.org, 

Keel, John, Mothman Prophecies, New York, Tom Doherty and Associates LLC, 1991

Marietta Times editions, December 16,18,19, 1967 and April 27, 2002

"Point Pleasant, WV, Silver Bridge Over Ohio River Collapses Dec 1967,"

Gendisasters.com

"The Silver Bridge Disaster," Stresses and Strains, The Collapse,  two of a series of video productions at Open University viewed at open.edu

"A Vow Never Forget the Silver Bridge," MetroNews, December 15, 2017, viewed at wvmetronews.com

"Silver Bridge," wikipedia.org

"Silver Bridge Tragedy Still Haunts River City Residents," Charleston Gazette-Mail, December 11, 2012, viewed at wvgazettemail.com

"Silver Bridge Collapse: 40 Years Later," skyscrapercity.com, retrospective articles on the 40th anniversary in 2007 of the bridge collapse.UIKEYINPUTUPARROW