From: Henry Burke Abolitionists David Putnam Jr. David Putnam Jr. was born May 17, 1808, in Harmar, in the house standing at 519 Fort Street, Marietta, Ohio. He was the son of David Putnam Sr. and Elizabeth (Perkins) Putnam. He was the grandson of Col. Israel Putnam and the great-grandson of General Israel Putnam (1718-90), the American Revolutionary soldier who left his plow inthe field to go and fight in the battles of Lexington and Concord at the beginning of the American Revolution. David Putnam Jr. was also a relative of Brigadier General Rufus Putnam, the Revolutionary War soldier that led the first party of officially authorized settlers down the Ohio River to establish the first American authorized settlement west of the Original Thirteen States, in the Northwest Territory in 1788. David Putnam Jr. was 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 built his home above the Harmar Cemetery on the west side of the Washington Street Bridge, in Marietta, Ohio. There he raised his family amidst his, not so secret, activity with the Underground Railroad.. While he didn't often keep slaves at his home , he was forced, upon occasional circumstances, to hide fugitive slaves in his abode David Putnam Jr. acquired his antislavery sentiments while growing up across the Ohio River from Wood County, Virginia, part of the "Old Dominion" where slavery was not only legal, but thought of as normal. Both the south side, Virginia, and the north side, Ohio, of the Mid-Ohio River Valley developed around the same time, but people of opposing political views had settled 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 precisely the right family clout, to lead the antislavery operation called the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad and David Putnam Jr. literally grew up together. As a young man, David became aquatinted with some of the slaves from Wood County, Virginia, and he listened to their fears of being - "sold down the river" - to plantations in the Deep South. By the time he was a teenager he had decided that he would fight slavery. When I use the word fight, I mean it literally. David Putnam grew up to be a tall muscular fellow that was equally comfortable settling things peacefully or his with bare knuckles. He would let his opponents "choose their own poison", but he would not compromise his principles. In December of 1845, he wrote in a letter to be delivered by William P. Cutle, to Mr. Guthrie in Columbus, Ohio: " If we cannot catch the kidnappers, the devil will!"; the kidnapers of course were bounty hunters in pursuit of fugitive slaves. The Putnam family was naturally among the highest social and political class of early settlers in Ohio, so David was able to use his heritage to the advantage of every fugitive slave that sought his assistance. David frequently corresponded with the other Underground Railroad operatives locally and across Ohio. David Putnam was a merchant in good standing in Marietta, and had many supporters who came to his defense on several occasions when he was besieged by proslavery advocates. David Putnam's example was a credit to America and the whole human race! He lived to see the collapse of the slavocracy in the South a quarter of a century before died on January 7, 1892. He rests in the Harmar Cemetery right below the former site of his dwelling. Henry R. Burke burkeh@mcnet.marietta.edu URL: http://www.marietta.edu/~burkeh