History of Delaware County and Ohio, Part 35

Author: O. L. Baskin & Co; Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 818

USA > Ohio > Delaware County > History of Delaware County and Ohio > Part 35

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The address referred to as being requested of Judge Powell was delivered to the pioneers' at their meeting on the 4th of July, 1870, and was an able and entertaining paper. It appears in the Gazette of July 8, 1870, and we make an extract or two from it as items of interest to the few re-

maining pioneers. Its great length alone prevents its insertion in these pages entire :

"Pioneers of our Country ; Venerable Fathers and Mothers of our County: We heartily hail you to our social gathering. We most cordially invite you to partake and unite with us in the joyous festivity of the occasion, in which you are the principal object of our attraction and care. On this happy and joyful day - the ninety- fourth anniversary of our national independ- ence-we invite you here, from motives of gratitude and a deep sense of obligation that the people here assembled feel due to you, for the pri- vations and endurance you have encountered ; and the perseverance and patience you have manifested in pioneering this county from a howling and sav- age wilderness, to that high degree of civilization and refinement, we everywhere witness about us. You have made the solitary places to become glad, and the 'wilderness to rejoice and blossom as the rose.' We therefore say, Hail, venerable fathers and mothers ! Pioneers of our county, welcome to our social festivities, and nnite with us in rejoicing and hallowing this day-the birthday of our na- tional existence, which has secured to our people, and over our whole land, so much prosperity and happiness, of which all of you have been living witnesses for the last fifty years, and some of you from the day of its birth. These ideas solemnly call upon us to review the past, and consider how many difficulties and perils we have passed through, and by the mercy of God and His kind providence are now left to enjoy and rejoice over this day. Some of you witnessed the establishment of our Union ; and our National Constitution and Gov- ernment; then the turmoils and difficulties, na- tional and political, that brought on the embargo of 1807 ; then the war with Great Britain in 1812; then the war with Mexico in 1846-47 ; and, lastly, the terrible war of our late rebellion, for four years, from 1861-65. During those times how many friends and associates-how many companions and compatriots, have you survived, and are left by the blessings of heaven to enjoy with ns the fruition of this day. But it is the recollections of your pioneer experience that is the most vivid and en- during upon your memories ; the memory of those persons who were your companions and neighbors In your pioneer life in the early settlement of this county, who have departed this world, after hav- ing shared with you its perils and conflicts, while you are left here to enjoy its blessings. It is a solemn thought to recall the remembrance of our

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

205

departed friends ; and to be reminded how many we have thus survived-and to be admonished also that we, too, are mortal. But the kind Providence has so arranged it, that as old age steals on, we are better prepared calmly to meet that change and with Christian resignation say : ' I would not live forever.' * * *

"Now, without troubling ourselves about pre- cise dates, permit me to recur to your early pio- neer days-those days of your conflicts, perils and triumphs, in which many an incident, I know, occurred, highly interesting and instructive to this rising generation, that is about to succeed you and to take your places, who know nothing of these conflicts, perils and triumphs you have passed through-the battles of life you have encountered in order to transfer to their hands this country that you found as a savage wilderness, now filled with all that administers to the demands of civil- ized life and refinement, and satisfy our wants physical, moral and religious. The contrasts be- tween then and now are almost beyond the power of those who have not witnessed them, to compre- hend ; yet in a great measure, it is your work ; you laid the foundation upon which this super- structure has been built. To you belongs the great triumph that art, by the means of industry and per- severance, has accomplished over nature. I know that your task is often a thankless job, that often the succeeding generation receive the fruits of the toil and industry of those who precede them, with indifference and sometimes with ingratitude. The Great Ruler of the universe, however, has so or- dained it, that the honest and faithful laborer shall not go unrequited of the fruits of his toil ; for there is the consciousness of having done his duty in his day and generation; that he has fought the good fight; that he leaves this world improved and beautified for those who come after him. These will remain a source of moral tri- umph and consolation, of which even the ingrati- tude of this world cannot rob him ; and I doubt not will be a passport to the next. There are those who go through this world without doing any good to themselves or others, perfect parasites upon the world, without conferring upon it any benefit in return for what they have received from it. Their history is, that they were born, lived and flourished, and then rotted. To me, the thought would be a source of pain and agony, that I had never planted a tree, nor dug a well, nor done anything to improve and make the world better.

