USA > Ohio > Butler County > A history and biographical cyclopaedia of Butler County, Ohio, with illustrations and sketches of its representative men and pioneers. Vol. 1 > Part 8
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The surveys were made in the Winter of 1788-89, which was very severe and cold, and the Indians being hostile, none knew at what moment they might be fired on from some ambuseade by the lurking foe. Hence, it is not at all surprising that, after running a few miles, the stakes set would not correspond with each other on a due east and west line. In some instances the corner of a sertion is more than a quarter of a mile north or south of the corresponding corner on the other site of the see- tion. Indeed, it is uncertain if there is a single section in the purchase the corresponding corners of which are on the same east and west line.
Some few years afterwards, as the country became wttled, these irregularities were discovered, and found to
be embarrassing, and were loudly complained of. To remedy the difficulty, Judge Symmes, four or five years afterwards, after many of the sections had been in- proved, got Israel Ludlow and John Dunlap, two of his surveyors, carefully to remeasure the meridian line which forms the eastern boundary of the section on which the city of Cincinnati is laid out, and set np new stakes and make new corners at the end of each mile. This he declared to be the standard line, and the new corners made according to the remeasurement to be the true cor- ners of the sections. This line is about five miles east of the town of Hamilton, and is the meridian which passes through the town of Springdale, and the line be- tweeu Fairfield and Union Townships, in Butler County. Judge Symmes directed purchasers to run east and west lines from the new corners made on the standard line, and establish their corners at the points of intersection on the meridians. This plan, if persisted in, would have changed every original corner in the parchase, and ren- dered confusion more confounded.
A year or two afterwards a considerable portion of the country in the neighborhood of Springdale was re- surveyed, according to Judge Symmes's directions, from The standard line, and new corners made. Many per- sons claimed by the new corners as regulated from the standard line, others claimed to bold by the old corners, and consequently a number of law-suits were commenced. At length the difficulty was settled by a decision of the Supreme Court, confirming the old corners, on the ground that the original survey had been made, and returned to the Treasury Department under the authority of Cou- gress as the contract required, and no power had been given to alter or change it.
It appears that John Danlap, one of Judge Svmmes's surveyors, who ran the meridian line between the first and second townships in the second entire range, when he struck what was formerly called the pond. below Hamilton, a little west of where the rendering factory was. believed he had struck the Great Miami River. In his field-notes Mr. Dunlap says: " At seventy chains struck Miami. It runs south 42° west, a fine, high bank. on this side that can't overflow ; the bottom good. On the other side of the river there is a large prairie. Marked a black oak on the bank of the river, and mindle an offset of seven chains east, and then rau north ten chains up the river (east up the pond, however) ; thence from the river cast eighty chains to my stake, No. 20, along the south side of the military range "
From this it is evident he struck the pond and not. the river, the ground corresponding with his notes and the prairie mentioned, as on the other side of the river is the prairie, lying between the pond and river. In fact, in 1800, on making a survey to identify the line in reli- tion to a lawsuit, the small black cak-tree, then lying down, was found at the place with the original marks ou it, as described in the field-notes.
4
26
HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.
In the month of June, 1790, Jonathan Dayton, who claimed the third range in trust for certain military gen- tlemen who had deposited military land warrants with him in payment for the land, appointed Israel Ludlow and John S. Gano as surveyors to subdivide that range into townships and sections. Previous to beginning the survey Gano, Ludlow, and Judge Symmes had a consul- tation together concerning the mode of ascertaining the southern boundary of the range; the result of which consultation was to commence at the intersection of the base and standard lines, and run north with the stand- ard lines fifteen miles, and from that point run an east and west line for the southern boundary of the military range. Gano and Ludlow then proceeded to measure fifteen miles on the standard lines, and rau an east and west line from the Great Miami to the Little Miami River as the south boundary of the military range, and surveyed and laid off the range into townships and sec- tions from that line. This survey was made in the latter part of the year 1790.
From the point on the standard line where the fifteen miles from the base line terminated, Ludlow ran a due west line to the Great Miami River. This line passes south of the corners made by Judge Symmes's surveyors, in some instances, a considerable distance. A line was also run due east from the standard line to the Little Miami River. As this line interfered with the stakes originally set on the meridians by Judge Symmes's sur- veyors, it gave rise to several law-suits. In a case be- tween Bruce and Suydam, as to the line between the sections adjoining the Great Miami River, below Ham- ilton, the Supreme Court, after a long. protracted suit, decided in tivor of the north line. In another suit, which was litigatedl for several years, between Phillips and Ayres, as to a line five or six miles east of Ham- ilton, the decision was in favor of the south line. In this case the Supreme Court decided that there was an original authority given to General Dayton to survey, and consequently to run the boundaries of his range. Some cases of dispute have been settled by compromise and others long remained in litigation undecided. For some four or five miles contiguous to the Great Miami River the settlers hold to the north line, under a plea that so ' much of the line had been previously run by Dunlap under the authority of Judge Symmes, and can not, therefore, be changed by a second line.
