USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County : together with historic notes on the Northwest, and the state of Ohio, gleaned from early authors, old maps and manuscripts, private and official correspondence, and all other authentic sources > Part 19
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94
189
EARLY LAWS OF OHIO.
Appomattox Court House, and Corinth ; "their bones reposing on the fields they won, are a perpetual pledge that no flag shall ever wave , over their graves but the flag they died to maintain." Their sufferings, their death, will'ever be cherished and remembered by their grateful countrymen ; and, as evidences of the veneration in which they are held, we behold the beautiful Home, near Dayton, and the Asylum near Xenia.
Since the war Ohio has steadily advanced in agriculture, manufac- turing, and in all commercial directions. Politically she stands in the front ranks, and in the production of Presidents, her soil seems as prolific as the Old Dominion. The Mediterranean State in geograph- ical position, her advantages are fast making her the leading State in our glorious Union.
EARLY LAWS IN OHIO.
To those who complain of the rigidity of the present law of our State, a glance at some of the punishments inflicted in "ye olden times " for petty offenses will soon dispel any such idea.
In those times, when the present State was governed by the Terri- torial laws, the court house yards were invariably ornamented with the pillory, stocks and whipping-post. The first law for whipping was made by Governor St. Clair and Judges Parsons and Varnum at Marietta, September 6, 1787, which provided that in case a mob were ordered to disperse, and refused so to do, each person, upon convic- tion, should be fined in a sum not exceeding three hundred dollars, and whipped not exceeding thirty-nine stripes, etc.
The same penalty was inflicted for burglary, and, where violence was used, forty years imprisonment and forfeiture of goods and realty.
For perjury, or refusing to be sworn, sixty dollars fine, thirty-nine stripes, and sitting in the pillory two hours.
For forgery, sitting in the pillory three hours.
For arson, thirty-nine stripes, put in the pillory, confinement in the jail three years, and forfeiture of property, and in case death was caused by such crime the offender was punished with death.
If a child refuse to obey his or her parents, or master, on complaint shall be sent to the jail or house of correction until he or she, or they " shall humble themselves to the parent's or master's satisfaction ; and if any child shall strike his parent, he shall be whipped not exceeding ten stripes.
190
EARLY LAWS OF OHIO.
For larceny, two-fold restitution, thirty-nine stripes, or seven years labor.
For drunkenness, first offense, five dimes, and one dollar for each . " additional drunk," or sitting in the stocks one hour.
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
This county, occupying a portion of the Virginia military reser- vation, reaches back in its political history into early colonial times, before the organization of the general government of the United States, and when all the territory northwest of the River Ohio, ex- tending west to the Mississippi, was claimed by Virginia.
In the years 1774 and 1775, before the Revolutionary War began, the thirteen colonies then existing, so far as their relations to one another were concerned, were separate, independent communities, having, to a considerable extent, different political organizations and different municipal laws; but their various population spoke, almost universally, the English language, and, as descendants from a common English stock, had a common interest and a common sympathy.
In the year 1773, on the 7th day of July, Dr. Benjamin Frank- lin, then in England, wrote an official letter to the Massachusetts Assembly, strongly urging a general assembly of the representa- tives of the people of all the colonies, that they might make such a declaration and assertion of their rights as would be recognized by the king and parliament of Great Britain. Pursuant to this advice a congress, called the First Continental Congress, assembled at Carpenter's Hall, in Philadelphia, on the 5th day of September, 1774, and remained in session until the 26th day of October, fol- lowing. A second Continental Congress met on the 10th day of May, 1775. This congress, styled also the revolutionary govern- ment, on the 4th day of July, 1776, published to the world the Declaration of Independence, and on the 15th day of November, 1777, agreed to articles of confederation and perpetual union be- tween the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Caro- lina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
*
192
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
Article I. recited that "The style of this confederacy shall be The United States of America;" and Article II. that "Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every pow- er, jurisdiction and right, which is not by this confederation ex- pressly delegated to the United States in congress assembled." These articles of confederation, thirteen in number, which defined the powers and privileges of congress, and the rights of the several states, after their adoption by each state, constituted the supreme law until the adoption of the constitution in 1788. It was under this confederacy that the great discussions arose concerning the disposition of the public lands.
