USA > Ohio > Wyandot County > Past and present of Wyandot County, Ohio; a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievemen, Vol. I > Part 1
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36
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PAST AND PRESENT
OF
WYANDOT COUNTY
OHIO
A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement
A. J. BAUGHMAN, Editor
ILLUSTRATED
VOLUME I
977.101 w97b
CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY V. I
1913
258170
PREFACE
To all who have aided us in any way in the preparation of this history, we wish to here express our thanks. The author does not flatter himself, nor does he cherish the presumption of claiming for this work any great degree of literary excel- lence or originality of style, but has written it in an unassum- ing way, that might be productive of a history that would be acceptable, comprehensive, impartial and useful. How far our efforts have been successful, we will leave the people of Wyandot county to judge.
A. J. BAUGHMAN.
MANSFIELD, Ohio, May 1, 1913.
PAST AND PRESENT OF WYANDOT COUNTY
WHEN OHIO BECAME A STATE
BY HON. RUSH R. SLOANE
In considering this question it is necessary to advert to the fact that, after the Declaration of Independence, Connecti- cut set up a claim to the north part of Ohio above latitude 41° north, and Virginia claimed Ohio below that line as being within the limits of her charter.
While these questions caused some discussion and negotia- tion, they were amicably settled, and on the 13th day of July, 1787, congress, assumed the jurisdiction of this territory, which included all the territory of the United States north- west of the Ohio river, and passed an ordinance for its gov- ernment. Virginia had reserved the land lying between the Scioto and Little Miami rivers and gave the same to her sol- diers of the Revolution, as a reward for their services. This was called the Virginia military tract. So congress laid off a tract for that purpose which lay south of New Connecticut, and extended from the Ohio river on the east, to the Scioto on the west. This was known as the United States Military tract. Congress gave to Connecticut what was called the Western Reserve or New Connecticut. It extended one hun- dred and twenty miles from east to west, and an average of fifty miles from north to south. Five hundred thousand acres of this tract, off from the west end, the state of Connecticut gave to sufferers by fire in the Revolutionary war. This land thus came to be called sufferers' land or Firelands, and is mostly included in the counties of Erie and Huron, a small part being in Ashland and Ottawa counties, and gives the name to the "Firelands Historical Society," of national repute.
This ordinance of 1787 constituted the Northwest Terri- tory a civil government with limited powers. It embraced within its boundaries the present states of Ohio, Indiana, Illi-
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PAST AND PRESENT OF WYANDOT COUNTY
nois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Whenever the Northwest Territory contained five thousand free male inhab- itants of full age it should elect a legislature and enact all laws, and under the fifth article of the ordinance this second grade of colonial government was to continue until that desig- nated part of the territory forming the state of Ohio, had the required population of 60,000, when they could call a conven- tion and frame a constitution preparatory to being admitted as a state into the Union. Early in 1802 a census was taken in the eastern division of the territory and it was found to contain 45,028 persons of both sexes. The ordinance of 1787 required sixty thousand inhabitants to entitle the district to become a state, and yet an application was then made to con- gress for a law empowering the inhabitants of that division to call a convention and form a constitution preparatory to the establishment of a state government. The law was passed and approved April 30, 1802, when the eastern district had only the population above stated. This, however, is not the only instance in which the provisions of the ordinance of 1787 have not been strictly observed and carried out by the con- gress of the United States. This has been notably so in reference to the requirements of the Fifth article, wherein it provided that "there shall be formed in the said territory not less than three nor more than five states." Yet congress formed out of the said Northwest Territory six states, as hereinbe- fore stated.
