USA > Ohio > Williams County > County of Williams, Ohio, Historical and Biographical > Part 21
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36955
22560
27485
27344
13631
15027
17226
52 Vinton
49
1577
4793
10238
15823
19763
33 Hardin
210
4598
8251
13570
18714
27028
34 Harrison
262
2503
8434
8901
14028
20587
36 Highland
4791
13152
18177
23881
25556
30583
18 Cuyahoga
6966
11856
15719
22518
21 Delaware
22 Erie
12599
18568
24474
28188
17789
21062
27 Gallia
28 Geauga
29 Greene.
30 Guernsey
31 Hamilton
32 Hancock
13719
14654
15576
15935
16326
44 Lawrence
23735
25894
31001
42867
51 Marion
52 Medina
7781
14043
20041
25443
7 Belmont
28813
22951
21933
23883
4 Ashtabula
11339
17187
-
-
8851
2248
3308
13364
46 Logan
6675
82640
·
9353
203
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION.
POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES.
STATES AND TERRITORIES.
Area In square Miles.
POPULATION.
Miles R.R. 1872
STATES AND TERRITORIES.
Ares 'I aquaru
POPULATION.
Mile R.R.
Buntes.
Sussex.
Aabania ..
50,722
906.90!
1.262.794
1,671|
Pennsylvania
46.000
8,521,791
4,24,786
5,113
Arkansas .
52. 199
481.671
Rhode Island.
1.MUC
217.353
20.528
186
Colorado ..
101.20
194,649
892
Tennessee ....
45.000
1,28,537
1,512,463
1.50
Connecticut.
4.6:0
537, 158 125,015
146.651
227
Vermont.
10,212
1. 25,163
1,512,806
1,400
West Virginia.
23,000
412,014
618. 143
Wisconsin.
53,921
1.131,6TU
1.315,480
1,725
low ......
55.045
1.191.792
1.621.630
926,996
1.700
Kentucky
37.000
1.321.011
1,193
Territories.
Louisiana
41.316
736,915
Arizona.
113,916
9.GGA
40,411
Maine.
31,7:6
627,915
Dakota.
147,490
14,181
135,'80
Mary laod ..
11,181
ויא.טאר
911,139
Dist. of Columbia.
GO
131,70
177.638
Massachusetts
1.457,361
1.5X3.012
Idaho ..
90,932
11,939
32.611
Michigan.
56,451
1, 181,13
1.6656 .: 20
Montaus
143,776
20,595
30, 157
..
Mississippi
47,156
827,922
1.131.592
9 0
lilah
W.whington
69,914
23,955
75,120
198
Nevada ...
1 !. 191
318778
346 911
Total Territories
860, 482
402,866
783.271
873
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
Ohio.
37.961
2,665,360
8,198,2
3,740
Oregon.
95,244
90,923
174,767|
179
"Included in the Railroad Mileage of Maryland.
PRINCIPAL COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD; POPULATION AND AREA.
COUNTRIES.
Population.
Date of Census.
Area in Square Miles.
Inhabitants to Square Mile.
CAPITALS.
Population.
China.
446,500.000
1871
3.741.846
119.3
Pekin.
1,648,800
British Empire ..
226.817.108
1871
4,677.432
48.6
London.
3,251,800
Russia.
81,925,490
1871
8.003,778
10.2
St. Petersburg
667,000
United States with Alaska,
38.925,600
1870
4.603.884
7.78
Washington
109,199
France.
36.469.800
1866
201,091
178.7
Paris ..
1.825.800
Austria and Hungary.
35.904,400
1869
240.348
149.4
Vienna
833,900
Japans ..
34,785,300
1871
149,399
232.8
Yeddo ..
1.554,900
31,817,100
1871
121,315
262.3
London.
3,251,800
29.906,092
1871
160,207
187.
Berlin
825,400
Italy
27.439,921
1871
118,847
230.9
Rome
244,484
16.642,000
1867
195,775
85.
Madrid
332.000
Turkey
16.163,000
672,621
24.4
Constantinople
1,075,000
Mexico.
9,173,000
1869
761.526
Mexico
210.800
Persia ..
5.000,000
1870
635.964
7.8
Teheran
120,000
Belgium.
5.021,300
1869
11,373
441.5
Brussels
314,100
Bavaria.
4,861,400
1871
29,292
165.9
Munich
169,500
Portugal
3.995,200
1868
34.494
Lisbon.
224,063
Holland
3.688.300
1870
12,680
290.9
Hague ..
90,100
New Grenada.
