Zane, Ebenezer

Zane, Ebenezer, 1747–1811, American pioneer and land speculator, b. near what is now Moorefield, W.Va. (then Virginia). With his brothers Silas and Jonathan, he went west in 1769 and established the settlement at Wheeling, of which he became the leader. The Zanes distinguished themselves in warfare with the Native Americans in the American Revolution, defending Fort Henry in the Wheeling region from attacks in 1777 and 1782. It was in one of these attacks that a sister, Elizabeth, or Betty, Zane, is supposed to have displayed great heroism under fire. In 1796, Ebenezer obtained from Congress permission to blaze a trail through Ohio to Kentucky. With Jonathan Zane and John McIntire (Ebenezer's son-in-law), he opened the famous Zane's Trace from Wheeling to Maysville, Ky., and started settlements along the trace. In 1799, McIntire and Jonathan Zane began the settlement of Zanesville, Ohio.