History of Greene County, together with historic notes on the northwest and the state of Ohio, Part 14

Author: R. S. Dills
Publication date: 1881
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1037

USA > Ohio > Greene County > History of Greene County, together with historic notes on the northwest and the state of Ohio > Part 14

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HISTORY OF OHIO.

where they arrived April 7, and then and there made the first perma- nent settlement of civilized men within the present limits of Ohio. These bold adventurers were reinforced by another company from Massachusetts, who, after a nine weeks' journey, arrived early in July, 1788.

" Many of these Yankee colonists had been officers and soldiers in the Revolutionary army, and were, for the most part, men of intelli- gence and character, and of sound judgment and ability. In short, they were just the kind of men to found a State in the wilderness. They posssessed great energy of character, were enterprising, fond of adventure and daring, and were not to be intimidated by the formid- able forests nor by the ferocious beasts sheltered therein, nor by the still more to be dreaded savages, who stealthily and with murderous intent roamed throughout their length and breadth. Their army expe- rience had taught them what hardships and privations were, and they were quite willing to encounter them. A better set of men could not have been selected for pioneer settlers than were these New England colonists-those brave-hearted, courageous hero-emigrants to the great Northwest, who, having triumphantly passed the fiery ordeal of the Revolution, volunteered to found a State and to establish American laws, American institutions, and American civilization in this wilderness of the uncivilized west. If any State in our American Union ever had a better start in its incipient settlement than Ohio, I am not aware of it. General Washington, writing of these bold pioneers, said that 'no colony in America was ever settled under such favorable auspices as that which has just commenced at the Musk- ingum. Information, property and strength, will be its characteristics. I know many of the settlers personally, and there never were men better calculated to promote the welfare of such a community.' Having had a personal army acquaintance with Generals Putnam and Parsons, and with Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs, and probably with many other leading members of this pioneer colony, his favorable opinion of them is entitled to great weight.

THE FIRST SETTLEMENT UNDER THE ORDINANCE OF 1787.

Of course no time was lost by the colonists in erecting their habita- tations, as well as in building a stockade fort, and in clearing land for the production of vegetables and grain for their subsistence, fifty acres of corn having been planted the first year. Their settlement was established upon the point of land between the Ohio and Musk-

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ingum rivers, just opposite and across the Muskingum from Fort Harmar, built in 1786, and at this time garrisoned by a small military force under command of Major Doughty. At a meeting held on the banks of the Muskingum, July 2, 1788, it was voted that Marietta should be the name of their town, it being thus named in honor of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France.

SURVEYS AND GRANTS OF THE PUBLIC LANDS.

" The first survey of public lands northwest of the Ohio river was the seven ranges of Congress lands, and was done pursuant to an act of Congress of May 20, 1785. This tract of the seven ranges is bounded by a line of forty-two miles in length, running due west from the point where the western boundary line of Pennsylvania crosses the Ohio river; thence due south to the Ohio river, at the southeast corner of Marietta township, in Washington county ; thence up said river to the place of beginning. The present counties of Jefferson, Columbiana, Carroll, Tuscarawas, Harrison, Guernsey, Belmont, Noble, Monroe, and .Washington are, in whole or in part, within the seven ranges.

"The second survey was that of the Ohio Company's purchase, made in pursuance of an act of Congress of July 23, 1785, though the contract was not completed with the Ohio Company until October 27, 1787. Mention of its extent, also the conditions, reservations, and circumstances attending the purchase, have already been given. One hundred thousand acres of this tract, called donation lands, were reserved upon certain conditions as a free gift to actual settlers. Por- tions of the counties of Washington, Athens, and Gallia are within this tract, also the entire county of Meigs. The donation lands were. in Washington county.

"The next survey was the 'Symmes purchase' and contiguous lands, situated on the north and west of it, and was made soon after the fore- going. The 'Symmes purchase' embraced the entire Ohio River front between the Big Miami and Little Miami Rivers, a distance of twenty-seven miles, and reaching northwards a sufficient distance to include an area of one million of acres. The contract with Judge Symmes, made in October, 1785, was subsequently modified by act of Congress bearing date of May 5, 1792, and by an anthorized act of the President of the United States of September 30, 1794, so as to amount to only 311,682 acres, exclusive of a reservation of fifteen arres around Fort Washington, of a square mile at the mouth of the

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Great Miami, of sections 16 and 29 in each township, the former of which Congress had reserved for educational and the latter for religious purposes, exclusive also of a township dedicated to the interests of a college; and sections 8, 11, and 26 which Congress reserved for future sale.

