Lyne Starling a towering figure in Columbus history

Frontier people in central Ohio were somewhat different than what we are today. Indeed, they resembled us, usually sounded like us, and even without regular bathing often smelled like us.

But they were smaller than us. The doorframes of colonial houses are so low many of us bang our heads on them. They are low because these people were shorter and more compact than we are. They were people with generally less formal education but with far more experience living off the land.

And then there was Lyne Starling.

Starling stood 6 feet 6 and was a man of lean, formidable strength. He was well-educated by private tutors in his home. He also had the remarkably good fortune to have helpful family and acquaintances. Not the least of his accomplishments was the founding with a few others of the capital city of Columbus.

He was born in 1784 as one of the six children of Major William Starling of western Virginia. The major had fought in the Revolution, married Susanna Lyne and moved with 37 slaves to Kentucky. Then part of Virginia, Kentucky soon became a territory in its own right.

In those days, the Ohio River Valley was a “dark and bloody ground.” It was savagely contested by the newcomers against Native Americans until Starling and his friends took Kentucky and made it their own. It was against this violent background that young Lyne Starling grew up and learned business methods along with classical literature.