USA > Ohio > Fayette County > History of Fayette County, Ohio : her people, industries and institutions > Part 4
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It is pertinent to say something of the activity of the anti-war party in the state during the time the struggle was going on. In the summer of 1863 the Democrats of the state nominated Vallandigham for governor, a man who was very outspoken in his denunciation of the war, but John Brough, a stanch Union man, had no difficulty in defeating him for the governorship. The part which Vallandigham subsequently played in the history of his state is sufficient proof that it was for the best interests of the state that he was defeated.
The Spanish-American War of 1898 has been the last one in which troops from Ohio have taken any part. Following the call of President Mckinley for seventy-five thousand volunteers, Ohio had no difficulty in filling their quota. This war opened officially on April 25th and formally came to an end by the signing of a protocol on August 12th. The battles of Manila Bay, Santiago, El Caney and San Juan Hill were the only engage- ments of importance. According to the treaty of Paris, which was signed December 12, 1898, Spain relinquished her sovereignty over Cuba, ceded to the United States Porto Rico and her other West India possessions and the
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FAYETTE COUNTY, OHIO.
Island of Guam, and transferred her rights in the Philippines for a sum of twenty million dollars paid to her for public works and improvements which belonged to the Spanish government.
THE LAND GRANTS OF OHIO.
Ohio was the first state organized out of the territory north of the Ohio river and east of the Mississippi river and was divided into several grants, reservations and military districts of one kind and another. These various divisions have led to an endless amount of confusion in the surveying of lands in the state and in many cases in expensive litigation. A brief sum- mary of each one of these divisions is here presented.
THE OHIO LAND COMPANY PURCHASE.
This company was organized March 3. 1786. at Boston and on October 27, 1787. bought from the government 1,500,000 acres and received, outside of the portions reserved by Congress, 1,064,285 acres. Congress set aside the sixteenth section of each township for school purposes, the twenty-ninth section for religious purposes and the eighth, eleventh and twenty-sixth for such purposes as Congress might determine in the future. This tract in- cluded what was known as the "Donation Tract" of 100,000 acres, the same now being the northern part of Washington county. For this immense tract the Ohio Company paid the government sixty-six and two-thirds cents an acre.
THE FRENCH GRANT.
The secretary of the United Board of Treasury, William Duer, was in- strumental in helping the Ohio Company to secure from Congress the option on 3,000,000 acres lying west and north of the original purchase of this com- pany. The title to this tract remained in the government and out of this peculiar arrangement arose the Scioto Company, which was organized in France. Hundreds of deluded Frenchmen invested their money in this tract and received cloudy titles which caused no little trouble in later years. A large number of these French settlers landed on the banks of the Ohio on October 20, 1790, on the site of the present city of Gallipolis, which they founded and named. The Scioto Company was incompetently managed. be- came insolvent and the land on which the unfortunate Frenchmen had settled reverted to the United States government. While the most of them remained.
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PAYBILE COUNTY, OINIO.
there were many of them who went on farther west and located where other French settlers had previously established themselves. The United States treated the remaining French settlers in a very generous manner and by the act of March 3, 1795, granted them 24,000 acres on the Ohio river within the present limits of Scioto county.
THE SYMMES PURCHASE.
In 1788 John Cleves Symmes and other men of New Jersey organized the Miami Company and bought from the United States 1,000,000 acres, for which the company agreed to pay sixty-six and two-thirds cents an acre. As in the case of the purchase of the Ohio Company, the government made reservations of school and church sections, as well as three additional sections for general purposes. The Miami Company later found out that they had contracted for more than they could pay and the records show that they received and paid for only 311,682 acres in the southern part of the tract. It is interesting to note that the present site of Cincinnati was sold by the company to one Matthias Denman for the sum of five hundred dollars. The city of Cincinnati was founded the following year and the monument in that city on Third street, between Broadway and Ludlow streets, marks the loca- tion of Fort Washington, which was erected to protect the infant city from the Indians.
CONNECTICUT RESERVE.
