Portrait of Abner Putnam Pinney

This portrait of Abner Putnam Pinney (1779-1869), made with crayon (as chalk was called in the period), was made by an unknown artist, likely in the 1830s. The picture has a companion portrait of Pinney's wife, Polly Morrison Pinney; both are displayed at the Worthington Historical Society's museum, the Orange Johnson House.

A. P. "Putnam" Pinney was born in Simsbury, Connecticut to parents Captain Abner and Ruth Gillett Pinney. He made the journey to Worthington in the spring of 1803 at age 24 as part of advanced party for the Scioto Company that settled here. He and his younger brother, Levi, were each married on February 10th, 1804 in Worthington's first wedding ceremony, a double ceremony. Abner Pinney married Polly Morrison, daughter of Scioto Company member Alexander Morrison and wife Mehitable Hall Morrison. The Pinneys settled on a farm northwest of Worthington, in what would become Liberty Township,where they raised eight children. Pinney served as a Captain of the militia and fought in the War of 1812. In 1829 they returned to Worthington, and in 1835 when Worthington was incorporated, Pinney served as the first town marshal. Late in life they resided with their daughter, Florina Brooks, on a farm north of Dublin, Ohio.