Ephraim Cutler
Encyclopedia
Ephraim Cutler was an early Northwest Territory
and Ohio
political leader and jurist.
on April 13, 1767. He was the oldest son of Manasseh Cutler
, and was named for his father's late brother. From age three he lived with his grandparents in Killingly, Connecticut
. He married Leah Atwood April 8, 1787. Manasseh Cutler was a leader of the Ohio Company of Associates
, a land company which bought a large tract in what is now southeast Ohio from the Congress of the Confederation
. Ephraim Cutler acted as a sales agent for the company, and sold twenty subscriptions. These shareholders elected him to represent them at a meeting of the company in 1788, even though he was not yet of legal age. In the 1790s he ran a shop, and inherited his grandfather's farm, which he sold. Cutler decided Ohio would have a more agreeable climate for his wife's failing health, and decided to move.
near Williamsport, Pennsylvania
, where they had a Kentucky flat-boat built. The river was low, so progress was slow. The boat finally landed at Marietta, Ohio
September 18, 1795, after 31 days on the river, with the death of two of Cutler's children to illness along the way, Mary and Hezekiah. Cutler had dysentery by this time, and recovered in a rented room in the blockhouse of Campus Martius
.
With Ephraim Cutler's recovery in October, the family moved up the Muskingum River
to Waterford, Ohio
, where some Killingly families had settled. The autumn and winter were spent settling company business in Marietta and surveying land in the Donation Tract
. In 1796 he procured some land nearby, and later had a hand in developing and marketing a salt spring, and also received commissions from Governor Arthur St. Clair
for captain of the militia, Justice of the Peace and Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. By 1799 he was the first settler in what would become Ames Township, Athens County, Ohio
, moving his wife, two surviving children from Connecticut, and two children born in the Northwest. In 1800, the Legislature of the Northwest Territory named Cutler to examine and lease the School Lands
sections in his part of the territory, which involved a great deal of travel.
in the House of Representatives of the Northwest Territory at the First Session of the Second Territorial General Assembly convened November 23, 1801-January 23, 1802, where he drafted the legislation that incorporated the predecessor to Ohio University
. After adjournment, he visited his father in Washington, D.C.
, where he sat as a member of Congress from Massachusetts
, and where Ephraim witnessed the passing of the Ohio Enabling Act
. This act allowed for four delegates to be elected from Washington County
, which then included Cutler's home. Cutler was nominated by his party at a county convention to be one of those four, who were each elected as delegates in September, and Cutler sat as a delegate to the Ohio Constitutional Convention
November 1-29, 1802, which wrote the Constitution accepted by Congress, and led to statehood in 1803.
The first vote at the convention after procedural issues had been settled was on the approval of "Resolved, That it is of the opinion of the convention, that it is expedient, at this time, to form a constitution and State government." It was resolved Yeas, 32, nays, 1, with Ephraim Cutler the only Federalist to vote nay. Nevertheless, he participated vigorously, and managed to affect the outcome on several issues. Cutler also tried, without success, to have the Constitution submitted to a referendum by the population, saying "I deem it of primary importance that the people of this territory should have some opportunity of declaring their assent to or dissent from this instrument before it became binding on them...By adopting the resolution to submit the constitution to a vote of the people the mouths of the clamorous would be stopped, and the minds of the judicious satisfied." The delegates voted 27-7 against, preferring haste.
to be near a doctor. She died November 3, 1807, and Cutler sent his nine-year-old son Daniel to Massachusetts to live with his Grandparents. On April 13, 1808, he married Sally Parker, a native of Newburyport, Massachusetts
, with whom he had five more children, four of whom survived to adulthood, including William P. Cutler
, who would serve as speaker of the Ohio House, and as a member of Congress.
Early in statehood, Federalists fell out of favor. Consequently, Cutler had to wait until passions cooled to be elected to represent Washington County in the Ohio House of Representatives
in the Eighteenth General Assembly (1819-1820) and in the Ohio Senate
in the Twenty-second and Twenty-third General Assembly (1823-1825) The two topics where he had greatest effect in the legislature was establishment of a common school system to replace the strictly local efforts up to that time, and for reform of land taxes from a direct system to an ad valorem system. Under the direct system, land was levied by acre, without reference to value. Thus small, but wealthy Hamilton County
paid less land tax to the state than large, but mostly rural Washington County. This was politically tolerable until taxes would have to rise significantly to pay for canals between Lake Erie
and the Ohio River
. At that point, Cutlers arguments finally won out, and taxes began to be assessed on value, rather than acreage. Cutler also lobbied vigorously for the interests of Ohio University
, where he was a Trustee from 1820 to 1849.
