Century history of Delaware County, Ohio and representative citizens 20th, Part 8

Author: Lytle, James Robert, 1841- [from old catalog] ed
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago, Biographical publishing company
Number of Pages: 926

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AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS

ware, but did not notice it until they pro- ceeded five or six miles further in their flight. They decided that it would be an unjustifiable risk to return for him, however, and left him to his fate. He fortunately escaped the In- dian tomahawk as well as other dangers and lived for many years. One woman, in her hurry, forgot her babe : and returning, grabbed a stick of wood from the chimney corner, leaving the babe quietly sleeping in its cradle.

Meanwhile Captain Drake and his. com- pany proceeded quietly on their way to Lower Sandusky, altogether unconscious of the widespread demoralization and disaster of which the captain's joke had been the innocent cause. The whole incident would seem to its now, perhaps, to savor more of the charac- ter of a huge joke than as being of the nature of a great calamity. A calamity, however, it really was. In the hurried preparation of the settlers for flight everything was left in the wildest confusion. When they returned from their mad stampede they found everything in a disorder that required much time and pa- tience for its restoration. Door and gate had been left open. and thus free access to field and

larder had been given. Waste and devasta- tion everywhere were the result and a burden placed upon the settlers, ordinarily hard pressed for even the necessities of life, which they could ill afford to bear.

Moreover, so panic-stricken had many of those who participated in the flight become and so thoroughly frightened by the possible dangers of living on the extreme frontier, that they never even returned to the homes which they had so hastily deserted. The larger por- tion of those who "escaped" had fled to Worthington or Franklinton, but many kept on even so far as Chillicothe. The incident itself gives us a striking illustration of the terrors of border life and the strain which anyone who had the bravery to face them must have endured. It is easy to see only the ludicrous side of the occurrence and to forget, in the security of our civilized life, that the danger. while only fancied in this instance, might as easily have been real. Had there been no rea- sonable possibility of an actual Indian massacre. no report of that character could ever have created such a panic.

CHAPTER III.

SETTLEMENT OF THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY AND ORGANIZATION OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

Boundaries Defined-Derivation of Title and Early Explorations-Achievement of George Rogers Clark-State Cessions and Indian Treaties-Settlement-Indian Wl'ars-St. Clair's Defeat-Wayne's Campaign and Battle of Fallen Timber-Organisation of the Northwest Territory-Organisation of the State of Ohio.

Delaware County is one of the civil sub- divisions of the first State formed out of the old Northwest Territory. Of itself it consti- tutes but a small portion of that vast domain which embraced within its limits all of the present States of Ohio. Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. Yet the history of Delaware County cannot be properly written without some account of the more important events that concern the exploration, develop- ment and organization of the territory as a whole. Long before the first white man had set foot on the soil of what is now Delaware County, her destiny was being shaped by events of even greater importance than any that have transpired within her own borders; and long prior to her organization as a county, wars were being fought, treaties made, and laws enacted through which alone her very ex- istence was made a possibility. While the present work contemplates particularly an ac- count of those events which are peculiar to Delaware County as a separate civil subdivis- ion of the State, and while the reader must be referred to the larger and more pretentious histories of the Northwest Territory and Ohio for fuller information regarding them as a whole, yet it is deemed necessary to a proper understanding of the history of the county to review some of the leading events that

characterized the development of the entire domain, and to present, in outline, some of the chief circumstances that have contributed to the present condition of prosperity and power occupied by this widely extended area. No portion or our nation's history is more replete with interest and importance.

Our purpose shall be, not so much to give a consecutive account of events in the order of their occurrence as to present. in outline, the different lines of development that go. as a whole, to make up the history of the state and territory. The chief topics that will receive consideration are: 1. The derivation of the title ; 2, the settlement: 3, the various Indian wars: 4, the organization.

