History of Shelby County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 25

Author: R. Sutton & Co.
Publication date: 1883
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 427

USA > Ohio > Shelby County > History of Shelby County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 25

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ART. 3. Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged. The utmost good faith shall always be observed towards the Indians ; their lands and property shall never be taken away from them without their consent; and in their property, rights, and liberty, they shall never be invaded or disturbed, unless in just and lawful wars authorized by Congress; but laws founded in justice and humanity shall, from time to time, be made for preventing wrongs being done to them, and for preserving peace and friendship with them.

ART. 4. The said territory, and the States which may be formed therein, shall forever remain a part of this confederacy of the United States of America, subject to the articles of confederation, and to such alterations therein as shall be constitutionally made, and to all the acts and ordinances of the United States in Congress assembled, conformable thereto. The inhabitants and settlers in the said territory shall be sub- ject to pay a part of the federal debts, contracted or to be contracted,

and a proportional part of the expenses of government, to be apportioned on them by Congress, according to the same common rule and measure by which apportionments thereof shall be made on the other States; and the taxes for paying their proportion shall be laid and levied by the authority and direction of the Legislatures of the district or districts, or new States, as in the original States, within the time agreed upon by the United States in Congress assembled. The Legislatures of those dis- tricts, or new States, shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the soil by the United States in Congress assembled, nor with any regu- lations Congress may find necessary for securing the title in such soil to the bona fide purchasers. No tax shall be imposed on lands the property of the United States; and in no case shall non-resident proprietors be taxed higher than residents. The navigable waters leading into the Mississippi and St. Lawrence, and the carrying places between the same, shall be common highways, and forever free, as well to the inhabitants of the said territory as to the citizens of the United States, and those of any other States that may be admitted into the confederacy, without any tax, impost, or duty therefor.

ART. 5. There shall be formed in the said territory not less than three nor more than five States; and the boundaries of the States, as soon as Virginia shall alter her act of cession, and consent to the same, shall become fixed and established as follows, to wit: The western State in the said territory shall be bounded by the Mississippi, the Ohio, and Wabash rivers; a direct line drawn from the Wabash and Port Vin- cents due north to the territorial line between the United States and Canada ; and by the said territorial line to the Lake of the Woods and Mississippi. The middle State shall be bounded by the said direct line, the Wabash from Point Vincents to the Ohio, by the Ohio, by a direct line drawn due north from the mouth of the Great Miami to the said territorial line, and by the said territorial line. The eastern State shall be bounded by the last-mentioned direct line, the Ohio, Pennsylvania, and the said territorial line: provided, however, and it is further under- stood and declared, that the boundaries of these three States shall be subject so far to be altered that, if Congress shall hereafter find it expe- dient, they shall have authority to form one or two States in that part of the territory which lies north of an east and west line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan. And whenever any of the said States shall have sixty thousand free inhabitants therein, such State shall be admitted, by its delegates, into the Congress of the United States on an equal footing with the original States in all respects whatever, and shall be at liberty to form a permanent constitution and State government : provided the constitution and government so to be formed shall be republican, and in conformity to the principles contained in these articles; and, so far as it can be consistent with the general interest of the confederacy, such admission shall be allowed at an earlier period, and when there may be a less number of free inhabitants in the State than sixty thousand.

ART. 6. There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said territory otherwise than in the punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted: provided, always, that any person escaping into the same from whom labor or service is lawfully claimed in any one of the original States, such fugitive may be lawfully reclaimed, and conveyed to the person claiming his or her labor or ser- vice as aforesaid.

PROBABLE NUMBER AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE POPULATION IN 1787.

Up to the time of the passage of the above ordinance there had been no permanent settlements by white men established upon territory em- braced within the boundaries given to the Northwest Territory, except the few French villages and their immediate vicinities, in the western and northwestern portions of it. If any such existed within the pre- sent limits of Ohio, they must have been situated along the Maumee River, and were of small extent. The Government had hitherto, for the sake of peace, discouraged, and by military force prevented, all attempts of white settlers to occupy lands belonging to the Indians. The chief of those French villages were Detroit, on the Detroit River; St. Vincents, on the Wabash ; Cahokia, five miles below St. Louis; St. Philip, forty- eight miles below St. Louis, on the Mississippi; Kaskaskia, on Kaskaskia

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HISTORY OF SHELBY COUNTY, OHIO.

River, six miles above its mouth, which empties into the Mississippi seventy-five miles below St. Louis; Prairie-du-Rocher, near Fort Char- tres; and Fort Chartres, fifteen miles northwest from Kaskaskia. These were all small settlements or villages, whose aggregate inhabitants pro- bably did not exceed three thousand.

