Washington County
Ohio Genealogy Trails
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Washington County
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Captain Jonathan Devoll
CAPTAIN DEVOLL, when a young man acquired the trade of Ship Carpenter and in later years became quite noted in the construction of boats, ships and mills. He volunteered at the beginning of the revolution, in 1775, as first Lieutenant and Adjutant of the regiment. In 1777 he resigned because superceded in promotion of Adjutant of Second regiment to the office of Brigade Major. In 1776 he performed a very brilliant exploit in capturing a British Brig in Newport harbor and the following year captured a band of Tories near the same locality. He joined the Ohio Company in 1787 and was one of the first forty-eight pioneers who arrived at Marietta, April 7th, 1788. During the winter he had superintended the construction of boats at Sumrills Ferry.
He was chiefly engaged during the summers of 1788-9 in building Campus Martins and removed with his family to Belpre in February 1790. At the breaking out of the Indian war in 1791 he superintended the construction of Farmers Castle, and built the Floating Mill at Belpre, in 1791. In 1797 he removed to a farm on Wiseman's bottom, on the Muskingum, five miles above Marietta. Here the next year he built a floating mill where he did custom grinding for the farmers on the Ohio and Muskingum rivers. In 1801 he built a ship of four hundred tons for B. I. Gilman, Esquire, a merchant of Marietta. The timber of this vessel was wholly of Black Walnut from the valley of the Muskingum for which river the ship was named. In 1802 he built the schooner Nonpareil. In 1807 he built a large frame flouring mill on the spot where the floating mill was moored. The water wheel was forty feet in diameter, the largest seen at that day west of the mountains. During all these days he improved his farm, planting fruit trees and making his home pleasant and comfortable. In 1809 he purchased and put in operation ma chinery for carding sheeps wool which had now become so abundant as to need something more than hand cards, as farmers were already owning flocks of sheep. In 1808 he erected works for dressing and fulling cloth both of which operations are believed to have been the first ever carried on in this part of Ohio, if not in the whole state. He may be called the Master mechanic of the settlers. He died, during the epidemic fever which prevailed, in 1823, aged
64.Source: A History of Belpre, Washington County, Ohio, by C. E. Dickinson, 1920, Transcribed by C. Anthony