DERIVATION OF TITLE. 4

The claims first asserted to lands in the Western Hemisphere by European monarchs were based on discoveries made by their sub- jects. Accordingly we find all that vast re- gion between the Allegheny and the Rocky Mountains, originally known by the general name of Louisiana. claimed by France, in con- sequence of the explorations, chiefly, of Father Marquette, a Jesuit missionary, and La Salle. In 1673 Marquette, accompanied by MI. Joliet. starting from Mackinac, traced their way

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southward from there to the Wisconsin River, which they followed to its junction with the Mississippi. They then descended the Missis- sippi for a 1,000 miles, and, on their return to Canada, urged in the strongest terms the int- mediate occupation of this vast and fertile re- gion watered by the Mississippi and its tribu- taries. There are other accounts of the discov- ery of the Mississippi, but the one ascribing it to Marquette seems to be the first that is au- thentic.

Between the years 1678 and 1682 La Salle with Father Hennepin, conducted a series of explorations around the great lakes and along the Mississippi, going as far south as Peoria Lake, Illinois. Here they erected a fort, after which La Salle returned to Canada. Father Hennepin explored the region now embraced within the limits of Ohio and is said to have published a volume containing an account of his discoveries "in the country between New Mexico and the frozen ocean." together with maps of Lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan, and a plat of the larger streams of Ohio. In 1683 La Salle went to France and induced the French Government to fit out an expedi- tion for the purpose of planting a colony at the mouth of the Mississippi. The expedition failed completely, however, La Salle being murdered by one of his own men.

The French still persisted in their efforts to gain possession of this vast region, west of the Alleghenies and the English colonies. Un- der the command of M. D'Iberville a second expedition sailed from France, entered the mouth of the Mississippi ( March 2. 1699), and explored the river for several hundred miles. A chain of trading. missionary and military posts was ultimately established ex- tending from New Orleans to Quebec by way of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, and thence, by way of Mackinaw and Detroit, to Lakes Erie and Ontario. This route was aft- erward shortened by following the Ohio River to the Wabash, and then following the latter upward and down the Maumee to Lake Erie. The French colonies, increasing steadily in numbers and strength, aroused the jealousy of the English, who, to check their advancement,

formed what was known as the Ohio Com- pany. This company made some attempts to establish trading houses among the Indians. The French, however, established a chain of fortifications back of the English settlements and thus secured to themselves the entire con- trol of the Mississippi Valley.

Inasmuch as this same territory was claimed by the English Crown, it is necessary to consider the basis of the rights which she asserted. Her chief ground for claiming title to the territory west of the Alleghenies, was a treaty made with the Six Nations in the Ohio Valley. It was claimed that these nations had placed their lands under the protection of the British Crown. It was further asserted that in 1744 the British had purchased lands of these Six Nations by treaty at Lancaster. Pennsyl- vania. In 1748 the Ohio Company, organized by a number of Virginians and Londoners, ob- tained a charter from the British Government with a grant of 6,000 acres of land on the Ohio. The English, reverting to the times of the Ca- bots, claimed that by right they held the entire country from the Atlantic to the Pacific. bounded by the parallels of latitude defining their Atlantic Coast settlements. Inasmuch as France claimed the region drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries, together with the Great Lakes and their tributaries, Ohio was within the disputed territory. When the surveys for the lands of the Ohio Company were begun, the Governor of Canada entered a vigorous protest by establishing the line of forts to which we have before alluded. The dispute over this territory between the French and English was finally settled by the treaty following what is familiarly known in history as the French and Indian War. By the terms of that treaty. made in Paris in 1763. the British Crown came into undisputed possession of all the vast territory northwest of the Ohio.

The territory included within the present limits of Ohio, together with the entire do- main northwest of the Ohio River of unknown extent. was originally claimed by Virginia. Her title rested upon three grants from the British Crown. The first charter was granted

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY

in 1606 by James I. to Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Somers and others, authorizing them to establish two colonies, the first being known in history as the "London Company." and the second as the "Plymouth Company." The grant to the London Company covered a strip of sea coast fifty miles broad between the 34th and 4ist parallels. In 1606 King James granted a second charter to the London Com- pany. The territorial limits of the first char- ter were extended to embrace the whole sea- coast, north and south, within two hundred miles of Old Point Comfort, extending "from sea to sea, west and northwest." A third charter, granted in 1612, annexed to Virginia all the islands within three hundred leagues of the coast.

Virginia, however, was not undisputed in her assertion of title to the whole of this ex- tensive region. Both Connecticut and Massa- chusetts claimed portions of the territory. In 1662 Charles If. granted to certain settlers upon the Connecticut all the territory between the parallels of latitude which include the pres- ent State of Connecticut, from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans. The claims of Massachu- setts were founded on a similar charter granted thirty years later. New York also had claims which she asserted.

ACHIEVEMENT OF GEORGE ROGERS CLARK.

By the treaty of peace, signed at Paris, September 3. 1783, the claims of the English monarch to the whole of the northwest terri- tory were ceded to the United States. "The pro- visional articles which formed the basis of the treaty, more especially as related to boundary. were signed at Paris, November 30, 1782. Dur- ing the pendency of the negotiation of these preliminary articles, Mr. Oswalt, the British commissioner, proposed the River Ohio as the western boundary of the United States, and but for the indomitable perseverance of the Revo- Intionary patriot, John Adams, one of the American commissioners, who opposed the proposition, and insisted upon the Mississippi as the boundary. the probability is that the proposition of Mr. Oswald would have been

acceded to by the United States Commission- ers." That the British were prevented from making a reasonable claim to the territory northwest of the Ohio was due. in large meas- ure, to the fact that this extensive domain was wrested from their hands during the Revolu- tionary war through the valor and foresight of General George Rogers Clark. On the out- break of the Revolution he saw through the whole plan of the British who held all the out- posts, Kaskaskia, Detroit, Vincennes and Ni- agara. It was the hope of the British that by means of these outposts they might encircle the Americans and also unite the Indians in a common war against them. Clark knew that many of the Indian tribes were divided in their feeling or but indifferent in their sup- port of the British. He conceived the idea that if the British could be driven from their outposts, the Indians could be easily awed into submission or bribed into neutrality or friend- ship. Acting upon this theory, and first en- listing the support of Patrick Henry, then governor of Virginia, he organized an expe- dition which was entirely successful in wrest- ing control of the country west of the Ohio from the British. To him, as well as to John Adams, is due unlimited credit for the fact that the Ohio River was not made the bound- ary between Canada and the United States.

STATE CESSIONS AND INDIAN TREATIES.

At the close of the Revolutionary war, the title to the British possessions having passed to the several colonies, each one, as a sov- ereign and independent state, claimed the right of soil and jurisdiction over the lands which had been originally granted it in its charter. As we have already observed, sev- eral states laid claim to portions of the vast, unappropriated tracts northwest of the Ohio. It was insisted by those states whose char- ters gave them no claims to any portion of this territory that inasmuch as the entire de- main had been won from the British by the united efforts of all the colonies, the lands themselves should be approprated for the bene- fit of all the states. It was repeatedly urged

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upon the states themselves which claimed ownership in these lands, that they should cede them for the common benefit of all. Respond- ing to this demand the State of Virginia, on March 1, 1784, ceded to the United States her claims to ownership and jurisdiction over the entire part of the country embraced in her charter lying northwest of the Ohio. She made a condition, however, that in case the lands lying south of the Cumberland river were not sufficient to satisfy the bounties in land which she had issued to her soldiers dur- ing the Revolutionary War. then this de- ficiency was to be made up out of lands in this territory, lying between the rivers Miami and Scioto. The jurisdiction over all the land, however, passed to the United States. Like- wise Connecticut, on September 13. 1786, re- linquished to the United States all her claims to lands lying within this same territory, with the exception of the tract known as the West- ern Reserve. This she deeded to the United States May 30, 1800. The president, how- ever, immediately conveyed the fee of the soil to the governor of the State for the use of grantees and purchasers claiming under her, similar to the manner in which Virginia had also been allowed the fee of the soil in a cer- tain portion to satisfy her military warrants. Massachusetts and New York also gave up their claims, thus giving to the United States a clear title to the whole of this vast region in so far as it had been claimed by European powers.

There still remained, however, the claims of the Indians to the lands as the original pos- sessors of the soil. It was necessary that these should be disposed of before the white settlers could rightfully take possession. Accordingly a treaty was made with the Six Nations, em- bracing the Mohawks, Onondagas, Senecas. Cayugas. Oneidas and Tuscaroras, at Fort Stanwix, October 27, 1784. By the terms of this treaty. all the lands west of a line drawn from the mouth of Oswego Creek, about four miles east of Virginia, to the mouth of Buffalo Creek and on to the northern boundary of Pennsylvania, thence west along that boundary to its western extremity, thence south to the

Ohio River, were ceded to the United States. There were other Indian nations, however, be- sides those mentioned, who also asserted own- ership over this territory. They included the Wyandot. Chippewa, Delaware and Ottawa Nations. With these also the United States made a treaty at Fort McIntosh on the 21st day of January, 1785. By this treaty the boundary line between the United States and the Wyandot and Delaware Nations was de- clared to begin "at the mouth of the river Cuyahoga and to extend up said river to the Portage, between that and the Tuscaroras branch of the Muskingum, thence down that branch to the crossing-place above Fort Laur- ens, then westerly to the Portage of the Big Miami, which runs into the Ohio, at the mouth of which branch the fort stood which was taken by the French in 1752; then along said Portage to the Great Miami, or Omee River. and down the south side of the same to its mouth; then along the south shore of Lake Erie to the mouth of the Cuyahoga River. where it began." "The United States allotted all the lands contained within said lines to the Wyandot and Delaware Nations, to live and hunt on, together with such of the Ottawa Nations as lived thereon, saving and reserving for the establishment of trading posts. six miles square at the mouth of the Miami or Omee River, and the same at the Portage, on that branch of the Big Miami which runs into the Ohio, and the same on the Lake of San- dusky where the fort formerly stood, and also two miles square on each side of the Lower Rapids of the Sandusky River." This treaty was afterwards renewed and confirmed by Governor St. Clair, and the Wyandot. Chip- pewa. Pottawatomie, and Sac Nations at Fort Harmar in 1789.

On the 3rd of August, 1795. a treaty was made with the Delawares, Ottawas, Pottawat- omies and Eel River Indians by General Wayne after the close of his successful cam- paign against them. The basis of this treaty was the previous one at Fort Harmar, the boundaries made at that time being reaffirmed. and the whites secured on the lands now oc- cupied by them or granted by former treaties.

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY

This treaty marked the close of the Indian wars.

A treaty was made with the Indians at Fort Industry, on the present site of Toledo, in 1805, by which the United States acquired, for the use of the grantees of Connecticut, all that part of the Western Reserve which lies west of the Cuyahoga. The lands west of Huron and Richland Counties, and north of the Indian boundary line fixed by Wayne's treaty at Greenville, to the western limits of Ohio, were purchased by the United States in 1818 by a treaty made at St. Mary's. The lands ceded at this time were called the New Purchase. Certain reservations were made within the purchased tracts to the Delawares. Wyandots, Senecas, etc., which were subse- quently ceded to the United States, the last by the Wyandots in 1842, they then being the only Indian tribe left within the State. Thus through a long series of explorations, wars cessions and treaties has the title of the United States to lands of Ohio been derived. The organization of the Northwest into a ter- ritorial subdivision and the subsequent forma- tion and admission to the Union, of the State of Ohio, has been reserved for later considera- tion.

SETTLEMENT.

The first English attempt at settlement of which we have any record, within the present limits of the State of Ohio, was at a point in Shelby County on Loramie Creek, about six- teen miles northwest of the present city of Sidney, and since known by the name of Loramie's Store. Here some English traders established themselves about the year 1749. and gave it the name of Pickawillany from the tribe of Indians there. The settlement however, was doomed to be of short duration. As we have heretofore seen, this location was clearly within the limits claimed by the French, and immediately aroused them to action. They could not endure so evident an invasion of their country, and gathering a force of the Ottawas and Chippewas, their allies, they attacked the fort in June, 1752,

having first demanded its surrender of the Mi- amis, who had granted the English the priv- ilege of its erection. In the battle that ensued, fourteen of the Miamis were slain and all of the traders captured. They were either burned or taken to Canada as prisoners.

The real history of the occupation of Ohio by English settlers begins with the settlement at Marietta, on April 7, 1788. We have al- ready traced the various steps by which the title to the lands became vested in the United States, and through which alone the settlers could be secure in their possession. The final cession by the various states claiming rights in the northwest territory, to the Central Govern- ment, was the occasion for the formation of various land companies in the East, having for their purpose the settlement of this western country. The Ohio Company, before men- tioned, emerged from the past and again be- came active. In the year 1786 Benjamin Tup- per, a Revolutionary soldier, and General Ru- fus Putnam, circulated a pamphlet proposing the formation of a company for the purpose of settling the Ohio lands. It invited all those interested to meet in February in their respec- tive counties and choose delegates to a conven- tion to be held at the "Bunch of Grapes" Tavern in Boston on March 1, 1786. The purpose was to be the formation of a company and the adoption of definite plans for establish- ing a settlement in the Ohio Valley. On the clay appointed eleven persons appeared, an out- line was drawn up, and subscriptions began at once. The principal features of the plan were as follows: "A fund of $1,000,000, mainly in continental certificates, was to be raised for the purpose of purchasing lands in the western country : there were to be 1000 shares of $1000 each, and upon each share $10 in specie were to be paid for contingent expenses. One year's interest was to be appropriated for the charges of making a settlement and assisting those tun1- able to move without aid. The owners of every twenty shares were to choose an agent to represent them and attend to their interests, and the agents were to choose the directors. The plan was approved, and in a year's time from that date the company was organized."

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On the 8th of March, 1787, a meeting of the agents chose General Parsons, General Ru- fus Putnam and Rev. Manassah Cutler, direc- tors for the Company. The selection of Ma- nassah Cutler was extremely fortunate for the success of the enterprise, as few men could have been better fitted, both in character and ability, to conceive and execute a project of such importance as this would prove to be. A contract was made with the Treasury Board by Cutler and Winthrop Sargent, as agents for the Board of Directors of the Ohio Company. on October 27. 1787, by which there was con- veved to the company a vast region bounded on the south by the Ohio River, west by the Scioto, east by the seventh range of townships then surveying, and north by a due west line drawn from the north boundary of the tenth township from the Ohio direct to the Scioto. for the consideration of ȘI per acre. Later, in 1792, the boundaries of the purchase were fixed as follows: The Ohio on the south, the seventh range of townships on the east, the sixteenth range on the west, and a line on the north so drawn as to make the grant 750.000 acres. besides reservations, this grant being the portion which it was originally agreed the company might enter into at once. In addition 214,285 acres were granted as army bounties, and 100,000 acres as bounties to actual settlers. While these preliminary arrangements for the occupation of the new territory were being carried out, Congress was likewise providing a plan for its government. The famous in- strument known as the Ordinance of 1787, 1111- (ler which the first organization of the terri- tory was effected, was passed on July 13th of that year, but of it we shall speak more in de- tail later on.

In the winter of 1787 General Rufus Put- nam and forty-seven pioneers proceeded as far as the mouth of the Youghiogheny River. and, having built a boat for transportation down the Ohio, proceeded in the spring to the month of the Muskingum, where they landed on the 7th of April. 1788. Fort Harmar had previously been built at the month of the Mus- kingum, and it was on the opposite side of this river that the pioneers established their settle-

ment which they later called Marietta, in honor of Marie Antoinette.

This was the first permanent settlement es- tablished within the limits of Ohio. An at- tempt at settlement within the limits of Ohio had been made in April, 1785, at the mouth of the Scioto on the present site of Portsmouth by four families from Redstone, Pennsylvania. Difficulties with the Indians, however, com- pelled its abandonment. With regard to this first occupation of the soil of Ohio. George Washington wrote: "No colony in America was ever settled under such favorable auspices as that which has commenced at the Mus- kingum. Information, property, and strength will be its characteristics. I know many of the settlers personally and there never were men better calculated to promote the welfare of such a community."

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Century history of Delaware County, Ohio and representative citizens 20th, Part 8

Author: Lytle, James Robert, 1841- [from old catalog] ed Publication date: 1908 Publisher: Chicago, Biographical publishing company Number of Pages: 926

Author: Lytle, James Robert, 1841- [from old catalog] ed
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago, Biographical publishing company
Number of Pages: 926