USA > Ohio > Madison County > History of Madison County, Ohio : its people, industries and institution with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families > Part 4
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An attempt to adopt a new constitution was made in 1874, but failed. On March 30, 1871, the Legislature provided for a vote on the question of holding a constitutional convention and at an election held October 10, 1871, it was decided, by a vote of 267,618 to 104.231, to hold such a convention. On. April 6, 1873, the one hundred and five dele- gates to the convention were elected and on the 13th of the following month they met and organized. The convention continued in session from that date until August Sth. and. after a recess. met on December 2d and remained in continuous session until May 15th of the following year. The convention held daily sessions for one hundred and eighty days, one of the longest constitutional conventions ever held in the United States. With all this deliberation it would seem that a satisfactory constitution could have been framed, but the voters of the state, on August 18, 1874, rejected it by a vote of 250,169 to 102,885. This expensive attempt to make a new constitution was sufficient to thwart all efforts along this line for several years. However, the changes in economic, social and industrial conditions became more pronounced year by year, and on March 9, 1909, the Legislature submitted the question of holding a constitutional convention. At an election held on November S. 1910, it was decided, by a vote of 693.263 to 67.718, to select delegates to a constitutional convention. The convention met on the second Tues- day of January, 1912, and remained in session until June S, 1912, when it finally con- cluded its labors. This convention submitted forty-two changes in the existing con- stitution and on September 3d of the same year the qualified voters of the state accepted all but eight of the proposed amendments. The eight amendments lost are as follow : Suffrage, good roads, advertising, injunctions. capital punishment, voting machines, eligibility of women and elimination of word "white" from the constitution. The amendments which carried by various majorities concerned the following subjects: Jury system, depositions, suits, wrongful death, initiative and referendum. investigations, limiting veto, mechanics' lien. welfare, compensation, conservation of natural resources, eight-hour day, removal of officials, expert testimony, land titles, prison contracts. extra sessions, reform of the judiciary, county judges, justices. school boards. school com- missioners, insurance, abolishing of board of public works, taxation, corporations. double liability. state printing, civil service, submission of amendments, home rule for cities. schedule and license. The fight was the most bitter on woman's suffrage and the initia- tive and referendum. The vote on the first proposition was 249,420 to 336,875, and was defeated largely on account of the activity of the liquor interests. The initiative and referendum carried by a vote of 312,592 to 231.312, despite the fact that every ruse and trick known to professional politicians was used to compass its defeat.
On November 3, 1914. there were four constitutional amendments submitted to the voters of the state and the two which caused the most discussion, viz .. woman's suffrage and prohibition, were defeated. The other two amendments related to home rule for
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cities and the regulation of the liquor traflie. In November, 1915, woman's suffrage and prohibition were again defeated, by a popular rejection of constitutional amend- ments.
MILITARY RECORD.
The state of Ohio has had its citizens in four wars in which the United States has engaged since 1803: the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War and the Spanish- American War. It is very unfortunate that the public records of Ohio contain no list of the soldiers of the state who fought in the War of 1812, although large numbers of the citizens served in the field under various commanders. The records as regards the Mexican War are fairly complete and show that a total of 5.536 men were sent to the front by the state. When the call was first issued for troops, Ohio was called upon to furnish three thousand men, and within a short time forty companies reported at Camp Washington, near Cincinnati. Thirty companies were formed into three regiments, commanded by Cols. Alexander M. Mitchell, George W. Morgan and Samuel R. Curtis. These troops were sent down the Ohio in July. 1846. and joined General Taylor on the Rio Grande. In 1847 additional troops were sent from Ohio, but none of them saw any active service. The regiment under the command of Mitchell was the only one to take part in a battle, and it distinguished itself in the storming of Monterey. The state of Ohio suffered a severe loss in the death of Brig .- Gen. Thomas L. Hammer, one of the most prominent men of the state at that time. He was a member of Congress at the time of the opening of the war, but left Congress, enlisted as a private and soon after received a commission as brigadier-general. He was in the operations around Monterey and shortly afterward was stricken with a fatal disease and died on February 30, 1846.
