Frederick J. Cutter was born October 10, 1839, in Watertown Township, Washington County, Ohio, the son of Lewis J. Cutter and Eve Wagner Cutter. His family moved to Union (now Muskingum) Township in 1842, and Fred helped on the family farm until 1854, when he obtained a job driving a team for the Marietta & Cincinnati Railroad, just below Harmar."There was no more intelligent, better educated and more cultured farming community in the State of Ohio than this one in the vicinity of Constitution."
In 1855 William P. Cutler hired Fred to work on his large farm at Constitution, and while there, he was able to attend school during the winter months. In 1859 he went to Cincinnati, where he worked in a variety of positions and attended several schools. He returned to Washington County in 1865, and with the advice and assistance of William P. Cutler, entered Marietta College, graduating in 1868.
After a few years of teaching and farming, Cutter studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1875. He practiced law in Washington County and served as a probate judge for many years. In 1889 he was elected to the 69th General Assembly of Ohio.
Frederick J. Cutter married Marguerite Henton Carter in New York, March 23, 1887. The couple had one child, Frederick Carter Cutter, born in Marietta in 1888. Frederick J. Cutter died in Marietta, November 20, 1911.
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| Frederick J. Cutter. Portrait from History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens, by M. R. Andrews (1902) |
In his later years, Fred Cutter reminisced about the time he lived on the Cutler farm at Constitution in the 1850s. He described the Cutler farm of those days and noted how many changes had occurred in the neighborhood by the earliest years of the twentieth century. His observations were published in a Marietta newspaper in 1905:
"On September 25th, 1855, just fifty years ago yesterday, I engaged with the late Hon. William P. Cutler on his farm at Constitution and continued in his employment until December 1859, when I went to Cincinnati to enter a commercial school. The first winter I was at Cutler's I did not attend school, as I had work enough to keep me busy, but the next three winters I attended school, doing chores morning and evening to pay for my board. The first winter a Mrs. Julia Lyons was the teacher and the next two Miss Susan Daniels taught. Miss Daniels is still engaged in teaching in the West Side schools of this city.
"During these fifty years I have been in that neighborhood every year, either socially or on business, with the exception of one, 1860, my first year at Cincinnati. I have thus been enabled to observe the changes that have taken place in regard to the people of that community during that period.
"At the time I left there I practically knew every family up to Moore's Junction, back to Tunnel, Fleming and on Hocking, and for about three miles below Constitution. I have many pleasant recollections of the people of that community, whom I learned to know so well and favorably during my stay of four years among them. The fifty years that have passed have wrought wonderful changes there. Only one or two of those who were married and lived there fifty years ago are there today, and but few of their descendants remain in that neighborhood.
"When I entered the employment of Mr. Cutler, he lived in the large stone house on the river bank, just down from the station, and which was known as the Cutler homestead. This house was built by Mr. Cutler's father, Judge Ephraim Cuter, in 1808-09. A few years after Mr. Cutler sold the property, the house was taken down, I think by H. Lyman Hart, and there is nothing left to mark the place of this once noted and beautiful home except two lonely cedar trees that stood in the front yard, and I think the old well that was near the kitchen door is still there.
"The plot of ground adjoining the house, where was kept a beautiful flower garden, in which the ladies of the house took so much pleasure and pride, is now a part of a cultivated field. Not a tree is left of the large apple orchard that extended back from the garden to nearly the foot of the hill, and from which many bushels of apples were gathered each year. My first day's work was picking apples in this orchard. The trees were quite large and bore large quantities of apples. One year I gathered eleven barrels full from one tree.
"When I went to the Cutler home the family consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Cutler, their daughter Annie, aged about two years, his sister Miss Julia P. Cutler, and his niece, Miss Kate L. Dawes, a sister of the late General R. R. Dawes. Of this number, but one remains, Mrs. Cutler, who lives with her daughter, Miss Sarah, on Fifth Street.