"The tract of land situated between the Little Miami and Scioto rivers, known. as the Virginia military lands, was never regularly surveyed into townships, but patents were issued by the President of the United States to such persons (Virginians) as had rendered service on the continental establishment in the army of the United States (hence the name), and in the quantities to which they were entitled, according to the provisions of an act of Congress of August 10, 1790. 'It embraces a body of 6,750 square miles, or 4,204,000 acres of land. The following counties are situated in this tract, namely: Adams, Brown, Clermont, Clinton, Fayette, Highland, Madison, and Union entirely ; and greater or less portions of the following, to wit : Marion, Delaware, Franklin, Pickaway, Ross, Pike, Scioto, Warren, Greene, Clarke, Champaign, Logan, and Hardin.'

"Connecticut ceded all lands in the Northwest to which she claimed title to the United States (except the tract which has been known as the ' Western Reserve'), by deed of cession bearing date of September 14, 1786; and in May, 1800, by act of the Legislature of said State, renonnced all jurisdictional claim to the ` territory called the Western Reserve of Connecticut.' That tract of land was surveyed in 1796, and later into townships of five miles square, and in the aggregate contained about 3,800,000 acres, being one hundred and twenty miles long, and lying west of the Pennsylvania State line, all situated between forty-one degrees of north latitude and forty-two degrees and two minutes. Half a million of acres of the foregoing lands were set apart by the State of Connecticut in 1792 as a donation to the sufferers by fire (during the revolutionary war) of the residents of Greenwich, New London, Norwalk, Fairfield, Danbury, New Haven, and other Connecticut villages whose property was burned by the British ; hence the name 'Firelands' by which this tract taken from the western portion of the Reserve has been known. It is situated chiefly in Huron and Erie counties, a small portion only being in Ottawa county. The entire Western Reserve embraces the present counties of Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Erie, Geauga, Huron, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage, and Trumbull ; also the greater portion of Mahoning and Summit, and very limited portions of Ashland and Ottawa.

"French grant is a tract of 24,000 acres of land bordering on the

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Ohio River, within the present limits of Scioto county, granted by Congress in March, 1795, to certain French settlers of Gallipolis, who, through invalid titles, had lost their lands there. Twelve hundred acres were added to this grant in 1798, making a total of 25,200 acres.

" The United States military lands were surveyed under the pro. visions of an act of Congress of June 1, 1796, and contained 2,560,000 acres. This tract was set apart to satisfy certain claims of the officers and soldiers of the Revolutionary war, hence the title by which it is known. It is bounded by the seven ranges on the east, by the Green- ville treaty line on the north, by the Congress and refugee lands on the south, and by the Scioto River on the west, including the county of Coshocton entire, and portions of the counties of Tuscarawas, Guernsey, Muskingum, Licking, Franklin, Delaware, Marion, Mor- row, Knox, and Holmes.

" The Moravian lands are three several tracts of 4,000 acres each, situated, respectively, at Shoenbrun, Gnadenhutten, and,Salem, all on the Tuscarawas River, now in Tuscarawas county. These lands were originally dedicated by an ordinance of Congress dated September 3, 1788, to the use of the Christianized Indians at those points, and by act of Congress of June 1, 1796, were surveyed and patents issued to. the Society of the United Brethren, for the purposes above specified.

" The refugee tract is a body of land containing 100,000 acres, granted by Congress February 18, 1801, to persons who fled from the British provinces during the Revolutionary war and took up arms against the mother country and in behalf of the Colonies, and thereby lost their property by confiscation. This tract is four and one-half miles wide, and extends forty-eight miles eastward from the Scioto River at Columbus into Muskingum county. It includes portions of . the counties of Franklin, Fairfield, Perry, Licking, and Muskingum.

" Dohrman's grant is a township of land six miles square, contain_ ing 23,040 acres, situated in the south-eastern part of Tuscarawas county. It was given to Arnold Henry Dohrman, a Portuguese mer- chant of Lisbon, by act of Congress of February 27, 1801, 'in con- sideration of his having, during the Revolutionary war, given shelter and aid to the American cruisers and vessels of war.'

" The foregoing is a list of the principal land grants and surveys during our Territorial history, in that portion of the Northwest that now constitutes the State of Ohio. There were canal land grants, Maumee Road grants, and various others, but they belong to our State, and not to our Territorial, history.

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TREATIES MADE WITH THE INDIANS.