In the year 1785 the state of Connecticut relinquished all her claims to lands in the Northwest Territory with the exception of a strip of 3.500,000 acres bordering Lake Erie. This immense tract became an integral part of Ohio as the result of two separate acts on the part of Connecticut. The state granted 500,000 acres in the western part of the reserve in 1792 to those citizens of Connecticut whose homes had been burned by the British during the Revolutionary War. The towns of Norwalk, Greenwich, Fairfield. New Haven and New London furnished the greater part of the eighteen hundred who took advantage of the generous offer of their state. The land was sur- veved into townships of five miles square and divided among the settlers in proportion to their losses. In 1795 the Connecticut Land Company purchased the rest of the reserve, amounting to 3,000,000 acres, and on April 28, 1800, the United States government passed an act which paved the way for the final absorption of the tract by the state of Ohio. In May. 1800. the Connect-
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FAYETTE COUNTY, OHIO.
icut Legislature accepted the offer of the United States and formally re- nounced all claims to the territory in favor of the state of Ohio.
THE VIRGINIA MILITARY DISTRICT.
The reservation was retained by Virginia when the state relinquished her claim to Congress in 1784, being retained by the state for the use of the Revolutionary soldiers who had enlisted from Virginia. It comprised the territory between the Little Miami and Scioto rivers, but was not to be used unless the lands claimed by Virginia south of the Ohio river proved insuffi- cient to pay all of the bounties promised by Virginia to her soldiers. By the year 1790 it was seen that Virginia would not have enough territory south of the Ohio to satisfy all of her needs and accordingly, in August of that year, Congress passed an act allowing the state to use the optional territory north of the Ohio river. Owing to the fact that the territory was not sur- veyed according to any definite plan. the various allotments assigned to the Virginia soldiers frequently overlapped and in many instances confusion and litigation resulted.
THE UNITED STATES MILITARY LANDS.
The Continental Congress during the Revolutionary War offered boun- ties of Western lands in order to increase enlistments, and soldiers so secured were given land warran s which they later presented to Congress and ex- changed for land. On June 1, 1796, Congress passed an act which called upon the surveyor-general of the United States to locate a tract in the North- west Territory for the purpose of enabling the government to have land to take up the land warrants which it had issued during the late war. The limits of this particular tract began "at the northwest corner of the Seven Ranges, thence south fifty miles, thence west to the Scioto river and along that river to the Greenville treaty line. thence along that line and east to the place of beginning." These lands were surveyed into townships five miles square and each owner received a patent for his land signed by the President of the United States.
THE REFUGEE TRACT.
This tract was set aside by the Continental Congress in April, 1783. for the benefit of such people as left Canada and Nova Scotia to help the American colonies in their fight against England during the Revolution. The subsequent congressional act of 1798 confirmed the act of the Continental
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FAYETTE COUNTY, OHIO.
Congress and on February 18, 1801, Congress definitely selected "those frac- tional townships of the sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth, twen- tieth, twenty-first and twenty-second ranges of townships joining the south- ern boundary line of the military lands." This tract of four and a half miles in width, and extending forty-two miles east of the Scioto river, con- tained more than twice as much as was needed to satisfy the claims of the refugees. The part unclaimed by those for whom it was set aside was at- tached to the Chillicothe land district and sold as Congress lands. It so hap- pened that the future capital of the state. Columbus, is in the extreme western side of this tract.
CONGRESS LANDS.
Some of the tracts of land already described were Congress lands, viz .. the French Grant, the Seven Ranges and the Refugee Tract. Congress re- tained and sold all lands not specifically relinquished to land companies and established land offices for the purpose at different times at Marietta, Cin- cinnati, Steubenville, Chillicothe, Zanesville, Canton, Wooster, Piqua, Dela- ware, Wapakoneta, Lima and Upper Sandusky.
THE MORAVIAN GRANT.
The congressional grant to the Ohio Company in 1787 reserved ten thousand acres in what is now Tuscarawas county for the use of the Mora. vians and Christian Indians who had previously settled there, the title being vested in the Moravian Brethren at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. A few years later two thousand acres were added to the original grant and in 1823 the territory reverted to the United States, with the exception of the cemeteries, church yards and a few special leases.
DOHRMAN'S GRANT.
