USA > Ohio > Morgan County > History of Morgan County, Ohio, with portraits and biographical sketches of some of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 8
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No person was allowed to hold more than five shares in the company's funds. Agents were to be appointed represent- ing divisions of twenty shares each ; and in case the fund was not raised to the proposed amount, the agents of divisions, after October 17. 1786, were to be entitled to proceed as if the whole fund had been raised. Five directors were to be chosen, who should have the sole disposal of the company's funds.
A year elapsed. The projectors of the scheme had used their best efforts, vet at the second meeting of the com- pany at Brackett's Tavern, in Boston, March 8, 1787, it was reported that only two hundred and fifty shares had been subscribed for. Despite this somewhat meager showing the directors seemed satisfied and encouraged, and decided at once to make application to Congress for the purchase of lands. It was stated at this meeting that many persons in Massachusetts and also in the neighbor- ing commonwealths of Connecticut.
*A copy of the articles of agreement of the Ohio Company and a record of its proceedings may be seen in the county auditor's office in MeConnellsville.
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HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY, OHIO.
Rhode Island and New Hampshire were "inclined to become adventurers," and were only deterred by the uncer- tainty of obtaining a sufficient tract of land, collectively, for a good settlement.
General Rufus Putnam, Dr. Manasseh Cutler and General Samuel H. Parsons were chosen directors and especially intrusted with the business of making a purchase of land. The haste for a ยท speedy conclusion of the negotiation then manifested resulted from the fact that other companies were already forming, and there was a fear that the most desirable lands in the Ohio country would soon be seeured by some of those speculative associations. The directors now empowered Dr. Cut- ler to make a purchase of lands upon the Muskingum. The sequel showed that they could have employed no more competent or trustworthy agent.
Rev. Manasseh Cutler, though then but a country parson, settled over a small eongregation in Ipswich (now Hamilton), Mass., was a man of genius and the highest eulture. Ile was a graduate of Yale and had taken de- grees in law, medicine and divinity. He now assumed the role of diplomat, and his keenness, shrewdness and sagacity rendered him successful in the highest degree.
Just why lands upon the Muskingum should have been selected in preference to all others then available may not be readily apparent to the student of his- tory. There were, however, many good reasons for the choice made by the Ohio Company. While much of the north- western territory was then known to be infested by hostile Indians, none of these had their homes on the Lower Muskingmm, and only occasionally vis- ited this loeality on their hunting expe-
ditions. Fort Harmar, built in 1785-86 at the mouth of the Muskingum, also had its influenee in drawing the advent- urers thither. Thomas Hutchins, the geographer of the confederation, rec- ommended the Muskingum region as "the best part of the whole western country," and his opinion was identieal with that of other explorers, among whom were General Butler, General Parsons and General Tupper. Doubt- less the existenee of mineral wealth in this part of the country was known to members of the company, and it is also probable that the prospect of establish- ing a system of water communieation between the Ohio and Lake Erie, rid the Muskingum, Tuscarawas and Cuya- hoga, and between the Ohio and the Atlantie coast by way of the Great Kanawha and the Potomac (a plan commended by Washington before the Revolution), had its influence.
Dr. Cutler started in June from Ips- wich and proceeded to New York, where Congress was then in session. Ile put up his horse "in the Bowery barns," and at once began the business which was to have such an important influence upon the future of the whole western country. It is not our purpose to give a history of his negotiations, but only the results of his mission, it suffices, therefore, to state that he man- aged the matter with consummate tact and far-sighted wisdom, though his task was no easy one. The Ordinance of Freedom which was passed while Dr. Cutler's negotiations were pending, re- ceived from his hand those noble pro- visions which have given it its name- those clauses forever prohibiting slavery and eneouraging religion, morality and education. Before the act passed (July 13, 1787). the committee having it in
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THE OHIO COMPANY.
charge sent a copy to Dr. Cutler " with leave to make remarks and propose amendments," and the measures men- tioned were included on his recommend- ation. This action, while it was a testimonial of the greatest honor to Dr. Cutler, also shows how anxious Con- gress was to secure his favor and en- courage his scheme. "The ordinance of 1787 and the Ohio purchase," says a writer who has given much attention to the subject. " were parts of one and the same transaction. The purchase would not have been made without the ordi- nance, and the ordinance could not have been enacted except as an essential con- dition of the purchase."
