The most famous ancestor on Grandpa Bob’s side is Rufus Putnam (1738-1824), Revolutionary War general and founder of Ohio. His accomplishments are well documented in David McCullough’s book The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West, required reading for family members who want to learn more about him.
The McKelloggs know well their Scotch, Irish-Catholic roots. Less familiar are their Puritan – English origins. The first Putnam relatives to arrive were Puritans, emigrating from England in 1634. John Putnam (1580-1663) and his wife, Priscilla Gould Putnam (1586-1662) were from Aston Abbotts in the Buckinghamshire district of England. It is a village fifty-five miles north-west of London. The couple married in 1611 and had seven children.
John and Priscilla Putnam left England during the reign of Charles 1. As head of the Anglican Church, the King opposed the Protestants including the Puritans. In addition to religious differences with the Church of England, the Protestants further distrusted the King for his marriage to the Catholic Queen Henrietta Maria of France. The persecuted Puritans sought religious freedom. Charles 1, eager to exile his Protestant opposition, granted the Puritans a royal charter to form the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Perhaps you remember in grade school studying the Puritans, especially those first Pilgrims who landed in Plymouth in 1620. They sought to establish a community based on their religious principles. With the grant of a royal charter in 1630, seventeen ships sailed from England carrying over 1,000 Puritan immigrants.
John and Priscilla Putnam soon followed, settling in Salem, Massachusetts in 1634. Several of the Putnam’s children came with them, and father and sons were each granted land. In Salem, our family’s story takes a terrible turn. Our Putnam forefathers were also the grandparents of Thomas Putnam (1652-1699), responsible for the notorious Salem Witch Trials of 1692.
The infamous story of Thomas Putnam and the third generation of Putnams in Salem is aptly described in the Legends of America website, entitled, “The Vengeful Putnams of Salem Village, Massachusetts”. Thomas Putnam, landowner and ring leader of the Salem witch trials, is the 7th great uncle of the Grandpa Bob. His daughter, Ann Putnam Jr., one of the three main accusers in the trials, a first cousin seven times removed.
The witch trials not only involved religious hysteria, but a dispute over land and control between two powerful Salem families: The Putnams and the Porters. In 1692 and 1693, over 200 residents of Salem village were accused of witchcraft and 20 were executed. My Marilyn taught all about the Salem witch trials when her students read The Crucible by Arthur Miller. Little did she know she was teaching about a relative, the villain in this historical drama.
It would take two more generations for Rufus Putnam to redeem the family name. He was the grandson of Thomas Putnam’s brother, Edward Putnam (1654-1747). Unfortunately, Edward did not acquit himself well during the witch trials either, as a Deacon in the local church and one of the accusers. Perhaps, it helps to know that Putnams were not only victimizers, but victims, as well. For example, according to official Massachusetts records Edward’s wife, Mary Hale (1660-1746), was acquitted of witchcraft. So, good news, there are no witches in the McKellogg lineage.
The family tree shows that Edward and Mary Putnam had a son Elisha Putnam (1685-1745). He married Susanna Fuller (1695-1758). Their son was Rufus Putnam (1738-1824), Robert McKellogg’s 4th great grandfather.
Rufus lost his father at age seven. He had little formal schooling, but learned to be a millwright (mechanic), surveyor, and farmer. Historian David McCullough describes the adult Rufus Putnam as, “A commanding presence, he stood nearly six feet tall and spoke in a manner straightforward and impressive. One of his eyes had been disfigured by childhood injury… He was known to be full of jokes and loved to sing.”
As a young man, Rufus Putnam served in a Connecticut regiment, fighting in the French and Indian War (1754-1763). When he returned from service, he married Elizabeth Ayers in 1761. Tragically she died in childbirth the following year. Putnam married again in 1765 to Persis Rice, eventually becoming a father to nine children and grandfather to two dozen grandchildren.
With the first shots fired at Lexington and Concord, Rufus Putnam joined a Massachusetts regiment to fight the British. He became expert in building fortifications, including those at Dorchester Heights overlooking Boston Harbor. General George Washington recognized Putnam’s talents, appointing him Chief Engineer of the Works of New York. In this capacity, Putnam led efforts to fortify West Point, with a military garrison now called Fort Putnam. Rufus Putnam also served as a military commander in the American Revolution. He led two regiments in the Battle of Saratoga and was made a brigadier general in 1783.
