USA > Ohio > Delaware County > Century history of Delaware County, Ohio and representative citizens 20th > Part 10
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ORGANIZATION OF THE NORTHIWEST TERRITORY.
After the title to the lands northwest of the Ohio had become vested in the United States, and active perparations for their settle- ment began to be made, it became necessary for Congress to provide some form of govern- ment for the territory. The matter was one calling for the exercise of the highest states- manship, and various plans were under dis- cussion before a final settlement was reached. At one time Congress, under the influence of the Southern States, voted down Jefferson's proposition excluding slavery forever from the territory. It was likewise proposed to di- vide the territory into ten states to be known as Sylvania, Michigania, Cheresonisius, Assen- ispia, Metropotamia, Illinoia, Saratoga, Wash- ington, Polypotamia and Pelisipia, the ultimate arrangement being, however, that there should be no less than three nor more than five states. The instrument which was finally adopted for the government of the Northwest Territory, and ever since popularly known as the "Or- dinance of 1787," was, in large measure, the result of the efforts of Rev. Manassah Cutler, before mentioned as being instrumental in se- curing the grant of lands to the Ohio Com- pany. It was passed on the 13th of July, 1787. Its cardinal principles were : Ist .- The
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exclusion of slavery from the territory for- ever ; 2nd .- Provision for public schools, giv- ing one township for a seminary and every sixteenth section ( this gave one thirty-sixth of all the land for public education) : 3rd .- Freedom in religious worship and opinion ; 4th .- The equal distribution of estates; and 5th .- Protection in civil liberty. It also pro- vided for the appointment of a governor who should likewise be commander of the militia. a secretary, and for three judges. The gover- nor and the judges were to have the power to adopt and publish such of the laws of other states as should be suitable to their circum- stances. Whenever there should be 5,000 free male inhabitants, of full age, in the district, they were to have authority to elect repre- sentatives to a General Assembly, which was to consist of the Governor. a Legislative Council and a House of Representatives. There was the further provision that not less than three nor more than five states were to be formed out of the territory, the states to be admitted to equal standing with the original states of the Union whenever they had a popu- lation of 60,000, or sooner if consistent with the general interest. The principles embodied in the ordinance were in the form of a compact irrevocable save by consent of both Congress and the states that should be formed out of the territory. It was by reason of this fact that the South was af- terwards powerless when they endeavored to have the territory opened to the admission of slavery.
In October, 1787, Congress appointed Gen. Arthur St. Clair, who had been an officer in the Revolution, governor of the new territory, Winthrop Sargeant, secretary, and Samuel H. Parsons, John Armstrong, and James M. Var- num, judges. Subsequently Armstrong de- clined the appointment and John Cleves Symmes was given his place. Governor St. Clair arrived at the Marietta settlement on July 9. 1788, and immediately began his di- ties. On the 25th, the first law, relating to the militia, was published, and the next day the governor issued a proclamation creating all the country that had been ceded by the In-
dians, east of the Scioto River, into the county of Washington. After organizing the militia he next erected the Courts of Probate and Quarter Sessions, and proceeded to appoint civil officers. Rufus Putnam, Benjamin Tup- per and Winthrop Sargeant, were made jus- tices of the peace. The 30th day of August. the day the Court of Quarter Sessions was ap- pointed, Archibald Cary, Isaac' Pierce and Thomas Lord were also appointed justices. Return Jonathan Meigs was appointed clerk of this Court of Quarter Sessions. Ebenezer Sprout was appointed sheriff of Washington County and also colonel of the militia; Wil- liam Callis, clerk of the Supreme Court ; Rufus Putnam, judge of the Probate Court, and Re- turn J. Meigs, Jr., clerk.
On September 2nd, the first court was held. It is thus described by the American Pioncer : "The procession was formed at the Point (where most of the settlers resided). in the following order: The high sheriff, with his drawn sword: the citizens; the officers of the garrison at Fort Harmar : the members of the bar; the supreme judges; the governor and clergymen ; the newly appointed judges of the Court of Common Pleas, Generals Rufus Put- nam and Benjamin Tupper.