VIRGINIA.
The territory of Virginia, granted by the charters of King James I., was very extensive. The first charter authorized a company to plant a colony in America, anywhere between 34° and 41º north latitude, embracing about 100 miles of coast line, and extending back from the coast 100 miles, embracing also the islands opposite to the coast, and within 100 miles of it. The second charter grant- ed to the Virginia Company a much larger territory, extending from Old Point Comfort (a point of land extending into Chesa- peake Bay, a little to the north of the mouth of James River,) 200 miles north and 200 miles south, along the coast, and thence with a breadth of 400 miles, to the west and northwest, through the continent to the Pacific Ocean. The third charter added to this immense territory all the islands in both the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans, within 300 leagues of either coast. By the treaty of peace between France and Great Britain, in 1763, the Mississippi River was made the western boundary of the British provinces. Thus restricted, the territory of Virginia included all that territory now occupied by Pennsylvania, North and South Carolina, Kentucky, and all the land northwest of the River Ohio.
On the 29th day of June, 1776, just five days before the Declara- tion of Independence by the United States in congress assembled, Virginia adopted her constitution or form of government, in Arti- cle XXI of which she ceded the territories contained within the charters creating the colonies of Maryland, Pennsylvania, North and South Carolina, to those respective colonies, relinquishing all her rights to the same, except the right to the navigation of certain
193
VIRGINIA.
rivers, and all improvements that had been or might be made along their shores. But this article affirms that "the western and north- ern extent of Virginia shall in other respects stand as fixed by the charter of King James I, in the year 1609, and by the published treaty of peace between the court of Great Britain and France, in the year 1763, unless, by act of legislature, one or more territories shall be laid off, and governments established west of the Alleg- heny mountains." The charter of King James I, referred to in this article, was the second charter, so that now, on the sea coast, Virginia was restricted to her present limits, but her western · boundaries were unchanged. She claimed Kentucky, and all the northwestern territory.
Concerning this northwestern territory there were conflicting claims. New York claimed a portion of it. Massachusetts also asserted a separate claim, and Connecticut, by her grant from the council of Plymouth, in 1630, was to extend westward from the Atlantic Ocean to " the South Sea," or Pacific Ocean. This would take a large portion of the territory included under the Virginia charter. These conflicting claims were never adjusted between the states, but were finally settled, as will soon appear, by cession to the United States, in congress assembled.
In 1779 Virginia opened an office for the sale of her western lands. This attracted the attention of the other states, several of which regarded the vacant region in the west as a common fund for the future payment of the expenses of the war for independ- ence, in which the colonies had been engaged. This claim in be- half of the United States was asserted on the ground that the western lands had been the property of the crown. By the treaty of 1763, France had ceded to Great Britain all her possessions in North America, east of the Mississippi, and naturally these lands would fall, on the declaration of independence, to the oppo- nent of the crown, that is, to the United States in congress assem- bled, and not to individual states. It was contended, therefore, that it was manifestly unjust that a vast tract of unoccupied country, ac- quired by the common efforts and the common expense of the whole union, should be appropriated for the exclusive benefit of particular states, while others would be left to bear the unmitigated burdens of debt, contracted in securing that independence by which this immense acquisition was wrested from Great Britain. These sepa- rate claims by the several states were opposed by those states that
13
194
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
made no pretentions to claims, and they served, in a great measure, for a time, to prevent the union under the articles of confederation.
On the 25th day of June, 1778, nearly one year before the open- ing of the Virginia land office, New Jersey made objection to the confederation, on the ground that the public lands now claimed by Virginia and other states, under ancient charters, should belong to the United States in common, that each separate state might de- rive a proportionate benefit therefrom.
Maryland instructed her delegates in congress not to sign the articles of confederation, unless an article or articles were added thereto, looking to a cession of the public lands.
