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Notable people · Pioneer · Surveyor

Lucas Sullivant

Surveyor who laid out Franklinton in August 1797, the settlement across the Scioto from what became Columbus. At his death he owned nearly 40,000 acres in Ohio.

Lucas Sullivant
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At a glance

Born
1765-09-22
Died
1823-08-08
Known as
Pioneer, Surveyor

Life story

Lucas Sullivant was born in 1765 in Mecklenburg County, Virginia. After his father died and his mother in 1781, he went to Kentucky at 18 and apprenticed as a surveyor.

In 1795, after the Treaty of Greenville, he began surveying the Virginia Military District between the Scioto and Little Miami. In August 1797 he founded Franklinton, named for Benjamin Franklin, on the west bank of the Scioto, and moved it to higher ground in 1798 after a flood.

He married Sarah Starling in 1801. He was Franklin County's first clerk of courts (1803) and first recorder (1804), and he helped win the 1812 deal that brought the state capital to Columbus across the river.

He got the right to build the first bridge between Franklinton and Columbus in 1815. Sarah died in 1814 and he died in 1823; both are buried at Green Lawn. His son William became a noted botanist who studied mosses.

Timeline

  • 1765-09-22: Born (Mecklenburg County, VA) source
  • 1795: Begins surveying the Virginia Military District (central Ohio) source
  • 1797-08: Founds Franklinton (Columbus, OH) source
  • 1798: Moves the flooded settlement to higher ground (Franklinton, OH) source
  • 1801: Marries Sarah Starling (Franklinton, OH) source
  • 1803: First Clerk of Courts, Franklin County (Franklinton, OH) source
  • 1812-02-14: Legislature accepts the Columbus land offer (Chillicothe, OH) source
  • 1823-08-08: Dies (Franklinton, OH) source

What Lucas is known for

  • Founded Franklinton 1797
  • Franklinton (1797)
  • Sullivant Land Office (c. 1822)
  • Franklin Bank (president)

Honors and things named for them

  • Sullivant Avenue, Columbus
  • Hilltop neighborhood, formerly Sullivant's Hill
  • Bronze statue, Genoa Park, Columbus (2000)

Family

  • wife: Sarah Starling Sullivant
  • son: William Starling Sullivant

Places in Ohio to see

Ohio places

Where Lucas Sullivant was born, lived, worked and is remembered, with the ZIP code, town and county pages for each.

Further reading

Sources

Confidence. Medium: the main facts were confirmed, but some details (often an address or ZIP code) were not.

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