The  boat  landed  them  at  Farmer's  Castle,  and  their  next  at
tempt  to  reach  Marietta  proved  more  fortunate,  taking  with
them  an  experienced  canoeman.  When  we  consider  the  rare
occurrence  of  a  flat  boat  at  this  particular  juncture,  when  so
few  were  found  upon  the  river,  with  every  thing  on  board  to
make  the  shiverers  comfortable;  and  that  there  was  no  house
between  Belpre  and  Marietta  where  they  could  have  received
assistance;  and  their  being  enabled  to  reach  the  shore,  all  of
them  in  safety,  under  such  hopeless  and  discouraging  circum
stances;  the  whole  affair  may  be  viewed  as  one  of  those  plain
and  manifest  interpositions  of  Providence,  in  overruling  and
guiding  the  destinies  of  man  while  a  sojourner  in  this  change
able  and  ever  varying  world.
On  the  28th  of  November,  1795,  Mr.  Fearing  was  married
to  Miss  Cynthia  Rouse,  in  his  own  house,  at  Marietta.  The
ordinance  was  performed  by  the  Honorable  Joseph  Oilman,
one  of  the  Judges  of  the  Territory — previous  notice  having
been  given  by  publishing,  or  posting  the  bans  of  marriage  on
the  liberty  pole,  or  flag  staff  of  Farmer's  Castle,  where  the
parents  of  his  wife  then  resided.  Marriages  were  rare  in
those  days;  and  there  being  no  meeting  houses,  nor  clerk's
offices,  the  most  ready  mode  was  to  give  notice  at  the  most
public  place;  and  in  Farmer's  Castle  this  was  the  liberty  pole,
the  spot  where  the  whole  male  population  assembled  every
day  at  roll  call — for  the  government,  in  those  dangerous
times,  was  altogether  military.  The  fruits  of  this  marriage
were  a  daughter  and  two  sons.