The Council of the State of Delaware, on the 23d day of Janu- . ary, 1779, before passing a law instructing their delegates in con- gress to sign the articles of confederation, resolved, that the state was justly entitled to a right in common with the other members of the union to that extensive tract of country westward of the frontier of the United States, which was acquired by the blood and trea- sure of all, and that it ought to be a common estate, to be granted out on terms beneficial to the United States.
Such were the vigorous protests against the union under the articles of confederation, while Virginia was left a vast empire within the confederacy, a power as many supposed, dangerous to the liberties of the smaller states; and when Virginia opened her land office for the sale of her western lands the excitement became more intense. Congress, in opposition to the pretensions of all the states claiming lands, as the common head of the United States maintained its title to the western lands upon the solid ground, that a vacant territory, wrested from the com- mon enemy, by the united arms, and at the joint expense of all the states, ought of right to belong to congress, in trust for the common use and benefit of the whole union; hence she earnestly recommended to Virginia, and to all the states claiming vacant lands, to adopt no measures that would obstruct the final cession of such lands to congress. New York was the first to listen to the appeals of the complaining states, and to congress. On the 29th of February, 1780, she authorized her delegates in congress to restrict her western border by such lines as they should deem expedient, and on the 20th day of December, 1783, Virginia passed an act, authorizing her del- egates in congress to convey to the United States in Congress as- sembled, "all the right of this commonwealth to the territory
.
195
VIRGINIA MILITARY SURVEY.
northwest of the River Ohio." In this act of cession she made the following reservation, viz .:
VIRGINIA MILITARY SURVEY.
"That a quantity not exceeding one hundred and fifty thousand acres of land, promised by this state, shall be allowed and granted to Gen. George Rodgers Clark, and to the officers and soldiers of his regiment to be laid off in such place on the northwest side of the Ohio as a majority of the officers shall choose, and to be afterwards divided among the said officers and soldiers in due proportion ac- cording to the laws of Virginia. That in case the quantity of good lands, on the south side of the Ohio, upon the waters of the Cum- berland River, and between the Green River and the Tennessee, which have been reserved by law for the Virginia troops, upon con- tinental establishment, should prove insufficient for their legal boun- ties, the deficiency should be made up to said troops in good lands, to be laid off between the Rivers Scioto and Little Miami, on the northwest side of the River Ohio, in such proportions as have been engaged to them by the laws of Virginia."
The land embraced in this reservation, between the Scioto and Little Miami Rivers, constitutes the Virginia Military District in Ohio. The district comprehends the entire counties of Adams, Brown, Clermont, Clinton, Highland, Fayette, Madison and Union; and a portion of the counties of Scioto, Pike, Ross, Pickaway, Franklin, Delaware, Marion, Hardin, Logan, Champaign, Clarke, Greene, Warren and Hamilton.
Although this cession and reservation was made in 1783, its defin- ite boundary was not determined until a decision of the Supreme Court was made in reference to it some time in 1824. The Scioto was the eastern line, and Virginia claimed the right to run the west- ern line of the tract direct from the source of the Scioto to the mouth of the Little Miami. Such a line would run considerably west of some parts of the Little Miami." The source of the Scioto is in the western part of Auglaize county, and a straight line drawn from this point to the mouth of the Little Miami would have run entire- ly west of Greene County, and would have included in the Military District, a portion of Auglaize, Shelby, Miami and Montgomery counties.
The Indian line established by the treaty of Greenville, between
196
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
the United States and certain Indian tribes, being a part of the boundary of this military district, it is quite important that it be described here. It begins at the mouth of the Cuyahoga and runs south, up that river through the portage between it and the Tusca- rawas, down the Tuscarawas to the northern line of Tuscarawas county at its middle point; thence west, bearing a little south, forming the northwestern line of this county to Holmes, passing through Holmes county, it forms the eastern part of the northern boundary of Knox. It then passes through the northwestern part of Knox, through the middle part of Morrow, the southern part of Marion, through Logan, forming the northern line of Lake and Har- rison townships, through Shelby county, forming the northern bound- ary of Salem township. From a point in the western part of Shelby county the line bears a little to the north of west, and extends through the southern part of Mercer county to Fort Recovery, in the west- ern part of the county; thence it extends in a straight line south, bearing west through the southeastern part of Indiana, to the Ohio River, at a point in Indiana opposite the mouth of the Kentucky river.