"The greatest progress made in the early settle- ment of Delaware County was that in the east, making Berkshire its center. Some of the lead- ing men of the eastern settlement had passed off before I came to the county, forty years ago this fall; but from all information of them, they were men well worthy of those who followed them. Soon after I came here, I became acquainted with most of the people of that part of the county; and I must say for them, that probably 'no new settle- ment could count in their ranks so large a propor- tion of men so distinguished for high order of intellect and general information, for business capacity and enterprise. The great body of these people were from New England and New York ; a good many from the Wyoming Valley in Penn- sylvania, who were the same race of people; and quite a number were immigrants from New Jersey. With these were mixed a few people from other portions of the country, with but few foreigners. Among the first settlers was a considerable colony from Berkshire County, Mass., who gave the name of Berkshire to the township, which for some time included the eastern portion of the county.

* * *

" And now, let me say to the rising generation- to the young men who are about to take the places of these men who have departed from us, that those young men thus coming up, must rise early, labor hard and diligently, and with perseverance, in order to make good the places of these old pioneers."

After following the county through the long period of its growth and prosperity, Judge Powell closes his address as follows : " That which has changed and improved those times for Delaware, may be stated, first, the general improvement of the county dependent on its own resources ; the next came, to our greatest relief, the railroad ; then next these colleges-these institutions of learning; then, lastly, not least, our manufactur- ing establishments. Take away from Delaware any of these sources of our prosperity, and Dela- ware would immediately cease to be what she is. If it be asked, if such were the situation of things in olden times, how did the old pioneer live ? We answer, he lived well ; had plenty to eat and to drink, and of the best of its kind ; and the women, by their economy, industry and perseverance in spinning and weaving, produced by domestic manu- facture whatever we wore, and that with which we were clothed ; and we thus lived independent and happy.

206

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

"Then a question recurs to us-Are the present generation, with all their improvements and ad- vantages, a better people ? That is a question of a very doubtful solution. They now have more advantages and privileges, greater ease in procur- ing the wants and luxuries of life; but whether they make better use of what is given to them; whether in coming to accountability of the use

they make of what is given to them, they will square up the account as well as the old pioneer does, is very questionable ; but I have a strong conviction that when that great trial and reckon- ing comes up, when our accounts will all have to be balanced, debit and credit, before Heaven-I must say that I would sooner risk the chances of the old pioneers."

CHAPTER IV. 1

ORGANIZATION OF THE COUNTY-ITS CIVIL DIVISIONS-POLITICAL HISTORY-ELECTION STA- TISTICS-THE COUNTY FARM.

" But the sunshine shall light the sky, . As round and round we run; And the Truth shall ever come uppermost, And Justice shall be done." -- Mackay.

TT has been said that the native American mind tends to self-government as naturally as the babe turns to the maternal fount for nourishment, and the organization of Delaware County (so named from the Delaware Indians, who once possessed the country), into a body corporate, with a legal exist- ence, over seventy years ago, and only seven years after the first settlement in it, is proof of that proposition. The limited settlements scattered throughout the immense area of country, rendered the original counties somewhat extensive in domain. As for instance, the county of Washington, the first formed within the present territory of Ohio, comprised about half of what is now the entire. State, and was established in 1788, by the procla- mation of Gen. St. Clair, then Governor of the Northwestern Territory. The next county formed after that of Washington was Hamilton, erected in 1790. Its bounds included the country between the Miamis, extending northward from the Ohio River, to a line drawn due east from the "standing stone forks of the Great Miami." As white people poured into the Territory, the old counties were divided and subdivided, thus forming new ones to accommodate the growing population. Ross County was the sixth organized in the Northwestern Ter- ritory, and at the time of its formation, embraced a large portion of the State. It was created under a proclamation of Gov. St. Clair, on the 20th of August, 1878. On the 30th of April, 1803, Franklin was formed from Ross, and organized into a separate division. February 10, 1808, Del-

aware County was set off from Franklin, under an act of the Legislature, which is as follows, and enti- tled " An Act Establishing the County of Dela- ware:"

