in Marietta, Ohio
The following information is extracted from a note to the Whipple Website from Linda Showalter (showaltl@marietta.edu) of Marietta College, 5 Apr 2000.
There is a small village near Marietta in Fearing Township, Washington County, Ohio, called Whipple in honor of Commodore Abraham Whipple. The story of its naming is found in History of Washington County, Ohio, published by H. Z. Williams & Bro., 1881, under the heading, "Commodore Whipple for Once Gets Too Much of the Water":
"In early days, it is said, Abraham Whipple and a party of surveyors, finding the stream too high to be crossed, felled a tree across it, and while using that for a foot log, the old sea captain fell in and nearly met his death. The unnamed stream was afterward described as the 'run Whipple fell in,' and this soon became condensed into 'Whipple's run.'"
Whipple's Run is a tributary of Duck Creek. The community of Whipple, which is located near the run, is very small with a population of about 100.
Abraham Whipple's gravestone, surrounded by a wrought-iron fence, is one of the most striking in Marietta's Mound Cemetery. It stands eleven feet high and is made of white American marble. According to a book entitled Mound Cemetery, Marietta, Ohio, by Owen Hawley (1996), the stone was designed and executed by James H. Lewis and Samuel S. McNaughton, and erected by Nahum Ward in 1859. (Ward was a very wealthy businessman and mayor of Marietta in the 19th century.) This monument replaced the stone slabs erected forty years earlier which had become broken and mutilated. An article in the Home News, 16 July 1859, stated that "The die which contains the lettering is two feet four inches high, and stands on a finely moulded base. A richly moulded cap surmounts the die, on which stands the obelisk. The lettering, carving and polishing are creditable to the taste and skill of Mr. McNaughton." In 1975, the original inscription, which was fading, was copied onto another face of the stone as part of a restoration project.
Photo courtesy
of Ralph W. Lange
(valnal@frontier.com)
Commodore Whipple