3.000.000
1870
357,157
8.4
Bogota.
45,000
Chili
2,000,000
1869
132.616
15.1
Santiago.
115,400
Switzerland.
2.669,100
1870
15,992
166.9
Berne
86,000
Peru
2.500,000
1871
471.838
5.3
Bolivia ...
2,000,000
497.321
4.
Chuquisaca.
25,000
Argentine Republic.
1,812.000
1869
871,848
2.1
Buenos Ayres.
177.800
Denmark.
1,784.700
1870
120.9
Copenhagen
162,042
Venezuela.
1,500,000
368,288
Caraccas
47,000
Baden.
1,461,400
1871
5.912
247.
Carlsruhe
36.600
Guatemala
1,180,000
1871
40,879
28.9
Guatemala
1,300,000
218,928
5.9
70,000
Hexse
Darmstadt
30.000
San Salvador.
600,000
1871
7,335
81.8
Sal Salvador
15,000
Hayli ...
572,000
10,205
56.
Port au Prince
20,000
Nicaragua
350,000
1871
58,171
6.
Managua
10,000
Uruguay ..
300,000
1871
66,722
6.5
Monte Video
44.500
Honduras
350,000
1871
17.092
7.4
Comayagua .
12.000
San Domingo.
136,000
17,827
7.6
San Domingo.
20.000
Costa Rica ..
165.000
1870
21.505
7.7
San Jose ..
2,000
Hawall
62.950
7.633
80.
Honolulu.
7.633
Digitized by
1.
....
237,504
818,579
1,502,574
Delaware.
Florida.
59.385
1.181.19|
1,533.018
2, 10%
T'otal States ....
2,054,671
38,154,127
49,300,50%
59,716
Nebrask .
75.935
8X
Wyoming
933,107
9,118
20,688
New Hampshire ..
Aggregate of U.8 ..
2.915,203
18.0
18-0
1872
California
500, 21.
1.013
South Carolina
715.006
93.62
1.201
622, 073
Texas
Virginia ..
Georgia.
55. 11)
9,088, 769 5,901
1,981,362 3,539
Indians
Kansas
81.31x
1.721.212
2.547
New Mexico.
121,301
91,874
118,430
86, 786
143,906
375
1. 131.947
1,2% 1,47 1,190
1,071.311
1,40,017
1870
19,353
75.3
Athens.
43,400
Paraguay
1,000,000
1871
63.787
15.6
Asuncion.
48,000
Liberia
718.000
1871
9,576
74.9
Monrovia
3,000
Brazil.
10.000.000
3.953.029
3.07
Rio Janeiro.
420,000
Sweden and Norway
5.921.500
1870
292.871
20.
Stockholm
Lima ..
160,100
Wartenburg
1.818,500
1871
7,533 14,753
241.4
Stuttgart,
91,600
40,000
Ecuador.
Quito
823,138
2,969
277.
136,900
Minnesota
60,852
1870
1850
267.251
512.286
675
40,904
4.2
1,457.900
115.8
Great Britain and Ireland, German Empire
L
204
HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.
COMMENTS UPON THE ORDINANCE OF 1787, FROM THE STATUTES OF OHIO, EDITED BY SALMON P. CHASE, AND PUB- LISHED IN THE YEAR 1833.
[It would be difficult to find a more comprehensive review of the founda- tions of our system of laws than is given in the "Preliminary Sketch of the History of Ohio," by this distinguished representative of the bench and the bar of America. The work is now out of print, and is not easily obtained; besides, its great author has passed away; so these extracts are made more with a view of preserving old historical literature, than of introducing new; furthermore, the masses of the people have never had convenient access to the volumes, which, for the most part, have been in the hands of professional men only. The publication of the work first brought its compiler before the public, and marked the beginning of that career which, during its course, shaped the financial system of our country, and ended upon the Supreme Bench of the nation.]
By the ordinance of 1785, Congress had executed in part the great national trust confided to it, by providing for the disposal of the public lands for the common good, and by prescribing the manner and terms of sale. By that of 1787, provision was made for successive forms of Territorial government, adapted to successive steps of advancement in the settlement of the Western country. It comprehended an intelligible system of law on the descent and conveyance of real property, and the transfer of personal goods. It also con- tained five articles of compact between the original States, and the people and States of the Territory, establishing certain great fundamental principles of governmental duty and private right, as the basis of all future constitutions and legislation, unalterable and indestructible, except by that final and common ruin, which, as it has overtaken all former systems of human polity, may yet overwhelm our American union. Never, probably, in the history of the world, did a measure of legislation so accurately fulfill, and yet so mightily exceed the anticipations of the legislators. The ordinance has been well described, as having been a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, in the settlement and government of the Northwestern States. When the settlers went into the wilderness, they found the law already there. It was impressed upon the soil itself, while it yet bore up nothing but the forest. The purchaser of land became, by that act, a party to the compact, and bound by its perpetual cove- nants, so far as its conditions did not conflict with the terms of the cessions of the States.
