Harper's Encyclopedia of United States History
Benson Lossing, Ed.

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Cutler, Manasseh 1742-1823

Clergyman; born in Killingly, Conn., May 3, 1742; graduated at Yale College in 1765; studied theology; was ordained in 1771; was a chaplain of a regiment in the army in 1776; became an excellent botanist; and gave the first scientific description of the plants of New England. As agent for the Ohio Company in 1787, he bought 1,500,000 acres of land northwest of the Ohio, and started the first company of emigrants to that region, who founded the town of Marietta in April, 1787. He travelled thither in a “sulky” (a two-wheeled, oneseated carriage), 750 miles in twenty-nine days. He was a member of Congress in 1800-4. He died in Hamilton, Mass., July 28, 1823.