The inhabitants of these remote settlements in the wilderness and on the prairies, says a late writer, "were of a peculiar character. Their intercourse with the Indians, and their seclusion from the world, devel- oped among them peculiar characteristics. They assimilated themselves with the Indians, adopted their habits, and almost uniformly lived in harmony with them. They were illiterate, careless, contented, but with- out much industry, energy, or foresight. Some were hunters, trappers, and anglers, while others run birch-bark canoes by way of carrying on a small internal trade, and still others cultivated the soil. The traders, or voyageurs, were men fond of adventure, and of a wild, unrestrained, Indian sort of life, and would ascend many of the long rivers of the West almost to their sources in their birch-bark canoes, and load them with furs bought of the Indians. The canoes were light, and could easily be carried across the portages between streams."

There was attached to these French villages a "common field," for the free use of the villagers, every family, in proportion to the number of its members, being entitled to share in it. It was a large inclosed tract for farming purposes. There was also at each village a "common," or large inclosed tract, for pasturage and fuel purposes, and timber for building. If a head of a family was sick, or by any casualty was unable to labor, his portion of the "common field" was cultivated by his neighbors, and the crop gathered for the use of his family. "The French villagers," says the author of Western Annals, "were devout Catholics, who, under the guidance of their priests, attended punctually upon all the holidays and festivals, and performed faithfully all the outward duties and cere- monies of the Church. Aside from this, their religion was blended with their social feelings. Sundays, after mass, was the especial occasion for their games and assemblies. The dance was the popular amusement with them, and all classes, ages, sexes, and conditions, united by a common love of enjoyment, met together to participate in the exciting pleasure. They were indifferent about the acquisition of property for themselves or their children. Living in a fruitful country, which, moreover, abounded in fish and game, and where the necessaries of life could be procured with little labor, they were content to live in unambitious peace and comfortable poverty. Their agriculture was rude, their houses were humble, and they cultivated grain, also fruits and flowers; but they lived on from generation to generation without much change or im- provement. In some instances they intermarried with the surrounding Indian tribes."

Most of these far-off western villages were protected by military posts, and some of them (notably Detroit, which for months had successfully resisted, in 1763, when in possession of the English, the attacks of the great Pontiac) had realized something of the "pride, pomp, and circum- stances of glorious war." The morning guns of these forts had sounded the merry reveille upon the early breeze, waking the slumbering echoes of the forest, daily, for a century or more; the boom of their loud mid- day cannon across the broad prairies, and its reverberations from the cliffs beyond, had been heard for generations; and their evening bugle had wailed plaintively its long-drawn, melancholy notes along the shores of the "Father of Waters"-the mighty river of the West-for more than a hundred years before the adoption of "freedom's ordinance."

ORGANIZATION OF THE OHIO LAND COMPANY.

While Congress had under consideration the measure for the organi- zation of a territorial government northwest of the Ohio River, the pre- liminary steps were taken in Massachusetts towards the formation of the Ohio Land Company, for the purpose of making a purchase of a large tract of land in said territory, and settling upon it. Upon the passage of the ordinance by Congress, the aforesaid land company perfected its organization, and by its agents, Rev. Manasseh Cutler and Major Win- throp Sargent, made application to the Board of Treasury July 27, 1787, to become purchasers, said Board having been authorized four days before to make sales. The purchase, which was perfected October 27,

1787, embraced a tract of land containing about a million and a half of acres, situated within the present counties of Washington, Athens, Meigs, and Gallia, subject to the reservation of two townships of land six miles square, for the endowment of a college, since known as the Ohio University, at Athens; also every sixteenth section, set apart for the use of schools, as well as every twenty-ninth section, dedicated to the support of religious institutions; also sections eight, eleven, and twenty-six, which were reserved for the United States, for future sale. After these deductions were made, and that for donation lands, there remained only nine hundred and sixty-four thousand two hundred and eighty-five acres to be paid for by the Ohio Land Company, and for which patents were issued.

At a meeting of the directors of the company, held November 23, 1787, General Rufus Putnam was chosen superintendent of the company, and he accepted the position. Early in December six boat-builders and a number of other mechanics were sent forward to Simrall's Ferry (now West Newton), on the Youghiogheny River, under the command of Major Haffield White, where they arrived in January, and at once proceeded to build a boat for the use of the company. Colonel Ebenezer Sproat, of Rhode Island, Anselm Tupper and John Matthews, of Massachusetts, and Colonel Return J. Meigs, of Connecticut, were appointed surveyors. Preliminary steps were also taken at this meeting to secure a teacher and chaplain, which resulted in the appointment of Rev. Daniel Story, who some time during the next year arrived at the mouth of the Muskingum, in the capacity of the first missionary and teacher from New England.

