Why Marietta?

You ask…why did you make the effort to come to Marietta Ohio? Where the heck IS Marietta Ohio? Well, obviously it’s on the Ohio River…actually the Ohio AND Muskingum River to be exact. Marietta was the first town in Ohio when revolutionary soldiers and their families took up the government’s offer of land in the new territory that would become Ohio. They settled here in 1797 (give or take a year). In 1803, my mother’s ancestors (the Bartletts) also took up the siren call of the new Ohio Territory and 3 Bartlett brothers and their families moved from Cumberland Rhode Island to Marietta. Some of the family stayed and some after 40 years or so moved onto to NEWer territory in Iowa (and then Nebraska) which is where my mother’s family stems from. We’ve known for sometime Jeremiah and Jerusha Bartlett (grandparents nth times of my mothers) moved to Marietta and died here. I had heard that they were buried in the oldest cemetery in Marietta. So I was determined to find their headstones…which we did!!! (after two tries…the first dry run requiring a trip to the historical documents collection at the Marietta Library…thanks Ernie!!!). They are buried at the Harmar Cemetery. We also found the property where a son and grandsons of jeremiah and jerusha established a farm on the Muskigum…some of the land is still farm fields and old homes but some of the land is a large factory (like much of the history of the Ohio River valley, I guess).


Harmar Cemetery

Headstone of Jeremish and Jerusha Bartlett