* * * *
* * *
This remarkable instrument was the last gift of the Congress of the old confederation to the country, and it was a fit consummation of their glorious
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.
labors. At the time of its promulgation, the Federal Constitution was under discussion in the convention; and in a few months, upon the organization of the new national government, that Congress was dissolved, never again to re-as- semble. Some, and indeed most of the principles established by the articles of compact are to be found in the plan of 1784, and in the various English and American bills of rights. Others, however, and these not the least important, are original. Of this number are the clauses in relation to contracts, to slavery and to Indians. On the whole, these articles contain what they profess to con- tain, the true theory of American liberty. The great principles promulgated by it are wholly and purely American. They are indeed the genuine princi- ples of freedom, unadulterated by that compromise with circumstances, the effects of which are visible in the constitution and history of the Union. *
The first form of civil government, provided by the ordinance, was now formally established within the Territory. Under this form, the people had no concern in the business of government. The Governor and Judges derived their appointments at first from Congress, and after the adoption of the Fed- eral Constitution, from the President. The commission of the former officer was for the term of three years, unless sooner revoked; those of the latter were during good behavior. It was required that the Governor should reside within the Territory, and possess a freehold estate there, in one thousand acres of land. He had authority to appoint all officers of militia, below the rank of Generals, and all magistrates and civil officers, except the Judges. and the Secretary of the Territory; to establish convenient divisions of the whole dis- trict for the execution of progress, to lay out those parts to which the Indian titles might be extinguished into counties and townships. The Judges, or any two of them, constituted a court with common law jurisdiction. It was neces- sary that each Judge should possess a freehold estate in the territory of five hundred acres. The whole legislative power which, however, extended only to the adoption of such laws of the original States as might be suited to the cir- cumstances of the country, was vested in the Governor and Judges. The laws adopted were to continue in force, unless disapproved by Congress, until re- pealed by the Legislature, which was afterward to be organized. It was the duty of the Secretary to preserve all acts and laws, public records and executive proceedings, and to transmit authentic copies to the Secretary of Congress every six months.
Such was the first government devised for the Northwestern Territory. It is obvious that its character, as beneficent or oppressive, depended entirely upon the temper and disposition of those who administrated it. All power, legisla- tive, judicial and executive, was concentrated in the Governor and Judges, and in its exercise they were responsible only to the distant Federal head. The expenses of the Government were defrayed in part by the United States, but were principally drawn from the pockets of the people in the shape of fees.
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.
This temporary system, however unfriendly as it seems to liberty, was, perhaps, so established upon sufficient reasons. The Federal Constitution had not then been adopted, and there were strong apprehensions that the people of the Territory might not be disposed to organize States and apply for admission into the Union. It was, therefore, a matter of policy so to frame the Territorial system as to create some strong motives to draw them into the Union, as States, in due time.
The first acts of Territorial legislation were passed at Marietta, then the only American settlement northwest of the Ohio. The Governor and Judges did not strictly confine themselves within the limits of their legislative author- ity, as prescribed by the ordinance. When they could not find laws of the original States suited to the condition of the country, they supplied the waut by enactments of their own. The earliest laws, from 1788 to 1795, were all thus enacted. The laws of 1788 provided for the organization of the militia; for the establishment of inferior courts; for the punishment of crimes, and for the limitations of actions; prescribed the duties of ministerial officers; regu- lated marriages, and appointed oaths of office. That the Governor and Judges in the enactment of these laws, exceeded their authority, without the slightest disposition to abuse it, may be inferred from the fact that except two, which had been previously repealed, they were all confirmed by the first Territorial Legislature.
* * * *
At this period there was no seat of government, properly called. The Governor resided at Cincinnati, but laws were passed whenever they seemed to be needed, and promulgated at any place where the Territorial legislators hap- pened to be assembled. Before the year of 1795, no laws were, strictly speak- ing, adopted. Most of them were framed by the Governor and Judges to answer particular public ends; while in the enactmant of others, including all the laws of 1792, the Secretary of the Territory discharged, under the author- ity of an act of Congress, the functions of the Governor. The earliest laws, as has been already stated, were published at Marietta. Of the remainder, a few were published at Vincennes, and the rest at Cincinnati.