Early in the winter the remainder of the pioneers, with the surveyors, left their New England homes and started on their toilsome journey to the western wilderness. They passed on over the Alleghanies, and reached the Youghiogheny about the middle of February, where they rejoined their companions who had preceded them.

The boat, called the " Mayflower," that was to transport the pioneers to their destination, was forty-five feet long, twelve feet wide, and of fifty tons burden, and was placed under the command of Captain Devol. " Her bows were raking, or curved like a galley, and strongly timbered; her sides were made bullet proof, and she was covered with a deck roof," so as to afford better protection against the hostile savages while floating down towards their western home, and during its occupancy there, before the completion of their cabins. All things being ready, they embarked at Simrall's Ferry, April 2, 1788, and passed down the Youghiogheny into the Monongahela, and thence into the Ohio, and down said river to the mouth of the Muskingum, where they arrived April 7, and then and there made the first permanent settlement of civilized men within the present limits of Ohio. These bold adventurers were reinforced by an- other company from Massachusetts, who, after a nine weeks' journey, arrived early in July, 1788.

Many of these Yankee colonists had been officers and soldiers in the Revolutionary army, and were, for the most part, men of intelligence and character, and of sound judgment and ability. In short, they were just the kind of men to found a State in the wilderness. They possessed great energy of character, were enterprising, fond of adventure and dar- ing, and were not to be intimidated by the formidable forests nor by the ferocious beasts sheltered therein, nor by the still more to be dreaded savages, who stealthily and with murderous intent roamed through- out their length and breadth. Their army experience had taught them what hardships and privations were, and they were quite willing to encounter them. A better set of men could not have been selected for pioneer settlers than were these New England colonists-those brave- hearted, courageous hero-emigrants to the great Northwest, who, having triumphantly passed the fiery ordeal of the Revolution, volunteered to found a State and to establish American laws, American institutions, and American civilization in this the wilderness of the uncivilized West. If any State in our American Union ever had a better start in its incip- ient settlement than Ohio, we are not aware of it. General Washington, writing of these bold pioneers, said that "no colony in America was ever settled under such favorable auspices as that which has just commenced at the Muskingum. Information, property, and strength will be its characteristics. I know many of the settlers personally, and there never were men better calculated to promote the welfare of such a community." Having had a personal army acquaintance with Generals Putnam and

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HISTORY OF SHELBY COUNTY, OHIO.

Parsons, and with Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs, and probably with many other leading members of this pioneer colony, his favorable opinion of them is entitled to great weight. .

THE FIRST SETTLEMENT UNDER THE ORDINANCE OF 1787.

Of course no time was lost by the colonists in erecting their habitations, as well as in building a stockade fort, and in clearing land for the produc- tion of vegetables and grain for their subsistence, fifty acres of corn liav- ing been planted the first year. Their settlement was established upon the point of land between the Ohio and Muskingum rivers, just oppo- site and across the Muskingum from Fort Harmar, built in 1786, and at this time garrisoned by a small military force under command of Major Doughty. At a meeting held on the banks of the Muskingum, July 2, 1788, it was voted that Marietta should be the name of their town, it being thus named in honor of Maria Antoinette, Queen of France.

SURVEYS AND GRANTS OF THE PUBLIC LANDS.

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

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

The next survey was the "Symmes purchase" and contiguous lands, situated to the north and west of it, and was made soon after the fore- going. The "Symmes purchase" embraced the entire Ohio River front between the Big Miami and Little Miami rivers, a distance of twenty- seven miles, and reaching northwards a sufficient distance to include an area of one million of acres. The contract with Judge Symmes, made in October, 1787, was subsequently modified by act of Congress bearing date of May 5, 1792, and by an authorized act of the President of the United States of September 30, 1794, so as to amount to only 311,682 acres, exclusive of a reservation of fifteen acres around Fort Washing- ton, of a square mile at the mouth of the Great Miami, of sections 16 and 29 in each township, the former of which Congress had reserved for educational and the latter for religious purposes, exclusive also of a township dedicated to the interests of a college; and sections 8, 11, and 26 which Congress reserved for future sale.

The tract of land situated between the Little Miami and Scioto rivers, known as the Virginia military lands, was never regularly surveyed into townships, but patents were issued by the President of the United States to such persons (Virginians) as had rendered service on the continental establishment in the army of the United States (hence the name), and in the quantities to which they were entitled, according to the provisions of an act of Congress of August 10, 1790. " It embraces a body of 6570 square miles, or 4,204,800 acres of land. The following counties are situ- ated in this tract, namely: Adams, Brown, Clermont, Clinton, Fayette, Highland, Madison, and Union entirely; and greater or less portions of the following, to wit: Marion, Delaware, Franklin, Pickaway, Ross, Pike, Scioto, Warren, Greene, Clarke, Champaign, Logan, and Hardin."