The doubt and uncertainty as to when Ohio became a state has arisen largely from the fact that congress desired and intended to impose conditions and restrictions, while profess- ing to admit the state on an equal footing with the original states. But, while the original states were subject to no re- strictions or limitation of power except those contained in the Federal constitution, by the enabling act of April 30, 1802, congress proposed the admission of Ohio as a state in the Fed- eral Union upon the acceptance of certain conditions, some of them of an oppressive character, degrading in their ten- dency, and injurious to the future prosperity of the people. One of them was that congress should have the right of dispos- ing of the jurisdiction of the territory north of the line east and west through the southern extreme of Lake Michigan as they might deem proper, although in express terms the ordi- nance declared that that territory should remain a part of
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PAST AND PRESENT OF WYANDOT COUNTY
the state formed on the south of it until its inhabitants amounted to sixty thousand.
Another condition was that each tract of land sold by con- gress from and after a certain date should be and remain exempt from any state, county, township or other tax what- ever for the term of five years from and after the date of sale.
The election was held, as provided in said enabling act, to choose the members of the constitutional convention to meet at Chillicothe on the first Monday of November, 1802, at which date the convention organized. It was in session until November 29th. It agreed upon the form of a state constitution and did not require its submission to a popular vote, as this was not required by the enabling act. The journal of the convention shows that a resolution was offered, that the constitution be submitted to the people for their adoption or rejection, and was lost by a vote of 27 to 7. The new con- stitution being adopted November 29, 1802, by the unanimous vote of the convention. At the same date at which the conven- tion adopted the constitution it also adopted an ordinance and resolution, to which special attention is called and which is hereafter given in full, and following the seventh section of the enabling act, which is also given in full, from which it will be observed that the conditions of congress in said enabling act were accepted by Ohio to become operative and binding, when congress should concede certain other conditions and additions to and modifications of the said propositions, and that said ordinance and resolution adopted by the convention imposed further obligations, which it was necessary for con- gress to grant and act upon. The act of February 19, 1803, did not grant these conditions and obligations; it only pro- vided for the due execution of the laws of the United States within the state of Ohio. We find by the journal of the con- vention that Thomas Worthington was authorized to carry the constitution and ordinance and resolution to congress, and to ask for the approval by congress of the constitution, with the amendments and changes proposed in the ordinance and resolution of November 29, 1802. This duty was performed, and Mr. Worthington went to Philadelphia and sent a letter to congress, which on the 23d of December, with all the papers, were duly referred to a special committee. This committee made no report until in February, 1803.
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PAST AND PRESENT OF WYANDOT COUNTY
Meanwhile the question was raised whether the delegate, Mr. Fearing, from the territory of Ohio, was longer entitled to his seat, as the Ohio convention had, on the 29th of Novem- ber, 1802, adopted a state constitution. On the last day of January, 1803, the house of representatives decided that Ohio was not yet a state, and that Mr. Fearing still held his place as delegate from the territory of Ohio.
Now, you must observe that the convention to form a new constitution did not accept the conditions desired by congress in the seventh section of the enabling act, but considered the people of the state as entitled to better terms, and that it was the duty of the convention to negotiate for better terms with congress, and which terms, as demanded in the ordinance and resolution of 1802, congress did afterwards grant. Mr. Wor- thington returned to Ohio, and the legislature convened on Tuesday, the first day of March, 1803, as stipulated in the state constitution, being assured that congress would grant exactly the terms as set forth in the aforesaid ordinance and resolution.
A reference to the act of congress of May 7, 1800; to the seventh section of the enabling act of April 30, 1802; to the act of congress approved March 3, 1803, and to the acts and ordinance and resolution of the convention of 1802 is ab- solutely necessary in deciding the question of date.
The act of 1800 set off that part of the Northwest Terri- tory now included in Ohio as a distinct territorial government, and the seat of government fixed at Chillicothe. The rest of the territory was organized as the territory of Indiana. The boundaries of Ohio are given, and it was called the eastern division. The ordinances of May, 1785, and July, 1787, were passed before settlements began north of the Ohio, and were held out to emigrants as inducements to settle in a wilderness, with all the dangers and hardships connected therewith. These ordinances declared that "the lot No. 16 in each township shall be given perpetually for the use of schools," and thus became a condition of the sale and settlement of the western country. This reservation of section 16 therefore could not, April 30, 1802, be made the consideration of a new bargain between the United States and the state of Ohio, because the state already had this reservation, as did all of the territory, by the ordi- nance of 1785.
