Ebenezer Zane

Ebenezer Zane (born October 7, 1747 in Moorefield, † 1811 ) was an American pioneer, road builder and property speculator.

Life

Zane was born in what is now Moorefield , Colony of Virginia, as one of six children. He was the founding father of a settlement on the Ohio River near Wheeling that came to be known as Fort Henry . Ebenezer Zane married Elizabeth McColloch (1748-1814) and had 10 children with her. Some of them helped write the first Ohio constitution . He died of jaundice in 1811. His great-grandson was the famous western writer Zane Gray .

Honors

• The city of Zanesville was named after him in his honor.
• Beginning in 1796, Zane received funding from the United States Congress to build a road through the Northwest Territory. He received land for it. This route became known as Zane's Trace. Later completed it crossed the state of Ohio to Wheeling in Virginia and Maysville in Kentucky .

Individual evidence

• CML Wiseman: Pioneer Period and Pioneer People of Fairfield County . FJ Heer Printing Co, 1901.
• Ohio History Central