Nor was Rufus the only Putnam to distinguish himself during the American Revolution. Rufus’ older first cousin once removed, Israel Putnam, also served as a general of the revolutionary forces, leading the charge against the British at the Battle of Breed’s Hill, June 17, 1775.
Israel Putnam (1718-1790), nicknamed “Old Put”, also fought in the French and Indian War. A wealthy New England farmer and tavern keeper, he helped found the Sons of Liberty. As the story goes, when Israel heard of the battle at Lexington and Concord he immediately left his fields, riding horseback for eight hours to Charleston to join the revolutionary cause against the British.
The Mount Vernon organization writes that at the Battle of Breed’s Hill, “The entire afternoon, Old Put could be seen riding through the American lines, both encouraging men along the front lines and attempting to goad stragglers back to Breed’s Hill. When the redcoats finally overran Prescott’s redoubt, General Putnam rallied his Connecticut regiment on Winter Hill.” In addition, Israel Putnam is credited with exhorting his troops, “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes.” Although, some historians credit Col. Prescott for this oft-quoted declaration.
After the Revolutionary War, Rufus Putnam settled in Rutland, Massachusetts. Putnam lived and worked on his 155 acre farm in the middle of the state. His General Rufus Putnam House in Rutland is not only on the National Registry of Historic Places, but is also currently a bed and breakfast. Good to know if you’re on a road trip to discover your Putnam roots.
Rufus Putnam led efforts to secure western lands for Revolutionary War veterans, including founding the Ohio Company. McCullough explains how central Putnam’s role was in convincing Washington to support efforts to settle Ohio, writing, “ ...at the war’s end, he had written a long letter to Washington about the posibilities represented by the Ohio country, knowing Washington as a young man had seen the wilderness first hand on surveying expeditions, and further Washington owned land there."
When the new US government passed the Northwest Ordinance in 1787, Putnam led a group of pioneers to settle the land that would become Ohio. In the winter of 1787-1788, the New Englanders, led by Putnam, traveled west by wagon until they came to the Ohio River. At Simerall’s Ferry, they built boats and made the rest of their journey to the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum rivers. There, they founded Adelphia. However, the same year they changed the settlement’s name to Marietta, in honor of Queen Marie Antoinette of France. This was a tip of the hat to France, who had aided the US in its fight against the British.
This land, which the settlers viewed as frontier, had been home to several Native American tribes for centuries. An exhibition at the Marietta College Legacy Library says, “When the New England pioneers arrived…they were greeted by 70 Delawares led by Captain Pipe. With the assurances of peace and friendships, the new settlers immediately began clearing trees, building shelters and surveying the land.” One panel of the Marietta exhibit also notes that “Rufus Putnam was the leading voice for efforts to coexist with Native Americans. These were not enough to prevent the outbreak of conflict.”
Fort Harmar provides proof that the settlers were not always well received by Native Americans, who felt their lands invaded by the newcomers. Built 1785 on the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers, it was intended to protect pioneers from the Indian tribes. It was abandoned in 1790, but not before being replaced by Campus Martius in Marietta. Rufus Putnam used his considerable talents building this fortification, completing the fort in 1791 at the start of the Northwest Indian War.
The peace between settlers and tribes did not last. While several tribes had agreed to share the territory, other tribes in the Western Confederacy did not, including the Shawnee, Lenape, Seneca, Miamis, and Potawatomis. In 1791, The US Army, led by Arthur St. Clair, went to war with the Western Confederacy. The Battle of Wabash was a disaster for the US forces. Of the 1000 US soldiers in the battle, only 24 escaped unharmed. The battle was dubbed “St. Clair’s Defeat”.
President Washington forced St. Clair to resign, recruiting Anthony Wayne to continue the war against the tribes in 1792-1793. Rufus Putnam served as brigadier general in Wayne’s Ohio Campaign, which ultimately defeated the tribes.
The Confederation and the US government signed the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, ending the Northwest Indian War. In the treaty, the defeated tribes were forced to cede extensive territory, including much of present-day Ohio.
Rufus Putnam sought to build a New England town in the new territory. He surveyed the land and laid out Marietta, naming its streets after Revolutionary War heroes. He built his own home, now known as The Rufus Putnam House. It is a historic building in Marietta, located within the current Campus Martius Museum.
