Arthur St. Clair, Governor of the Northwest Territory, warned friends in Congress that the frontier settlers of Ohio were too indigent and ignorant to form a constitution and government for themselves. This is the story of the men who proved him wrong. The author describes the beginning of Ohio through the lives of its founding fathers. Founding fathers include the thirty-five delegates to the convention held in Chillicothe in November, 1802, which decided that Ohio should become a state and then drafted its first constitution, as well as twenty additional men whose activities before and after the convention round out the story of the state's beginning. Revolutionary War veterans, Indian fighters, eastern aristocrats, Appalachian mountain men, and immigrants from Scotland, Ireland, and England combined their talents to lay the foundation for one of the greatest states in the nation.

During the Revolutionary War, Rufus Putnam served as the Continental Army's chief military engineer. As designer and supervisor of the construction of major fortifications, his contribution helped American forces drive the British Army from Boston and protect the Hudson River. Several years after the War, Putnam personally founded the first permanent American settlement in the Northwest Territory at Marietta, Ohio. Putnam's influence and vote prevented the introduction of slavery in Ohio, leading the way for Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin to enter the U.S. as free states. This first full-length biography in more than 130 years covers his wartime service and long public career.

In 1796, several Welsh families fled their homeland to start new lives in America. Theophilus Rees and Thomas Philipps are considered the founding fathers of the Welsh Hills. In 1801, after residing for a few years in Pennsylvania, Rees and Philipps purchased about 2,000 acres of land in Licking County, Ohio. This area is known as the Welsh Hills. Soon they were joined by other families with the last names Thomas, Lewis, James, Johnson, Griffiths, Evans, Jones, Davis, Williams, Owens, Price, King, Cramer, Shadwick, Pugh, White, and Hankinson. Their descendants still reside in and around the Welsh Hills. The Welsh Hills is predominately located in Granville and Newark townships, but a small portion is also located in McKean and Newton townships. This fertile land with hills and valleys and an abundance of timber and natural springs enticed these families to make their permanent home the Welsh Hills.