The Henry Fearing House

The Henry Fearing House

131 Gilman Avenue, Marietta, Ohio.

We will be open each Tuesday and Friday
10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Or you can schedule an appointment for the Fearing House at
740-516-2258 or wchs.ohio@gmail.com

Paul Fearing was born in Massachusetts in 1762. He was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa honorary society at Harvard and graduated in 1785. After 2 years experience reading law in Connecticut, he became a member of the bar there.

1788 - At the age of 25 Paul Fearing left New England by boat for Baltimore.He got a smallpox vaccine there, and because he was exposed, he decided to walk from there. He arrived in Marietta in June of 1788 just a few months after the original 48 settlers.

By September of 1788 he was the first prosecuting attorney in the Northwest Territory. He was unmarried and lived in one of the officer’s block house inside Fort Harmar at the mouth of the Muskingum River.

AND so began the true life stories of the Fearing family in Harmar, the beginning of a new town and a new county in a new state in the unspoiled wilderness of the Territory North and West of the Ohio River.

We will share these stories of the Fearing family, their influence in and contributions to Washington County, Ohio, and the United States; and the rich history of the Harmar, Ohio.

We have a hundred years of history to share between Paul’s arrival in 1788 and his son, Henry’s, death in 1894.

Learn of conflicts with Native American, devastating floods, epidemics, commercial activities, the heartbreak of the Civil War, and much more.

The Washington County Historical Society purchased the Fearing House in 1974. After extensive restoration, the museum opened in 1982. The Henry Fearing House Museum is a treasure of the Harmar Community.

Contact us at 740-516-2258. You may leave a message.
You can also email us at wchs.ohio@gmail.com.

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