Connecticut ceded all lands in the Northwest to which she claimed title to the United States (except the tract which has been known as the "Western Reserve"), by deed of cession bearing date of September 14, 1786; and in May, 1800, by act of the Legislature of said State, re-

nounced all jurisdictional claim to the "territory called the Western Reserve of Connecticut." That tract of land was surveyed in 1796, and later into townships of five miles square, and in the aggregate contained about 3,800,000 acres, being one hundred and twenty miles long, and lying west of the Pennsylvania State line, all situated between forty-one degrees of north latitude and forty-two degrees and two minutes. Half a million of acres of the foregoing lands were set apart by the State of Connecticut in 1792 as a donation to the sufferers by fire (during the Revolutionary War) of the residents of Greenwich, New London, Nor- walk, Fairfield, Danbury, New Haven, and other Connecticut villages whose property was burned by the British; hence the name "Firelands" by which this tract taken from the western portion of the Reserve has been known. It is situated chiefly in Huron and Erie counties, a small portion only being in Ottawa County. The entire Western Reserve embraces the present counties of Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Erie, Geauga, Huron, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage, and Trumbull; also the greater portion of Mahoning and Summit, and very limited portions of Ashland and Ottawa.

French grant is a tract of 24,000 acres of land bordering on the Ohio River, within the present limits of Scioto County, granted by Congress in March, 1795, to certain French settlers of Gallipolis, who, through invalid titles, had lost their lands there. Twelve hundred acres were added to this grant in 1796, making a total of 25,200 acres.

The United States military lands were surveyed under the provisions of an act of Congress of June 1, 1796, and contained 2,560,000 acres. This tract was set apart to satisfy certain claims of the officers and sol- diers of the Revolutionary War, hence the title by which it is known. It is bounded by the seven ranges on the east, by the Greenville Treaty line on the north, by the Congress and refugee lands on the south, and by the Scioto River on the west, including the county of Coshocton entire, and portions of the counties of Tuscarawas, Guernsey, Muskin- gum, Licking, Franklin, Delaware, Marion, Morrow, Knox, and Holmes.

The Moravian lands are three several tracts of 4000 acres each, situ- ated, respectively, at Shoenbrun, Gnadenhutten, and Salem, all on the Tuscarawas River, now in Tuscarawas County. These lands were ori- ginally dedicated by an ordinance of Congress dated September 3, 1788, to the use of the Christianized Indians at those points, and by act of Congress of June 1, 1796, were surveyed and patents issued to the Society of the United Brethren, for the purposes above specified.

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

Dohrman's grant is a township of land six miles square, containing 23,040 acres, situated in the southeastern part of Tuscarawas County. It was given to Arnold Henry Dohrman, a Portuguese merchant of Lisbon, by act of Congress of February 27, 1801, "in consideration of his having, during the Revolutionary War, given shelter and aid to the American cruisers and vessels of war."

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

TREATIES MADE WITH THE INDIANS.

By the terms of the treaty of Fort Stanwix, concluded with the Iro- quois or Six Nations (Mohawks, Onondagas, Senecas, Cayugas, Tusca- roras, and Oneidas), October 22, 1784, the indefinite claim of said con- federacy to the greater part of the valley of the Ohio was extinguished. The commissioners of Congress were Oliver Wolcott, Richard Butler, and Arthur Lee. Cornplanter and Red Jacket represented the Indians.

This was followed in January, 1785, by the treaty of Fort Mc Intosh, by which the Delawares, Wyandots, Ottawas, and Chippewas relinquished

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HISTORY OF SHELBY COUNTY, OHIO.

all claim to the Ohio Valley, and established the boundary line between them and the United States to be the Cuyahoga River, and along the main branch of the Tuscarawas to the forks of said river near Fort Laurens, thence westwardly to the portage between the headwaters of the Great Miami and the Maumee or Miami of the Lakes, thence down said river to Lake Erie, and along said lake to the mouth of the Cuya- hoga River. This treaty was negotiated by George Rogers Clark, Rich- ard Butler, and Arthur Lee for the United States, and by the chiefs of the aforenamed tribes.

A similar relinquishment was effected by the treaty of Fort Finney (at the mouth of the Great Miami), concluded with the Shawnees Janu- ary 31, 1786, the United States commissioners being the same as the foregoing, except the substitution of Samuel H. Parsons for Arthur Lee.

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History of Shelby County, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 25

Author: R. Sutton & Co. Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Number of Pages: 427

Author: R. Sutton & Co.
Publication date: 1883
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 427