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* From Ohio History Central
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Benjamin Tupper was a prominent early settler of the Northwest Territory.
Tupper was born in Stoughton, Massachusetts, on March 11, 1738. As a young boy, he served as an apprentice to a tanner. He remained an apprentice until he reached the age of sixteen. Tupper then became a farm hand. In 1756, he enlisted in a military company and fought for the English in the French and Indian War. He married in 1762 and supported his family by teaching school. Once the American Revolution began, Tupper enlisted in the Continental Army. He fought in several major battles and attained the rank of brigadier general before retiring in 1783.
At the end of the Revolutionary War, Tupper was one of the 288 officers who signed the Newburgh Petition. These men hoped that the new government would pay its soldiers with land from the Ohio Country. Following the war, Tupper served in the Massachusetts legislature and assisted the state militia in putting down Daniel Shays' rebellion in 1786. In the same year, he helped Thomas Hutchins survey the Seven Ranges. He used the knowledge he gained while surveying to help the Ohio Company of Associates. The Company soon received permission from the Confederation Congress to establish settlements in the Ohio Country.
Tupper traveled west with the original Ohio Company settlers and helped found Marietta. He served on various committees responsible for building roads, determining where new settlements were to be founded, and where various flour and sawmills were to be located. On September 9, 1788, Tupper and Rufus Putnam became the first judges in the Northwest Territory. Tupper lived in the Northwest Territory for the remainder of his life. He died on June 7, 1792.
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* RevWarTalk.com Bio *
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During 1788, Benjamin Tupper and other pioneers of the Ohio Company of Associates arrived at the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum rivers to establish Marietta, Ohio as the first permanent American settlement in the Northwest Territory. In August 1788, he invented a screw propeller, positioned in the stern of a boat, and turned with a crank. Manasseh Cutler wrote about the propeller that “It succeeded to admiration, and I think it a very useful discovery.” During September 1788, Benjamin Tupper and Rufus Putnam were the justices of the first civil court in the Northwest Territory. Benjamin Tupper was a prominent member of the pioneer settlement of Marietta. He was a member of the Society of the Cincinnati, and an original member of the American Union Lodge No. 1 of Freemasons at Marietta, along with several others including his son Anselm Tupper, William Stacy, and Rufus Putnam.
Benjamin Tupper’s sons were Maj. Anselm Tupper, Gen. Edward W. Tupper, and Col. Benjamin Tupper, Jr. His daughters were Sophia, Minerva, and Roewena, who married Gov. Winthrop Sargent in the first marriage ceremony in the Northwest Territory. Another daughter, Huldah, died young.
Benjamin Tupper died in June 1792. A visitor to the Marietta settlement witnessed the funeral, and wrote that: Gen. Tupper, who had died the day before, was buried on the 17th. In consideration of the four different offices which he held, firstly as General in the service of the United States in the late war; secondly as member of the Cincinnati order; thirdly as director of the Ohio Company; and fourthly as master among the Freemasons, therefore, because of these positions, great honors were shown his remains at the funeral.”
Benjamin Tupper is buried with many other Revolutionary War soldiers and pioneers at Mound Cemetery in Marietta.
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* From https://www.washingtongov.org/228/History-of-Washington-County
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Appropriated Lands & The Ohio Company
In 1776, Congress appropriated lands to officers and soldiers of the army. In 1783 the Newburgh Petition of 285 Continental Army officers was presented to Congress asking for western lands to be located in the country which is now approximately the eastern one-half of the State of Ohio.
Following this General Putnam and Gen. Benjamin Tupper founded the Ohio Company which met in Boston March 1, 1786 when they decided to raise funds in continental certificates for buying western lands in the Western Territory and making a settlement.
Rev. Dr. Manasseh Cutler, one of the Directors of the Company, was employed to purchase of Congress land for the Company and in July 1787 went to Continental Congress. He helped frame the Ordinance of 1787 which allowed for the purchase of 1,500,000 acres located on the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers. Marietta, the county seat, was settled on April 7, 1788 as a result.
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1738 - 1792 (54 years)