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PAST AND PRESENT OF WYANDOT COUNTY
Now it is necessary to set forth section 7 of the said enab- ling act, approved April 30, 1802, which was in the words following:
"Section 7. That the following propositions be, and the same are hereby offered to the convention of the eastern state of the said territory, when formed, for their free acceptance or rejection; which if accepted by the convention, shall be obligatory upon the United States. First-That the section number sixteen, in every township, and where such section has been sold, granted or disposed of, other lands equivalent thereto, and most contiguous to the same, shall be granted to the inhabitants of such townships, for the use of schools. Sec- ond-That the six miles reservation, including the salt springs, commonly called the Scioto salt springs, the salt springs near the Muskingum river and in the Military tract, with the sec- tions of land which include the same, shall be granted to the said state, for the use of the people thereof, the same to be used under such terms, and conditions, and regulations as the legislature of the said state shall direct; provided, the said legislature shall never sell nor lease the same for a period longer than ten years. Third-That one-twentieth part of the net proceeds of the lands lying within the said state, sold by congress, from and after the thirtieth day of June next, after deducting all expenses incident to the same, shall be applied to the laying out, and making public roads leading from the navigable waters emptying into the Atlantic to the Ohio, to the said state and through the same, such roads to be laid out, under the authority of congress, with the consent of the several states through which the road shall pass; pro- vided, always, that the three foregoing propositions herein offered, are on the conditions, that the convention of the said state, shall provide by an ordinance, irrevocable without the consent of the United States, that every and each tract of land, sold by congress from and after the thirtieth day of June next, shall be and remain exempt from any tax laid by order or under authority of the state, whether for state, county, township or any other purpose whatever for the term of five years, from and after the day of sale." (Approved April 30, 1802. )
Now, it will be observed that by said seventh section certain propositions contained therein are offered to the convention of the eastern territory when formed for their free accept-
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PAST AND PRESENT OF WYANDOT COUNTY
ance or rejection, which, if accepted by the convention, shall be obligatory upon the United States. It is further to be noted that the constitution, as adopted did neither accept nor reject the propositions contained in the seventh section of the enabling act, as requested in said act. It was generally sup- posed at the time, that such acceptance or rejection would be final. But this was not the case. The almost unanimous opin- ion of the convention was that the conditions offered by con- gress were not an adequate consideration for the state rights to be surrendered; yet not promptly rejecting the proposi- tions they passed an ordinance in which they resolved to accept them, provided certain additions and modifications should be agreed to by congress, a copy of which ordinance and resolution passed in convention, November 29, 1802, at which time the constitution was also adopted, was as follows:
"We, the representatives of the people of the eastern divis- ion of the territory northwest of the river Ohio, being assem- bled in convention, pursuant to an act of congress, entitled ' An act to enable the people of the eastern division of the territory northwest of the river Ohio to form a constitution and state government and for the admission of such state into the Union, on an equal footing with the original states, and for other purposes, and having had under our consideration the propo- sitions offered by the said act, for our free acceptance or rejec- tion, do resolve to accept of the said propositions; provided, the following addition to and modification of the said proposi- tions shall be agreed to by the congress of the United States, viz., That in addition to the first proposition, securing the section number sixteen in every township, within certain tracts, to the inhabitants thereof, for the use of schools, a like dona- tion, equal to one thirty-sixth part of the amount of the lands in the United States military tract, shall be made for the sup- port of schools, within that tract; and that the like provision shall be made for the support of schools in the Virginia reser- vation, so far as the unlocated lands in that tract will supply the proportion aforesaid, after the warrants issued from said state have been satisfied; and also that a donation of the same kind, or such provision as congress shall deem expedient, shall be made to the inhabitants of the Connecticut reserve. That of all the lands which may hereafter be purchased of the In- dian tribes, by the United States, and lying within the state of Ohio, the one thirty-sixth part shall be given, as aforesaid,
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PAST AND PRESENT OF WYANDOT COUNTY
for the support of public schools. That all lands before men- tioned to be appropriated by the United States, for the sup- port of schools, shall be vested in the legislature of this state, in trust for said purpose. That not less than three per cent. of the net proceeds of the lands of the United States, lying within the limits of the state of Ohio, sold and to be sold, after the thirtieth day of June last, shall be applied in laying out roads, within the state, under the direction of the legislature thereof. And if the congress of the United States shall agree to the above addition to and modification of the said propo- sitions, it is hereby declared and ordained that every and each tract of land sold or to be sold by congress, from and after the thirtieth day of June last, shall be and remain exempt from any tax laid by order or under the authority of the state, whether for state, county, township or any other purposes whatever for the term of five years after the day of sale, to be reckoned from the date of the certificate of the first quar- terly payment.'