In May 1800, congress passed a law for the sale of lands in the western territory which were not included in the Virginia Military District, and in the execution of this law the Surveyor General caused a line to be run from the source of the Little Miami toward what he supposed to be the mouth of the Scioto, which is denominated Ludlow's line, and surveyed the lands west of that line into sec- tions as prescribed in the act of congress.
In 1804, congress passed a law concerning the boundary of the Virginia Military District which enacted that Ludlow's line should be considered the western boundary line of the reserved territory north of the source of the Little Miami, provided the State of Vir- ginia should within two years recognize it as the boundary of this territory. Virginia did not accept the proposition, and the rights of the parties remained as if nothing had been done. Again in 1812, congress authorized the President to appoint three commis- sioners to meet three other commissioners, to be appointed by the State of Virginia, who were to agree upon the line of military re- serve, and to cause the same to be surveyed. Should the commission- ers from Virginia fail to meet them, they were to proceed alone, and make their report to the President. In the meantime, and until the line should be established by consent, Ludlow's line should be con-
197
VIRGINIA MILITARY SURVEY.
sidered the western boundary. The Commissioners of the United States were met by those of Virginia at Xenia, on the 26th day of October, 1812, and proceeded to ascertain the sources of the two rivers and to run the line. They employed a Mr. Charles Roberts to survey and mark a line from the source of one river to that of the other. This line is called Roberts' line, and is drawn from the source of the Little Miami to the source of the Scioto. The Virginia commissioners refused to accede to this, and claimed, as has been stated before, that the line should be drawn from the source of the Scioto to the mouth of the Little Miami. On the 11th day of April, 1818, congress passed an act, declaring that from the Little Miami to the Indian boundary line, established by the Greenville treaty, Ludlow's line should be considered as the western boundary of the military reserve. This, however, was the act of only one party to the contract, and did not necessarily determine the boundary. But the subsequent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, made in 1824, based upon the language in the act of cession defining the phrase, "good lands to be laid off between the Rivers Scioto and Little Miami," to mean the whole country from their sources to their mouths, bounded on either side by said rivers. It would be clear from this decision that the most direct line from the source of one to the source of the other would complete the bound- ary. This decision of the Supreme Court practically settled the the question, and the Ludlow line to the Indian boundary, and the Robert's line from the Indian boundary, together with a portion of the Indian line itself, became the established boundary line of the Virginia Military District between the sources of the Scioto and Little Miami Rivers. The Ludlow line begins at the source of the Little Miami River in the northeast corner of Madison township, Clark county, a little more than three miles east by north from South Charleston, at a point on the Columbus and Xenia Railroad, about a half mile southwest of the point where the road crosses the county line, and extends north by west through Champaign county, passing about five miles east of Urbana. In Logan county, it runs through the eastern part of Bellefontaine, and strikes the Indian boundary line in the northeast corner of Harrison township, about three and a half miles north by west from Bellefontaine. From this terminus of the Ludlow line, the Indian boundary line extends west by south along the northern border of Harrison township, about four miles, to the Robert's line. This Robert's line begins about one and a half
198
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
miles east of the northwest corner of Harrison township, and ex- tends north by west, through the middle of Lewiston Reservoir, to a point in a swampy or marshy region, about a mile and three-fourths south by east from the center of Wayne township, in the southeast- ern part of Auglaize county. Here the line makes very nearly a right angle, and extends in a direction east by north about two miles and a half to the eastern limit of Goshen township, where it termin- ates in the Scioto River. The original Roberts line must have begun at, or very near the beginning of the Ludlow line, but its bearing was so far to the west that it ran a little to the west of the Scioto's source. The Ludlow line on the other hand did not bear enough to the west. It ran a little to the east of the source, it was proper therefore that a part of both lines, in the absence of a third sur- vey, should have been made the real boundary.
