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Melzar Nye was born March 11, 1785, in Warren Township, Litchfield County, Connecticut. The son of
Ebenzer Nye (1750-1823) and Desire Sawyer (1757-1800), Melzar had five brothers and one sister:
Lewis (m. Margaret Stewart), Nial (m1. Rhoda Smith; m2. Matilda Cooley), George (m. Lydia Gardner),
Nathan, Theodorus (m. Rebecca Varnum), and Sarah (m. Azariah Pratt). </p>
In 1790 the Nye family loaded goods onto wagons that were drawn by oxen and set out for the new
settlement at Marietta in what would later become the state of Ohio. At the headwaters of the Ohio River,
they built a boat and, along with the Shipman family, continued their journey by water, arriving in
Marietta just before the outbreak of the Indian wars of 1791 to 1795. During hostilities with the Indians,
the Nyes lived in the Campus Martius stockade, occupying the upper room in the northeast block house. </p>
When peace was made with the Indians in 1795, Ebenezer Nye moved his family up the Muskingum
River to start a farm on his donation lot in the Rainbow neighborhood (later the property of Thomas
Ridgeway). Melzar’s mother died in 1800, and in 1802, his father married Silence (Grant) Gardner,
formerly the wife of Benoni Gardner. </p>
After several years of helping his father with the farm, Melzar returned to Marietta, where he learned the
silversmith’s trade from his brother-in-law, Ezra Pratt. He soon had the opportunity to work with a
surveying party, and for awhile he lived in the vicinity of Zanesville, Muskingum County, Ohio, while
pursuing various types of work. </p>
Melzar Nye was married to Phebe Sprague in 1810, and the couple eventually returned to Rainbow to be
near his father, who died in 1823. In November of 1826, Melzar moved his family and household goods
by flatboat to Meigs County, Ohio, where he had purchased land from the heirs of Hamilton Kerr. There
he remained until his death on November 7, 1873. <a href="http://library.marietta.edu/spc/FindingAids/Nye_Melzar_Memoir.pdf">Finding Aid </a> |
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