It having been ascertained that some of the sections contained more than six hundred and forty aeres, and that others were detivient in quantity, but that the entire survey contained the full quantity of land required to fill the sections, several years after, Judge Symmies, in order to do justice to all, established a rule that where there was a deficiency in a section, he engaged to refun.I the purchase money at the rate of four dollars per acre, and where there was a surphis he exacted payment at the same rate. Whether he had a legal right to estab-
lish such a rule or not, it seemed to be equitable, and many of the purchasers acquicsecd in the arrangement.
The original proposition, made by Julge Symmes to Congress was to purchase all the lands lying between the Miami Rivers; to which proposition he believed the Board of Treasury had assented. The written contract, however, made by his agents on the 15th day of October, 1788, established the eastern boundary, commencing at a point on the Ohio River twenty miles distant from the mouth of the Great Miami River by the several courses of the Ohio (this point would be opposite Main Street, in the city of Cincinnati), and from thence running northwardly, parallel with the general courses of the Great Miami River for quantity. Mr. Symnies had soll the principal part of the land lying between that bonn- dary and the Little Miami River. In order to obtain relief from these embarrassing difficulties, he repaired to Philadelphia, then the seat of government, in the Spring of the year 1792, and in the first place petitioned Con- gress to alter his contract in such manner that it might extend from the Great Miami River to the Little Miami River. In pursuance of his application, Congress passed a law, dated the twelfth day of April, 1792, entitled, ". An act for ascertaining the bounds of a tract of land pur- chased by John Cleves Symmes;" which law "author- ized the President of the United States, at the request of John Cleves Symmes, to alter the contract made be- tween him and the Board of Treasury" in such manner that the said tract of land may extend from the mouth of the Great Miami to the mouth of the Little Miami, and be bounded by the river Ohio on the south. by the Great Miami on the west, by the Little Miami on the cast, and by a parallel of latitude on the north extending from the Great Miami to the Little Miami, so as to com- prehend the proposed quantity of one million of acres." However, as a condition for granting this indulgence Mr. Symines was required to relinquish to the United States fifteen acres of land in Cincinnati contiguous to Fort Washington for the accommodation of the garrison at that fort. This was done in the same instrument of writing which ratified the alteration. By this alteration of the contract a large number of meritorious persons, who had purchased of Judge Symmes, were secured in their lands and their improvements.
This object being secured, Mr. Symmes immediately presented another petition to Congress, praying for the passage of a law amthorizing the President of the United States to convey to him by lettere patent as much of the land contained in his contract as he might then be able to pay for. A law was passed to that effect, on the 5th of May, 1792, entitled, "Au act authorizing the grant and conveyance OF certain lands te Jolin Cleves Suites mul his associates," which empowered the President to issue letters patent. under the seal of the United States,
" Laws of United States, Vol. II page 270.
27
SYNHESS PURCHASE.
to John Cleves Symmes and his associates, their beirs | Symmes was obliged to accept it in the manner it had and assigus, in fee simple, for such number of acres of ! been drawn. The patent is signed by George Washing- land as the payments then made by them, on their con- tract of the 15th of October, 1788, would pay for, esti- mating the land at two-thirds of a dollar per acre, making the several reservations specified in the contract and in the law of the 12th of April, 1792. ton, the President, under the seal of the United States, and dated the thirtieth day of September, 1794. It conveyed to John Cleves Symines and his associates, their heirs and assigus, "all that tract of land beginning at the mouth of the Great Miami River, and extending The third section of this act also stipulated that the President should convey to John Cleves Symmes and his ! associates, in trust, for the purpose of establishing an academy and other public schools and seminaries ef leain- ing, one complete township, in conformity to an order of Congress, of the 2d of October, 1787, made in consc- quence of the application of Mr. Symmes for the pur- chase of the tract of land. from thence along the river Ohio to the mouth of the Little Miami River, bounded on the south by the river Ohio, on the west by the Great Miami River, on the east by the Little Miami River, and-on the north by a par- allel of latitude to be rum from the Great Miami River to the Little Miami River, so as to comprehend the quantity of three hundred and eleven thousand six hun- dred and eighty-two acres of land;" reserving, how- According to the law of the 12th of April, 1792, before any alteration could be made in the contract with Mr. Symmes, it was necessary that he should make such a request, and we find that he did, by a certain instrument of writing, bearing date twenty-ninth day of September, 1794, which he signed and delivered to the President, requesting that the contract made between the Board of Treasury and himself and associates might be modified and altered in accordance with the stipulations of the act entitled "An act for ascertaining the bounds of a tract of land purchased by John Cleves Symmes."* ever, ont of the tract the quantity of fifteen acres of land for the accommodation of the garrison at Fort Washington; a tract equal to one square mile near the mouth of the Great Miami River, to be reserved in the event of certain contingencies afterwards to take place; and also reserving out of each township see- tion mimbered sixteen for the support of public schools, section munbered twenty-nine for the purpose of relig- ion, and sections numbered eight, eleven, and twen- ty-six for sach purposes as Congress might thereafter direct. It was further stipulated in the patent that one complete township of land of six miles square, to be located as near the center as might be in the traet of land granted, should be held in trust for the purpose of erect- ing and establishing therein an academy and other public schools and seminaries of learning, and for supporting them.