"At that time Mr. Cutler's brother-in-law, the Reverend James S. Walton, who was then the pastor of the Warren Presbyterian church, also lived on the Cutler farm in a house which stood near the present house on the knoll, just below the station. About 1857 or 58, Mr. Walton moved to Pana, Illinois, with his family, where he and his wife (nee Cutler) spent the remainder of their years. The only one of this family now living, so far as I know, is a son, James P. Walton, who lives at Lincoln, Nebraska, and who was my room-mate during my three years in college. He was a member of the class of '69, but did not complete his senior year.
"The nearest neighbor to the Cutler home was William D. Bailey. Of this family, none remain in the neighborhood. His widow lived in this city with her two daughters, Ella F. and Lucy D. His son, Charles Emerson Bailey lives in Minnesota. Of the George W. Bailey family, his widow and one of his daughters still live on the old homestead near the church.
"Of the Reverend Dyer Burgess family, none remain in the neighborhood. Mrs. Burgess' daughter, Mrs. Maggie Humiston (nee Voris) lives in Chicago, as does also her granddaughter, Mrs. Lizzie Cole (nee Poage).
"Mrs. Lucinda Reed and her two brothers, Wallace and Hiram, are the only ones of the James Harvey Deming family now living in that vicinity. The Joshua Shipman, Augustus S. Bailey and Bennett C. Bailey families moved to Kansas years ago, and none of their number live in the neighborhood.
"There were three Scott families, William, Josiah, and Moses, but none remain there. Of the William Scott family, one daughter, Mrs. E. R. O'Neal, lives at Belpre, and two, Miss Lucretia and Mrs. Andrew Hazelrigg, and their brother D. W. Scott, all reside in this city.
"None of the Charles Dickey family remain. His widow and one son live in the southern part of the state. None of the Joel Deming, Lewis Reppert, Blackington or Greenwood families remain, and only one or two of the Charles Cone family are in the neighborhood.
"None of the Henry H. Cole and Dean Briggs families, who lived just below Constitution, remain. Of the McClure family, William D. McClure and his sister, Miss Emeline, still reside on the old homestead, and another sister, Mrs. D. B. Calder, I think also lives near there. Of the Malcolm Blue family, Mrs. Blue, two sons, James and Sandy, and one daughter, Mrs. Hiram Deming, are in the neighborhood, and one son, Malcolm D., lives in this city. The Bickford, Hufford and Malcolm Cole families are all gone, and but one or two of the Charles Terrell family remain.
"Of the Joline P. Hopkins family, Leroy lives on the old homestead. Isaac H. at Vincent, and Mrs. Middleswart at Constitution. Farther down the creek were the homes of the Delanos, Ellenwoods, Hollisters and Smiths. In the neighborhood of Fleming were the Flemmings, Roes, Canfields and Christophers. At Tunnel the Fosters, Perdews, Zearings and Skiptons, but in none of these neighborhoods have the changes been as marked as along the river.
"In the spring of1856 my brother William engaged with Dr. Burgess and lived with him until August 1861, when he enlisted in the army under Captain W. B. Mason, in Company B, 77th O.V.I. In the spring of 1859 my brother George came to work for Mr. Cutler and remained with him until March 1863, when Mr. Cutler secured a position for him on the M. & C.R.R., now the B. & O.S.W., and he is still in the employment of that company, now over 42 years.
"There was no more intelligent, better educated and more cultured farming community in the State of Ohio than this one in the vicinity of Constitution. They were in every respect an up-to-date people. They kept well informed on current events of the day, and on all questions of importance, whether political, religious or otherwise. They were enterprising, energetic business men, and during my stay there, and for years prior thereto, Constitution Landing was one of the most important shipping points, outside the towns and cities, on the Ohio side of the river. Large quantities of farm products, grindstones, lumber and livestock were shipped from here every year until the railroad was built and in a great measure took over the business of transportation."
- F. J. Cutter
The Marietta Times, September 26, 1905
Sources
History of Marietta and Washington County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens, by Martin Register Andrews, published by Biographical Publishing Co., Chicago, 1902.
The Marietta Times, September 26, 1905.
