History of Preble County, Ohio, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, Part 98

Author: H. Z. Williams & Brothers
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 559

USA > Ohio > Preble County > History of Preble County, Ohio, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches > Part 98

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The first session, as has been noticed, closed Decem- ber 19th. Governor St. Clair took occasion to enumer-

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ate in his speech at the close of the session, eleven acts to which he saw fit to apply his veto. These he had not, however, returned to the assembly, and thereby saved a long struggle between the executive and legislative branches of the territory. Of the eleven acts enumer- ated, six related to the formation of new counties. These were mainly disproved by St. Clair, as he always sturdily maintained that the power to erect new counties was vested alone in the executive. This free exercise of the veto power, especially in relation to new counties, and his controversy with the legislature tended only to strengthen the popular discontent regarding the governor, who was never fully able to regain the standing he held before his inglorious defeat in his campaign against the Indians.

While this was being agitated, another question came into prominence. Ultimately it settled the powers of the two branches of the government, and caused the re- moval of St. Clair, then very distasteful to the people. The opening of the present century brought it fully before the people, who began to agitate it in all their assemblies.

The great extent of the territory made the operations of government extremely uncertain, and the power of the courts perfectly worthless. Its division was, there- fore, deemed best, and a committee was appointed by Congress to inquire into the matter. This committee, the third of March, 1800, reported upon the subject that :

"In the three western counties, there has been but one court having cognizance of crimes in five years. The immunity which offenders ex- perience, attracts, as to an asylum, the most vile and abandoned crim- inals, and, at the same time, deters useful and virtuous citizens from making settlements in such society. The extreme necessity of judiciary attention and assistance is experienced in civil as well as crim- inal cases. The supplying to vacant places such necessary officers as may be wanted, such as clerks, recorders, and others of like kind, is, from the impossibility of correct notice and information, utterly neg- lected. This territory is exposed as a frontier to foreign nations, whose agents can find sufficient interest in exciting or fomenting insurrection and discontent, as thereby they can more easily divert a valuable trade in furs from the United States, and also have a part thereof on which they border, which feels so little the cherishing hand of their proper government, or so little dreads its energy, as to render their attachment perfectly uncertain and ambiguous.

" The committee would further suggest, that the law of the third of March, 1791, granting land to certain persons in the western part of said territory, and directing the laying out of the same, remains unexe- cuted ; that great discontent, in consequence of such neglect, is excited in those who are interested in the provisions of said laws, which require the immediate attention of this legislature. To minister a remedy to these evils, it occurs to this committee, that it is expedient that a divis- ion of said territory into two distinct and separate governments should be made; and that such division be made by a line beginning at the mouth of the Great Miami river, running directly north until it inter- sects the boundary between the United States and Canada."*

The recommendations of the committee were favorably received by congress, and, the seventh of May, an act was passed dividing the territory. The main provisions of the act are as follows:

"That, from and after the fourth of July next, all that part of the territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio river, which lies to the westward of a line beginning at the Ohio, opposite to the mouth of the Kentucky river, and running thence to Fort Recovery, and thence north until it intersects the territorial line between the United States

and Canada, shall, for the purpose of temporary government, consti- tute a separate territory, and be called the Indiana Territory.

"There shall be established within the said territory a! government, in all respects similar to that provided by the ordinance of Congress passed July 13, 1797." +

The act further provided for representatives, and for the establishment of an assembly, on the same plan as that in force in the northwest, stipulating that until the number of inhabitants reached five thousand, the whole number of representatives to the general assembly should not be less than seven, nor more than nine; ap- portioned by the governor among the several counties in the new territory. The act further provided that :

"Nothing in the act should be so construed, so as in any manner to affect the government now in force in the territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio river, further than to prohibit the exercise thereof within the Indiana territory, from and after the aforesaid July next.

"Whenever that part of the territory of the United States, which lies to the eastward of a line beginning at the mouth of the Great Miami river, and running thence due north to the territorial line be- tween the United States and Canada, shall be erected into an indepen- dent State and admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States; thenceforth said lines shall become and remain perma- nently the boundary line between such State and the Indiana territory."