Congress granted all of township 13, range 7, in Tuscarawas county to one Henry Dohrman, a Portuguese citizen, who rendered valuable services to the colonies during the Revolutionary War.
THE MAUMEE ROAD LANDS.
In 1823 Congress granted to the state of Ohio about sixty thousand acres for the purpose of constructing a road from the lower rapids of the Maumee river to the western limits of the Western Reserve of Connecticut.
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FAYETTE COUNTY, OHIO.
THE TURNPIKE LANDS.
In 1827 Congress granted to the state of Ohio forty-nine sections of land in Seneca, Crawford and Marion counties for the construction of a road from Columbus to Sandusky.
CANAL GRANTS.
Between 1825 and 1845 Congress at different times made special grants of land to the state of Ohio for canal purposes, and a total of about one million acres were thus secured by the state. By the year 1842 the state had completed six hundred and fifty-eight miles of canals, at the staggering cost to the state of $14,688,666.97, although before they were all completed the railroads were in operation in the state.
SALT SECTIONS.
In the early history of the Northwest Territory salt was a commodity hard to secure and necessarily high in price. Congress reserved every place where it was thought salt could be obtained and in this way helped the settlers to get salt at the least expense. In Ohio an entire township within the present county of Jackson was reserved, as well as about four thousand acres in Delaware county. In 1824 Congress relinquished its claim in favor of Ohio.
THE ZANE SECTIONS.
Ebenezer Zane, one of the most prominent of the men in the early his- tory of the state, was granted three sections by Congress in 1796 in return for his services in opening a road from Wheeling to Maysville. These three sections were located at Zanesville, Chillicothe and Lancaster. Isaac Zane was granted three sections in Champaign county by Congress for valuable services to the colonies during the Revolution. Isaac Zane had been cap- tured by the Indians when a small boy and spent the major portion of his life with them, and his influence with the Indians was such that he proved to be of great assistance to the colonies in handling them.
THE MINISTERIAL LANDS.
These lands have been previously mentioned and were reserved only in two grants, those of the Ohio Land Company and the Symmes Purchase.
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FAYETTE COUNTY, OHIO.
The grants to both set aside section twenty-nine of each township for relig- ious purposes.
SCHOOL SECTIONS.
Provisions for public schools were made in all states created by the United States after the adoption of the constitution. The Ordinance of 1787 had made specific mention of the value of schools and a wise Congress set aside section sixteen of every township, which was surveyed into town- ships six miles square. The United States military lands were surveyed into township five miles square, but Congress reserved one thirty-sixth of the whole area for school purposes. There are no reservations in the Connecti- cut Reserve and Virginia Military District for school purposes, but Congress made up for this by setting aside an amount equivalent to one thirty-sixth of the area in each tract from other lands belonging to the United States. As a matter of fact, one thirty-sixth of the whole state was reserved for school purposes as well as three townships for universities.
OHIO POLITICS.
The politics of Ohio presents many interesting features, but this brief summary can do little more than indicate the more important landmarks in the political history of the state. The first governor of the Northwest Terri- tory, Arthur St. Clair, was an ardent Federalist and undoubtedly his pro- nounced political views had something to do with his removal from the office on November 22, 1802. From that time until 1836 the Democratic party, or the Republican or Democratic-Republican, as it was at first called, controlled the state, and it was not until William Henry Harrison, a "favorite son." became a candidate for the presidency, that the Whigs were able to break the strength of the Democratic party in the state. In 1836, 1840 and 1844 the Whigs carried the state for the President. The panic of 1837, the popularity of Harrison and the Texas question were largely determining factors in the success of the Whigs. The Democrats regained sufficient power in 1848 to carry the state again and repeated their victory in 1852. In 1856 John C. Fremont carried the state for the newly organized Republican party and since that year there has been only one Democratic electoral vote in the state of Ohio. In 1892 Grover Cleveland received one of Ohio's twenty-three electoral votes, but with this exception the state has cast a solid Republican vote for President every year since 1850. Ohio has fur-
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FAYETTE COUNTY, OHIO.
nished five Presidents of the United States:
Rutherford B. Hayes, James A. Garfield, William McKinley and William H.
years of their tenure and their politics, is given at this point for reference : large majorities. A complete list of the governors of the state, with the it has had eight Democratic governors and has frequently elected them by While the state has been registering Republican votes for the President,
Governor.