"That whereas congress, by a law entitled 'An act author- izing the grant and conveyance of certain lands to John Cleves Symmes and his associates passed the fifth day of May, 1792, did authorize the president of the United States to convey by letters patent unto the said John Cleves Symmes and his asso- ciates, their heirs and assigns, a certain tract of land therein described, and did further authorize the president by the act aforesaid, to grant and convey unto the said John Cleves Symmes and his associates, their heirs and assigns, in trust for the purpose of establishing an academy and other public schools and seminaries of learning, one complete township to be included and located within such limits and lines of bound- ary as the president may judge expedient ; and in pursuance thereof, the president did convey unto the said John Cleves Symmes and his associates, their heirs and assigns, by his let- ters patent, the aforesaid one complete township, to be located and accepted by the governor of the territory northwest of the river Ohio ; and inasmuch as the township aforesaid has never been located and accepted agreeably to the provision of this act.'
"The convention recommend the following propositions to congress as an equivalent for the one complete township aforesaid, to wit : The lots numbered eight, eleven and twenty- six, reserved in the several townships for the future disposi-
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PAST AND PRESENT OF WYANDOT COUNTY
tion of congress, or so many of the said lots, as will amount to the number contained in the aforesaid complete township, to be vested in the legislature, in trust to and for the purpose for which the said township was originally intended, to be designated by the legislature of this state."
ACT OF CONGRESS
Approved March 3, 1803
An act in addition to, and in modification of the proposi- tions contained in the act, entitled "An act to enable the peo- ple of the eastern division of the territory northwest of the Ohio river, to form a constitution and state government, and for the admission of such state into the Union, on an equal footing with the original states, and for other purposes."
SECTION 1. Be it enacted, etc., That the following several tracts of land in the state of Ohio be, and the same are hereby appropriated for the use of schools in that state, and shall, together with all the tracts of land heretofore appropriated for that purpose, be vested in the legislature of that state, in trust for the use aforesaid, and for no other use, intent or pur- pose whatever; that is to say :
First: That the following quarter townships in the tract commonly called the "United States Military Tract" for the use of schools within the same, viz., the first quarter of the third township in the first range, the first quarter of the first township in the fourth range, the fourth quarter of the first township and the third quarter of the fifth township. in the fifth range, the second quarter of the third township in the sixth range, the fourth quarter of the second township in the seventh range, the third quarter of the third township in the eighth range, the first quarter of the first township and the first quarter of the third township in the ninth range, the third quarter of the first township in the tenth range, the first and fourth quarters of the third township in the eleventh range, the fourth quarter of the fourth township in the twelfth range, the second and third quarters of the fourth township in the fifteenth range, the third quarter of the seventh township in the sixteenth range, and the first quarter of the sixth town- ship and third quarter of the seventh township in the eight- eenth range, being the one thirty-sixth part of the estimated whole amount of lands within that tract.