On the reception of this document, George Washing- ton, then the President of the United States, by letters patent under his hand, and the seal of the United States, dated at Philadelphia, on the 30th of September, 1794, declared the contrast made with John Cleves Symmes and his associates to be altered and modified as requested by Mr. Symmes, and in the mauner set forth in the law of Congress authorizing the alteration. i
On a settlement made with John Cleves Symmes, at the Treasury Department, it was ascertained that two hundred and forty-eight thousand five hundred and forty acres had been paid for; but, in consequence of the reservation of the college township, fifteen aeres con- tiguous to Fort Washington, and other reserved sections within the limits of the grant, the boundaries of the whole tract, as required to be conveyed to him, would contain three hundred and eleven thousand six hundred and eighty-two aeres. The draft of a patent was made by Alexander Hamilton, the Secretary of the Treasury.
When it was presented to Mr. Symmes he objected to it because it couveved the land to him and his associates and not to himself alone, and insisted on having it altered. The Secretary refused to change it, and an appeal was made to the President, who, after a careful examination of the subject, decided that the patent was in strict conformity with the contract of Mr. Symmes suivi his associates, and the art of Congress on which it isted. Ho therefore refused to interfere, and Judge
t Ibid., page 376.
.
The northern boundary of the traet was required to he surveyed and marked by Judge Symmes or his asso- ciates from certain points on the Great and Little Miami Rivers, to be fixed and established by Israel Ludlow, according to a survey made by hirt of the courses of those rivers, under the direction of the Department of the Treasury; a certificate of which survey, dated the rwen- ty-fourth day of March, 1794, was then on file in the Treasury Department. This line, commonly called the patent line, commences on the Great Miami River, a few rods north of the mouth of Dick's Creek, below Ansinda, in Butler County, and runs cast through the first tier of sections in the fourth range, about one-third of a mile north of the northern boundary of the third or military range.
Judge Symmes, having obtained hi- patent, returned to the Miami country and commenced the issuing of deeds to those to whom he had sold land. Prior to that time they had no other evidence of title than an agreement or warrant delivered to them by Julge Sommes when they respectively purchased: On the thirtieth day of October, 1794, John Cleves Syannes made a deed to Jonathan Dayton for the whole of the entire range, call- I taining, according to the calculations of benel Lulhow,
* Land low, Vol. I, page 374.
28
HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY.
sixty-four thousand three hundred and forty-five acres and a half, exclusive of sections numbered 8, 11, 16, 26, and 29, which had been reserved in each township ac- cording to the contract made with Mr. Symmes. The consideration is stated in the deed to have been $42,897 of military land warrants paid into the treasury of the United States.
The contract entered into between the Board of Treas- ury and John Cleves Symmes, by his agents, on the 15th of October, 1788, stipulated that the geographer, or some other person authorized by the United States, should survey and mark the boundary lines of the whole land contracted for, and return a map of it to the Treasury De- partment, and likewise a copy to Judge Symmes. Mr. Symmes bound himself to pay at the rate of two-thirds of a dollar per acre for the land after deducting the several reservations specified in the contract-882,198 having been paid before that time. The further sum of $82,198 was to be paid within one month after the sur- vey and map of the purchase should be made and deliv- ered. The remainder of the purchase money was divided into six installments, to be paid semi-annually, so that the last payment would become due three years from the time the plat or map should have been delivered. Some time in the year 1788 or 1789 Israel Ludlow made a survey of the course of the Ohio River and of the Great Miami and Little Miami Rivers, for some considerable distance north from the Ohio River; but the survey of the boundaries, according to the written contract, never was made. Thomas Hutchins was, at that time, the geographer of the United States, but went out of office in 1790, and no other person was appointed & that de- partment until 1796, when Rufus Patnam was appointed surveyor-general. The government claimed that the last installment of the purchase money had become due from Mr. Symmes previous to May, 1792, and as only two installments had then been paid, that the contract was liable to forfeiture.