Thomas Kirker ( acting) Edward Tiffin
Samuel Huntington
Allen Trimble (acting ) Ethan Allen Brown Thomas Worthington Othniel Looker ( acting) Return Jonathan Meigs
AAllen Trimble Jeremiah Morrow
Duncan McArthur
Robert Lucas
Thomas Corwin Wilson Shannon Joseph Vance
Wilson Shannon
Mordecai Bartley
William Bebb
Seabury Ford
1 William Medill (acting, 1853) Reuben Wood
William Dennison, Jr. Salmon P. Chase
Charles Anderson (acting) John Brough David Tod
Rutherford B. Hayes Joab Cox
Edward F. Noyes
1872-74
Tenure.
1 807-09 1803-07
Sc9-11
1811-1.4
1815-19 1814-15
1819-22
1822-23
1823-27
1827-31
1831-33
1833-37
1837-39
1843-44 1841-43 1839-41
1844-45
1845-47
8 47-1
1819-51
1851-53
1853-56
1856-60
1860-62
1862-64
1864-65
1865-66
1866-68
1868-72
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1896-00
1 900-04 1904-06
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1900-13
1913 --
William Allen
Rutherford B. Hayes
Thomas L. Young
Richard M. Bishop Charles Foster
George Hoadley
Joseph Benson Foraker
James E. Campbell
William Mckinley
Asa S. Bushnell
George K. Nash.
Myron T. Herrick
John M. Patterson (died in office)
Andrew Litner Harris
Judson Harmon
James M. Cox
The political history of Ohio can not be dismissed without reference to
the amendments incorporated in the constitution in 1912 which have made the constitution practically a new instrument of government. The general
tendency of the thirty-three amendments is to make a freer expression of
democracy through the medium of the initiative and referendum, direct pri-
maries and home rule for cities. A workmen's compensation law was enact-
ed which provides for compulsory contributions to an insurance fund by the
employers of the state. Many changes were made in providing for improve-
out the trouble of a constitutional convention. which is sufficiently flexible to allow changes to be made by amendment with- ments in social and industrial conditions. Ohio now has a constitution
The state boundaries of Ohio have been the cause for most animated
discussions, not only in regard to state limits but county and township lines
as well. In 1817, and again in 1834, a severe controversy arose over the boundary between Ohio and Michigan which was settled only after violent
In primitive times the geographical position, extent and surface diversi- demonstrations and government interference.
could not have been more at variance with actual facts had they been laid out ties were but meagerly comprehended. In truth, it may be asserted they
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FAYETTE COUNTY, OHIO.
BOUNDARY LINES.
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FAYETTE COUNTY, OHIO.
"haphazard." The Ordinance of 1787 represented Lake Michigan far north of its real position, and even as late as 1812 its size and location had not been definitely ascertained. During that year Amos Spafford addressed a clear, comprehensive letter to the governor of Ohio relative to the boundary lines between Michigan and Ohio. Several lines of survey were laid out as the first course, but either Michigan or Ohio expressed disapproval in every case. This dispute came to a climax in 1835 when the party beginning a "perma- nent" survey began at the northwest corner of the state and was attacked by a force of Michigan settlers who sent them away badly routed and beaten. No effort was made to return to the work until the state and various parties had weighed the subject, and finally the interposition of the government became necessary. A settlement resulted in the establishment of the present boundary line between the two states, Michigan being pacified with the grant of a large tract in the northern peninsula.
Ohio is situated between the 38 25' and 42 north latitude, and 80 30' and 84 50' west longitude from Greenwich, or 3 30' and 7 50' west from Washington. From north to south it extends over two hundred and ten miles, and from east to west two hundred and twenty miles-com- prising thirty-nine thousand nine hundred and sixty-four square miles.
