Ephraim Cutler

Ephraim Cutler was born in Edgartown, Massachusetts, on December 13, 1767. His father was Manasseh Cutler, one of the original founders of the Ohio Company of Associates. Ephraim Cutler spent his early years training to become a lawyer. Although this was what he originally wanted to do, he quickly developed many other interests, including farming, ranching, storekeeping, and real estate speculation. During the early 1790's, he and his father sold half of the 1.5 million acres of land granted to the Ohio Company of Associates by the Confederation Congress. In 1795, he left Massachusetts and moved to Ohio, where he helped to establish Ames Township (modern-day Amesville) with Captain Benjamin Brown and Lt. George Ewing (Revolutionary War veterans).

In 1801, Cutler began his political career. Ohio voters selected him for the territorial legislature, and in 1803, he served as a delegate to the Ohio constitutional convention. He was only one of seven Federalist Party members chosen for the convention. The remaining twenty-eight representatives consisted of twenty-six Democratic-Republicans and two undecided delegates. He was one of the leaders in keeping slavery out of Ohio. He worked for the good of the common man.

In the early 1800's, Cutler was one of the first Ohioans to seek broader markets for the state's produce. He regularly sent herds of Ohio cattle eastward to Virginia. There, Cutler fattened the cattle up from their hard journey over the Appalachian Mountains and then sold them for a big profit in eastern cities. He continued to serve Ohio politically as a member of the state legislature.

At the age of 74, he crossed flooded rivers on horseback where it was necessary for the horse to swim against a rapidly moving current. He was an avid letter writer and his papers are kept in the Dawes Library of Marietta College.  He fought for state funding for canals and for a state school system. In 1825, due to Cutler's efforts, Ohio approved a property tax to finance public education. Also illustrating his support of education, Cutler became a charter member and first librarian of the Coonskin Library in 1804. He died at Constitution, Ohio, on July 8, 1853.

Cutler was instrumental in:

1) Writing the original Ohio Constitution.

2) Championing the successful arguments to forbid slavery in the first state to enter the union from the Northwest Territory.

3) Acquiring necessary funding for a fledgling Ohio University.

4) Leading the efforts that provided for public funding of education in 1821.

5) Establishing the first pike from Marietta to Athens through Ames Town.

6) Bringing the railroad through Athens.

7) Bringing the canal system finally to Athens.