Samuel Prescott Hildreth

Samuel P. Hildreth marker at Mound Cemetery (Marietta, Ohio)

Samuel Prescott Hildreth (1783–1863) was a pioneer medical doctor, scientist, and historian, writing numerous scientific and historical works. His history books are largely based on first-person accounts and primary documents, providing insight into the early settlement of Marietta, Ohio, and the Northwest Territory and the lives of early pioneers.

Early life Samuel Prescott Hildreth was born in Methuen, Massachusetts, on September 30, 1783. His father, Dr. Samuel Hildreth of Massachusetts, was a physician with a regiment of volunteers during the American Revolutionary War, served as surgeon aboard a privateer, and became a prisoner-of-war. Samuel Prescott Hildreth was educated at the Phillips Academy at Andover, Massachusetts. He began medical studies under his father, completed studies under care of Dr. Thomas Kittredge of Andover, and received his diploma in 1805 after examination by the Massachusetts Medical Society. He subsequently practiced medicine in Hampstead, New Hampshire, until relocating to Ohio in 1806.

Massachusetts to Ohio His father, Samuel Hildreth, was a shareholder in the Ohio Company of Associates, and had considered moving to Ohio. Since he was a boy, Samuel Prescott Hildreth had a desire to see the Ohio Country; he acted on his desire at the age of 23, traveling by horseback to Marietta, Ohio, during September and October 1806. He spent about nine weeks in Marietta, then traveled 15 miles down the Ohio River to Belpre, Ohio. In August 1807 he married Ms. Rhoda Cook in Belpre. They permanently resettled to Marietta in March 1808. Subsequently, during 1810 and 1811, Dr. Samuel Prescott Hildreth served on the Ohio legislature. His father, Dr. Samuel Hildreth of Massachusetts, died while visiting him in Ohio during 1823 and was buried at Mound Cemetery in Marietta.

Career In Marietta, Samuel Prescott Hildreth served as the town's medical doctor and pursued the study of local history, botany, and geology. In addition to serving in the Ohio legislature, he also served on the Ohio Geologic Survey. Dr. Samuel Prescott Hildreth died in Marietta, Ohio, on July 24, 1863, and was buried at Mound Cemetery in Marietta, along with his father and with many Revolutionary War soldiers and founding pioneer settlers of Marietta and the Northwest Territory.

Education and honors Phillips Andover Academy. Massachusetts Medical Society, Medical diploma (1805). Elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1818. Ohio University, Honorary A.M. degree (1825). Medical Convention of Ohio, President (1839). Marietta College, Honorary Doctor of Laws degree (1859).

Scientific publications Hildreth was the author of numerous scientific publications. He was industrious, and provided many valuable contributions to medical journals from 1808 to 1825.

The first volume of Archaeologia Americana, published in 1820, contains important letters on objects of antiquarian interest in the vicinity of Marietta, Ohio, from Dr. Hildreth; and soon after he made repeated contributions to the American Antiquarian Society relating to kindred subjects.

He presented his scientific library and his collections in various departments of natural history, numbering about 4000 specimens, to Marietta College, Ohio, where they occupied a room known as the Hildreth Cabinet, and his manuscripts are known as the Samuel P. Hildreth Collection.

Historical publications Dr. Hildreth authored several books concerning the early days of Ohio and the Northwest Territory, including: Original Contributions to the 'American Pioneer''', J. S. Williams, Cincinnati, Ohio (1844). Pioneer History: Being an Account of the First Examinations of the Ohio Valley, and the Early Settlement of the Northwest Territory, H. W. Derby and Co., Cincinnati, Ohio (1848). Biographical and Historical Memoirs of the Early Pioneer Settlers of Ohio, H. W. Derby and Co., Cincinnati, Ohio (1852). Contributions to the Early History of the Northwest: including the Moravian Missions in Ohio, Poe and Hitchcock, Cincinnati, Ohio (1864). The book Pioneer History provides the early civil history of the Northwest Territory, while the Early Pioneer Settlers of Ohio provides biographies of the earliest settlers.