Abolitionists David Putnam Jr.
Marietta, Ohio
David Putnam Jr. was born May 17, 1808, at 519 Fort Street, in Harmar, (now part of Marietta, Ohio).
He was the son of David Putnam Sr. and Elizabeth (Perkins) Putnam. David Putnam Sr., a 1793 graduate of Yale, was the
first instructor at Muskingum Academy. Muskingum Academy was the first institution of higher learning in the U. S. Northwest
Territory.
David Putnam Jr. was descended from a prominent New England family. He was the great-grandson of Major General
Israel Putnam, the patriot, who reportedly left oxen and plow standing in the field where he had been working, and rushed
off to fight the Revolutionary War; he was grandson of Revolutionary War Col. Israel Putnam who settled
at Belpre; and a distant cousin of Brigadier General Rufus Putnam, superintendent of the Ohio Company settlemant at Marietta
in 1788.
David Putnam Jr. married to Hannah M. Munson on September 26, 1833, and their marriage was blessed with seven
children, Peter Radcliff, Martha Munson, Mary Burr, Catherine Douglass, Hannah Hubbard, Rufus Browning and Elizabeth Perkins
Putnam. He operated a mercantile business in Harmar, now part of Marietta, Ohio and became a respected retailer.
His home was located at the head o f Maple Street. This house was constructed in 1830 on two acres that extended
to the back of the Harmar Congregational Church. The Lydia Hale family were the last occupants of the dwelling. The house
was demolished in 1953 to make way for Fort Harmar Drive at the west end of the Washington Street Bridge in Marietta.
David Putnam Jr. acquired his antislavery sentiments from growing up across the Ohio River from Wood County,
Virginia, then a part of the "Old Dominion" where slavery was not only legitimate, but was also very profitable. Both the
south side (Virginia) and the north side, (Ohio), of the Mid-Ohio River Valley began development around the same time (1780s),
with people of opposing political views about slavery, settling directly across the river from each other. In all fairness,
it must be noted that the overwhelming majority of the Virginians in "western" Virginia eventually rejected slavery and secession,
and in 1863 formed the "free", (loyal to the Union), state of West Virginia.
David was born at just the right moment, in just the right place, with the necessary of amount of family prestige,
to lead the Underground Railroad in Marietta. The Underground Railroad and David Putnam Jr. literally grew up together. As
a young man, David had become personally aquatinted slavery in Wood County, Virginia, and had seen slaves - "sold down the
river" - to plantations in the Deep South. As a teenager he decided to take an active role in the fight to abolish slavery
in the United States.
When I use the word fight, I mean it literally. David Putnam was a tall muscular fellow who was equally comfortable
settling his disputes either by diplomacy or his with bare knuckles. He would let his opponents choose their own poison, but
he would never compromise his anti-slavery principles. In December of 1845, he wrote in a letter to be delivered by one William
P. Cutler of Marietta, to one Mr. Guthrie in Columbus, Ohio: " If we cannot catch the kidnappers, the devil will!"; the
kidnapers he referred to were bounty hunters in pursuit of fugitive slaves.
In 1847, David Putnam Jr. was sued by Virginia plantation owner George Washington Henderson, for the lose
of nine slaves, which Henderson claimed Putnam had influenced to run away. The suit, which was filed in the U.S. District
Court in Columbus, was dismissed in 1852.
Historic Underground Railroad Law Suit:
Henderson vs. Putnam-
Filed in: U.S. CIRCUIT COURT, District of Ohio
in Columbus, on June 25, 1849.
Attorneys for the Plaintive: Samuel F. Vinton and Noah H. Swayne.
Attorney for Defense: Salmon P. Chase
[G.W. Henderson, Briar Plantation, Wood County, Virginia (Slave Owner) , charged that under provisions
of the {1793 U.S. FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW},David Putnam Jr., Harmar (Marietta), Washington County, Ohio, did illegally entice,
conceal and otherwise aid (nine) Negro slaves, the legal property of G.W. Henderson, to run away from their owner, and the
State of Virginia at various intervals commencing on or about 15 February, 1846, the last instance occurring on or about 11
February, 1847].
The Plaintive filed two Suits for compensation for lost property.
Suit 1: Asked $5,500 for the value of the slaves.
Suit 2: Asked $10,000 compensation for causing a breech of contract (specified in the provisions of the 1793
Fugitive Slave Law) and for lost labor, and legal fees.
The case was dismissed on October 12, 1852 because of language in the [1850 FUGITIVE SLAVE ACT].
Ref. from: INSUPERABLE BARRIERS - A Case Study of the Henderson vs. Putnam Fugitive Slave Case, by William
B. Summers. [The complete manuscript, with notes and bibliography are in the Archives and Special Collections Room, Dawes
Memorial Library, Marietta College.]
David Putnam was a good man, and had many supporters in Marietta who came to his defense on several occasions
when he was besieged by pro-slavery advocates. He lived to see the collapse of the slavocracy a quarter of a century before
died on January 7, 1892. He rests in the Harmar Cemetery located below his former dwelling in Marietta.
