Display Patriot - P-274594 - Rufus PUTNAM

Rufus PUTNAM

SAR Patriot #: P-274594

The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
 

State of Service: MA      Qualifying Service: Brigadier General
DAR #: A092745

Birth: 09 Apr 1738 Sutton / Worchester / MA
Death: 04 May 1824 Marietta / Washington / OH

Qualifying Service Description:
  1. Col. Engineer, 05 Aug 1776
  2. Col. 5th MA, 1 Nov 1776
  3. LtCol, Col Brewer MA Regt, 19 May - December 1775
  4. LtCol.,22nd Continental Infantry, MA Troops, 1 Jan 1776
  5. BG, Continental Army, 07 January 1783to close of war

Additional References:
  1. V.R. Rutland, MA 121
  2. Heitman's Historical Register, pg 551
  3. Putnam, The Putnam Lineage, 1907 - pg 161-169
  4. MA Soldiers & Sailors, Vol 12, pg 875-876
  5. Heitman, F.B. - Hist Register of Officers of Continental Army, 1775-1783, pg 455
  6. Buell, Rowena - Memoirs of Rufus Putnam, etc by Natl Soc of Colonial Dames of America in State of OH, 1903, pg 99 & 102

Spouse: (1) Elizabeth Ayers; (2) Persis Rice
Children: Martha; Catharine; Persis; Susanna; Edwin; Abigail; William Rufus;
Members Who Share This Ancestor
Date Approved Society ACN SAR Member Info Lineage via Child View Application Detail
1969-03-06 KS Unassigned Adelbert Samuel Reece (97712) Susanna   
1971-07-12 KS Unassigned Michael Gordon Harper (100367) Susanna   
1974-08-30 IL Unassigned Andrew Lang Russel Jr (107188) Susanna   
1975-11-28 AZ Unassigned William R Sant (107815) Martha   
1976-08-12 IA Unassigned Francis Eugene Van Sant (109738) Martha   
1977-01-21 IL Unassigned Lawrence Edmund Sperry Jr (112427) Abigail   
2003-04-10 OR 15785 Keith Daniel Gillis (160103) Martha   
2019-02-22 IN 85360 Damian Charles Stanziano (210750) Susanna   
2022-04-15 MO 101731 Leonard Joseph Steinman II (222221) Susanna   
Burial:
Mound Cemetery (C-0371679)
Location:
Marietta / Washington / OH / USA
Find A Grave Cemetery #:
42224
Grave Plot #:
Grave GPS Coordinates:
n/a
Find A Grave Memorial #:
7001142
Marker Type:
large verticle monument with SAR marker
SAR Grave Dedication Date:
26 May 2016

Comments:

Directions to Cemetery / Gravesite:

Image provided with permission from Scott Baker, Find-A-Grave member # 48284125



Author: James Edward Mitchell
Biography [Rufus Putnam, Service State: Massachusetts, U.S., (Rpt. Yr. 1863) Adjutant Gen’l. Military Records, 1631-1976]

Putnam’s father was Elisha (1685 -1746) and mother, Susannah Fuller Putnam and Rufus was born in Sutton, Massachusetts on 9 Apr 1738 as partially recorded for a pension claim signed: Mrs. Edward Zempel at Lewistown, Illinois on Apr. 13, 1920. This claim was received at the Bureau of Pensions, Dept. of Interior, WDC and postmarked -Pension Office, Apr. 17, 1920. The Pension Office replied on May 4, that in response to her letter a search of the records, show 850 acres of bounty land were allowed on account of the service of Rufus Putnam as Brig. Gen. Massachusetts (State militia) troops on Warrant No. 1633, issued on Jan 29, 1790. Mrs. Zempel was notified in closing that in regard to Putnam and/or his family that there were no papers on file relative to said claim as they were (presumed) destroyed when the War Office was burned in 1800.
A canvass of Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the RevWar (Images Online) Vol 3, pg 755 revealed a descriptive list of enlisted men [that included “Barnabas Cole, Northampton”] from Hampshire Co., MA, for a term of 9 mos. from their arrival at Fishkill (NY) Jun 16, 1778; and, returned Jul 20, 1778 after term ended at Fishkill, signed by Col. Rufus Putnam.
Both searches, above, hint to the facts that Putnam entered the American Continental (Cont.) Regular Army as a Lieut. Col. commanded by Gen. George Washington. Putnam’s appointment as chief engineer of the Cont. Army was approved in 1776, while ordered to construct defensive positions north of Manhattan. He was commissioned later as a Colonel and commander of the 5th MA Regt. He served in the Saratoga campaign, and constructed defenses at West Point receiving a promotion to Brig. Gen. in 1783. Following the end of the American RevWar (1785) Congress appointed Rufus Putnam as surveyor of the western lands that included the Ohio _country.
By 1788, Putnam had assisted wealthy partners to form the Ohio (Land) Company, which arranged the purchase of over half a million acres within the Ohio Valley frontier. From this association, Putnam was credited with the survey and settlement of Marietta, Ohio at the mouth of the Muskingum River. In 1790 prior to the (Mar. 4, 1793) Second Inaugural Address of President Washington, Putnam was appointed by the U.S. Pres. as judge of the Northwest Territory.
Before 1792, Rufus Putnam was elevated in rank to Brig. Gen., and he concluded the Treaty of Vincennes with numerous important area Indian Tribes. Between 1796 and 1803, Putnam served officially as Surveyor Gen. of the U.S., and as a member of the Ohio Constitutional Convention held in 1802.
His first marriage to Elizabeth Ayres Putnam ended circa 1764, and she died in 1776. Rufus Putnam re-married (1765) Persis Rice Putnam and together they left behind seven children that would observe their father’s Muskingum, Will Records in Vol. D, 1804-1890; Probate Place: Muskingum, Ohio.
His remains are marked with a granite obelisk at The Mound Cemetery located upon 5th Street entrance from the intersection with Scammel Street in Marietta, Ohio, only a few blocks from the banks of the Muskingum River. A large SAR pole style lug appears adjacent to the obelisk located at Lat:39.419732 and Long: -81.452572
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