In later years, Cutler was a delegate to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in 1835 in Pittsburgh, and 1837 in Philadelphia, and in 1839 he was a delegate representing the Sixth Congressional District of Ohio at the National Convention of the Whig Party in 1839. In 1841, he was first President of the Marietta Historical Association, and he assisted Dr. Hildreth in his history.
Sally Cutler died June 30, 1846. In spring of 1853, Ephraim fell from a horse, and, after four months of invalidism, he succumbed on July 8, 1853. The obituary in the Marietta Intelligencer read "In every sphere and relation of life, Judge Cutler was a useful man. He was an upright judge, an intelligent legislator, a good neighbor, a public-spirited citizen, an affectionate father, a sincere Christian, and an honest, true man."
Northwest Territory
The Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, more commonly known as the Northwest Territory, was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 13, 1787, until March 1, 1803, when the southeastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of Ohio...
and Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
political leader and jurist.
Early life
Ephraim Cutler was born in Edgartown, MassachusettsEdgartown, Massachusetts
Edgartown is a town located on Martha's Vineyard in Dukes County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 3,779 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Dukes County. Edgartown has the largest population and area in the entire Dukes County and Martha's Vineyard.- History :In 1642....
on April 13, 1767. He was the oldest son of Manasseh Cutler
Manasseh Cutler
Manasseh Cutler was an American clergyman involved in the American Revolutionary War. Cutler was also a member of the United States House of Representatives and a founder of Ohio University....
, and was named for his father's late brother. From age three he lived with his grandparents in Killingly, Connecticut
Killingly, Connecticut
Killingly is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 16,472 at the 2000 census. It consists of the borough of Danielson and the villages of Attawaugan, Ballouville, Dayville, East Killingly, Rogers, and South Killingly....
. He married Leah Atwood April 8, 1787. Manasseh Cutler was a leader of the Ohio Company of Associates
Ohio Company of Associates
The Ohio Company of Associates, also known as the Ohio Company, was a land company which is today credited with becoming the first non-American Indian group to settle in the present-day state of Ohio...
, a land company which bought a large tract in what is now southeast Ohio from the Congress of the Confederation
Congress of the Confederation
The Congress of the Confederation or the United States in Congress Assembled was the governing body of the United States of America that existed from March 1, 1781, to March 4, 1789. It comprised delegates appointed by the legislatures of the states. It was the immediate successor to the Second...
. Ephraim Cutler acted as a sales agent for the company, and sold twenty subscriptions. These shareholders elected him to represent them at a meeting of the company in 1788, even though he was not yet of legal age. In the 1790s he ran a shop, and inherited his grandfather's farm, which he sold. Cutler decided Ohio would have a more agreeable climate for his wife's failing health, and decided to move.
Northwest
On June 15, 1795, Cutler, his wife, and four children left Killingly, and traveled by foot to the Monongahela RiverMonongahela River
The Monongahela River is a river on the Allegheny Plateau in north-central West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania in the United States...
near Williamsport, Pennsylvania
Williamsport, Pennsylvania
Williamsport is a city in and the county seat of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania in the United States. In 2009, the population was estimated at 29,304...
, where they had a Kentucky flat-boat built. The river was low, so progress was slow. The boat finally landed at Marietta, Ohio
Marietta, Ohio
Marietta is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Ohio, United States. During 1788, pioneers to the Ohio Country established Marietta as the first permanent American settlement of the new United States in the Northwest Territory. Marietta is located in southeastern Ohio at the mouth...
