USA > Ohio > Noble County > History of Noble County, Ohio: With Portraits and Biographical Sketches of some of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 8
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"The design of this association," as stated in the preamble of the reso- lutions, was to raise a fund in Conti- nental certificates for the sole pur- pose and to be appropriated to the entire use of purchasing lands in the western territory belonging to the United States, for the benefit of the company, and to promote a settle- ment in that country." Article I provided that the fund should not exceed $1,000,000 in Continental specie certificates, exclusive of one year's interest due thereon (except as afterward provided); each share to consist of $1,000, as aforesaid, and also $10 in gold or silver. Article II provided that the whole fund, ex- cept one year's interest on the cer- tificates, should be applied to the
purchase of lands. The one year's interest was reserved to be "applied to the purpose of making a settle- ment in the country and assisting those who may be otherwise unable to remove themselves thither." The gold and silver was for the purpose of defraying the expenses of the agents of the company and other contingent expenses.
No person was allowed to hold more than five shares in the com- pany's funds. Agents were to be appointed representing 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 ef- forts, yet at the second meeting of the company at Brackett's Tavern, in Boston, March 8, 1787, it was re- ported that only two hundred and fifty shares had been subscribed for: Despite this somewhat meager show- ing 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 neighboring commonwealths of Con- necticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire were "inclined to be- come adventurers," and were only deterred by the uncertainty of ob- taining a sufficient tract of land, col- lectively, for a good settlement.
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THE OHIO COMPANY.
General Rufus Putnam, Dr. Ma- nasseh 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 speedy con- clusion of the negotiation then mani- fested resulted from the fact that other companies were already form- ing, and there was a fear that the most desirable lands in the Ohio country would soon be secured by some of those speculative associa- tions. The directors now empow- ered Dr. Cutler 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 congregation in Ipswich (now Hamilton), Mass., was a man of gen- ius and the highest culture. He was a graduate of Yale and had taken degrees in law, medicine and di- vinity. He now assumed the role of diplomat, and his keenness, shrewd- ness and sagacity rendered him suc- cessful in the highest degree.
Just why lands upon the Muskin- gum should have been selected in preference to all others then availa- ble may not be readily apparent to the student of history. There were, however, many good reasons for the choice made by the Ohio Company. While much of the Northwestern Ter- ritory was then known to be infested by hostile Indians, none of these had their homes on the Lower Muskin- gum, and they visited this locality only occasionally on their hunting
expeditions. Fort IIarmer, built in 1785-86, at the mouth of the Musk- ingum, also had its influence in draw- ing the adventurers thither. Thomas Hutchins, the geographer of the con- federation, recommended the Musk- ingum region as "the best part of the whole western country," and his opinion was identical with that of other explorers, among whom were General Butler, General Parsons and General Tupper. Doubtless the ex- istence of mineral wealth in this part of the country was known to mem- bers of the company, and it is also probable that the prospect of estab- lishing a system of water communi- cation between the Ohio and Lake Erie, via the Muskingum, Tuscara- was and Cuyahoga, and between the Ohio and the Atlantic coast by way of the Great Kanawha and the Po- tomac (a plan commended by Wash- ington before the Revolution), had its influence.
Dr. Cutler started in June from Ipswich and proceeded to New York, where Congress was then in session. He put up his horse "in the Bowery barns," and at once began the busi- ness which was to have such an im- portant 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 managed the matter with consummate tact and far- sighted wisdom, though his task was no easy one. The Ordinance of Free- dom, which was passed while Dr. Cutler's negotiations were pending, received from his hand those noble
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HISTORY OF NOBLE COUNTY, OHIO.
provisions which have given it its name-those clauses forever pro- hibiting slavery and encouraging religion, morality and education. Before the act passed (July 13, 1787), the committee having it in charge sent a copy to Dr. Cutler " with leave to make remarks and propose amendments," and the meas- ures mentioned were included on his recommendation. This action, while it was a testimonial of the greatest honor to Dr. Cutler, also shows how anxious Congress was to secure his favor and encourage 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 ord- inance, and the ordinance could not have been enacted except as an es- sential condition of the purchase."
The proposed terms of the pur- chase were submitted to Congress by Dr. Cutler and his associate, Win- throp Sargent, 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 Company at the Bunch of Grapes Tavern in Boston, August 29, 1787, which was as fol- lows:
"That in consequence of resolves of Congress of the 23d and 27th of July he agreed on the condition of a contract 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 associa- tion, 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 east 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 Kana- wha River, and extending so far north that a due east and west line from the seventh range of town- ships to the said meridian line shall include the whole.