"They marched up the path that had been cleared through the forest to Campus Martius Hall ( stockade), where the whole counter- marched, and the judges, Putnam and Tupper, took their seats. The clergyman, Rev. Dr. Cutler, then invoked the divine blessing. The sheriff. Ebenezer Sproat, proclaimed with his solemn 'Oh yes' that a court is open for the administration of even-handed justice to the poor and to the rich, to the guilty and to the innocent, without respect of persons ; none to be punished without a trial of their peers, and then in pursuance of the laws and the evidence in the case.
"Although the scene was exhibited thus early in the settlement of the West. few ever equalled it in the dignity and exalted char- acter of its principal participators. Many of them belonged to the history of our country in the darkest as well as the most splendid period of the Revolutionary war."
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CRYSTAL SPRING FARM, OWNED BY F. P. HILLS, DELAWARE
THE ALLISON E. GOODRICH HOME, LIBERTY TOWNSHIP
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RESIDENCE OF MRS. SILAS J. M.ANN, HARLEM TOWNSHIP
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About the Ist of January, 1790, Governor St. Clair, with his officers, went to Fort Washı- ington, on the present site of Cincinnati, and established the county of Hamilton, in which was comprised all the country contiguous to the Ohio, from the Hocking River to the Great Miami. He also appointed a corps of civil and military officers and erected a Court of Quarter Sessions. A short time later he likewise organized the county of St. Clair. whose limits, however, were comprised within the present State of Indiana, and Illinois, in- cluding the country from the Wabash to the Mississippi. Before the close of 1795 the gov- ernor and the judges published sixty-four statutes. Among other things they provided that the common law of England, and all its statutes made previous to the fourth year of James I., should be of full force in the terri- tory. Wayne County was organized in 1796, Jefferson and Adams in 1797, and Ross in 1798.
As has before been stated, the Ordinance of 1787 provided that whenever there should be 5,000 persons in the territory they should be entitled to a representative assembly. On October 29, 1798, Governor St. Clair pro- claimed that the population had reached the re- quired number, and ordered an election for the third Monday in December. The repre- sentatives thus elected met in Cincinnati, Janu- ary 22. \1799, and, under the provisions of the Ordinance, nominated ten persons, from whom the President should select five to constitute the Legislative Council. The persons chosen were: Jacob Burnet. James Finley, Henry Vanderburgh. Robert Oliver and David Vance. The Territorial Legislature again met at Cin- cinnati on the 24th of September, when a great amount of business was done. They repealed some of the laws that were already in force, adopted others, created and filled new offices and devised various plans and methods for carrying on the government of the new territory. The only lawyer in the body was Mr. Burnet. upon whom, by reason of his profession, a great amount of the work de- volved. He seems to have acquitted himself well in the position in which he was thus
placed. The whole number of acts passed and approved by the governor was thirty-seven. It is worthy of note that a bill authorizing a lottery was passed by the Council but rejected by the Legislature.
Among other duties which devolved on this session of the Legislature was the election of a delegate to Congress. The choice fell upon William Henry Harrison, the secretary of the territory at that time. He at once resigned his office and proceeded to Philadelphia to take his seat in Congress which was then in ses- sion. He was successful in obtaining many important advantages for his constitutents, among others a measure subdividing the sur- veys of the public lands and permitting them to be sold in smaller tracts, thus making it possible for them to be purchased by individu- als without first coming into the hands of speculators.
At this first session of the Legislature Gov- ernor St. Clair saw fit to veto eleven acts which were passed by it. The greater part of them related to formation of new counties, a right which the governor claimed was vested in him alone. The attitude of the governor served to increase his unpopularity with the people, whose confidence he seems to have lost, in large measure, after his disastrous defeat at the hands of the Indians.