The townships in Greene County included in this military dis- trict, are the entire townships of Cedarville, Ross, Silver Creek, New Jasper, Jefferson, and Cæsar's Creek; and part of the town- ships of Miami, Xenia, Beaver Creek, Spring Valley, and Sugar Creek. The entire township of Bath is outside of this district. The entire township of Xenia, except about four square miles west of the Miami, between Oldtown and Byron, is within the district; and the entire township of Beaver Creek, except about five square miles in the southeastern corner, is outside the district.
The territory of Greene County outside the Virginia Military District, is west of the Little Miami River, and is included in what is called Symmes' purchase, a tract of land contracted for in Octo- ber, 1788, by John Cleve Symmes, in behalf of himself and his associates, adjoining the Ohio, and between the Great and the Little Miamis. The original contract with congress was for the purchase of one million acres; but in consequence of his failure to make due payments, the greater part of this tract reverted to con- gress. This original purchase included the territory in Greene County, west of the Little Miami River. The patent that finally issued to him and his associates, included 311,682 acres, bounded on the south by the Ohio, on the west by the Great Miami, on the east by the Little Miami, and on the north by a parallel of latitude to be run from the Great Miami to the Little Miami, so as to com- prehend the quantity of land named above. This northern line of Symmes' purchase passed through Warren County, very near its middle point.
199
GREENE COUNTY SURVEYS.
In examining a map of Greene County, one is led to notice the regularity of surveys on the west side of the Little Miami, and the irregularity of the same on the east side of the river, and to inquire for the cause. All the public lands outside of the Virginia Military District, were surveyed regularly, according to act of congress, passed May 18, 1796. By this act a surveyor general was appoint- ed, whose duty it was, by himself and through deputies, to survey the unreserved and unpatented public lands, by running north and south lines, according to the true meridian, and east and west lines crossing the former at right angles, so as to form townships each six miles square, and sections each one mile square, unless some peculiar circumstance rendered it impracticable. In such case the surveyor was to approximate as nearly as possible to this. On the contrary, the lands within the military district were not surveyed pursuant to any order of government, at any particular time, nor in accordance with any definite plan. The land was entered by persons holding land warrants, issued by the State of Virginia to her soldiers in the continental army, and in the army of Gen. George Rodgers Clark. In many, and perhaps in most cases, the original owners of these warrants did not themselves enter the · lands; but other parties purchasing them, in some instances one person purchasing many of them, located the aggregate amount claimed in one or more tracts, in whatever part of the territory he might choose, provided it had not been entered by some one be- forc. It was only necessary that it should be surveyed by a com- petent surveyor, that is, one regularly appointed or elected by legal authority to do this work. These surveys were numbered in the order in which the tracts of land surveyed were entered-the survey taking its number from the entry. It frequently occurs that a survey having a higher number was made at a much earlier date than that having a lower number; but in every case the tract having the lower number was entered first. The survey No. 387 was entered August 1, 1787, and surveyed November 20, 1794; while survey 571 was entered August 6, 1787, and surveyed Octo- ber 18, 1792. This latter number was surveyed nearly two years prior to that of the first number, but it was entered six days later. By examining a map of the surveys in the Virginia Military Dis- triet, it will be seen that some surveys have several numbers. Thus, one survey of 1480 acres, situated in the middle of New Jasper township, between North Fork and Middle Fork of Cæsar's
200
HISTORY OF GREENE COUNTY.
Creek, has four numbers, viz: 2358, 2359, 2475, and 2476. In this there were four different entries, all surveyed into one tract. There are also in several instances two or more surveys, each having the same number. Entry No. 2312, of 2280 acres, was surveyed into two tracts, one of 640 acres, and the other of 1640 acres, both sur- veys having the same number.
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.