It was further enacted "that, until it shall be other- wise enacted by the legistatures of the said territories, respectively, Chillicothe, on the Scioto river, shall be the seat of government of the territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio river; and that St. Vincent's, on the Wabash river, shall be the seat of government for the Indiana territory." t

St. Clair was continued as governor of the old terri- tory, and William Henry Harrison appointed governor of the new.

Connecticut, in ceding her territory in the west to the general Government, reserved a portion, known as the Connecticut Reserve. When she afterward disposed of her claim in the manner narrated, the citizens found themselves without any government on which to lean for support. At that time settlements had begun in thirty- five of the townships into which the Reserve had been divided; one thousand persons had established homes there ; mills had been built, and over seven hundred miles of roads opened. In 1800, the settlers petitioned for acceptance into the Union, as a part of the North- west; and, the mother State releasing her. judiciary claims, Congress accepted the trust, and granted the request. In December, of that year, the population had so increased that the county of Trumbull was erected, including the Reserve. Soon after, a large number of settlers came from Pennsylvania, from which State they had been driven by the dispute concerning land titles in its western part. Unwilling to cultivate land to which they could only get a doubtful deed, they abandoned it, and came where the titles were sure.

Congress having made Chillicothe the capital of the Northwest Territory, as it now existed, on the third of November the general assemby met at that place. Gov- ernor St. Clair had been made to feel the odium cast upon his previous acts, and, at the opening of this ses-

* American State Papers.

* Land Laws.

t Land Laws.

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sion, expressed, in strong terms, his disapprobation of the censure cast upon him. He had endeavored to do his duty in all cases, he said, and yet held the confidence of the President and Congress. He still held the office, notwithstanding the strong dislike against him.

At the second session of the assembly at Chillicothe, held in the autumn of 1801, so much outspoken enmity was expressed, and so much abuse heaped upon the governor and the assembly, that a law was passed, re- moving the capital to Cincinnati again. It was not destined, however, that the territorial assembly should meet again anywhere. The unpopularity of the governor caused many to long for a State government, where they could choose their own rulers. The unpopularity of St. Clair arose partly from the feeling connected with his defeat; in part from his being connected with the Fed- eral party, fast falling into disrepute; and in part, from his assuming powers which most thought he had no right to exercise, especially the power of sub-dividing the counties of the territory.

The opposition, though powerful out of the assembly, was in the minority there. During the month of Decem- ber, 1801, it was forced to protest against a measure brought forward in the council, for changing the ordi- nance of 1787 in such a manner as to make the Scioto, and a line drawn from the intersection of that river and the Indian boundary to the western extremity of the Reserve, the limits of the most eastern State, to be formed from the territory. Had this change been made, the formation of a State government beyond the Ohio would have been long delayed. Against it, representa- tives Worthington, Langham, Darlington, Massie, Dun- lavy, and Morrow, recorded their protest. Not content with this, they sent Thomas Worthington, who obtained a leave of absence, to the seat of government, on behalf of the objectors, there to protest, before Congress, against the proposed boundary. While Worthington was on his way, Massie presented, the fourth of January, 1802, a resolution for choosing a committee to address Congress in respect to the proposed State government. This, the next day, the house refused to do, by a vote of twelve to five. An attempt was next made to procure a census of the territory, and an act for that purpose passed the house, but the council postponed the consid- eration of it until the next session, which would com- mence at Cincinnati, the fourth Monday of November.

Meanwhile, Worthington pursued the ends of his mis- sion, using his influence to effect that organization, which, terminating the influence of tyranny," was to "meliorate the circumstances of thousands, by freeing them from the domination of a despotic chief." His efforts were successful, and, the fourth of March, a report was made to the house in favor of authorizing a State convention. This report was based on the assumption that there were now over sixty thousand inhabitants in the proposed boundaries, estimating that emigration had increased the census of 1800, which gave the Territory forty-five thousand inhabitants, to that number. The convention was to ascertain whether it were expedient to form such a government, and to prepare a constitution if

such organization were deemed best. In the formation of the State, a change in the boundaries was proposed, by which all the territory north of a line drawn due east from the head of Lake Michigan to Lake Erie was to be excluded from the new government about to be called into existence.