The part which Ohio played in the Civil War can be only briefly noticed in this resume of the history of the state. That Ohio did her full duty as a loyal member of the Union is a fact which is known to everyone. Within twenty-four hours from the time the President issued his first call for troops on April 16. 1860, the Legislature had passed a bill appropriating one million dollars for military purposes. Two days later ( April 19th) two regiments of Ohio troops left by rail for Washington. The ease and quickness with which this was accomplished is an indication of the intense loyalty of the state. It is a glowing tribute to the state of Ohio that although there were only thirteen regiments assigned to the state under the first call, enough men presented themselves to make more than seventy regiments. This outburst of loyalty was such that the Legislature authorized the governor to accept ten more regiments, and the state itself equipped and paid these additional men and enrolled them for the defense of the state. By October 1, 1862, the state had emrolled militia to the number of 425,147 and the state sent out for duty outside of its own limits 319,659 men, although their quota was only 306,322. This gives the state the honor of furnishing more than one-tenth of the total oulistment of men in the Northern army. In number of troops furnished Ohio was third among all the states and in losses was second. The soldiers were a part of every army, participating in every campaign, fought in every important battle from Bull Run to Bentonville, from Sabine Cross Roads to Gettysburg. No less than forty- three Ohio regiments of infantry were present at the sanguinary engagement at Mis- sionary Ridge and they were in like proportion at the other battles. Twelve thousand brave Ohio men were killed or mortally wounded and at least forty thousand received wonnds of some kind. Thirteen thousand died of disease in the service and twenty thousand were discharged for disability arising from wounds or disease. These figures give some idea of the prominent part which the soldiers of Ohio played in the great struggle.
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
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MADISON COUNTY, OHIO.
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 this state is sufficient proof that it was for the best interests of the state that he was defeated.
The Spanish-American War of 189S 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 offi- cially 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 engagements of importance. According to the treaty of Paris, which was signed on December 12. 1898, Spain relinquished her sovereignty over Cuba. ceded to the United States Porto Rico and her other West Indian possessions and the 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 goverment.
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 or another. These various divisions have led to an endless amount of confusion in the surveying of lands in the state and in many cases to expensive litigation. A brief summary 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 of land 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 included 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 instrumental 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 company. The title to this tract remained. in the government and out of this peculiar arrangement arose the Sciotio 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, became insolvent and the land on which the unfortunate Frenchmen had settled reverted to the United States government. While the most of them remained, 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 Sciotio county.
THE SYMMES PURCHASE.
In 1788 John Cleves Symes and other men of New Jersey organized the Miami Company and bought from the United States 1,000.000 acres, for which the company
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MADISON COUNTY, OHIO.
agreed to pay sixty-six cents an acre. As in the case of the purchase of the Ohio Com- pany. 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 sonthern part of the tract. It is interesting to note that the present site of Cincinnati was sold by the company to one Mathdias Demman 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 location of Fort Washington, which was erected to protect the infant city from the Indians.
CONNECTICUT RESERVE.
In the year 1786 the state of Connectient 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 aeres in the western part of the reserve in 1792 to those citizens of Connectient 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 surveyed into town- ships of five miles square and divided among the settlers in proportion to their losses. Iu 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 Connecticut Legislature accepted the offer of the United States and formally renounced 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 sold unless the lands claimed by Virginia south of the Ohio river proved insufficient 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 aet allowing the state to use the optional territory north of the Ohio river. Owing to the fact that the territory was not surveyed according to any definite plan, the various allotments assigned to the Virginia soldiers frequently overlapped and in many instances confusion and litigation resulted.
THIE UNITED STATES MILITARY LANDS.
The Continental Congress during the Revolutionary War offered bounties of Western lands in order to increase enlistments, and soldiers so secured were given land warrants which they later presented to Congress and exchanged for land. On June 1, 1796, Con- gress passed an act which called upon the surveyor-general of the United States to locate a tract in the Northwest 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 of the place of beginning." These lands were sur- veyed into townships five miles square and each owner received a patent for his land signed by the President of the United States.
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MADISON COUNTY, OHIO.
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 Congress, and on February 18, 1801, Congress definitely selected "those fractional townships of the sixteenth, seventeenth. eighteenth, nineteenth, twentieth, twenty-first and twenty-second ranges of townships joining the southern 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, contained 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 attached to the Chillicothe land district and sold as Congress lands. It so happened 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 retained and sold all lands not specifically relinquished to land companies and established land offices for the pur- pose at different times at Marietta, Cincinnati, Steubenville, Chillicothe. Zanesville, Canton, Wooster, Piqua. Delaware. 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 Moravians 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 excep- tion of the cemeteries. churchyards and a few special leases. .
DOHRMAN'S GRANT.
Congress granted all of township 13, range 7. in Tuscarawas conty. 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 mirpose of constructing a road from the lower rapids of the Maumee river to the western limits of the Western Reserve of Connecticut.
