Community view: Newport and a family history published
Many residents of Washington County know of its history. We know historical Marietta, Campus Martius, even Fort Harmar. For most of us, that is enough. A mere nodding acquaintance with Washington County’s rich heritage was not enough for two ladies. Marlene Morris of Cincinnati, and D.S. “Susy” Wetz of Marietta, found they wanted to know as much as they could about the early pioneers. They are direct descendants of the first families, especially the Greenes of Newport. The first real history bug bit the pair about January 2004, after a visit to the local cemeteries in West Virginia and in Newport. Family history told of a Greene family reunion that had been held at Newport in July 1908. Hundreds of descendants attended the reunion on the original homestead. Many photos were taken and have been preserved. More importantly, a reunion booklet was printed and given out at that reunion. Many of those booklets are around today. Many are in museums or in private collections and hold a welath of knowledge about early settlers. Now, Morris and Wetz have researched the Greene family all the way back to Europe, to the time of William the Conqueror, in 1066. The book “Shall We Gather at the River” gives fascinating details of the building of the Greene dynasty. As one reads through the first pages of the book, it reads like a medieval novel where the hero is always having to watch his back to keep away from the enemy. Maybe that was the way it was for the ancestors of the Washington County Greenes who came over to Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. There were some persecutions for them there. As the years passed, the descendants grew and scattered in New England. There they made homes for many years and many descendants still live in that area. The book takes on an adventurous tone when the first settlers came to Marietta. There are stories — written from original letters and notes — that tell just how it was to live in the blockhouses at Campus Martius, before the settlers could go out on their own to farm their property. The book is filled with profiles of early settlers along the Ohio River from Belpre to the New Matamoras area. Records of the first courts and how they were set up are most interesting. Across the Ohio River, some pioneers had built cabins, and put in crops. There were no permanent settlers on the Ohio side of the river until a group of men founded the town of Marietta. That first year, Marietta’s population was 137 in 1788. From there, the settlers poured into the rich new country. The book is chock full of vignettes of life in the area. It is what Morris and Wetz had planned when they collaborated on the book. Morris gives Susie Wetz all the credit for the deep research, saying she worked very hard on the contents. Morris put together the information in a timely and readable manner. The book is on sale at Oopsa Daisy Florist in Newport or can be ordered from Marlene Morris, 9555 Heather Court, Cincinnati, Ohio 45242-6021. The book and all the research, the fact-finding, leads up to a grand day planned for 2008. The Greene descendants will host a reunion on July 25 through July 27 of that year to celebrate the past 100 years since the reunion in 1908. All plans are not made for that big day as of yet. When they are ready, all of Washington County is sure to know of it. In retrospect, just about every person in the county probably has a tie to one of those hardy pioneers.
Maxine Payne reports on Eastern Washington County. Her column, Community View, appears on Saturdays on the Neighborhoods page.