The proposed terms of the purchase were submitted to Congress by Dr. Cutler and his associate, Winthrop Sar- gent, secretary of the Ohio Company, and on the 27th of July were adopted without change. They are set forth in the report made by Dr. Cutler to the directors and agents of the Ohio Com- pany at the Bunch of Grapes Tavern in Boston, August 29, 1787, which was as follows :
"That in consequence of resolves of Congress of the 23d and 27th of July he agreed on the condition of a con- tract with the Board of Treasury of the United States for a particular tract of land, containing in the whole as much as the company's funds will pay for should the subscription amount to one million of dollars, agreeably to the articles of association, at one dollar per acre, from which price is to be deducted one-third of a dollar for bad lands and defraying the expenses of surveying, etc.
"That the land be bounded on the cast by the western boundary of the seventh range of townships; south by
the Ohio; west by a meridian line to be drawn through the western cape of the Great Kanawha River, and extend- ing so far north that a due east and west line from the seventh range of townships to the said meridian line shall include the whole.
"This tract to extend so far northerly as to comprehend within its limits, ex- clusively of the above purchase, one lot of six hundred and forty acres in each township for the purposes of religion ; an equal quantity for the support of schools ; and two townships of twenty- three thousand and forty acres each for a university, to be as near the center of the whole tract as may be; which lots and townships are given by Congress and appropriated for the above uses forever; also three lots of six hundred and forty acres each, in every town- ship, reserved for the future disposition of Congress ; and the bounty lands of the military associators to be comprised in the whole tract, provided they do not exceed one-seventh part thereof.
"That five Imndred thousand dollars be paid to the Board of Treasury upon closing the contract.
"In consideration of which, a right of entry and occupancy for a quantity of land equal to this sum, at the price stipulated, be given, and that as soon as the geographer or some proper officer of the United States shall have surveyed and ascertained the quantity of the whole, the sun of five hundred thousand dollars more be paid, amounting in the whole to one million dollars, for which the company are to be put in possession of the whole moiety of the lands above described and receive a deed of the whole from the said Board of Treasury."
Thus the Ohio Company secured the refusal for 1,500,000 acres ; but for rea-
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HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY, OHIO.
sons that will appear hereafter they finally became possessed of only 964,- 285 acres. The report of Dr. Cutler having been approved and accepted, it was ordered that the contract be closed. The contract was executed at New York, October 27, 1787, and signed by Samuel Osgood and Arthur Lee, of the Board of Treasury, and Manasseh Cutler and Winthrop Sargent, for the Ohio Com- pany. It was, in all its provisions, in accordance with the foregoing report of Dr. Cutler; and thus the declaration of the ordinance of 1787. "That schools and the means of education shall for- ever be encouraged," received practical exemplification.
On the next day after Dr. Cutler made his report to the directors, they, in far-away Boston, mapped out on paper a city at the confluence of the Muskingum and the Ohio, the Marietta that was to be, though no name was given the city until the following year. At a subsequent meeting held at Crom- well's Head Tavern in Boston, Novem- ber 21, the directors
" Resolved, That the lands of the Ohio Company may be allotted and divided in the following manner, any- thing to the contrary in former resolu- tions notwithstanding, viz. : Four thou- sand acres near the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers for a city and commons, and contiguous to this, one thousand lots of eight acres each, amounting to one thousand acres.
" Upon the Ohio, in fractional town- ships, one thousand lots of one hundred and sixteen and forty-three one-hun- dredths acres, amounting to one hun- dred and sixteen thousand four hundred and thirty acres.
" In the townships on the navigable rivers, one thousand lots of three hun-
dred and twenty acres each, amounting to three hundred and twenty thousand aeres.
" And in the inland towns one thou- sand lots of nine hundred and ninety- two acres each, amounting to nine hun- dred and ninety-two thousand acres, to be divided and alloted as the agents shall hereafter see fit."*
It was also resolved at this inceting that no more subscriptions be admitted after the 1st day of the following January.