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, That all that part of Franklin County included in the following bounds, be, and the same is hereby, laid off and erected into a separate and distinct county, by the name of Delaware, viz .: Beginning at the southeast corner of township number three, in the sixteenth range of the United States Military District; thence west with the line between the second and third tier of townships, to the Scioto River, and continued west to the east boundary of Champaign County ; thence with the said boundary north, to the Indian boundary line; thence eastwardly with said line, to the point where the north and south line between the fifteenth and sixteenth ranges of the said United States Military District intersects the same; thence south with the said last-mentioned line to the place of beginning.

SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That from and after the first day of April next, the said county of Delaware shall be vested with all the privileges, powers and im- munities of a separate and distinct county ; Provided, That all suits and actions of what nature soever, that shall have been commenced before the said first day of April, shall be prosecuted to final judgment and execu- tion, and all taxes, fines and penalties which shall be due previously to said day, shall be collected in the same manner as if this act had not passed.

SEC. 3. Be it further enacted, That all Justices of the Peace and other officers, residing within the limits of said county shall continue to exercise the duties of their respective offices until successors are chosen and quali- fied according to law.

SEC. 4. Be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Associate Judges of said county, to divide the same into townships, and publish the same in at least three of the most public places in each township, in which publication they shall request the electors in each township to meet in their respective townships on the first Monday of May next, and elect one Sheriff,

LELB

TLF

MARMON

DELAWARE COUNTY COURT HOUSE.

209

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

one Coroner, and three Commissioners, who shall hold their offices until the next annual election, and until others are chosen and qualified, together with the neces- sary township officers; Provided, That the notices shall be set up at least ten days before the said first day of May.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the town of Delaware shall be the temporary seat of justice for the said county of Delaware until the permanent seat of justice shall be established according to law.

JOHN SLOANE, Speaker of the House of Representatives, pro tempore ; THOMAS KIRKER, Speaker of the Senate.

February 10, 1808.

In 1820, Union County was created, the larger portion of its territory being taken from Delaware, and in the formation of Marion and Morrow Counties in 1824 and 1848 respectively. Dela- ware was again called on to contribute to tbe manufacture of new counties. These last drafts upon the territory of Delaware brought it down to its present dimensions-a little less than 500 square miles. It embraces eightcen civil townships, and while it is somewhat irregular in boundaries, it is of much better shape than many other counties of the State, and is quite large enough, too, for convenience.

In pursuance of the act authorizing its forma- tion, Delaware County held an election upon the day specified in the act, at which the following county officials were elected. to serve- until the regular October elections, viz. : John Welch, Avery Powers, and Ezekiel Brown, Commissioners ; Rev. Jacob Drake, Treasurer ; Dr. Reuben Lamb, Re- corder ; Solomon Smith, Sheriff, and Azariah Root, Surveyor. The following transcript of the records shows some of the first business of the honorable court :

JUNE 15, 1808. A petition for county road on west side of Whetstone River, beginning at the Indian line ; thence to Delaware ; thence to south lines of the county, as near the river as ground and river angles will admit. Petition granted, and Messrs. Byxbe, Nathaniel Wyatt and Josiah Mckinney appointed Viewers, and Azariah Root, Surveyor.

JUNE 17. Resolved, that a jail twelve by forty feet be built of oak logs, that will pass a foot, and hewed on both sides, the sides hewed to be laid together, the corners half dovetailed, the floors of logs fourteen inches through and hewed on three sides. Eight feet between floors. A cabin roof ; a grated window of three sufficient bars of iron in each room. One ontside and one inside door of white-oak plank, two inches thick, and two thicknesses well riveted together. The outside to be hewed down after it is laid up. The building to be finished January 1, 1809 .*

* Addison Carver took the contract to erect this jail, at $128.75.

