Oliver Putnam

Limited information exists on the life of Oliver Putnam (1777-1826). What is known is that Putnam was born in Newberry, Massachusetts, in November of 1777. He was the son of a blacksmith, who also bore the name Oliver Putnam. Through his early commercial speculations, the younger Putnam gained financial independence at an early age and had the chance to travel widely across both America and Europe. He apparently did not have fixed employment, but he did at one point write for the United States Literary Gazette. Putnam’s first work was initially published anonymously as Summary of the Practical Principles of Political Economy in 1826, but it was later expanded upon and published posthumously as Tracts on Sundry Topics of Political Economy in 1834, with the later edition bearing Oliver Putnam’s name. Upon Putnam’s death on July 11, 1826, at the rather young age of forty-nine, he left part of his estate and sizable fund of $50,000 to establish the Putnam Free School at Newberry. This would be a public school devoted to the instruction of English.