In the year 1789, the first Congress passed an act recognizing the binding force of the ordinance of 1787, and adapting its provisions to the Federal Con- stitution. This act provided that the communications directed in the ordinance to be made to Congress or its officers, by the Governor, should thenceforth be made to the President, and that the authority to appoint with the consent of the Senate, and commission officers, before that time appointed and commis- sioned by Congress, should likewise be vested in that officer. It also gave the Territorial Secretary the power already mentioned, of acting in certain cases, in the place of the Governor. In 1792, Congress passed another act giving to the Governor and Judges authority to repeal, at their discretion, the laws by
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.
them made; and enabling a single Judge of the general court, in the absence of his brethren, to hold the terms.
At this time the Judges appointed by the national Executive constituted the Supreme Court of the Territory. They were commissioned during good behavior; and their judicial jurisdiction extended over the whole region north- west of the Ohio. The court, thus constituted, was fixed at no certain place, and its process, civil and criminal, was returnable wheresoever it might be in the Territory. Inferior to this court were the County Courts of Common Pleas, and the General Quarter Sessions of the Peace. The former consisted of any number of Judges, not less than three nor more than seven, and had a general common-law jurisdiction, concurrent, in the respective counties, with that of the Supreme Court; the latter consisted of a number of Justices for each county, to be determined by the Governor, who were required to hold three terms in every year, and had a limited criminal jurisdiction. Single Judges of the Common Pleas, and single Justices of the Quarter Sessions, were also clothed with certain civil and criminal powers to be exercised out of court. Besides these courts, each county had a Judge of Probate, clothed with the ordinary jurisdiction of a Probate Court.
Such was the original constitution of courts and distribution of judicial power in the Northwestern Territory. The expenses of the system were de- frayed in part by the National Government, and in part by assessments upon the counties, but principally by fees, which were payable to every officer con- cerned in the administration of justice, from the Judges of the General Court downward.
In 1795, the Governor and Judges undertook to revise the Territorial laws, and to establish a complete system of statutory jurisprudence, by adoptions from the laws of the original States, in strict conformity to the provisions of the ordinance. For this purpose they assembled at Cincinnati, in June, and continued in session until the latter part of August. The judiciary system un- derwent some changes. The General Court was fixed at Cincinnati and Marietta, and a Circuit Court was established with power to try, in the several counties, issues in fact depending before the superior tribunal, where alone causes could be finally decided. Orphans' Courts, too, were established, with jurisdiction analogous to but more extensive than that of a Judge of Probate. Laws were also adopted to regulate judgments and executions, for limitation of actions, for the distribution of intestate estates, and for many other general purposes. Finally, as if with a view to create some great reservoir, from which, whatever principles and powers had been omitted in the particular acts, might be drawn according to the exigency of circumstances, the Governor and Judges adopted a law, providing that the common law of England and all general statutes in aid of the common law, prior to the fourth year of James I, should be in full force within the Territory. The law thus adopted was an act of the Virginia Legislature, passed before the Declaration of Independence, when Virginia was
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HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.
yet a British colony, and at the time of its adoption had been repealed so far as it related to the English statutes.
The other laws of 1795 were principally derived from the statute book of Pennsylvania. The system thus adopted, was not without many imperfections and blemishes, but it may be doubted whether any colony, at so early a period after its first establishment, ever had one so good. * * * * * * * *
And how gratifying is the retrospect, how cheering the prospect which even this sketch, brief and partial as it is, presents! On a surface, covered less than half a century ago by the trees of the primeval forest, a State has grown up from colonial infancy to freedom, independence and strength. But thirty years have elapsed since that State, with hardly sixty thousand inhabitants, was admitted into the American Union. Of the twenty-four States which form that Union, she is now the fourth in respect to population. In other respects, her rank is even higher. Already her resources have been adequate, not only to the expense of government and instruction, but to the construction of long lines of canals. Iler enterprise has realized the startling prediction of the poet, who, in 1787, when Ohio was yet a wilderness, foretold the future con- nection of the Hudson with the Ohio.