In the year 1800 Congress took up the matter of dividing the Northwest Territory into two parts. The great extent of the terri- tory rendered extremely difficult and unsatis- factory the operations of the government. By reason of the loose administration of justice in its western part, that portion had become a rendezvous for criminals of various character, with the consequent effect of deterring better citizens from settling there. The judiciary was likewise wholly inefficient as regarded civil cases. The far western frontier, being at such a great distance from the seat of both the national and territorial governments, could neither feel for them the attachment or fear their restraint to the extent that a closer re- lation would establish. In consequence, on the 7th of May an act was passed dividing the territory, the line of division being "a line be-
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ginning at the Ohio, opposite to the mouth of the Kentucky River, and running thence to Fort Recovery, and thence north until it inter- sects the territorial line between the United States and Canada." The same form of gov- ernment was provided for the new territory as prevailed in the old. Chillicothe was made the seat of government for the old territory and St. Clair retained as governor, while St. Vincent's on the Wabash River, was made the capital of the "Indiana Territory," and Wil- liam Henry Harrison appointed its governor.
ORGANIZATION OF THE STATE OF OHIO.
The second session of the General As- sembly was held at Chillicothe in 1801. Gov- ernor St. Clair had, meanwhile, been growing more and more unpopular. The abuse heaped on the governor and the Legislature at Chilli- cothe became so great that they decided to re- move the capital from that place to Cincinnati. Out of this agitation, however, and the general discontent with the governor, there had been rapidly arising a general sentiment in favor of the formation of a State government. This sentiment was in a minority, however, so far as the General Assembly was concerned. A measure was introduced there proposing that the Ordinance of 1787 be so changed that the Scioto River, together with a line drawn from its intersection with the Indian boundary to the western extremity of the Reserve, should be the western limit of the most eastern State to be formed out of the territory. To protest against this proposition the minority sent Thomas Worthington to Washington. While he was on his way a resolution introduced into the Legislature for choosing a committee to address Congress with regard to the proposed state was defeated. \ further attempt pro- viding for taking the census of the territory was postponed by the Council.
Worthington, however, was successful in his mission to Congress, and on the 30th of April that body authorized the calling of a state convention for the purpose of forming a constitution, provided it was found expedient. "The act of Congress, providing for the ad-
mission of the new state into the Union. offered certain propositions to the people. These were, first, that Section Sixteen in each township, or, where that section had been disposed of. other contiguous and equivalent lands, should be granted to the inhabitants for the use of schools; second, that thirty-eight sections of land, where salt springs had been found, of which one township was situated on the Scioto, one section on the Muskingum, and one section in the United States Military Tract, should be granted to the state, never to be sold or leased, however, for a longer term than ten years; and third, that one twentieth of the proceeds of the public lands sold within the state, should be applied to the construction of roads from the Atlantic, to and through the same." These propositions were offered on the condition that the convention should pro- vide, by ordinance, that all lands sold by the United States after the 30th day of June. 1802, should be exempt from taxation by the state for five years after sale.
The convention met at Chillicothe on the Ist day of November, 1802. While it believed the consideration offered to the state hardly sufficient for the tax exemption required. it decided to accept the conditions of Congress, providing their propositions should be suffi- ciently enlarged "so as to vest in the state, for the use of schools, Section Sixteen in each township sold by the United States, and three other tracts of land, equal in quantity, re- spectively, to one thirty-sixth of the Virginia Reservation, of the United States Military Tract, and of the Connecticut Reserve, and to give three per centum of the proceeds of the public lands sold within the state, to be applied under the direction of the Legislature, to roads in Ohio." Congress acceded to this modifica- tion and there was thus nothing to prevent the formation of the new state.
The time for the meeting of the General Assembly came while the constitutional con- vention was in session, but, owing to the prob- ability that the territorial government would so soon be superseded by that of the state, they deferred meeting. On the 29th of November the convention having framed a constitution
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and completed its labors, adjourned. The constitution, though never submitted to the people, was submitted to Congress and ac- cepted by that body, and an act passed admit- ting Ohio to the Union, February 19, 1803. The constitution framed by this convention continued in force until the adoption, in 1851, of the present one. The territorial govern- ment ended and the state government began on March 1, 1803.
