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being signed by Governor Pownal of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay. The com mission mentioned above is in the library of the college at Marietta, as is also some seventeen others, bearing dates all the way from 1760 to 1796, when President Wash ington commissioned him as Surveyor-Gen eral of the United States. He was selected in 1772 as one of a committee to explore the

lands in the south which had been granted to the Pro vincial troops, and proceeded to perform that duty; but was not allowed to carry it through to the end, as orders came from King George III that no more lands were to be granted, and thus ended the labors of that committee. This order by King George caused great dissatisfaction, and a few years after, when the storm came, the fact that such an order had been issued aided greatly in gaining troops for General Washington's army. Judge Putnam was RUFUS P. one of the first to tender his services to his country when the time came for action; he was ap pointed lieutenant-colonel of Colonel David Brewer's regiment. Although he made no pretense of being an engineer, the fact be came known that he had worked as a me chanic under British engineers during the war with France, and he was called upon to con struct the fortifications around Boston. Judge Putnam received several very commendatory letters from General Washington, and was considered the only man in the whole coun

try, at that time, able to plan and construct the needed fortifications in and around Bos ton. When the "Ohio Company" was formed and Congress had made the great Northwest Territory free to all Americans, Judge Putnam's name became so indissolubly connected therewith that it will remain so for all time. He had full charge of all the business of the Ohio Company relative to the settlement of that company's lands. He was made a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, the first court to be organized within the territory, and was also made one of the three judges in the territory. Afterwards he was made Survey or-General of the United States. In 1792 he was made a brigadier general in the regular army by General Washington. He served as a mem ber of the Constitutionial Convention of 1802. He was a con sistent Christian, be ing a member of the Congregational church all his life. RANNEY. No man was, or could have been, better qualified to under take the arduous task of a leader in the great work of opening for settlement a new country, than was Judge Putnam. Starting at the very bottom, he, by native force of character, ascended to a height where few will reach, and be it said to the credit of those who labored with him that none seemed to envy, but all to rejoice at his suc cess. So deeply did he impress himself upon the Northwest Territory, that so long as histories are printed and read, just so