" By the terms of the treaty of Fort Stanwix, concluded with the Iroquois or Six Nations (Mohawks, Onondagas, Senecas, Cayugas, Tuscaroras and Oneidas), October 22, 1784, the indefinite claim of said confederacy to the greater part of the valley of the Ohio was extinguished. The commissioners of Congress were Oliver Wolcott, Richard Butler, and Arthur Lee. Cornplanter and Red Jacket repre- sented the Indians.

" This was followed in January, 1785, by the treaty of Fort McIn- tosh, by which the Delawares, Wyandots, Ottawas, and Chippewas relinquished all claim to the Ohio Valley, and established the bound- ary line between them and the United States to be the Cuyahoga River, and along the main branch of the Tuscarawas to the forks of said river near Fort Laurens, thence westwardly to the portage between the head waters of the Great Miami and the Maumee or Miami of the Lakes, thence down said river to Lake Erie, and along said lake to the mouth of the Cuyahoga River. This treaty was negotiated by George Rogers Clark, Richard Butler, and Arthur Lee for the United States, and by the chiefs of the aforenamed tribes.

" A similar relinquishment was effected by the treaty of Fort Fin- ney (at the month of the Great Miami), concluded with the Shawnees January 31, 1786, the United States commissioners being the same as the foregoing, except the substitution of Samuel HI. Parsons for Arthur Lee.

" The treaty of Fort Ilarmar, held by General St. Clair January 9, 1779, was mainly confirmatory of the treaties previously made. So also was the treaty of Greenville, of August 3, 1795, made by General . Wayne on the part of the United States, and the chiefs of eleven of the most powerful tribes of the north-western Indians, which re-es- tablished the Indian boundary line through the present State of Ohio, and extended it from Loramie to Fort Rocovery, and from thence to the Ohio River, opposite the mouth of the Kentucky River.

"The rights and titles acquired by the Indian tribes under the foregoing treaties were extinguished by the General Government, by purchase, in pursuance of treaties subsequently made. The Western Reserve tract west of the Cuyahoga River was secured by a treaty formed at Fort Industry, in 1805. The lands west of Richland and Huron counties and north of the boundary line to the western limits of Ohio were purchased by the United States in 1818. The last pos- session of the Delawares was purchased in 1829; and by a treaty

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made at Upper Sandusky, March 17, 1842, by Colonel John Johnston and the Wyandot chiefs, that last remnant of the Indian tribes in Ohio sold the last acre they owned within the limits of our State to the General Government, and retired, the next year, to the Far West, settling at and near the mouth of Kansas River.

FIRST OFFICERS OF THE TERRITORY.

" Congress, in October, 1787, appointed General Arthur St. Clair Governor, Major Winthrop Sargent Secretary, and James M. Varnum, Samuel H. Parsons, and John Armstrong Judges of the Territory, the latter of whom, however, having declined the appointment, John Cleve Symmes was appointed in his stead in February, 1788. On the 9th of July, 1788, Governor St. Clair arrived at Marietta, and finding the Secretary and a majority of the Judges present, proceeded to organize the Territory. The Governor and Judges (or a majority of them) were the sole legislative power during the existence of the first grade of Territorial government. Such laws as were in force in any of the States, and were deemed applicable to the condition of the people of the Territory, could be adopted by the Governor and Judges, and, after publication, became operative, unless disapproved of by Congress, to which body certified copies of all laws thus adopted had to be forwarded by the Secretary of the Territory.

" The further duty of the Judges, who were appointed to serve dur- ing good behavior, was to hold court four times a year, whenever the business of the Territory required it, but not more than once a year in any one county.

THE SECOND GRADE OF TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT.

" After it shall have been ascertained that five thousand free male inhabitants actually resided within the Territory, the second grade of Territorial government could, of right, be established, which pro- vided for a legislative council, and also an elective House of Repre- sentatives, the two composing the law-making power of the Territory, provided always that the Governor's assent to their acts was had. He possessed the absolute veto power, and no act of the two houses of the Legislature, even if passed by a unanimous vote in each branch, could become a law without his consent. The conditions that author- ized the second grade of Territorial government, however, did not exist until 1798, and it was not really put into operation until Sep-

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tember, 1799, after the first grade of government had existed for eleven years.

EARLY LAWS OF THE TERRITORY.