And these results are attributable mainly to her institutions. The spirit of the ordinance of 1787 prevades them all. Who can estimate the benefits which have flowed from the interdiction by that instrument of slavery and of legislative interference with private contracts? One consequence is, that the soil of Ohio bears up none but freemen ; another, that a stern and honorable regard to private rights and public morals characterizes her legislation. There is hardly a page in the statute book of which her sons need be ashamed. The great doctrine of equal rights is everywhere recognized in her constitution and her laws. Almost every father of a family in this State has a freehold interest in the soil, but this interest is not necessary to entitle him to a voice in the concerns of government. Every man may vote; every man is eligible to any office. And this unlimited extension of the elective franchise, so far from pro- ducing any evil, has ever constituted a safe and sufficient check upon injurious legislation. Other causes of her prosperity may be found in her fertile soil, in her felicitous position, and especially in her connection with the union of the States. All these springs of growth and advancement are permanent, and upon a most gratifying prospect of the future. They promise an advance in population, wealth, intelligence and moral worth as permanent as the existence of the State itself. They promise to the future citizens of Ohio the blessings of good government, wise legislation and universal instruction. More than all, they are pledges that in all future, as in all past circumstances, Ohio will cleave fast to the national constitution and the national Union, and that her growing energies will on no occasion, be more willingly or powerfully put forth, than in the support and maintenance of both in unimpaired vigor and strength.
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HISTORY OF WILLIAMS COUNTY.
BY H. S. KNAPP.
" To gather from still living witnesses, and preserve for the future annalist the important records of the past ; to seize, while yet warm and glowing, and inscribe upon the page which shall be sought hereafter the bright visions of song, and the fair images of story which gild the gloom and brighten the sorrows of the ever-fleeting present; to search all history with a steady eye, sound all philosophy with a careful hand, question all experience with a fearless pen, and thence draw lessons to fit us for, and light to guide us through the shadowed but unknown future."-WILLIAM D. GALLAGHER.
It may not be out of place to note, in commencing, some landmarks that indicate changes which time and circumstances have wrought in the habits and customs of the people-to draw contrasts, and then deduce whether old or modern conditions confer the largest sum of happiness upon man- kind. Among the pioneer settlers there existed very little distinction in worldly circumstances and modes of life ; and disparities in condition only developed themselves gradually, as the wild lands became subdued and reduced to a condition fit for tillage. In the Eastern States, and particularly the State of New York, of which most of the early settlers of Williams County were native, it was neither the indolent nor the opu lent, nor indeed, as a general fact, families possessing even a competence, who would seek homes in the West, to encounter the hazards and priva- tions which attended life in the wilderness. They exchanged a prosper- ous and healthy for an inhospitable and malarious climate, and they quite well understood, before their resolution became formed to seek & Western residence, that they were sacrificing many home comforts which they could not hope to recover until they had endured years of proba- tionary toil ; but their courage, faith and hope impelled them to face all hazards that might offer. In the " old settlements " as they were desig- nated, many of the new emigrants had been tenants, as were their ances- try. Large portions of the most fertile districts of Eastern and Western New York were owned by a few proprietors-the former section chiefly by the Van Rensselaer families, and the the Western quarter of the State
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HISTORY OF WILLIAMS COUNTY.
by the Holland Land Company and the Wadsworths and other aristocratic lordlings ; and the lands, of course, were cultivated by their tenants, at will, and it was their firm resolve to put forth every manly effort to emancipate themselves from a condition of semi-vassalage which threat- ened a doom of servitude for themselves and children scarcely less ob- noxious than the landlord system, which for centuries had so oppressed the toiling millions of some portions of Europe ; and they could only escape these evils in removal to the cheap but wild lands of the West, where time, toil and patience would ultimately secure them good homes. It was from the land monopoly ridden sections of the State of New York that a larger number of the early settlers of Williams County principal- ly came. The immigrant would always bring with him a sufficient amount of money to enter a tract of land at Government price, and a little sur- plus to provide for necessary subsistance and emergencies that might occur. It soon became a feature and a habit among the new settlers to avail themselves of opportunities to interchange with each other acts of neighborly kindness. It was indispensable that neighbors combine their labor when log houses or barns were to be raised, or heavy timber that had been cut or " niggered " into suitable lengths for "logging " were to be stacked together for purposes of burning. In this and some other work, combination of effort in "pulling together " would be advantageous and almost indispensable. No neighbor, whose services were required on occasions like these, would ever fail, except disabled by sickness, to re- spond to calls made upon him. When one would slaughter a domestic animal, or return from a successful hunt of wild game, all the near fami- lies would share alike the food. Friendships thus begun and cemented by common privations, perils and associations were among the most last- ing and indissoluble that any condition of human society could call into existence, and their beneficent results are visible among remote descend- ants of the pioneer families of to-day.
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