September 18, 1795, after 31 days on the river, with the death of two of Cutler's children to illness along the way, Mary and Hezekiah. Cutler had dysentery by this time, and recovered in a rented room in the blockhouse of Campus Martius
Campus Martius (Ohio)
Campus Martius was a defensive fortification at the Marietta, Ohio settlement, and was home to Rufus Putnam, Benjamin Tupper, Arthur St. Clair, and other pioneers from the Ohio Company of Associates during the Northwest Indian War. Major Anselm Tupper was commander of the Campus Martius during the...
.
With Ephraim Cutler's recovery in October, the family moved up the Muskingum River
Muskingum River
The Muskingum River is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately 111 miles long, in southeastern Ohio in the United States. An important commercial route in the 19th century, it flows generally southward through the eastern hill country of Ohio...
to Waterford, Ohio
Waterford, Ohio
Waterford is an unincorporated community in central Waterford Township, Washington County, Ohio, United States. Although it is unincorporated, it has a post office, with the ZIP code of 45786. It is located on State Route 339 across the Muskingum River from the village of Beverly, slightly below...
, where some Killingly families had settled. The autumn and winter were spent settling company business in Marietta and surveying land in the Donation Tract
Donation Tract
The Donation Tract was a land tract in southern Ohio that was established by the Congress late in the 18th century to buffer Ohio Company lands against Indians. Congress gave lots to men who settled on the land...
. In 1796 he procured some land nearby, and later had a hand in developing and marketing a salt spring, and also received commissions from Governor Arthur St. Clair
Arthur St. Clair
Arthur St. Clair was an American soldier and politician. Born in Scotland, he served in the British Army during the French and Indian War before settling in Pennsylvania, where he held local office...
for captain of the militia, Justice of the Peace and Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. By 1799 he was the first settler in what would become Ames Township, Athens County, Ohio
Ames Township, Athens County, Ohio
Ames Township is one of the fourteen townships of Athens County, Ohio, United States. The 2000 census found 1,231 people in the township, 1,047 of whom lived in the unincorporated portions of the township.-Geography:...
, moving his wife, two surviving children from Connecticut, and two children born in the Northwest. In 1800, the Legislature of the Northwest Territory named Cutler to examine and lease the School Lands
School Lands
The School Lands are part of the Ohio Lands, comprising land grants in Ohio from the United States federal government for public schools. Support for public education in the United States predates the constitution; two years before the adoption of the United States Constitution of 1787, the...
sections in his part of the territory, which involved a great deal of travel.
Territory politics
In September, 1801, Cutler was elected to represent Washington County, OhioWashington County, Ohio
Washington County is a county located in the state of Ohio. As of the 2010 census, the population was 61,778. Its county seat is Marietta. The county, the oldest in the state, is named for George Washington. Washington County is included in the Parkersburg-Marietta-Vienna, West Virginia-Ohio...
in the House of Representatives of the Northwest Territory at the First Session of the Second Territorial General Assembly convened November 23, 1801-January 23, 1802, where he drafted the legislation that incorporated the predecessor to Ohio University
Ohio University
Ohio University is a public university located in the Midwestern United States in Athens, Ohio, situated on an campus...
. After adjournment, he visited his father in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, where he sat as a member of Congress from Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, and where Ephraim witnessed the passing of the Ohio Enabling Act
Enabling Act of 1802
The Enabling Act of 1802 was passed on April 30, 1802 by the Seventh Congress of the United States. This act authorized the residents of the eastern portion of the Northwest Territory to form the state of Ohio and join the U.S. on an equal footing with the other states...
. This act allowed for four delegates to be elected from Washington County
Washington County, Ohio
Washington County is a county located in the state of Ohio. As of the 2010 census, the population was 61,778. Its county seat is Marietta. The county, the oldest in the state, is named for George Washington. Washington County is included in the Parkersburg-Marietta-Vienna, West Virginia-Ohio...
, which then included Cutler's home. Cutler was nominated by his party at a county convention to be one of those four, who were each elected as delegates in September, and Cutler sat as a delegate to the Ohio Constitutional Convention
Ohio Constitutional Convention (1802)
The Enabling Act of 1802 was passed on April 30, 1802 by the Seventh Congress of the United States. This act authorized the residents of the eastern portion of the Northwest Territory to form the state of Ohio and join the U.S. on an equal footing with the other states...
November 1-29, 1802, which wrote the Constitution accepted by Congress, and led to statehood in 1803.