Resolved, by the Board of Commissioners, that for every wolf scalp over six months old, there shall be al- lowed two dollars, and for all under, one dollar.

Resolved by the Board, that prices of tavern licenses shall be in town, six dollars, and in the country, four dollars .*

SEPT. 7, 1809. The settlement with Solomon Smith, Collector of Taxes for the year, shows a balance for the county of forty-two dollars and sixty and a half cents.

JUNE 5, 1810. The State and County Taxes for 1809, in Delaware County, were increased to six hun- dred and fifteen dollars and thirteen and seven-tenths cents.

The foregoing is a sample of the proceedings of the County Court for the first year or two of the county's existence, and will also serve to show wbat it was for years to come. The early records are rather meager and incomplete, and some wholly destroyed (by fire), so that extracts only can be given. From these records, we learn that a second jail was built of stone, and, according to contract, was to be completed and ready for occu- pancy January, 1814. Solomon Agard was the jailer, and the jail was erected adjoining his resi- dence. Prior to 1850, another jail was built, which served the county as a prison, until the erection of the present elegant jail, in 1878. The contract for this building was let at $22,000, but extras were added, until the total cost reached the sum (to be exact) of $25,845.35. It has all the modern inventions and improvements of iron-clad cells and burglar-proof doors. With all the pre- cautions, however, that have been taken to make it a safe repository for criminals, desperate char- acters sometimes effect their escape. The first court house of Delaware County was ordered built in 1815. It was, as stated in the records, to be of " good, well-burnt brick, forty feet by thirty-eight square;" we leave the reader to con- jecture whether the bricks were to be of that size, or the building. On the 10th of January, 1815, the County Commissioners made a contract with Jacob Drake for the erection of the building, at a cost of $8,000, to be paid as follows: " $1,000 to be paid next April ; $1,000 at the end of 1816, and the balance in $500 payments yearly till the whole is paid off." Upon searching the records, no account of the completion of this edifice is found up to 1822, when there is a break of several years in the records. That it was actually built, there is no doubt, but to fix the date of its completion is not an easy matter, nor shall we attempt it. It did duty as a temple of justice

* In 1814, raised to $13 and $7 respectively.

210

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

until 1870, when the present court house. was built at a cost of about $80,000. It is a modern brick, and, while it is not " magnificently extrava- gant," it is a neat and tasty structure.

The organization of the Circuit or Common Pleas Court, is more particularly given in the history of the bench and bar, in another chapter, and will be but incidentally alluded to here. Its first session was held by Judge Belt, of Chilli- cothe, in the tavern of Joseph Barber. This was a small cabin, about fifteen feet square, built of poles, and was the first house erected in the town of Delaware, and stood near the Sulphur Springs. Its circumscribed limits necessitated sending the grand jury out to deliberate under the shade of a tree, while the petit jury occupied similar quar- ters at no great distance. The first jury trial was the " State of Ohio against Valentine Martin," for " assault and battery " upon Reuben Wait. The case came up for trial before Judge Belt, June 3, 1808. Martin plead guilty, and was fined $4 and costs. The names of the jury are as follows : Thomas Brown, Daniel Strong, Valentine Foos, Ezekiel Van Horn, Aaron Welch, Nathen Carpenter, David Dix, George Cowgill, David Butler, John Patterson, Azariah Root and Josiah Mckinney. The first civil case was an action brought by Jacob Drake against Elias Palmer, for boarding and money loaned, and other claims. The attorney for the plaintiff was Jeremiah Osborne, and, for the defendant, John S. Wells. -

We deem it unnecessary, however, to encumber our pages with the old records of the court. The few extracts that have been given are merely for the purpose of showing the growth and develop- ment, from a very small beginning, of one of the important civil divisions of the State. But we will note one or two other points before passing. The first deed on record is a conveyance by Solo- mon Broderick, of Sussex, N. J., to Jacob Awl, of Paxton, Penn., for $500. It was transcribed from Vol. I., page 193, of the records of Ross County, and was for 250 acres of land, lying in the southeast part of the county, in what is now Harlem Township, and is dated May 14, 1800. Broderick, it seems, had acquired a title to 4,000 acres of the military lands of the United States, and the second record shows a sale by him to the same party of 500 acres of these lands for the sum of $1,000.

