The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West

As the winter of 1788-1789 approached, provisions began to dwindle. Dean Tyler, who had offered housing to Ichabod Nye, purchased a flat boat and traveled to Pittsburgh for flour. However, the river froze and he was stuck there. Nye and those in Marietta were without bread. The settlers survived without flour and game in the woods until traffic on the river resumed. That spring brought not only food supplies but more people, including skilled laborers and women. A blacksmith provided essential services, fixing broken tools, traps, and looms.

Women, about whom less is written, performed multiple tasks, such as cooking, baking, cleaning, gardening, milking cows, churning butter, and making candles and soap. Lucy Backus Woodridge, who wrote letters home, did not complain of the burden. McCullough notes that everyone, including children, worked hard to survive, sowing and harvesting crops and clearing land. Nye, who was not well- suited to pioneer life, started patching shoes and would ultimately create Marietta’s first tannery.

Although the spring and summer of 1789 produced a bumper crop, two events that summer caused concern. A surveying party, led by John Matthews, on the lower part of the Ohio Company’s purchase lost two packhorses, carrying their provisions, and then another horse.