Ebenezer Zane | |
|---|---|
| Member of theVirginia House of Delegates fromOhio County | |
| In office December 2, 1799 – 1800 Serving with Benjamin Biggs | |
| Preceded by | Archibald Woods |
| Succeeded by | William McKinley |
| In office May 5, 1783 – October 16, 1785 Serving with David Shepherd | |
| Preceded by | Andrew Robison |
| Succeeded by | David Bradford |
| In office May 1, 1780 – May 7, 1781 Serving with Samuel McCullouch | |
| Preceded by | Andrew Robison |
| Succeeded by | n/a |
| Personal details | |
| Born | October 7, 1747 Moorefield,Virginia,British America |
| Died | November 19, 1811(1811-11-19) (aged 64) Wheeling,Ohio County,Virginia,U.S. |
Ebenezer Zane (October 7, 1747 – November 19, 1811) was anAmerican pioneer, soldier, politician, road builder and land speculator. Born in theColony of Virginia (possibly near what becameMoorefield,West Virginia), Zane established a settlement nearFort Henry which becameWheeling (also in present-day West Virginia), on theOhio River. He also blazed an early road through theOhio Country to Limestone (nowMaysville, Kentucky) known asZane's Trace.[1]
Zane was one of six children born to William Andrew Zane and his wife, Nancy Ann Nolan (died 1764), who married at a Quaker meeting in Philadelphia in 1744 and soon emigrated from New Jersey to then vastAugusta County, Virginia. His ancestor Robert Zane had helpedWilliam Penn foundPhiladelphia.[2] Ebenezer had four brothers: Silas (1745-1785), Andrew (born 1749), Jonathan (born about 1750), and Isaac (1751-1816), as well as one sister,Elizabeth "Betty" (born 1759). His uncle Isaac had remained in Philadelphia, became a wealthy carpenter, and financed his son, also Isaac, to go to western Virginia and join his relatives. Complicating matters, native Americans captured William Zane and several of his young sons after they had begun to farm along the south branch of the Potomac River, and although some were eventually taken toDetroit and ransomed, his son Isaac remained a captive of theWyandot for more than a decade, married a native American, and would haveZanesfield, Ohio, named in his honor.[2]
Zane married Elizabeth McColloch or McCullough (October 30, 1748 – 1814).[3] They had eleven children, although several died as infants. Their first child was daughter Catherine (1769-1851), who married Absalom Martin (a government surveyor of theSeven Ranges who foundedMartins Ferry, Ohio, where Zane and several family members would be buried); Sarah (1773-1851) first marriedJohn McIntire (who helped his father-in-law create the Zane Trace discussed below, then foundedZanesville, Ohio, as well ashelped write the first Ohio Constitution).Noah (who like his father and cousin would serve in the Virginia General Assembly) was born October 25, 1778, and died in Wheeling in 1833. Rebecca (1776-1866) married John Clarke and became the longest lived sibling. Hester or Esther (1786-1854) married prominent politicianElijah Woods, who also helped write the Ohio Constitution. Daniel (1788-1860) became the longest living son, with his brother Jesse (b. 1790) dying young, and outliving John (1780-1805) as well as Samuel (1784-1854).[4] He was an ancestor of authorZane Grey, who was born in Zanesville.
To the distress of many settlers in western Virginia, the British agreed in the 1763 treaty ending the conflict to prohibit further settlement west of the Appalachian divide. Despite the treaty ban, Zane and his brothers Silas and Jonathan headed west from Moorefield (on the south branch of the Potomac River east of the Appalachian divide) across theAppalachian Mountains to theOhio River . At the conjunction of Wheeling Creek and the Ohio River, they began clearing land to farm, as well as established what later becameFort Henry in 1769. Initially, the fort constructed under the guidance of Major Angus McDonald to defend colonists against Native American raids was called "Fort Fincastle," reflecting another title of Virginia governorLord Dunmore.[2] In 1774, Zane began his formal military career under British rule, as a disbursing officer duringDunmore's War against Native Americans.
Zane later became a colonel in the Virginia militia and in 1776 renamed the fort afterPatrick Henry, who as a Virginia legislator and governor defended the interests of western Virginians. During theAmerican Revolutionary War, Zane's elder brother Capt. Silas Zane and his siblings defendedFort Henry against severalNative American attacks. The firstSiege of Fort Henry occurred in September 1777. Another thwarted attack occurred in the summer of 1782.[5] However, the most serious was thesiege in September 1782. His sisterElizabeth became celebrated for her courage in leaving the fort to retrieve a badly needed keg of gunpowder and sprinting back safely under a hail of gunfire.
Meanwhile, his nephewIsaac Zane Jr. (1766-1839), also emigrated from the Philadelphia area to Virginia and became a leading citizen ofFrederick County, Virginia, despite his Quaker faith, in part because his iron foundry which employed about 150 people and helped supply the westward trade.[6]
Both Isaac Zane Jr. and Ebenezer Zane became politically active, and represented the interests of northwestern Virginia in the Virginia Revolutionary Conventions and later in the Virginia House of Delegates. Ohio County voters also elected Ebenezer Zane several times as one of their representatives in the Virginia House of Delegates, but the district briefly changed intoYohogenia County (with different boundaries in 1781-1782). In 1788, Ohio County voters also elected Ebenezer Zane as one of their delegates to theVirginia Ratifying Convention, where he and voted in favor of ratification of theUnited States Constitution. However, the 1799 election was very close, and a court challenge unseated Zane and Benjamin Biggs in favor of one of the incumbents, William McKinley and John Morgan.[7]
Following the war, in May 1796, Zane obtained permission and funds from theUnited States Congress to build a road through theNorthwest Territory. In exchange for his work (and that of his brother Jonathan, son-in-law John McIntyre and native guide Tomepomehala), Congress granted Zane three large tracts of land—where the road crossed theMuskingum,Hocking, andScioto rivers. His assistants would receive the land which becameZanesville, and the others becameLancaster and oppositeChillicothe.[8]
When Zane's Trace was completed, it crossed what is now the state ofOhio from Wheeling, Virginia, toMaysville,Kentucky. Although the road was a rudimentary path and at first suitable only for travel by foot or horseback (not by wagon), the state of Ohio undertook improvements in the early 19th century. It was the only major road in Ohio until the War of 1812.
Zane died in November 1811, and was buried in Martin's Ferry, Ohio. Although Quakers by that time were forbidden to own slaves, Zane owned ten enslaved people in the 1810 census,[9] and his will written the previous month gave his widow Elizabeth the choice of two slaves, among other provisions for her. Zane also divided his land in and near Wheeling (in Ohio County, Virginia,an Ohio River island andBelmont County, Ohio) among his sons Noah and Daniel, as well as finished his transfers to his son-in-law Jacob Burkett, and directed that his land inFairfield County, Ohio, be sold and the proceeds held for the benefit of his daughters Rebecca Clark and Esther Woods, and with his son Samuel Zane receiving land inWood County, Virginia, as well as Belmont County, Ohio.[10] Elizabeth McCullough's will manumitted the slaves she owned, and bequeathed the ferries that her family had established to sons Noah and Daniel.[2]Zanesville, Ohio, was named in his honor.
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