The committee appointed by Congress to report upon the feasibility of forming the State, suggested that Con- gress reserve out of every township sections numbered eight, eleven, twenty-six and twenty-nine, for their own use, and that section sixteen be reserved for the mainten- ance of schools. The committee also suggested, that, "religion, education and morality being necessary to the good government and happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall be forever encouraged."

Various other recommendations were given by the committee, in accordance with which, Congress, April 30th, passed the resolution authorizing the calling of a convention. As this accorded with the feelings of the majority of the inhabitants of the Northwest, no opposi- tion was experienced; even the legislature giving way to this embryo government, and failing to assemble accord- ing to adjournment.

The convention met the first of November. Its mem- bers were generally Jeffersonian in their national politics, and had been opposed to the change of boundaries pro- posed the year before. Before proceeding to business, Governor St. Clair proposed to address them in his offi- cial character. This proposition was resisted by several of the members; but, after a motion, it was agreed to al- low him to speak to them as a citizen. St. Clair did so, advising the postponement of a State government until the people of the original eastern division were plainly entitled to demand it, and were not subject to be bound by conditions. This advice, given as it was, caused Jef- ferson instantly to remove St. Clair, at which time his office ceased .* "When the vote was taken," says Judge Burnett, "upon doing what he advised them not to do, but one of thirty-three (Ephraim Cutler, of Washington county) voted with the governor."

On one point only were the proposed boundaries of the new State altered.

"To every person who has attended to this subject, and who has consulted the maps of the western country extant at the time the ordinance of 1787 was passed, Lake Michigan was believed to be, and was represented by all the maps of that day as being, very far north of the position which it has since been ascertained to oc- cupy. I have seen the map of the department of State which was before the committee of Congress who framed and reported the ordinance for the government of the

* After this, St. Clair returned to his old home in the Ligonier valley, Pennsylvania, where he lived with his children in almost abject poverty. He had lost money in his public life, as he gave close attention to pub- lic affairs, to the detriment of his own business. He presented a claim to Congress, afterward, for supplies furnished to the army, but the claim was outlawed. After trying in vain to get the claim allowed, he returned to his home. Pennsylvania, hearing of his distress, granted him an annuity of three hundred and fifty dollars, afterward raised to six hundred dollars. He lived to enjoy this but a short time, his death occurring August 31, 1818. He was eighty-four years of age.

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territory. On that map, the southern boundary of Mich- igan was represented as being above the forty-second de. gree of north latitude. And there was a pencil line, said to have been made by the committee, passing through the southern bend of the lake to the Canada line, which struck the strait not far below the town of Detroit. The line was manifestly intended by the com- mittee and by Congress to be the northern boundary of our State; and on the principles by which courts of chancery construe contracts, accompanied by plats, it would seem that the map, and the line referred to, should be conclusive evidence of our boundary, without reference to the real position of the lakes.

"When the convention sat, in 1802, the understanding was, that the old maps were nearly correct, and that the line, as defined in the ordinance, would terminate at some point on the strait above Maumee bay. While the convention was in session, a man who had hunted many years on Lake Michigan, and was well acquainted with its position, happened to be in Chillicothe, and in con- versation with one of the members, told him that the lake extended much farther south than was generally supposed, and that a nap of the country which he had seen, placed its southern bend many miles north of its · true position. This information excited some uneasiness, and induced the convention to modify the clause describ- ing the north boundary of the new State, so as to guard against its being depressed below the most northern cape of the Maumee bay."*

With this change and some extension of the school and road donations, the convention agreed to the propo- sal of Congress, and November 29th, their agreement was ratified and signed, as was also the constitution of the State of Ohio-so named from its river, called by the Shawnees Ohio, meaning beautiful-forming its southern boundary. Of this nothing need be said, save that it bore the marks of true democratic feeling-of full faith in the people. By them, however, it was never examined. It stood firm until 1852, when it was super- seded by the present one, made necessary by the ad- vance of time.