On November 23 the directors and agents again assembled in Boston and passed resolutions providing for the fitting out and sending of a party of pioneers to the Muskingum. To show what was the equipment and the duty of this party, we quote the resolutions entire :
" Ordered, That four surveyors be employed, under the direction of the superintendent hereinafter named :
"That twenty-two men shall attend the surveyors; that there be added to this number twenty men, including six boat-builders, four house-carpenters, one blacksmith and nine common workmen. That the boat-builders shall proceed on Monday next, and the surveyors rendezvous at Hartford the 1st day of January next, on their way to the Mus- kingum ; that the boat-builders and the men with the surveyors be proprietors in the company ; that their tools and one axe and one hoe to each man, and thirty pounds' weight of baggage, shall be carried in the company's wagons, and that the subsistence of the men on the journey be furnished by the com- pany ; that upon their arrival at the
*A part of these resolutions became of no effect, because the company did not come into possession of the amount of land they expected.
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THE OHIO COMPANY.
place of destination and entering upon the business of their employment the men shall be subsisted by the company, and allowed wages at the rate of four dollars eaeli per month until discharged ; that they be held in the company's ser- vice until the 1st day of July next unless sooner discharged; and if any of the persons employed shall leave the service or wilfully injure the same or disobey the orders of the superin- tendent or others acting under him, the person so offending shall forfeit all claim to wages. That their wages shall be paid the next autumn in cash or lands upon the same terms as the con- pany purchased them. That each man furnish himself with a good small arm, bayonet, six flints, a powder horn and pouch, priming wire and brush, half a pound of powder, one pound of balls, and one pound of buckshot. The men so engaged shall be subject to the orders of the superintendent and those he may appoint as aforesaid in any kinds of business they shall be employed in, as well for boat-building and sur- veying as for building houses, erecting defenses, clearing land and planting or otherwise, for promoting the settle- ment. And as there is a possibility of interruption from enemies, they shall also be subject to orders as aforesaid in military command during the time of their employment. That the surveyors shall be allowed twenty-seven dollars per month and subsistence while in actual service, to commence upon their arrival at the Muskingum ; that Colonel Ebenezer Sproat, from Rhode Island, Mr. Anselm Tupper and Mr. John Mathews, from Massachusetts, and Colonel R. J. Meigs, from Connecticut, be the surveyors. That General Rufus Putnam be the superintendent of all
the business aforesaid, and he is to be obeyed and respected accordingly : that he be allowed for his services forty dollars per month and his expenses, to commence from the time of his leaving home."
Before following this pioneer party into the western wilds let us hastily sketch the subsequent history and transactions of the Ohio Company.
At the November meeting it was de- cided that the next meeting of the di- rectors should take place in Providence, R. I., in March following. Accord- ingly, on the 5th of the month, the di- rectors and agents having assembled, the lots of the proposed city at the mouth of the Muskingum were drawn by the agents for the respective share- holders. A thousand shares were rep- resented. At this meeting, even before the settlement had begun, such was the zeal of the proprietors to promote edu- cation and religion, there was ap- pointed, to consider the expedieney of employing some suitable person as a teacher in the new colony, a committee, who recommended in their report " That the directors be requested to pay as early attention as possible to the education of youth and the prono- tion of publie worship among the first settlers; and that, for these important services, they employ, if practicable, an instructor eminent for literary accom- plishments and the virtue of his char- acter, who shall also superintend the first scholastic institution and direct the manner of instruction." Noble words! And noble were the aims of the found- ers of the first settlement in Ohio nearly one hundred years ago.
The surveys of the Ohio Company's purchase were ordered by the governor to be suspended after the 20th of Sep-
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HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY, OHIO.
tember, 1788, until the treaty with the Indians (then pending and subsequently concluded at Fort Harmar. January 9, 1789) could be consummated. This course perhaps prevented serious trouble, as the Indians objected to the survey and were likely to interfere with its progress. The surveys made by the company were in accordance with the ordinance of Congress. passed in 1785, for the survey of the northwest- ern lands, and the rules therein laid down were carefully observed.
In December committees were sent out to explore lands in the purchase, the character of which the proprietors as yet knew but little, with a view toward deciding upon the location of future settlements. It was recom- mended that two thousand acres, in one-hundred-acre lots, at the forks of Duck Creek, about fifteen miles from Marietta, be given to twenty settlers ; also, that a tract of six hundred and forty acres be given to encourage the erection of mills on Duck Creek near Marietta.
In respect to their donation lands the Ohio Company required a strict ad- herence to the following rules :*
1. The settler to furnish lands for highways when needed.
2. To build a dwelling-house within five years, of the size 18x24 feet, eight feet between the floors, and a cellar ten feet square; a chimney of brick or stone.