"The first law was proclaimed July 25, 1788, and was entitled 'An act for regulating and establishing the militia." Two days thereafter the Governor issued a proclamation establishing the county of Washington, which included all of the territory east of the Scioto River to which the Indian title had been extinguished, reaching northward to Lake Erie, the Ohio River and the Pennsylvania line being its cast- ern boundary ; Marietta, the seat of the Territorial government, also becoming the county seat of Washington county.

"Quite a number of laws were necessarily adopted and published during 1788 and the following year. From 1790 to 1795 they pub- lished sixty-four, thirty-four of them having been adopted at Cincin- nati during the months of June, July and August of the last named year, by the Governor and Judges Symmes and Turner. They are known as the ' Maxwell Code,' from the name of the publisher, and were intended, says the author of ' Western Annals,' 'to form a pretty complete body of statutory provisions.' In 1798 eleven more were adopted. It was the published opinion of the late Chief Justice Chase, 'that it may be doubted whether any colony, at so early a period after its first establishment, ever had so good a code of laws.' Among them was that 'which provided that the common law of England, and all statutes in aid thereof, made previous to the fourth year of James I., should be in full force within the Territory.' Prob- ably four-fifths of the laws adopted were selected from those in force in Pennsylvania ; the others were mainly taken from the statutes of Virginia and Massachusetts.

LOCAL COURTS AND COURT OFFICERS.

" Among the earliest laws adopted was one which provided for the institution of a county court of common pleas, to be composed of not less than three nor more than five Judges, commissioned by the Gov- ernor, who were to hold two sessions in each year. Pursuant to its provisions, the first session of said court was held in and for Wash- ington county, September 2, 1788. The Judges of the court were General Rufus Putnam, General Benjamin Tupper, and Colonel Archibald Crary. Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs was Clerk, and Colonel Ebenezer Sproat was Sheriff. Elaborate details of the open.

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ing of this, the first court held in the Northwest Territory, have come down to us, showing it to have been a stylish, dignified proceeding. Briefly, 'a procession was formed at the Point (the junction of the Muskingum with the Ohio River) of the inhabitants and the officers from Fort Harmar, who escorted the Judge of the court, the Gov- ernor of the Territory, and the Territorial Judges to the hall appropriated for that purpose, in the northwest block house in 'Cam- pus Martius.' 'The procession,' says Mitchener, ' was headed by the Sheriff, with drawn sword and baton of office.' 'After prayer by Rev. Manasseh Cutler, the court was organized by reading the com- missions of the Judges, Clerk and Sheriff ; after which the Sheriff proclaimed that the court was open for the administration of even- handed justice to the poor and the rich, to the guilty and the inno- cent, without respect of persons; none to be punished without a trial by their peers, and then in pursuance of the laws and evidence in the case.'

"On the 23d day of August, 1788, a law was promulgated for estab- lishing 'general courts of quarter sessions of the peace.' This court was composed of not less than three nor more than five Justices of the Peace, appointed by the Governor, who were to hold four ses- sions in each year. The first session of this court was held at ' Campus Martius' September 9, 1788. The commission appointing the Judges thereof was read. General Rufus Putnam and General Benjamin Tupper,' says Mitchener, constituted the Justices of the quorum, and Isaac Pearce, Thomas Lord, and Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr., the assistant Justices ; Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs, Sr., was Clerk. Colonel Ebenezer Sproat was Sheriff of Washington county fourteen years. The first grand jury of the Northwest Terri- tory was impaneled by this court, and consisted of the following gen- tlemen : . William Stacey (foreman), Nathaniel Cushing, Nathan Goodale, Charles Knowles, Anselm Tupper, Jonathan Stone, Oliver Rice, Ezra Lunt, John Matthews, George Ingersoll, Jonathan Devol, Jethro Putnam, Samuel Stebbins and Jabez True.

ORGANIZATION OF COUNTIES.

" Washington county, embracing the eastern half of the present State of Ohio, was the only organized county of the Northwest Territory until early in 1790, when the Governor proclaimed Hamilton county, which included all the territory between the Big and Little Miami Rivers, and extended north to the ' Standing Stone Forks,' on the first named stream.

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"The following is a list of all the Territorial counties organized ; also the date of organization, with their respective county seats :

Counties.

When proclaimed.

County seats.

1. Washington

July 27, 1788 ..

Marietta.

2. Hamilton.

January 2, 1790.

Cincinnati.

3. St. Clair

February, 1790.

Cahokia.

4. Knox.

In 1790

Vincennes.

5. Randolph

In 1795 ..

Kaskaskia.

6. Wayne

August 15, 1795

Detroit.

Adams.

July 10, 1797.