The state is generally higher than the Ohio river. In the southern counties the surface is greatly diversified by the inequalities produced by the excavating power of the Ohio river and its tributaries. The greater portion of the state was originally covered with timber, although in the central and northwestern sections some prairies were found. The crest or watershed be- tween the waters of Lake Erie and those of the Ohio is less elevated than in New York or Pennsylvania. Sailing upon the Ohio the country appears to be mountainous, bluffs rising to the height of two hundred and fifty to six hundred feet above the bed of the river. Ascending the tributaries of the Ohio, these precipitous hills gradually lessen until they are resolved into gentle undulations and toward the sources of the river the land becomes low and level.
Although Ohio has no inland lakes of importance, it possesses a favor- able river system which gives the state a convenient water transportation. The lake on the northern boundary, and the Ohio river on the south afford convenient outlets by water to important points. The means of communica- tion and transportation are superior in every respect, and are constantly being increased by railroad and electric lines.
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FAYETTE COUNTY, OILIO.
ORGANIZATION OF COUNTIES AND EARLY EVENTS.
Adams county was named in honor of John Adams, the second Presi- den of the United States. Governor St. Clair proclaimed it a county on July 10, 1797. The Virginia Military Tract included this section, and the first settlement made within its boundaries was in this county in 1790-91, between the Scioto and Little Miami, at Manchester, by Gen. Nathaniel Massie. In this town was held the first court of the county. West Union, the present county seat, was laid out by the Honorable Thomas Kirker. It occupies the summit of a high ridge. The surface of this county is hilly and broken, and the eastern part is not fertile. It produces corn, wheat and oats. Its hills are composed of aluminous shale.
Ashland county, one of the finest agricultural sections, was formed February 26, 1846. Wheat, oats, corn, potatoes, grass and fruit are raised. Ashland is its county seat and was laid out by William Montgomery in 1816. It was called Uniontown for several years. Daniel Carter raised the first cabin within the county limits in 18II.
Auglaize county was formed in February. 1848, from Allen and Mercer counties. Wapakoneta is its county seat.
Allen county was formed from the Indian territory April 1, 1820. Lima is its county seat.
Ashtabula county was created June 7, 1807, and was organized January 22, 18II. The surface is level near the lake, while the remainder is undu- lating. The soil is mostly clay. This was the first county settled on the Western Reserve and also the earliest in northern Ohio. On the 4th of July. 1796, the first surveying party arrived at the mouth of Conneaut creek. Judge James Kingsbury was the first who wintered there with his family. He was the first man to use a sickle in the first wheat field in the Western Re- serve. Their child was the first born on the Western Reserve and was starved to death. The first regular settlement was at Harpersfield in 1798. Jefferson is the county seat. Ashtabula is pleasantly situated on the river, with a fine harbor two and a half miles from the village. The first church on the Western Reserve was founded at Austinburg in 1801.
Athens county was formed from Washington March 1, 1805. It pro- (luces wheat, corn, oats and tobacco. The surface is hilly and broken, with rich bottom lands between. Coal, iron ore and salt add materially to its com- mercial value. Athens, its county seat, is situated on the Hocking river. Ohio University, the first college founded in the state, is located here. We have mentioned the ancient mounds found in this county heretofore.
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FAYETTE COUNTY, OHIO.
Brown county was formed March 1, 1818, from Adams and Clermont. It produces wheat, corn, rye and oats. The southern part is prolific in grain. while the northern is adapted to grazing purposes. The surface is undulating, with the exception of the Ohio river hills. Over this county Tecumseh once held sway. Georgetown, the county seat, was laid out in 1819. Ripley is the largest business town in the county.
Belmont county was created by Governor St. Clair September 7, 1801. It produces large crops of wheat, oats, corn and tobacco. It is a picturesque tract of country, and was one of the pioneers in the early settled portions. In 1790 Fort Dillie was erected on the west side of the Ohio. Baker's Fort was a mile below the mouth of the Captina. Many desperate Indian battles were fought within the limits of this county, and the famous Indian scout, Lewis Wetzel, roamed over the region. Saint Clairsville is the county seat, situated on the elevation of land, in a fertile district. Captain Kirkwood and Eliza- beth Zane, of historic fame, were early pioneers here.
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