By the new constitution it was provided that the first elections under the new govern- ment should be held the second Tuesday of January, 1803. Accordingly at that time Ed- ward Tiffin was chosen governor and Jere- miah Morrow sent to Congress. A General Assembly was also elected, which met on March 3rd and chose the following officers : Michael Baldwin, speaker of the House. and Nathaniel Massie of the Senate; William Creighton, Jr., secretary of state; Colonel Thomas Gibson, auditor; William McFarland, treasurer ; Return J. Meigs, Jr., Samuel Huntington and William Spriggs, judges of the Supreme Court; Francis Dun- levy, Wyllys Silliman and Calvin Pease, presi- dent judges of the First. Second and Third Districts, and Thomas Worthington and John
Smith. United States Senators. The Assembly also passed such laws as were necessary. Up to the time of the adoption of the state consti- tution there had been organized the following counties : Washington, July 27, 1788; Hamil- ton, January 2, 1790; Adams, July 10, 1797; Jefferson, July 29, 1797; Ross, August 20, 1798: Clermont, Fairfield and Trumbull, De- cember 9, 1800; Belmont, September 7, 1801. Eight additional counties were created by the Assembly at its first session, viz .: Gallia, Scioto, Butler, Warren, Greene, Montgom- ery, Franklin and Columbiana.
The seat of government was first located at Chillicothe. In the year 1810 an act was passed changing its location to Zanesville, but at the next session of the General Assembly it was again taken back to Chillicothe, and commissioners appointed to determine upon a definite location. It is said that they first re- ported in favor of Dublin, a small town on the Scioto about fourteen miles above Columbus. At the session of the Assembly of 1813-14, however. the proposal of parties owning the site of Columbus was accepted and in 1816. the first meeting of the Assembly was held there.
CHAPTER IV.
SETTLEMENT AND ORGANIZATION OF DELAWARE COUNTY
Derivation of Title-First Settlement-Growth of Population-First Events-Pioneer In- dustries-Early Rouds and Taverns-Organisation of the County-Early Political History-County and Other Officials.
We have already traced in a former chap- ter the various steps by which the title to the lands of the Northwest Territory, and thereby of Delaware County, became vested in the United States Government. It now remains to say a word as to the manner in which the first settlers in Delaware County derived title from the United States. Previous mention was made of the fact that Virginia, in ceding her claims to the territory northwest of the Ohio to the general government made a coll- dition that she was to retain the right to ap- propriate a certain portion of that land, if ne- cessary, to satisfy her military bounties, issued during the Revolutionary War. In accordance with this understanding the State of Virginia ultimately appropriated a tract north of the Ohio and west of the Scioto Rivers. All that part of Delaware County which lies west of the Scioto is, in consequence, within the tract known as the Virginia Military Lands. All that part of the county which lies east of the Ssioto is within the tract known as the United States Military Lands, excepting the "salt res- ervation" in Brown Township, which will be mentioned later. The United States Military Lands are so called from their having been ap- propriated by Congress, through an act passed June, 1796. to satisfy certain claims of the officers and soldiers of the Revolution. There is a difference in the method of survey of these lands and that of the Virginia Military
Lands. The United States Military Lands were divided into townships of five miles square and these again into quarter-town- ships of 4,000 acres each. Further subdivi- sions of the quarter-townships into forty lots of 100 acres each were made in some cases. The place of each township is ascertained by numbers and ranges.
The Virginia Military District is not sur- veyed into townships or any regular form. Every person holding a Virginia military land warrant was permitted to locate it at any place in the district and in whatever shape lie pleased, in so far it did not conflict with some else. In consequence, there has been much more liti- gation growing out of a conflict of boundaries in this district than in the United States Mili- tary Lands.
It will be recalled that in the act passed by Congress through which the State of Ohio was constituted, certain tracts within the state, known as salt reservations, were granted to the State of Ohio and reserved from sale. One of these tracts was in Brown Township, in Delaware County, and consisted of 4,000 acres in the northeast section. On the failure of the reservation, however, to fulfill expecta- tions so far as salt production was concerned, permission was granted to the State by an act of Congress of December 28, 1824, to sell the lands, and an act was likewise passed for this purpose by the State Legislature on Febru-
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ary 27 1826. From one of these various sources have the first settlers in Delaware gained title to their lands.