Secondly : The following quarter townships in the same tract, for the use of schools in that tract, commonly called the
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PAST AND PRESENT OF WYANDOT COUNTY
Connecticut Reserve, viz .: The third quarter of the ninth township and the fourth quarter of the tenth township in the first range, the first and second quarters of the ninth town- ship in the second range, the second and third quarters of the ninth township in the third range; the first quarter of the ninth township and the fourth quarter of the tenth township in the fourth range, the first quarter of the ninth township in the fifth range, the first and fourth quarters of the ninth town- ship in the sixth range, the first and third quarters of the ninth township in the seventh range, and the fourth quarter of the ninth township in the eighth range.
Thirdly : So much of that tract commonly called the "Vir- ginia Military Reservation" as will amount to one thirty-sixth part of the whole tract, for the use of schools within the same, and to be selected by the legislature of the state of Ohio, out of the unlocated lands in that tract, after the warrants issued from the state of Virginia shall have been satisfied; it being, however, understood that the donation is not to exceed the whole amount of the above-mentioned residue of such unlo- cated lands, even if it shall fall short of the one thirty-sixth part of said tract.
Fourthly: One thirty-sixth part of all the lands of the United States lying in the state of Ohio, to which the Indian title has not been extinguished, which may hereafter be pur- chased of the Indian tribes, by the United States, which thirty- sixth part shall consist of the Section No. 16 in each township, if the said land shall be surveyed in townships of six miles square, and shall, if the land be surveyed in a different man- ner, be designated by lots.
SEC. 2. That the secretary of the treasury shall, from time to time, and whenever the quarterly accounts of the receivers of public moneys of the several land offices shall be settled, pay three per cent. of the net proceeds of the lands of the United States, lying within the state of Ohio, which, since the thirtieth day of June last, have been, or hereafter may be sold by the United States, after deducting all expenses incidental to the same, to such person or persons as may be authorized by the legislature of the said state to receive the same, which sums, thus paid, shall be applied to the laying out, opening and making roads, within the said state, and to no other pur- pose whatever; and an annual account of the application of the same shall be transmitted to the secretary of the treasury,
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PAST AND PRESENT OF WYANDOT COUNTY
by such officer of the state as the legislature thereof shall direct ; and it is hereby declared, that the payment thus to be made, as well as the several appropriations for schools, made by the preceding section, are in conformity with, and in considera- tion of the conditions agreed on by the state of Ohio, by the ordinance of the convention of the said state, bearing date the twenty-ninth day of November last.
SEC. 3. That the sections of land heretofore promised for the use of schools, in lieu of such of the sections, No. 16, as have been otherwise disposed of, shall be selected by the secre- tary of the treasury, out of the unappropriated reserved sec- tiens, in the most contiguous townships.
SEC. 4. That one complete township, in the state of Ohio, and district of Cincinnati, or so much of any one complete township, within the same, as may then remain unsold, together with as many adjoining sections as shall have been sold in the said township, so as to make in the whole, thirty-six sections, to be located under the direction of the legislature of the said state, on or before the first day of October next, with the regis- ter of the land office of Cincinnati, be, and the same is hereby vested in the legislature of the state of Ohio, for the purpose of establishing an academy, in lieu of the township already granted for the same purpose, by virtue of the act entitled "An act authorizing the grant and conveyance of certain lands to John Cleves Symmes, and his associates." Provided, how- ever, that the same shall revert to the United States, if, within five years after the passing of this act, a township shall have been secured for the said purpose, within the boundary of the patent, granted, by virtue of the above-mentioned act, to John Cleves Symmes, and his associates.
SEC. 5. That the attorney-general, for the time being, be directed and authorized to locate and accept, from the said John Cleves Symmes, and his associates, any one complete township within the boundaries of the said patent, so as to secure the same for the purpose of establishing an academy, in conformity to the provisions of the said patent, and in case of non-compliance, to take, or direct to be taken, such meas- ures as will compel an execution of the trust. Provided, how- ever, that John Cleves Symmes, and his associates, shall be released from the said trust and the said township shall vest in them, or any of them, in fee simple, upon payment into the treasury of the United States, of fifteen thousand three hun-
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