The general assembly was required to meet at Chilli- cothe, the first Tuesday of March, 1803. This change left the territory northwest of the Ohio river, not in- cluded in the new State, in the territories of Indiana and Michigan. Subsequently, in 1809, Indiana was made a State, and confined to her present limits. Illi- nois was made a territory then, including Wisconsin. In 1818, it became a State, and Wisconsin a territory at- tached to Michigan. This latter was made a State in 1837, and Wisconsin a separate territory, which, in 1847, was made a State. Minnesota was made a territory the same year, and a State in 1857, and the five contem- plated States of the territory were complete.

Preceding pages have shown how the territory north of the Ohio river was peopled by the French and Eng- lish, and how it came under the rule of the American people. The war of the Revolution closed in 1783, and

left all America in the hands of a new nation. That nation brought a change. Before the war, various at- tempts had been made by residents in New England to people the country west of the Alleghanies. Land com- panies were formed, principal among which were the Ohio company, and the company of which John Cleves Symmes was the agent and chief owner. Large tracts of land on the Scioto and on the Ohio were entered. The Ohio company was the first to make a settlement. It was organized in the autumn of 1787, November 27th. They made arrangements for a party of forty-seven men to set out for the west under the supervision of General Rufus Putnam, superintendent of the company. Early in the winter they advanced to the Youghiogeny river, and there built a strong boat, which they named "May- flower." It was built by Captain. Jonathan Devol, the first ship-builder in the west, and, when completed, was placed under his command. The boat was launched April 2, 1788, and the band of pioneers, like the Pil- grim Fathers, began their voyage. The seventh of the month, they arrived at the mouth of the Muskingum, their destination, opposite Fort Harmar, * erected in the autumn of 1785, by a detachment of United States troops, under command of Major John Doughty, and, at the date of the Mayflower's arrival in possession of a company of soldiers. Under the protection of these troops, the little band of men began their labor of lay- ing out a town, and commenced to erect houses for their own and subsequent emigrants' occupation. The names of these pioneers of Ohio, as far as can now be learned, are as follows:

General Putnam, Return Jonathan Meigs, Winthrop Sargeant (secretary of the territory), Judges Parsons and Varnum, Captain Dana, Captain Jonathan Devol, Jo- seph Barker, Colonel Battelle, Major Tyler, Dr. True, Captain William Gray, Captain Lunt, the Bridges, Ebe- nezer and Thomas Cory, Andrew McClure, William Mason, Thomas Lord, William Gridley, Gilbert Devol, Moody Russels, Deavens, Oakes, Wright, Clough, Green, Shipman, Dorance, the Masons and others, whose names are now beyond recall.

On the nineteenth of July, the first boat of families arrived, after a nine weeks' journey on the way. They had traveled in their wagons as far as Wheeling, where they built large flat-boats, into which they loaded their effects, including their cattle, and thence passed down the Ohio to their destination. The families were those of General Tupper, Colonel Ichabod Nye, Colonel Cush- ing, Major Coburn and Major Goodale. In these titles the reader will observe the preponderance of military

* Historical transactions of Ohio-Judge Burnett.

* The outlines of Fort Harmar formed a regular pentagon, embrac- ing within the area about three-fourths of an acre. Its walls were formed of large horizontal timbers, and the bastions of large upright timbers about fourteen feet in height, fastened to each other by strips of timber, tree-nailed into each picket. In the rear of the fort Major Doughty laid out fine gardens. It continued to be occupied by United States troops until September, 1790, when they were ordered to Cin- cinnati. A company, under Captain Haskell, continued to make the fort their headquarters during the Indian war, occasionally assisting the colonists at Marietta, Belpre and Waterford against the Indians. When not needed by the troops, the fort was used by the people of Marietta.

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distinction. Many of the founders of the colony had served with much valor in the war for freedom, and were well prepared for a life in the wilderness.