"This tract to extend so far north- erly as to comprehend within its lim- its, exclusively of the above purchase. one lot of six hundred and forty acres in each township for the pur- poses 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 for- ever; also three lots of six hundred and forty acres each, in every town- ship, reserved for the future dispo- sition 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 hundred thousand dol- lars be paid to the Board of Treasury upon closing the contract.
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THE OHIO COMPANY.
" In consideration of which, a right of entry and occupancy for a quan- tity of land equal to this sum, at the price stipulated, to 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 sum 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 reasons that will be stated here- after they finally became possessed of only 964,285 acres. The report of Dr. Cutler having been approved and accepted, it was ordered that the con- tract 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 Company. It was, in all its provis- ions, in accordance with the forego- ing report of Dr. Cutler; and thus the declaration of the ordinance of 1787, " That schools and the means of education shall forever be encour- aged," received practical exemplifi- cation.
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 Mari- etta that was to be, though no name
was given the city until the fol- lowing year. At a subsequent meet- ing held at Cromwell's Head Tavern in Boston, November 21, the di- rectors
"Resolved, That the lands of the Ohio Company may be allotted and divided in the following manner, anything to the contrary in former resolutions notwithstanding, viz .: Four thousand acres near the conflu- ence of the Ohio and Muskingum Rivers for a city and commons, and contiguous to this, one thousand lots of eight acres each.
" Upon the Ohio, in fractional townships, one thousand lots of one hundred and sixteen and forty-three one hundredths acres, amounting to one hundred and sixteen thousand four hundred and thirty acres.
" In the townships on the naviga- ble rivers, one thousand lots of three hundred and twenty acres each, amounting to three hundred and twenty thousand acres.
"And in the inland towns one thousand lots of nine hundred and ninety-two acres each, amounting to nine hundred and ninety-two thous- and acres, to be divided and alloted as the agents shall hereafter see fit."
It was also resolved at this meet- ing that no more subscriptions be ad- mitted after the 1st day of the fol- lowing January.
On November 23 the directors and agents again assembled in Boston, and passed resolutions providing for the fitting out and sending out a party of pioneers to Muskingum. To show what was the equipment and the
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HISTORY OF NOBLE COUNTY, OHIO.
duty of this party, we quote the res- olutions entire:
"Ordered, That four surveyors be employed under the direction of the superintendent hereinafter named:
"That twenty-two men shall at- tend 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 Mon- day next, and the surveyors rendez- vous at Hartford on the first day of January next, on their way to the Muskingum; that the boat-builders and the men with the surveyors be proprietors in the company; that their tools and one ax 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 place of destination and entering upon the business of their employ- ment the men shall be subsisted by the company, and allowed wages at the rate of four dollars each per month until discharged ; that they be held in the company's service until the first day of July next unless sooner discharged ; and if any of the persons employed shall leave the ser- vice or wilfully injure the same or disobey the orders of the superinten- dent 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 company purchased them. That
each man furnish himself with a good small arm, bayonet, six flints, a pow- der 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 super- intendent and those he may appoint as aforesaid in any kinds of business they shall be employed in, as well for boat-building and surveying as for building houses, erecting defenses. clearing land and planting or other- wise, for promoting the settlement. And as there is a possibility of inter- ruption from enemies, they shall also be subject to orders as aforesaid in ! military command during the time of their employment. That the survey- ors shall be allowed twenty-seven dollars per month and subsistence while in actual service, to commence upon their arrival at the Muskingum ; that Colonel Ebenzer Sproat, from Rhode Island, Mr. Anselm Tupper and Mr. John Mathews, from Mas- sachusetts, and Colonel R. J. Meigs, from Connecticut, be the surveyors. That General Rufus Putman 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 com- mence 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 decided that the next meeting of the directors should take place in Provi-
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THE OHIO COMPANY.
dence, R. I., in March following. Accordingly, on the 5th of the month, the directors and agents having as- sembled, the lots of the proposed city at the mouth of the Muskingham were drawn by the agents for the re- spective shareholders. A thousand shares were represented. At this meeting, even before the settlement had begun, such was the zeal of the proprietors to promote education and religion, there was appointed to con- sider the expediency 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 ed- ucation of youth and the promotion of public worship among the first settlers ; and that, for these impor- tant services, they employ, if practi- cable, an instructor eminent for liter- ary accomplishments and the virtue of his character, who shall also super- intend the first scholastic institution and direct the manner of instruction." Noble words! And noble were the aims of the founders of the first set- tlement in Ohio nearly one hundred years ago.
