Little, Nathaniel W.

Nathaniel W. Little, a native of Blandford, Massachusetts, accompanied James Kilbourn on a journey to the Northwest Territory from August-September 1802. The men scouted lands for possible purchase and settlement in what is now central Ohio, working as agents of the troubled Scioto Company, which in the 1790s had sold several million acres that did not yet belong to them. In October 1802, Little and Kilbourn reported on their explorations to the company, which later purchased land around what is now Worthington, Ohio. Nathaniel Little settled there in 1803, and operated the town's first store with Nathan Stewart. He moved to Delaware, Ohio, in 1808. Little married Harriet Thompson (b. 1788) on April 12, 1809, and they had one son, Nathaniel William Little (b. 1811).

From the guide to the Nathaniel W. Little journal, Little, Nathaniel W. journal, 1802-1805, 1802, (William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan)