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

Author: Rockel, William M. (William Mahlon), 1855-1930, ed
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago, Biographical publishing co.
Number of Pages: 1086

USA > Ohio > Clark County > Springfield > Century history of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio, and representative citizens 20th > Part 8

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ARTHUR ST. CLAIR.

Shortly after the adoption of the or- dinance Congress elected as the first governor of this great territory a young military officer who had shown both patriotism and military talent.

The following beautiful and pathetic statement in reference to that distin- guished man is taken from Governor Nash's address at the Ohio Centennial.

"Fellow-citizens, I have a story that I desire to tell you. It is a story of patriotic effort and yet it seems to me that it furnished the best example of the ingratitude of republics of any that has come within my knowledge.

HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY

"In 1758 there was a young Scotchman about to leave his home. He was a gradu- ate of the University of Edinburgh. He was thoroughly educated, he was tall, handsome and twenty-three years of age. He enlisted in the army of the king of Great Britain and became an ensign in one of his regiments. He left his home in Scotland and came to America under Amherst. In the French-English War he served faithfully and bravely before the walls of Louisburg. For gallantry in that action he was promoted to the position of second lieutenant in his company. Then a few years later he was joined to the command of the great and gallant Wolfe in the final struggle between the French and English, for the possession of Canada. Upon the Plains of Abraham, in the attack upon Quebec, he was one of the brave soldiers who followed the gal- lant Wolfe, who fell upon that bloody field. One of the color bearers fell, bear- ing down with him the colors of his regi- ment. This lieutenant seized those colors covered with blood and carried them bravely until the end of that conflict, which has been told in history and sung in song for nearly one hundred and fifty years.

"That brave Scotchman was Arthur St. Clair the first governor of the North- west Territory. He resigned from the English army; he became the husband of a loved wife; he was endowed with ample fortune, and in 1766 he went to western Pennsylvania, near Pittsburg, and set- tled among her beautiful hills and became one of the leading pioneers of this west- ern country.

"Time went by; the Revolution for our freedom commenced and St. Clair was

called upon by John Hancock in 1775 to raise a regiment to engage in our great struggle for liberty. He responded as a patriotic man always responds. At this time he wrote to an intimate friend: 'I hold that no man has a right to withhold his services when his country needs them. Be the sacrifice ever so great, it must be yielded upon the altar of patriotism.'

"He raised a regiment of Pennsyl- vanians. He joined in the expedition of Arnold against Montreal for the capture of Canada. He was there barely in time to save the army of Arnold from utter rout. Then he was called by Washington to New Jersey. He was then made a ma- jor-general in the Revolutionary army. He engaged with Washington in the battles . of Trenton and Princeton. There he gave advice to our gallant chief which was es- teemed most highly. After those victories he returned to the northern territory and with his command sought to stay the in- vasion of Burgoyne. He was through all those conflicts which finally resulted in the surrender of Burgoyne and his army. Then he joined Washington, again be- came his faithful adviser, was a favorite of Alexander Hamilton, was a friend of LaFayette, the brave Frenchman who came to our rescue. By them all he was esteemed and honored. At Valley Forge, Washington called upon this brave gen- eral, with his fortune to come to the rescue of his army. With his own money he assisted in feeding Washington's sol- diers; with his own money he partially clothed them; by his patriotism he im- poverished himself.

"Later, when the war was over, he be- came president of the Continental Con- gress. He was its president when the Or-

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.

dinance of 1787 was framed. In the mak- ing of its provisions he took an active part. That ordinance became the law of this territory. Then the Continental Con- gress saw fit to elect Arthur St. Clair as the governor of the territory, whose or- dinance he helped to frame. For four- teen years he remained here as the gover- nor of the Northwest Territory. His labors were very irksome. The value of what he did for our pioneers can never be over-estimated. At length there came the time in 1802 when he must retire from office. He went back to his beloved Penn- sylvania hills.

"He was an old man, yet he sought to recuperate the fortune which he had lost. He pleaded with Congress to restore the money to him which he had expended up- on the army that gave us our liberties ; but that Congress, poor and impoverished, too, made the lame excuse that St. Clair's

claims were outlawed, and they were not paid.

"He went back to his home in Pennsyl- vania and lived in a hovel with his widowed daughter. At last one day, with some truck that might give him the sustenance of life, he started with his pony and cart to a nearby town and on the way a wheel fell into a rut. The aged general was thrown from the cart upon the stony ground and severely injured. There he lay nearly a day before he was discovered and rescued. In a few days he died. He was by his Masonic brothers buried in a little country graveyard at Greensburg. They erected a plain, brown sandstone monument over his tomb and inscribed upon it these words :

"The earthly remains of General Arthur St. Clair are deposited beneath this humble monument; which is erected to supply the place of a nobler one, due from his country.

"It is too late to do justice to St. Clair, but we can honor his memory by erecting over that lonely grave the monument which is due from his country."

CHAPTER V.

STATE AND COUNTY GOVERNMENT.

Ohio-Admission of State-County and Township Organization-Organization of Counties --- Formation of Clark County-Systems of Survey-The U. S. Rec- tangular Survey-Miami Rivers Survey-Pre-emption Lots-Table of Measurements-Name of Boundary- - Selection of County Seat-New Boston -- George Rogers Clark.

OHIO.

The sun never shone on a country more fair,

Than beautiful, peerless Ohio,

There's life in a kiss of her rarified air, Ohio, prolific Ohio.

Her sons are valiant and noble and bright, Her beautiful daughters are just about right,

And her babies, God bless them, are clear out of sight- That crop never fails in Ohio!

Our homes are alight with the halo of love,

Ohio, contended Ohio :

We bask in the smiles of the heavens When the burdens of life I am called to above- No clouds ever darken Ohio.

Our grain waves its billows of gold in I never could ask a more glorious crown the sun, Than one of the sod of Ohio.

The fruits of our orchards are equalled by none,

And our pumpkins, some of them, weigh most a ton- We challenge the world in Ohio!

Our girls are sweet models of maidenly grace,

In this modern Eden, Ohio, They are perfect in figure and lovely in face,

That's just what they are in Ohio.

Their smiles are bewitching and winning and sweet,

Their dresses are stylish, yet modest and neat, A Trilby would envy their cute little feet, In beautiful, peerless Ohio.

lay down, I hope I may die in Ohio.

And when the last trump wakes the land and the sea

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.

And the tombs of the earth set their pris- oners free,

You may all go aloft if you choose, but for me,

I think I'll just stay in Ohio.

LUCIEN SEYMOUR.

ADMISSION OF STATE.

While no one will doubt the integrity and patriotism of General St. Clair, yet in the light that we now have, most of us will agree that some of his ideas upon fundamental principles were hardly in ac- cord with those underlying a free govern- ment, but to that reason all his difficulties with the Territorial Assembly cannot be attributed. He was a Federalist, they were Republicans, and to that reason, per- haps, as much as anything else, may be attributed his unpopularity with the Leg- islative Assembly.

Prior to 1800 all the northwest consti- tuted a territory by that name. In this year was organized the territory of In- diana with Gen. William H. Harrison as governor, leaving practically in the old territory that part which was later formed into the State of Ohio. There never was a territory by the name of "Ohio." The official name was "The Eastern Division of the territory of the United States northwest of the River Ohio." At the time Indian Territory was created, that which was left within the bounds of the present state of Ohio had sufficient population to become a state. Those in opposition to Governor St. Clair conceived that it would be easier to get rid of him by having Ohio admitted as a state, than to have him removed as governor of the territory. It would perhaps be un-

just to say that this was the sole motive. The territory was rapidly filling up and naturally the people desired to assume the dignity given to statehood. By an Act of Congress thirty-five members repre- senting the counties of Trumbull, Jeffer- son, Belmont, Washington, Fairfield, Ross, Adams, Clermont and Hamilton, on the basis of one member for each twelve hundred inhabitants were called together in Chillicothe in November, 1802, and formed a constitution on that day for the state of Ohio. On this basis at the time these thirty-five delegates were selected, the state then had a population of 10,500. The exact date of the admission of the state is a matter of some confusion, but March 1, 1803, is generally considered to be the true date when Ohio became a state and the territory ceased its political ex- istence.

COUNTY AND TOWNSHIP ORGANIZATION.

In the older states there were two kinds of local organization, one which prevailed in New England, which was known as the town system, and the other prevailing in Virginia, known as the county system, which have been very well described by Hinsdale.

"The mingling of elements from all parts of the Atlantic slope in the new pop- ulation, and particularly the appointment of New England and Middle State men in about equal numbers to Territorial of- fices, decided the character of the local institutions now found in Ohio. Two rad- ically different types of local government are found in the old States-the town sys- tem and the county system. As the names indicate, the first assigns the major part

HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY

of political power to town or township Wayne 1796, Adams and Jefferson in officers, the second to county officers. 1797, Ross 1798, Trumbull, Clermont and Fairfield 1800, and Belmont 1801. Which one of these ten counties included our county remains somewhat of a question, resulting chiefly from the fact that the old boundary lines have in time passed away. It is interesting to know that the county of Washington originally included almost all of eastern Ohio. It began on the bank of the Ohio River, where the western boundary line of Pennsylvania crosses it, and running with that line to Lake Erie; thence along the southern shore of said lake to the mouth of Cuya- hoga River; thence up said river to the portage between it and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum; thence down that branch to the forks at the crossing place above Ft. Lawrence; thence with a line to be drawn westerly to the portage on that branch of the Big Miami on which the fort stood that was taken by the French in 1752, until it meets the road from the lower Shawnees town to San- dusky; thence south to the Scioto River; thence with that river to the mouth; thence up the Ohio River to the place of beginning." These systems are traceable to England. The founders of New England came from towns and cities, and they naturally set . up municipal institutions ; the founders of Virginia came from the English counties, and as naturally set up county institu- tions. That the one would be more con- genial to a civic democracy, the other to a landed gentry, goes without the saying. As is well known, Mr. Jefferson strove to introduce the New England system into Virginia, and made it the subject of fre- quent eulogy. 'These wards, called town- ships in New England,' he said, in 1816, 'are the vital principle of their govern- ments, and have proved themselves the wisest invention ever devised by the wit of man for the perfect exercise of self- government and for its preservation.' Again, in 1810, he speaks of 'the large, lubberly divisions into counties,' of the Middle, Southern and Western States, 'which can never be assembled.' Local government in the Middle States is a com- promise of the town and county systems; the county is more than in New England, and the town more than in the South. Governor St. Clair was from Pennsyl- vania, Judge Symmes from New Jersey, General Putnam from Massachusetts ; and the three established in the Territory lo- cal institutions that are a sort of cross on the compromise and town systems.

ORGANIZATION OF COUNTIES.

"Before the state was admitted into the union counties were formed by proc- lamation of the governor. In this man- ner there were ten counties organized, to- wit, Washington in 1788, Hamilton 1790,

The Ft. Lawrence referred to above was a fort built near the north line of what is now Tuscarawas County and not far from the village of Bolivar. It was an import- ant point in Lord Dunmore's war. The correct spelling of the name of this fort is "Laurens," as it was named after Gen- eral Henry Laurens, who was then, in 1778, president of Congress!

The "fort that was taken from the French in 1752," referred to in the de- scription of Washington County, was at the village of Pickawillany; and the

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.

"Lower Shawnees town" no doubt re- ferred to the towns of the Shawnees on the Scioto River, in contra-distinction to those on the Miamis and Mad River, and this would then make the Scioto River the western boundary line of Washington County and therefore would not include Clark County.

When Hamilton County was organized it was described as "beginning on the bank of the Ohio River at the confluence of the Little Miami and down said Ohio River to the mouth of the Big Miami, and up said Miami to the standing stone forks or branch of said river, and thence with a line to be drawn due east to the Little Miami and down said Little Miami to the place of beginning."

Where this "standing stone forks" was upon the Big Miami I am unable to say, from the fact, however, that the Little Mi- ami hardly assumed the dignity of a river within the present boundaries of Clark County. It is not likely that the original boundaries of Hamilton County included much of this county. However, when Wayne County was organized it followed the lines of Washington County up to the point where it turned south to meet and follow the Scioto River, to-wit, where the line drawn from Ft. Laurens to Picka- willany crossed the road to Sandusky, and this point is referred to in the estab- lishment of Wayne County as the eastern boundary of Hamilton, so it seems that, if not by proclamation, yet by a general assumption, that Hamilton County was made to include all west of the western boundary of Washington County and south of the southern boundary of Wayne County, thus including Clark County, and that the entire state of Ohio was at that

time, to-wit, 1796, covered by the three counties, Washington, Hamilton and Wayne.

In 1798 Ross County was formed, and took its territory from the counties of Washington and Hamilton. It had its western boundary in a line drawn due north from the mouth of Elk River or Eagle Creek; there was a ford there across the Ohio River. This creek or riv- er empties into the Ohio in Brown Coun- ty, and if a line be drawn due north you will find it included the half or more of Clark County in the formation of Greene County.

When Greene County was formed, in 1803, it was taken from Hamilton and Ross. The territory now in Greene Coun- ty was described as follows: "Beginning at the southeast corner of the county of Montgomery, running thence east to the Ross County line, in the same course con- tinued eight miles into the said county of Ross: thence north to the State line (State line here referred to, I presume means the south boundary line of the Greenville Treaty) : thence westernly with the same to the east line of Montgomery County : thence with the said boundary line of Montgomery to the beginning."

The upper part of this territory was in turn taken to form Champaign County, which took all of Greene County now in- cluded in Clark County, together with a strip six miles on the east off Madison, Franklin County having been originally taken from Ross, and Madison from Franklin.

FORMATION OF CLARK COUNTY.

When Champaign County was organ- ized in 1805, the temporary seat of justice

HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY

was fixed at the town of Springfield at the house of George Fithian until the perma- nent place could be fixed by law. Urbana was laid out in the same year that the County of Champaign was formed, and being perhaps nearer to the center of the territory, and augmented largely by the self-interest of the persons who had plat- ted the town, the county seat was removed to that place. Urbana had assumed to be a place of considerable importance in the war of 1812; it was a government military post and the army of General Hull, from Dayton, and that of General McArthur, from Chillicothe, met there on their way to Detroit, but Springfield was also grow- ing, and the rivalry of the two towns be- came rather sharply developed, and it was not long until the agitation for the forma- tion of a new county began to be felt.

December 24th, 1814, Mr. McBeth of the House of Representatives presented petitions from the inhabitants of Cham- paign, Madison, Miami, and Greene Coun- ties, praying for a new county. Mr. New- el presented remonstrances from the in- habitants of Champaign. Afterwards the matter was referred to committees and passing over the usual matters occurring in legislation of that kind, on Monday, December 15, 1817, the bill admitting the county was read for a third time; it re- ceived upon its passage in the Senate sev- enteen ayes and ten nays. On December 23rd it was passed in the House and on December 25, Christmas Day, 1817, the County of Clark received its existence. The fight had been long and not free from acrimony; almost all of the distinguished men of the time were arraigned on one side or the other. Naturally the citizens of Springfield were very much elated over

the passage of the act and held a celebra- tion in a tavern kept by Cooper Ludlow on the northwest corner of Main and Factory Streets.

SYSTEMS OF SURVEY.

THE U. S. RECTANGULAR SURVEY.

"The struggle for independence of the thirteen American colonies with Great Britain, although a successful one, left the colonies with a heavy burden of debt to pay. The fact, however, that several of the colonies (now states had an inter- est in what) was then known as the North- west Territory, proved one of the most powerful influences which kept the new born nation from dropping to pieces, and a fruitful means to assist in clearing off the burden of debt.

The four states, Massachusetts, Con- necticut, New York and Virginia, which claimed all the land north of the Ohio Riv- er, west to the Mississippi, agreed to give it to the United States, to be disposed of for the common good, and in 1787 Con- gress passed an ordinance for the govern- ment of this territory, and also for estab- lishing a definite method for the survey and sale of these lands, which were now designated as "Public Lands."

The plan arranged by James Mans- field, surveyor general of the Northwest Territory, adopted by Congress in 1802, and called the United States Rectangular Survey, may be briefly described as fol- lows :

First, a north and south line is run through the tract determined upon to be surveyed. This line begins at some prom- inent or easily distinguished point, and is

RESIDENCE OF J. W. PARMENTER, SPRINGFIELD

RESIDENCE OF WILLIAM FOOS, SPRINGFIELD

RESIDENCE OF P. P. MAST, SPRINGFIELD

RESIDENCE OF ROSS MITCHELL, SPRINGFIELD

AND REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS.

designated as a "principal meridian." Then a line running east and west, at right angles with the first line, is run through the tract, called the "base line."

The first principal meridian west of Washington is the west boundary of Ohio, which was run north from the mouth of the Great Miami river. It is 80° 51' longi- tude west from Greenwich.

Lines are then run north and south par- allel to the principal meridian, and six miles apart, which divide the territory into long north and south strips, called ranges, which are numbered in their order, 1, 2, etc., east of the meridian, also the same west of it. Across these are run lines six miles apart, parallel to the base line, cutting the territory into long east and west strips called Towns, and these are numbered north and south from the Base Line.

By this "cross-lining" the territory is divided into squares, six miles on a side. Each of these squares is a congressional township. Such "townships" sometimes, but often do not, correspond to the civil townships, which are known by popular names. The only designation of congres- sional townships is their range and town numbers.

After the tract is thus surveyed into townships six miles square, the townships are divided into thirty-six tracts, called "sections," each containing one square mile, more or less.

The sections are run off very much as were the townships, using each town- ship's east range line and south town line as bases. Commencing one mile west of the southeast corner of the township, the surveyor runs north a mile, then east a mile to the east range line and corrects

back to the northwest corner of the sec- tion. He sets a quarter post (or half mile post) on the west line of the section at forty chains north of the starting point, and sets the quarter post on the north line of each section half way between the northwest and northeast section corners. The surveyor proceeds to run off the re- maining sections on the east tier, up to the north line of the township, placing the last section corner where his north and south line intersects that north town line, whether this point is east or west of the section corner previously estab- lished in the township survey. The dis- tance between the two corners, if any, is called the "jog," and is recorded.

The government sub-divisions of the section (although they are not actually surveyed by the government surveyor) by which the lands are sold, are "quarter" sections or 160 acres, "half-quarter" sec- tions or 80 acres, and "quarter-quarter" sections or 40 acres. The section is di- vided into quarters by running a straight line north and south, and one east and west between the quarter posts on the sides of the section. The quarter sec- tions are "halved" by running a straight line north and south or east and west (whichever way it is wished to divide it) from points midway by measurement of opposite sides. The quarter sections are quartered by running lines north and south and east and west between points at the center of each side of the quarter section. Other smaller sub-division can be made on the same principle.

It will be seen from this that if a sec- tion is perfectly square and contains the exact number of acres, that this method · would sub-divide it into tracts of equal

HISTORY OF CLARK COUNTY

areas, but it hardly ever occurs that a sec- tion is exactly square or contains the exact number of acres. Consequently it almost always occurs that the sub-divi- sions will differ more or less in quantity.

N./2.N.E. /4 80 A.

NW 1/4 160 A.

S./2.N.E.14 80 A

40 A. N.W. /4 S.W.Y4

40 A. N.E.1/4 S.W. 14

W. 1/2 S.E. 14 80A

E 1/2 S.E.14 80 A

40A S.W. 14 S.W. 1/4

40 A. S.E. 1/4 S.W.14

Yet the government has established this as the only method by which the sub-divi- sions shall be made, and making the eight corners established on the exterior lines of each section "the corners," however incorrect they may be.

The sub-divisions of the section in the preceding diagram, as it is divided into the "Government Descriptions," are each described in brief on the diagram.

MIAMI RIVERS SURVEY.

The above title describes the more elab- orate system of survey in northern parts of Ohio and thence west to the Pacific. The survey of that part of Clark County which is sectionized illustrates a step in the development of that system. The land between the Miami rivers, north of

Symmes' purchase, was surveyed (1802 and prior) as government land, by Col. Israel Ludlow, who platted Cincinnati and Dayton. This survey was in six mile townships, which Colonel Ludlow divided into squares of two miles,' and which were afterward sub-divided in- to sections one mile square, "more or less." Ludlow used "towns" and "ranges" in reverse order to the plan above described. In this county the towns are the north-south tiers, numbered east- ward from the Great Miami, and the ranges are the east-west rows, numbered northward. The sections are numbered from the southeast corner of the town- ship, north, and the successive westward tiers in the same order. Many sections are divided, instead of into regular sub- divisions, into preemption tracts, land taken up at the time of the survey. Some of these preemption lines still figure in descriptions. Complete descriptions of regular sub-divisions in the sectionized part of Clark County are the same as above described, except that instead of range east (or west) town north (or south), the statement is "range , town, - Miami Rivers survey."

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

Author: Rockel, William M. (William Mahlon), 1855-1930, ed Publication date: 1908 Publisher: Chicago, Biographical publishing co. Number of Pages: 1086

Author: Rockel, William M. (William Mahlon), 1855-1930, ed
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Chicago, Biographical publishing co.
Number of Pages: 1086