3. To put out not less than fifty apple-trees and twenty peach trees within three years.
4. To clear and put into meadow or pasture fifteen acres, and into tillage not less than five acres, within five years.
5. To be constantly provided with arms and be subject to the militia law.
6. Proper defenses or blockhouses to be kept upon the donation lands, of such strength as shall be approved by the committee.
Any settler complying with the above rules who kept on the land for five years a man able to bear arms was entitled to receive a deed from the di- rectors. These donation lots were per- mitted to be issued until October 1, 1789, to any number of persons not ex- ceeding two hundred, making in all 20,000 acres. The settlements were to be made by companies or associa- tions of not less than twenty men to each settlement-this provision being a military precaution to guard against surprises from wandering Indians.
"This mode of settling the new lands of the purchase," says Dr. Hildreth, " was one of the most admirable that could be devised, and showed that the men who planned it were familiar with the cultivation of the soil as well as military affairs. These donation settlements were generally located on the frontiers of the purchase, and served as outposts to guard the more central parts. They formed a military as well as an agri cultural people, just such as the condi tion of the country needed. Their re- quirements as to the character of the improvements on the land were such as would be most beneficial to the settler and ultimately useful to the community. The regulation as to fruit-trees made a permanent impression upon the people generally."
By subsequent action of Congress the company was relieved from the neces- sity of making donations out of their own lands to promote settlements.
Meantime, while settlements were
*Hildreth's "Pioneer History."
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THE OHIO COMPANY.
being made and encouraged by the company's efforts, its own business was involved in well-nigh serious difficulties. Shortly after the formation of the Ohio Company another association, known as the Scioto Company, had been organ- ized. Dr. Cutler, while negotiating with Congress for lands for his company, had been entreated to use his influence to obtain a purchase for them. Through his efforts a refusal was secured for a a large tract, and under the lead of the Sciota Company's agents, a French set- ment was made at Gallipolis in 1790. The affairs of the company were badly managed and the settlers were unable to obtain titles to their land until Con- gress, in 1798, made a grant of the tract, since known as the French grant, situated on the Ohio above the mouth of the Scioto. In 1789 it became appar- ent that the Ohio Company could not pay for the land embraced in the orig- inal contract ; only half the purchase money had been paid and no titles could be secured until the balance was paid ; a number of shares had become forfeited through non-payment. Therefore, in 1790, the directors of the Ohio Company readily availed themselves of an offer made by the Scioto Company to pur- chase certain tracts of the Ohio Com- pany's lands, including the forfeited shares and a tract on the Great Kana- waha. The contract was closed and the Ohio Company was cheered by the hope of adding to its finances by this means. The matter resulted in nothing but blank disappointment.
In the spring of 1792 a panie in New York caused the failure of Richard Platt, who was then the Ohio Company's treasurer, and had nearly $50,000 of the funds of the association. At the same time financial disaster overtook
the directors of the Scioto Company (by whom as yet no payments had been made to the Ohio Company), and their contract for the purchase of forfeited shares was forfeited and annulled.
At this crisis three of the directors of the Ohio Company, Dr. Cutler, Gen- eral Putnam and Colonel Robert Oliver, petitioned Congress for relief, asking that the 1,500,000 acres be deeded to them for the $500,000 already paid, and that a grant of 100,000 acres in addition be made to compensate for the lands which the company had donated to set- tlers. The prayer of the petitioners was answered in part by a bill passed April 21, 1792, which provided that a deed be made to the Ohio Company for 750,000 acres for the $500,000 in secur- ities already paid ; another for 214,285 (about one-seventh of the original pur- chase), to be paid for in land-warrants, and a third for 100,000 acres, to be held in trust and given to actual settlers in lots of one hundred aeres each.
May 10, 1792, the President issued three patents to Rufus Putnam, Ma- nasseh Cutler, Robert Oliver and Griffin Greene in trust for the Ohio Company. With one exception these were the first land-patents issued by the United States. By their provisions the total amount of land conveyed to the Ohio Company was 964,285 acres; or, including the donation tract, 1,064,285 acres. The boundaries of the tract, as finally fixed by the survey, were approximately as follows:
" Beginning on the Ohio River upon the western boundary line of the lif- teenth range of townships, thence run- ning northerly to a point about one mile north of the south line of township minber seven; thence west to the western boundary of the sixteenth
1
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HISTORY OF MORGAN COUNTY, OHIO.
range; thence north to the north line of township number sixteen ; thence east to a point about one mile east of the western boundary of the eleventh range of township; thence north four miles ; then east to the western boundary of the seventh range ; thence south to the Ohio ; thence along the Ohio to the place of beginning."