Manchester.

8. Jefferson

July 29, 1797

Steubenville.

9. Ross.

August 20, 1797

Chillicothe.

10.

Trumbull

July 10, 1800.

Warren.

11. Clermont

December 6, 1800

Williamsburg.

12. Fairfield.

December 9, 1800.

New Lancaster. St. Clairsville.

13. Belmont.

September 7, 1801.

"It will be observed that Hamilton was the second county organized. There were situated within its limits, when organized, several flour- ishing villages, that had their origin during the closing months of 1788 and early in 1789. Columbia, situated at the mouth of the Little Miami, was the first of these laid out, its early settlers being Colonel Benjamin Stites, of 'Redstone Old Fort' (proprietor) ; William Goforth, John S. Gano, John Smith (a Baptist minister, who after- ward became one of Ohio's first United States Senators), and others, numbering in all twenty-five persons or more, though some of them arrived a little later.

"Cincinnati was the next in order of time, having been laid out early in 1789, by Colonel Robert Patterson, Matthias Denman and Israel Ludlow. Several not very successful attempts had also been made at various points between Cincinnati and the mouth of the Great Miami by Judge Symmes.

" The early settlers of Hamilton county were principally from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Kentucky. Judges Symmes and Burnet were representative men in the Miami Valley from New Jer- sey; Jeremiah Morrow and Judge Dunlavy from Pennsylvania ; Wil- liam H. Harrison and William McMillan from Virginia; and Colonel Robert Patterson and Rev. James Kemper from Kentucky.

" The Scioto Valley, the next in order of time, was settled chiefly by Virginians and Kentuckians, represented by Colonel Thomas Worthington and General Nathaniel Massie, two of its prominent settlers.

" And the early settlements along Lake Erie, during the closing

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years of the eighteenth century, whose representative men were Governor Samuel Huntington and Hon. Benjamin Tappan, were established by men not a whit inferior to those above named. And the good that General Washington said of the New England Colony that settled Marietta could, with very slight modifications, be said of most of the settlers and pioneers of the aforesaid set- tlements.

EARLY TERRITORIAL VILLAGES AND TOWNS.

"The following is a list of the principal villages and towns of the Northwest Territory, started and built up during Territorial rule, with the time of the first survey of lots, together with the names of their proprietors :

Marietta-laid out in 1788 by Rufus Putnam and the Ohio Land Company.

Columbia-laid out in 1788 by Benjamin Stites, Major Gano, and others.

Cincinnati-laid out in 1789 by Robert Patterson, Matthias Denman and Israel . Ludlow.

Gallipolis-laid out in 1791 by the French settlers.

Manchester-laid out in 1791 by Nathaniel Massie.

Hamilton-laid out in 1794 by Israel Ludlow.

Dayton-laid out in 1795 by Israel Ludlow, and Generals Dayton and Wilkinson. Franklin-laid out in 1795 by William C. Schenck and Daniel C. Cooper.

Chillicothe-laid out in 1796 by Nathaniel Massie.

Cleveland-laid out in 1796 by Job V. Styles.

Franklinton-laid out in 1797 by Lucas Sullivant.

Steubenville-laid out in 1798 by Bazaliel Wells and James Ross. Williamsburg-laid out in 1799.

Zanesville-laid out in 1799 by Jonathan Zane and John McIntire.

New Lancaster-laid out in 1800 by Ebenezer Zane.

Warren-laid out in 1801 by Ephraim Quinby.

St. Clairsville-laid out in 1801 by David Newell.

Springfield-laid out in 1801 by James Demint.

Newark-laid out in 1802 by Wm. C. Schenck, G. W. Burnet, and John N. Cum- mings.

"Cincinnati at the close of the Territorial government was the largest town in the Territory, containing about one thousand inhabi- tants. It was incorporated in 1802, with the following as its first officers.

President-David Zeigler. Recorder-Jacob Burnet.

Trustees-Wm. Ramsay, David E. Wade, Charles Avery, Wm. Stanley, John Reily, Samuel Dick, Wm. Ruffner.

Assessor-Joseph Prince. Collector-Abram Cary.

Town Marshal-James Smith.

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TERRITORIAL OFFICERS.

"The following exhibit gives a full list of the officers of the Terri- tory, with the date of service, including the delegates to Congress :

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History of Greene County, together with historic notes on the northwest and the state of Ohio, Part 14

Author: R. S. Dills Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Number of Pages: 1037

Author: R. S. Dills
Publication date: 1881
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 1037