When Congress passed the law in 1792 relative to Symmes's purchase, it was understood by them that the arrangements then made terminated the contract of 1788; but as no formal release was taken from Judge Symmes he considered his contract still in existence, and felt that he could rely on a further fulfillment of it on the part of Congress. As the northern boundary line of the patent extended only a short distance into the fourth range, a large quantity of land previously sold by Mr. Symmes was not covered by it. In addition to this, on his return from Philadelphia he continued his sales, and disposed of the land within every part of his contract to any person who made application in the same manner that had been done before.
In this way the largest portion of the tract originally purchased had passed from Mr. Synames, and was claimed by others, many of whom were residing on and improv- ing the land. The towns of Middletown, Franklio, and
Dayton had been laid out and settled; mills had been creeted, houses built, and orchar ls planted. In fact, for miles north of the patent line the country was as thickly settled and as well improved as it generally was within the patent. In the mean time Judge Symmes's right began to be questioned by the settlers. Various rumors on that subject were afloat, and the purchasers became uneasy. They began to fear for their safety, and insisted that Mr. Symmes should take measures for their security. They had paid large sums of money in the purchase and improvement of their farms, and began to feel as though it had all been lost. Some of them proposed to make a direct application to Congress for relief. Mr. Symmes dissuaded them from that measure, as it might tend to defeat the claim which he still insisted on for the fulfill- ment of his contract. Finding that he could porify them no longer, he concluded to make another- applica- tion to Congress, and in the Fall of the year 1796 went to Philadelphia. He took with him about one hundred thousand dollars in money to pay to the government, and induce them to recognize the obligation of bis con- tract, and spent the Winter there in fruitless attempts to induce them to receive the money.
The government assumed the ground that the arrange- ment made in 1792 was a final adjustment of all his claims; that the whole contract might, at that time, have been declared forfeited, and that their recognition of it to the extent to which he was able to make pay- ment at the time was rather a matter of favor then of strict right. They alleged that a formal release from him was unnecessary, as the forfeiture of the contract was apparent on its face. Finding that there was not the most distant hope of success, Mr. Symmes akan- doned his claim in despair, leaving the purchasers whose lands were not covered by his patent to seek the best remedy in their power. The situation of those indi- viduals was truly distressing. Many of them had paid for their lands in full; all of them had paid more or less, and most of them had expended considerable sums of money and several years of labor in improving them. In this situation they found themselves completely in the power of the government, and liable to be driven out at any moment. They presented their case to Congress, and prayed relief. In 1799 an act was passed in their favor, entitled " An net giving the right of pre-eniption to cer- tain persons who have contracted with John Cleves Symmes or his associates for lands between the Miami Rivers."
This law secured to all persons who had maJe written contracts with Judge Symmes prior to the first day of April, 1799, and whose lands were not comprehendted in his patent, a preference over all others at two dollars per acre. In i891 an amsendatory law was passed, extending the right of precioption to all who had perchased and made written contracts previous to the first day of January, 1500.
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COMPILED AND ARRANGED BY REV. FRANCIS M, SYMMES, ON VERNON, IND.
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A GENEALOGICAL TREE OF THE SYMMES FAMILY.
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20
CHARACTER OF JUDGE SYMMES.
In October, 1801, Thomas Jefferson. President of the United States, appointed John Reily and William Go- forth commissioners, to act in conjunction with the receiver of public moneys in Cincinnati, for the purpose of ascertaining the right of person> claiming the benefit of these pre-emption laws. The commissioners imme- diately opened an office in Cincinnati, and gave notice to all those claiming the benefit of the pre-emption laws to exhibit their claims for allowance.
This commission extended only for one year; but at the expiration of the first year it was continued forra second year, and John Reily and Dr. John Selman were appointed commissioners to act with James Findlay, receiver of public moneys. After the expiration of the second year the duties of this commission were transferred to the register and receiver of public moneys at Cinein- nati, and continued from year to year, till all the pur- chasers were able to complete their payments and secure their titles.
By the operation of these just and salutary laws more than five hundred meritorious families were not only saved from ruin, but made independent and happy. The extension of the right of pre-emption by the law of 1801 to all who had purchased prior to the 1st of Jau- uary, 1800, enabled every purchaser to save himself, and the extension of credit which Congress gave from time to time, by subsequent laws. was so liberal that many of them were enabled to raise their installments as they became due from the products of their farms. Their descendants are now enjoying the fruits of their labors in comfort and affluence.
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