Massie, Nathaniel, 1763-1813

Deputy surveyor of Ohio's Virginia Military District.

From the description of Nathaniel Massie papers, 1782-1852. (Rhinelander District Library). WorldCat record id: 17937230

From the description of Nathaniel Massie papers, 1782-1852 [microform]. (Rhinelander District Library). WorldCat record id: 47051097

Nathaniel Massie was a surveyor and land developer who helped to organize the Virginia Military District in Ohio in the years after the American Revolutionary War. William Lytle (WL) amassed a fortune surveying the Ohio lands granted to Revolutionary War veterans. Considered the first landed millionaire in the West, WL lost most of his money during a financial panic when western landowners could not pay their debts.

From the guide to the Nathaniel Massie Letter to William Lytle, 1802, (Ohio University)

Leader in early Ohio; on first Board of Trustees at Ohio University.

From the description of Letter [manuscript] 1802. (Ohio University). WorldCat record id: 12729414

Nathaniel Massie (1763-1813), son of Nathaniel and Elizabeth Watkins Massie, was born in Goochland County, Virginia. After the revolutionary war, he became a surveyor in Kentucky and Ohio. He settled Chillicothe, Ohio in 1796. As payment for his surveying, Massie received cash or a share in the land, and, more profitably, bought warrants outright. Between 1791 and 1801 Massie surveyed 708 tracts containing 750,000 acres. He married Susan Everard Meade in 1800; he ran for governor of Ohio and lost in 1807. For more biographical information see David Meade-Massie, Nathaniel Massie, A Pioneer of Ohio (Cincinnati: Robert Clarke Co., 1896).

Albion Throckmorton (1766-1804) was a cornet in Lee's legion in the revolutionary war and an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati. He married Mildred Washington in 1785.

From the description of Land grant: Northwest Territory, 1580 acres, 1804 October 9. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 122632314

Nathaniel Massie (1763-1813) was born in Goochland County, Virginia, on December 28, 1763. The son of a wealthy farmer, he served in teh Revolutionary War from 1780-1781, and moved to Kentucky in 1783 where he began his career as a surveyor and land speculator. He eventually settled in Ohio's Virginia Military District on lands set aside for Virginians who had served in the Revolutionary War. In 1786 he was a salt and fur trader in Kentucky.

Nathaniel Massie was already familiar with the area when Richard C. Anderson, surveyor in charge of the area, hired him as a deputy surveyor. Massie moved to Ohio in 1788, and founded Massie's Corner (Manchester) in 1790, the first permanent settlement in the Military lands. Massie founded the city of Chillicothe, Ohio, in 1796. He became a member of the Northwest Territorial Legislature in 1798. In 1807 he was defeated as a candidate for Ohio governor; however, he was declared elected and he refused to serve. Massie also led troops during the War of 1812.

Massie married Susan Meade of Kentucky in 1800. The couple had four children, including Henry Massie (1811-1862), a prominent lawyer and banker in Chillicothe and southern Ohio. Nathaniel Massie died on November 3, 1813.

From the guide to the Nathaniel Massie Papers, 1782-1852, (Western Reserve Historical Society)