We have stated elsewhere that many of the early settlers of the county were Revolutionary soldiers, who held warrants upon the military lands

in the Northwestern Territory. This was a means of adding many settlers to the number then (as now) flocking to the Great West. The first patent granted by Congress to soldiers of the Revolu- tionary war, as a land warrant upon the military land embraced in Delaware County, was given by John Adams, President, to Francis Carbery. The deed bears date May 2, 1800, and describes a body of one hundred acres of land, in " Lot six, of first quarter, fourth township and twentieth range." Ezra Tryon, another soldier of the Revolution, records the second patent, and took the second place in time of locating. These were followed by many other veterans of the Revolution, who laid their patents or warrants upon lands, and.thus ob- tained pay for military service-not in greenbacks, as the soldiers in the late war, but in Western lands, an investment that proved much more valu- able than at the time was believed to be possible.

The next move, after the formation of the county, was the location of the seat of justice. This was done by Commissioners appointed for the purpose by the General Assembly. They met in March, only a few weeks after the passage of the act or- ganizing the county, and, upon considering the respective merits of contesting points, made their decision in favor of Delaware. A short time pre- vious to the location of the county seat, the town of Delaware had been laid out by Hon. Henry Baldwin and Col. Moses Byxbe, and the plat re- corded in Franklin County. Baldwin lived in Pittsburgh, hut, together with Byxbe, owned a large tract of military land in this section. The location of the county seat at Delaware was a great disappointment to the people of Berkshire, who had aspired to the dignity of having their own town become the seat of justice. The rivalry for that honor was kept up for a number of years, before the Berkshireites gave up the contest. Pre- vious to the building of the first court house, the little court business necessary to be transacted was done in taverns and private houses. People were better then than they are now, perhaps, and did not require so much " lawing " to keep them straight.

Delaware County, at the time of its organization, comprised a population of only a few hundreds, and hence did not need many divisions of its terri- tory. The same act that formed the county authorized the Associate Justices, viz., Moses Bysbe, Thomas Brown and Josiah Mckinney, to divide it into townships. Accordingly they met, in obedience to this act, and divided the county into three townships, as follows : " All east of the

HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.

211

center of eighteenth range was made the township of Berkshire ; all west and north of the north line of the fourth tier of townships, and a continued line west, was made the township of Radnor ; all south of Radnor, and west of Berkshire, was made the township of Liberty." Among the first business, however, transaeted by the Commission- ers' Court, was the creation of additional town- ships.

Marlborough was the first, and its formation bears date June 15, 1808. It comprised the area within the following boundary : Beginning at southeast corner of the sixth township, in the eight- eenth range of the United States Military Survey ; thence north on the east line of the eighteenth range to the Indian boundary line to the west line of the nineteenth range; thence south with said west line of the nineteenth range to the south line of the sixth township ; thence cast with the south line of the sixth township, until it inter- sects the east line of the eighteenth range, at the place of beginning. June 16, Delaware Township was created, as the records have it, by a " concur- rent resolution of the Board of Commissioners." Its original area was as follows : Beginning at the northwest corner of Township 5, Range 19 of the United States Military Survey ; thence south with the range line to the center of Township 4; thence east on center line of said township to the center of Township 4, in Range 18, to the north line of Township 5 in the same range; thence west on said line to the place of beginning. The formation of Sunbury bears the same date, and is bounded as follows : Beginning at the northeast corner of Section 2

of Township 5 and Range 17 of United States Military Survey ; thence south with said line of the eonnty ; thence east with said county line to the east line of said county ; thence north with said county line to the Indian boundary line; thence westerly with said boundary line to the east boundary of Marlboro Township ; thenee south with said boundary to the southeast corner of said township; thenee east to the place of beginning.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Delaware County and Ohio, Part 35

Author: O. L. Baskin & Co; Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892? Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago, O.L. Baskin & Co. Number of Pages: 818

Author: O. L. Baskin & Co; Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago, O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 818