They began at once the construction of houses from the forests about the confluence of the rivers, guarding their stock by day and penning it by night. Wolves, bears and Indians were all about them, and here, in the remote wilderness, they were obliged to be always on their guard. From the ground where they obtained the timber to erect their houses, they soon produced a few vegetables, and when the families arrived in August, they were able to set before them food raised for the first time by the hand of American citizens in the Ohio valley. One of those who came in August, was Mr. Thomas Guthrie, a settler in one of the western counties of Pennsylvania, who brought a bushel of wheat, which he sowed on a plat of ground cleared by himself, and from which that fall he procured a small crop of wheat, the first raised in the State of Ohio.

The Marietta settlement was the only one made that summer in the territory. From their arrival until Octo- ber, when Governor St. Clair came, they were busily em- ployed making houses, and preparing for the winter. The little colony, of which Washington wrote so favor- ably, met on the second day of July, to name their new- born city and its public squares. Until now it had been known as "The Muskingum" simply, but on that day the name Marietta was formally given to it, in honor of Ma- rie Antoinette. The fourth of July, an ovation was held and an oration delivered by James M. Varnum, who, with S. H. Parsons and John Armstrong, had been ap- pointed judges of the territory. Thus, in the heart of the wilderness, miles away from any kindred post, in the for- ests of the great west, was the tree of. liberty watered and given a hearty growth.

On the morning of the ninth of July, Governor St. Clair arrived, and the colony began to assume form. The ordinance of 1787 had provided for a form of gov- ernment under the governor and three judges, and this form was at once put into force. The twenty-fifth, the first law relating to the militia was published, and the next day the governor's proclamation appeared, creating all the country that had been ceded by the Indians, east of the Scioto river, into the county of Washington, and the civil machinery was in motion. From that time for- ward, this, the pioneer settlement in Ohio, went on pros- perously. The second of September, the first court in the territory was held, but as it related to the territory, a narrative of its proceedings will be found in the history of that part of the country, and need not be repeated here.

The fifteenth of July, Governor St. Clair had pub- lished the ordinance of 1787, and the commissions of himself and the three judges. He also assembled the people of the settlement, and explained to them the ordinance in a speech of considerable length. Three days after, he sent a notice to the judges, calling their attention to the subject of organizing the militia. In- stead of attending to this important matter, and thus providing for their safety should trouble with the Indians

arise, the judges did not even reply to the governor's let- ter, but sent him what they called a "project" of a law for dividing real estate. The bill was so loosely drawn that St. Clair immediately rejected it, and set about organizing the militia himself. He divided the militia into two classes, "senior" and "junior," and organized them by appointing their officers.

In the senior class, Nathan Cushing was appointed captain; George Ingersol, lieutenant; and James Backus, ensign.

In the junior class, Nathan Goodale and Charles Knowls were made captains; Watson Casey and Samuel Stebbins, lieutenants; and Joseph Lincoln and Arnold Colt, ensigns.

The governor next erected the courts of probate and quarter sessions, and proceeded to appoint civil officers. Rufus Putnam, Benjamin Tupper, and Winthrop Sargent were made justices of the peace. The thirtieth of Au- gust, the day the court of quarter sessions was appointed, Archibald Cary, Isaac Pierce, and Thomas Lord . were also appointed justices, and given power to hold this court. They were, in fact, judges of a court of common pleas. Return Jonathan Meigs was appointed clerk of this court of quarter sessions. Ebenezer Sproat was ap- pointed sheriff of Washington county, and also colonel of the militia; William Callis, clerk of the supreme court; Rufus Putnam, judge of the probate court, and R. J. Meigs, jr., clerk. Following these appointments setting the machinery of government in motion, St. Clair ordered that the twenty-fifth of December be kept as a day of thanksgiving by the infant colony, for its safe and propitious beginning.

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History of Preble County, Ohio, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, Part 98

Author: H. Z. Williams & Brothers Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages: 559

Author: H. Z. Williams & Brothers
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 559