In addition, Putnam brought his New England values to Ohio, stressing education. Although he lacked much formal schooling himself, he helped found the Muskingum Academy in 1797. In addition to basic education, the first school also offered classes in Greek, Latin, and the natural sciences. Rufus Putnam’s nephew, David Putnam Sr. (1769-1856), was first preceptor of the Muskingum Academy. In addition, Rufus Putnam and his partner in the Ohio Company, Manasseh Cutler, helped found Ohio University in Athens, Ohio in 1804. It was the very first institution of higher education in the Northwest Territory and coincidentally Robert McKellogg’s alma mater.
Putnam’s contributions to Marietta and Ohio are further cataloged by the The Marietta College Legacy Library, including that he “worked to establish a postal route in the Ohio Valley and was instrumental in settling the French immigrants at Gallipolis. In 1796 President Washington appointed Putnam Surveyor General of the Northwest Territory, a position he held until 1803.” The Rufus Putnam Papers at the Marietta Legacy Library contain correspondence, documenting his many accomplishments. And the Campus Martius Museum in Marietta features exhibits on Rufus Putnam’s role in the founding of Ohio.
Like many New Englanders, Rufus Putnam opposed slavery. When the Ordinance of 1787 was signed, it included democratic principles such as trial by jury, freedom of religion, and the prohibition of slavery. As a delegate at the Ohio Constitutional Convention in 1802, Rufus Putnam voted against slavery in a future Ohio. His friend and colleague, Ephraim Cutler, “argued forcefully for the complete exclusion of slavery from the state and finally managed to have his version of the article inserted in the state constitution by a majority of a single vote,” according to a Marietta College exhibit.
An article written in 1898, “Rufus Putnam, and His Pioneer Life in the Northwest,” goes farther in crediting Rufus Putnam for keeping slavery out of the Northwest Territory. It’s author Sidney Crawford writes, “it may be safely said, without detracting from the fame of anyone else, that the country owes its present escape from the bondage of African slavery more than to any other man. Had it not been for his providential leadership, and all that it involved, as is so tersely-written on the tablet in the Putnam Memorial at Rutland, "The United States of America would now be a great slaveholding empire." Presumably, Crawford’s thesis was that if Ohio and the future states carved out of the Northwest Territory, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin had become slave states, the national government in Washington D.C. would have been decisively controlled by representatives of the slave holding class.
Your Putnam relatives in the 19th century, including David Putnam Jr., were abolitionists and conductors in the Underground Railroad in Ohio. A blog on early Marietta life, says, “David, Jr. inherited the Putnam family's disdain for slavery. His father was opposed to slavery. Nancy Putnam Hollister, Marietta civic leader and a descendant of David's brother Douglas, observed that "All of the (Putnam) family members were really abolitionists.”
David Putnam Sr. built his home in Marietta in 1805. This Putnam House served as both a family home and as the first bank in the territory. His son, David Putnam Jr. (1808-1892) the abolitionist, used a nearby house to shelter slaves escaping from Virginia.
In 1803, Rufus Putnam lost his position as Surveyor General. He was a Federalist, and Jefferson sought to appoint a Democratic-Republican from his own party. Although he was no longer in favor with the new administration, he continued to be a revered founding father in Ohio. He lived until 1824. He passed away at age 86, and was buried in Marietta’s Mound Cemetery beside many of his fellow officers of the American Revolution who followed him to the West.
The McKellogg’s English - Puritan roots are long and deep in American history. John and Priscilla Putnam arrived in Salem, Massachusetts, only fourteen years after the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock. Not all the chapters of our Putnam family history were pretty, especially as perpetrators in the Salem Witch Trials. We admire our most famous family ancestor, Rufus Putnam, for the role he played in the American Revolution and the founding of Ohio. However, his legacy is complicated like many of our Founding Fathers. He participated in battles against Native tribes and our new nation's conquest of Indian lands; he also staunchly opposed slavery, insuring Ohio entered the nation as a free state. It was gratifying to find Putnam ancestors who were abolitionists and “conductors" on the Underground Railroad.
There are lots more Putnams to discover. For example, one late night PBS biography revealed a relative, George “GP” Putnam (1887- 1950), was married to Amelia Earhart. Sadly, he was widowed when her plane disappeared on her historic flight.
I’ve never confirmed Uncle Bob’s contention that our FitzGeralds are descendants of Irish kings and queens because they originally spelled their name with a big G and not a little one. I do know that when our west coast McKelloggs travel to Ohio, they enter the state as royal relatives of one Rufus Putnam.