The surveys of the Ohio Com- pany's purchase were ordered by the governor to be suspended after the 20th of September, 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 In- dians objected to the survey and were likely to interfere with its progress. The surveys made by the company
were in accordance with the ordin- ance of Congress, passed in 1785, for the survey of the north western 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 adherence to the following rules :
1. The settler to furnish lands for highways when needed.
2. To build a dwelling-house with- in 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 till- age 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.
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HISTORY OF NOBLE COUNTY, OHIO.
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 directors. These donation lots were permitted to be issued until October 1, 1789, to any number of persons not exceeding two hundred, making in all 20,000 acres. The set- tlements were to be made by compa- nies or associations of not less than twenty men to each settlement-this provision being a military precaution to guard against surprises from wan- dering Indians.
" This mode of settling the new lands of the purchase," says Dr. Hil- dreth, " was one of the most admira- ble 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 pur- chase, 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 con- dition of the country needed. Their requirements 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 gener- ally."
By subsequent action of Congress the company was relieved from the necessity of making donations out of their own lands to promote settle- ments.
Meantime, while settlements were
being made and encouraged by the company's efforts, its own business was involved in well-nigh serious dif- ficulties. Shortly after the forma- tion of the Ohio Company another association, known as the Scioto Company had been organized. Dr. Cutler, while negotiating with Con- gress for lands for his company, had been entreated to use his influence to obtain a purchase for them. Through his efforts a refusal was se- cured for a large tract, and under the lead of the Scioto Company's agents a French settlement was made at Gallipolis in 1700. The af- fairs of the company were badly managed and the settlers were unable to obtain titles to their land until Congress, 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 apparent that the Ohio Com- pany could not pay for the land em- braced in the original contract ; only half the purchase money had been paid and no titles could be secured until the balance was paid; a num- ber 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 Com- pany to purchase certain tracts of the Ohio Company's lands, including the forfeited shares and a tract on the Great Kanawha. 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.
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THE OHIO COMPANY.
In the spring of 1792 a panic in New York caused the failure of Richard Platt, who was then the Ohio Com- pany's treasurer, and had nearly $50,000 of the funds of the associa- tion. 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, General Putnam and Colonel Robert Oliver petitioned Congress for re- lief, 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 settlers. 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 Com- pany for 750,000 acres for the $500,- 000 in securities already paid ; another for 214,285 (about one seventh of the original purchase), 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 acres 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 is- sued by the United States. By their provisions the total amount of land conveyed to the Ohio Company was
964,285 acres; or, including the dona- tion tract, 1,064,285 acres. The boundaries of the tract, as finally fixed by the survey, were approxi- mately as follows :
" Beginning on the Ohio River up- on the western boundary line of the fifteenth range of townships, thence running northerly to a point about one mile north of the south line of township number seven; thence west to the western boundary of the sixteenth range; thence north to the north line of township number six- teen; thence east to a point about one mile east of the western bound- ary of the eleventh range of town- ship; thence north four miles ; thence 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, Jack- son, and Hocking, and all of Athens and Meigs.
The donation tract iies 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 town- ships, at the northeast corner of the seven hundred and fifty thousand acre tract; thence running 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
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HISTORY OF NOBLE COUNTY, OHIO.
750,000 acres; thence east to the place of beginning.
The directors of the Ohio Com- pany, 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 at- tracting many adventurers into the territory. The lands were speculated in to some extent, those who had se- cured lots before the Indian war selling them to others at its close without having made any actual set- tlement or improvement.
Under the direction of the Ohio Company and the immediate superin- tendence 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 resi- dents of the three settlements of Washington County - at Marietta, Belpre and Waterford.
We need not follow the history of the Ohio Company further, having seen it successful, against incalcula- ble disadvantages, in the perfor- mance of the mission to which its members voluntarily dedicated them- selves. The last meeting of the directors and agents of the company held west of the Allegheny Moun- tains began at Marietta, November 22, 1795, and lasted till January 29, 1796. Then was made the final di- vision or partition of lands, by which was set off to each share in the com- pany the following lands : First di- vision, one eight acre lot; second di- vision, one three acre lot; third division, one city lot ; fourth divi- sion, one one hundred and sixty acre lot; fifth division, one one hundred acre lot ; sixth division, one six hun- dred 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 classi- fied in sixteen agencies.
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