Included in the purchase were parts of the present counties of Morgan, Washington, Gallia, Vinton, Jackson and Hocking, and all of Athens and Meigs.
The donation tract (a part of which is in Morgan County) lies in the north- eastern part of the above-described territory, and is about twenty-one miles long and nearly eight miles wide. Its boundaries are as follows: Beginning on the western boundary line of the seventh range of townships, at the north- east corner of the seven hundred and fifty thousand acre tract ; thence run- ning north to the line surveyed by Israel Ludlow at the northern boundary of the original purchase of 1,500,000 acres; thence west along that line to the tract containing 214,285 acres ; thence south to the boundary of the tract of 750,000 acres; thence east to the place of beginning.
The directors of the Ohio Company, as trustees of the donation tract, were required to make, free of expense, deeds in fee simple of one hundred acres to each male person not less than eighteen years of age, who must be an actual settler or a resident within the purchase at the time the conveyance should be made. The donation, although it secured fewer permanent settlers than was expected, greatly aided the Ohio Company, and was the means of attract-
ing many adventurers into the terri- tory. The lands were speculated in to some extent, those who had secured lots before the Indian war selling them to others at its close withont having made any actual settlement or improve- ment.
Under the direction of the Ohio Com- pany and the immediate superintend- ence of General Putnam the donation tract was surveyed in May, 1793, and by the middle of July 170 lots had been surveyed in nine allotments on the Muskingum and Wolf Creek. During the year a total of 186 lots was drawn; this number represents the whole number of males able to bear arms then residents of the three settle- ments of Washington County - at Marietta, Belpre and Waterford.
We need not follow the history of the Ohio Company further, having seen it successful, against incalculable disad- vantages, in the performance of the mission to which its members voluntarily dedicated themselves. The last meet- ing of the directors and agents of the company held west of the Alleghany Mountains began at Marietta, Novem- ber 22, 1795, and lasted till January 29, 1796. Then was made the final division or partition of lands, by which was set off to each share in the company the following lands : First division, one eight acre lot ; second division, one three acre lot ; third division, one city lot ; fourth division, one one hundred and sixty acre lot; fifth division, one one hundred acre lot; sixth division, one six hundred and forty acre lot, and one two hundred and sixty-two acre lot ; total, 1,173 acres to each share. There were then 819 shares classified in six- teen agencies.
CHAPTER V.
WASHINGTON COUNTY AND THE NORTHWEST TERRITORY-1788 TO 1803.
THE OHIO COMPANY INDUCING EMIGRATION-REMARKABLE PREDICTION ABOUT THE OHIO COUNTRY BY DR. CUTLER-OPPOSITION AND RIDICULE-THE COMPANY OF ADVENTURERS-THEIR WINTER JOURNEY ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS-BOAT-BUILDING AT THE YOUGHIOGHENY-ARRIVAL OF THE MAYFLOWER AT THE MUSKINGUM, APRIL 7, 1788-NAMES OF THE FOUNDERS OF MARIETTA-ORIGIN OF THE TERM BUCKEYE-ERECTION OF CAMPUS MARTIUS-ARRIVAL OF GOVERNOR ST. CLAIR- WASHINGTON COUNTY ESTABLISHED-LATER COUNTIES-FIRST COURTS IN THE TERRITORY-ES- TABLISHIMENT OF TOWNSHIPS-THE TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT-THE TERRITORIAL LEGISLA- TURE-ITS FIRST MEMBERS-THE BIRTH OF A STATE-THE " ENABLING ACT" PASSED BY CON- GRESS-THE OPPOSITION TO A STATE GOVERNMENT IN WASHINGTON COUNTY-THE CONVENTION OF 1802-ATTEMPT TO LEGALIZE SLAVERY IN OHIO-THE CONSTITUTION FORMED AND THE STATE OF OHIO ADMITTED INTO THE UNION-PROGRESS OF THE MARIETTA COLONY-SETTLEMENTS AT BELPRE AND WATERFORD-WOLF CREEK MILLS, THE FIRST IN OHIO-THE SETTLEMENT AT BIG BOTTOM.
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