The first vote at the convention after procedural issues had been settled was on the approval of "Resolved, That it is of the opinion of the convention, that it is expedient, at this time, to form a constitution and State government." It was resolved Yeas, 32, nays, 1, with Ephraim Cutler the only Federalist to vote nay. Nevertheless, he participated vigorously, and managed to affect the outcome on several issues. Cutler also tried, without success, to have the Constitution submitted to a referendum by the population, saying "I deem it of primary importance that the people of this territory should have some opportunity of declaring their assent to or dissent from this instrument before it became binding on them...By adopting the resolution to submit the constitution to a vote of the people the mouths of the clamorous would be stopped, and the minds of the judicious satisfied." The delegates voted 27-7 against, preferring haste.
Statehood
Cutler was township Justice of the Peace 1803-1805 and township trustee of Ames Township in 1806, but Cutler's wife fell ill, and the family moved to BelpreBelpre, Ohio
Belpre is a city in Washington County, Ohio, United States, along the Ohio River. It is part of the Parkersburg-Marietta-Vienna, WV-OH Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 6,441 at the 2010 census....
to be near a doctor. She died November 3, 1807, and Cutler sent his nine-year-old son Daniel to Massachusetts to live with his Grandparents. On April 13, 1808, he married Sally Parker, a native of Newburyport, Massachusetts
Newburyport, Massachusetts
Newburyport is a small coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, 35 miles northeast of Boston. The population was 21,189 at the 2000 census. A historic seaport with a vibrant tourism industry, Newburyport includes part of Plum Island...
, with whom he had five more children, four of whom survived to adulthood, including William P. Cutler
William P. Cutler
William Parker Cutler was a U.S. Representative from Ohio.Born in Marietta, Ohio, Cutler was the son of Ephraim Cutler, and grandson of Manasseh Cutler...
, who would serve as speaker of the Ohio House, and as a member of Congress.
Early in statehood, Federalists fell out of favor. Consequently, Cutler had to wait until passions cooled to be elected to represent Washington County in the Ohio House of Representatives
Ohio House of Representatives
The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate....
in the Eighteenth General Assembly (1819-1820) and in the Ohio Senate
Ohio Senate
The Ohio State Senate is the upper house of the Ohio General Assembly, the legislative body for the U.S. state of Ohio. There are 33 State Senators. The state legislature meets in the state capital, Columbus. The President of the Senate presides over the body when in session, and is currently Tom...
in the Twenty-second and Twenty-third General Assembly (1823-1825) The two topics where he had greatest effect in the legislature was establishment of a common school system to replace the strictly local efforts up to that time, and for reform of land taxes from a direct system to an ad valorem system. Under the direct system, land was levied by acre, without reference to value. Thus small, but wealthy Hamilton County
Hamilton County, Ohio
As of 2000, there were 845,303 people, 346,790 households, and 212,582 families residing in the county. The population density was 2,075 people per square mile . There were 373,393 housing units at an average density of 917 per square mile...
paid less land tax to the state than large, but mostly rural Washington County. This was politically tolerable until taxes would have to rise significantly to pay for canals between Lake Erie
Lake Erie
Lake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the tenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...
and the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
. At that point, Cutlers arguments finally won out, and taxes began to be assessed on value, rather than acreage. Cutler also lobbied vigorously for the interests of Ohio University
Ohio University
Ohio University is a public university located in the Midwestern United States in Athens, Ohio, situated on an campus...
, where he was a Trustee from 1820 to 1849.
In later years, Cutler was a delegate to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in 1835 in Pittsburgh, and 1837 in Philadelphia, and in 1839 he was a delegate representing the Sixth Congressional District of Ohio at the National Convention of the Whig Party in 1839. In 1841, he was first President of the Marietta Historical Association, and he assisted Dr. Hildreth in his history.
Sally Cutler died June 30, 1846. In spring of 1853, Ephraim fell from a horse, and, after four months of invalidism, he succumbed on July 8, 1853. The obituary in the Marietta Intelligencer read "In every sphere and relation of life, Judge Cutler was a useful man. He was an upright judge, an intelligent legislator, a good neighbor, a public-spirited citizen, an affectionate father, a sincere Christian, and an honest, true man."