FIRST SETTLEMENT.
Something over a hundred years has now passed since the first white settler in Delaware County cleared the unbroken forest for the erection of his cabin. The lips that could re- count from personal recollection the tale of hardship and heroism, of peril and privation. that marked this event of such prime import- ance to the county's present populace, have long since been sealed in death, and the story itself has, to some extent, become enshrouded in the misty uncertainties of the past. There is always a romantic interest that attaches to first occurrences, especially such as this; and had the record of toil and struggle that marked the opening up of Delaware County to civili- zation been carefully chronicled and preserved, it would now be read with intensest interest by those who claim the county as their home. Pioneer life here, perhaps, was different in 110 marked degree, from pioneer life in general; yet incidents that might be trifling to the world at large would be far from being so to us with whose present well-being and happiness they are so indissolubly linked. Everything that might concern the early struggle with the wilderness here would possess for us the inter- est felt in our own kith and kin. At the pres- ent day when even the poorest has comforts and luxuries that the whole world scarce dreamed of for a thousand years, when space itself presents no difficulties to easy communi- cation with our fellow-beings, it is difficult to even imagine the lonely cabin in the great. deep forest, which gave scant shelter to the pioneer, from driving storms and winter's cold, or to think of him as being far from the sound of a friendly voice, often endangered by attack from savage beast or savage red man. and hard-pressed for even those things with- out which life itself could not be sustained. Yet all this was gladly assumed and cheer- fully endured by those who paved the way in Delaware County for the coming of the
white man's government and the white man's civilization. All this was necessary that we might enjoy our present security and comfort. And while we celebrate the heroes of the camp and the battlefield, while we applaud great achievement in every sphere of human activity, let us accord a place equal to that of any to the pioneer, and to the pioneers of our own county in particular.
Delaware County drew its early popula- tion from widely separated sources. Natur- ally the larger part hailed from the states in our own country already populated. Some came from beyond the seas. The restless energy that led the hardy emigrants to seek homes in our land soon after its discovery again led their descendants to move further to the west- ward. The battle with the wilderness was fought and won; and the population of Dela- ware County today inherits the same elements of intelligence, enterprise and strength that might be expected from such an ancestry.
It is generally conceded that the first set- tlement in Delaware County, at least the first to have a marked influence on its further dle- velopment, was in Liberty Township. The claim has not been allowed, however, to go un- questioned. It is asserted that a man by the name of Gilbert Van Dorn settled within the limits of Trenton Township as early as 1783. There is also said to have been a white settler named Saybrook who came to Orange Town- ship in 1798, and another in Troy in 1801. The time is now too far past, however, to de- termine as to the accuracy of these statements, and there would seem to be justice in claiming the honor of the first settlement for Liberty Township, inasmuch as that is the first of which we have definite knowledge, and is un- doubtedly the first that had a marked influence on the subsequent development of the county.
In the year 1801, on May Ist. after a jour- ney from the State of New York lasting for two months and eighteen days, during which all the experiences incident to travel through a new and undeveloped country were encount- ered, Nathan Carpenter and Avery Powers landed on the east bank of the Olentangy River, or Whetstone, as it was then called,
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five miles south of the site of the present city of Delaware. Carpenter was a man of wealth, of indomitable enterprise, and had been a captain in the Revolutionary War, an experi- ence in hardship and endurance which was well calculated to fit him for this enterprise which he undertook not many years after the war's termination. He had lived first in Con- necticut, but at the close of the Revolution had removed to Chenango County. New York. It was while here that he fell under the in- fluence of the excitement, prevalent at the time, over the opening up of the territory north- west of the Ohio to colonization, and he de- termined to become one of the pioneers in its settlement and development. From his home in Chenango County, in company with Avery Powers and several others, he started out in the dead of winter and when the ground was covered with snow, for the unknown and un- tried region which was to be his home for the future. Carpenter's family accompanied him, but the family of Powers did not come until later. On their arrival cabins were erected and the lonely life in the wilderness was be- gun.
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