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 GRANT.
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
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MADISON COUNTY, OHIO.
could be obtained, and in this way helped the settlers to get salt at 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 history of the state, was granted three sections by Congress in 1796 in return for his services in open- ing a road from Wheeling to Maysville. These three sections were located in Zanesville. Chillicothe and Lancaster. Isaac Zane was granted three sections in Champaign county by Congress for valuable service to the colonies during the Revolution. Isaac Zane had been captured by the Indians when a small boy and spent the major portion of his life with them, and his influence with the Indians was sneh that he proved to be of great assistance to the colonies in handling them.
THIE 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. The grants to both set aside section twenty-nine of each township for religious 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 townships six miles square. The United States military lands were surveyed into townships, five miles square, but Congress reserved one thirty-sixth of the whole area for school purposes. There are no reservations in the Connecticut 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.
OHIIO 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 Territory, Arthur St. Clair, was an ardent Federalist and undoubtedly his pronounced 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 Democratie-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 of 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 ques- tion 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 1856. Ohio has furnished five Presidents of the United States: William Henry Harrison, Rutherford B. Hayes. James A. Garfield. William McKinley and Will- iam H. Taft.
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MADISON COUNTY, OHIO.
While the state has been registering Republican votes for the President, it has had eight Democratic governors, and has frequently elected them by large majorities. A complete list of the governors of the state, with the years of their tenure and their politics, is given at this point for reference :
Governor
Tenure.
Politics
Edward Tiffin
1803-07
Democratic-Rep.
Thomas Kirker (acting)
1807-09
Democratic-Rep.
Samuel Huntington
1809-11
Democratic-Rep.
Return Jonathan Meigs
1811-14
Democratic-Rep.
Othniel Looker (acting)
1814-15
Democratic-Rep.
Thomas Worthington
1815-19
Democratic-Rep.
Ethan Allen Brown
1819-22
Democratic-Rep.
Allen Trimble (acting)
1822-23
Democratic-Rep.
Jeremiah Morrow
1823-27
Democrat
Allen Trinible
1827-31
Democrat
Duncan McArthur
1831-33
National Republican
Robert Lucas
-1833-37
Democrat
Joseph Vance
1837-39
Whig
Wilson Shannon
1839-41
Demcorat
Thomas Corwin
1841-43
Whig
Wilson Shannon
1843-44
Democrat
Thomas W. Bartley (acting)
1844-45
Democrat
Mordecai Bartley
1845-47
Whig
William Bebb
1847-49
Whig
Seabury Ford
1849-51
Whig
Reuben Wood
1851-53
Democrat
William Medill (acting 1853)
1853-56
Democrat
Salmon P. Chase
1856-60
Republican
William Dennison, Jr.
1860-62
Republican
David Tod
1862-64
Republican
Jolin Brough
1864-65
Republican
Charles Anderson (acting)
1865-66
Republican
Jacob D. Cox
1866-68
Republican
Rutherford B. Hayes
1868-72
Republican
Edward F. Noyes
1872-74
Republican
William Allen
1874-76
Democrat
Rutherford B. Hayes
1876-77
Republican
Thomas L. Young
1877-78
Republican
Richard M. Bishop
1878-80
Democrat
Charles Foster
1880-84
Republican
George Hoadley
1884-86
Democrat
Joseph Benson Foraker
1886-90
Republican
James E. Campbell
1890-92
Democrat
William McKinley
1892-96
Republican
Asa S. Bushnell
1896-00
Republican
George K. Nash
1900-04
Republican
Myron T. Herrick
1904-06
Republican
John M. Patterson (died in office)
1906-
Democrat
Andrew Litner Harris
1906-09
Republican
Judson Harmon
1909-13
Democrat
James M. Cox
1913-15
Democrat
Frank B. Willis
1915-
Republican
(4)
1
1
1
1
1
I
1
I
.
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MADISON COUNTY, OHIO.
The political history of Ohio cannot be dismissed without reference to the amend- ments incorporated in the new 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 primaries and home rule for cities. A workmen's com- pensation law was enacted which provides for compulsory contributions to an insurance fund by the employers of the state. Many changes were made in providing for improve- ments in social and industrial conditions. Ohio now has a constitution which is suffi- ciently flexible to allow changes to be made by amendment without the trouble of a con- stitutional convention.
BOUNDARY LINES.
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, aud again in 1834, a severe controversy arose over the boundary between Ohio and Michigan, which was settled ouly after violent demonstration and government interference.
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