History of Summit County, with an outline sketch of Ohio, Part 29

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1104

USA > Ohio > Summit County > History of Summit County, with an outline sketch of Ohio > Part 29

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Turnpike Lands are forty-nine sections, amount- ing to 31,360 acres, situated along the western side of the Columbus and Sandusky turnpike, in the eastern parts of Seneca, Crawford and Marion Counties. They were originally granted by an act of Congress on March 3, 1827, and more specifi- cally by a supplementary aet the year following. The considerations for which these lands were granted were that the mail stages and all troops and property of the United States, which should ever be moved and transported along this road should pass free from toll.

The Ohio Canal Lands are granted by Congress to the State of Ohio, to aid in constructing her extensive canals. These lands comprise over one million of acres.

School Lan Is-By compact between the United States and the State of Ohio, when the latter was admitted into the Union, it was stipulated, for and in consideration that the State of Ohio should never tax the Congress lands until after they should have been sold five years, and in consideration tl at the public lands would thereby more readily sell, that the one-thirty-sixth part of all the territory in- cluded within the limits of the State should be set apart for the support of common schools there- in. And for the purpose of getting at lands which should, in point of quality of soil, be on an average with the whole land in the country, they deereed that it should be selected by lots, in small tracts each, to wit: That it should consist of Section No. 16, let that section be good or bad, in every township of Congress land, also in the Ohio Company's and in Symmes' Pur- chases, all of which town-hips are composed of thirty-six sections each ; and for the United States military lands and Connecticut Reserve, a num- ber of quarter-townships, two and a half miles square each (being the smallest public surveys therein, then made), should be selected by the Secretary of the Treasury in different townships throughout the United States military tract, equivalent in quantity to the one-thirty-sixth part of those two traets respectively ; and, for the Virginia military traet, Congress enacted that a quantity of land equal to the one- thirty-sixth part of the estimated quantity of land contained therein, should be selected by lot, in what was then called the "New Pur- chase," in quarter - township traets of three miles square each. Most of these selections were accordingly made, but in some instances, by the carelessness of the officers conducting the sales, or from some other cause, a few Sections 16 have been sold, in which case Congress, when applied to, has generally granted other lands in lieu thereof, as, for instance, no Section 16 was re- served in Montgomery Township, in which Co- lumbus is situated, and Congress afterward granted therefor Section 21, in township corner- ing thereon to the southwest.

College Townships are three six-mile-square townships, granted by Congress ; two of them to the Ohio Company, for the use of a coll ge to be established within their purchase, and one for the use of the inhabitants of Symmes' Purchase.

Ministerial Lands-In both the Ohio Company and the Symmes' Purchase every Section 29 (equal to every one-thirty-sixth part of every township)

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is reserved as a permanent fund for the support of a settled minister. As the purchasers of these two tracts came from parts of the Union where it was customary and deemed necessary to have a regu- lar settled clergyman in every town, they therefore stipulated in this original purchase that a perma- nent fund in lands should thus be set apart for this purchase. In no other part of the State, other than these two purchases, are any lands set apart for this object.

The Connecticut Western Reserve and the Fire Lands are surveyed into townships of about five miles square each ; and these townships are then subdivided into four quarters ; and these quarter-townships are 3 2 numbered as in the accompanying figure, the top being considered north. And for individual conven- 4 1 ience, these are again subdivided, by private surveys, into lots of from fifty to five hundred acres each, to suit individual purchasers.

In its history, the Western Reserve is far more important than any other of the early arbitrary divisions of the State. It was peopled by a dom- inant class that brought to this wilderness social forms and habits of thought that had been fostered in the Puritan persecutions of England, and crys- tallized by nearly half a century of pioneer life in Connecticut, into a civilization that has not yet lost its distinctive characteristics. Dating their history back to the early part of the seventeenth century, the true descendant of the Puritan points with pride to the permaneney of their traditions, to the progressive character of their institutions, and marks their influence in the commanding power of the schoolhouse and church.

The earliest measure which may be said to have affected the history of the Reserve, originated in 1609. In this year, James I, granted to a com- pany called the London Company, a charter, under which the entire claim of Virginia to the soil northwest of the Ohio was asserted. It was elothed with corporate powers, with most of its members living in London. The tract of country embraced within this charter was immense. It commenced its boundaries at Point Comfort, on the Atlantic, and ran south 200 miles, and thence west across the continent to the Pacific; com- mencing again at Point Comfort, and running 200 miles north, and from this point northwest to the sea. This line ran through New York and Pennsylvania, crossing the eastern end of Lake Erie, and terminated in the Arctic Ocean. The

vast empire lying between the south line, the east line, the diagonal line to the northwest, and the Pacific Ocean, was elaimed by virtue of this char- ter. It included over half of the North American Continent. Notwithstanding the charter of the London Company included all the territory now embraced within the boundaries of Ohio, James I, on the 3d of November, 1620, by royal letters patent, granted to the Duke of Lenox and others, to be known as the Council of Plymouth, all the territory lying between the fortieth and forty- eighth degrees of north latitude, and bounded on the east by the Atlantic, and on the west by the Pacific. This description embraced a large tract of the lands granted to the Virginia or London Company. In 1630, a portion of the same ter- ritory was granted to the Earl of Warwick, and afterward confirmed to him by Charles I. In 1631, the Council of Plymouth, acting by the Earl of Warwick, granted to Lord Brook and Vis- counts Say and Seal, what were supposed to be the same lands, although by a very imperfect de- scription. In 1662, Charles II granted a charter to nineteen patentees, with such associates as they should from time to time elect. This asso- ciation was made a body corporate and politic, by the name of the Governor and Company of the English Colony of Connecticut. This charter constituted the orzanie law of the State for up- ward of one hundred and fifty years. The bound- aries were Massachusetts on the north, the sea on the south, Narragansett River or Bay on the east, and the South Sea (Pacific Ocean) on the west This description embraced a strip of land upward of six miles wide, stretching from the Atlantic to the Pacific, including a part of New York and New Jersey, and all the territory now known as the Western Reserve.

In 1681, for the consideration of £16,000 and a fealty of two beaver skins a year, Charles II granted to William Penn a charter embracing within its limits the territory constituting the present State of Pennsylvania. This grant in- cluded a strip of territory running across the en- tire length of the State on the north, and upward of fifty miles wide, that was embraced within the Connecticut charter. Massachusetts, under the Plymouth Charter, claimed all the land between the forty-first and forty-fifth degrees, of north lati- tude. In 1664, Charles II eeded to his brother, the Duke of York, afterward James II, by letters patent, all the country-between the St. Croix and the Delaware. After the overthrow of the gov-

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ernment of "New Netherlands," then existing upon that territory, it was claimed that the grant of the Duke of York extended west into the Mis- sissippi Valley.

Thus matters stood at the commencement of the Revolution. Virginia claimed all the territory northwest of the Ohio. Connecticut strenuously urged her titles to all lands lying between the par- allels 41° and 42º 2' of north latitude, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Pennsylvania, under the charter of 1681, had taken possession of the disputed land lying in that State, and had granted much of it to actual settlers. New York and Massachusetts were equally emphatic in the asser- tion of ownership to land between those lines of lat- itude. The contention between claimants under the Connecticut and Pennsylvania charters, on the Susquehanna, frequently resulted in bloodshed. The controversy between those two States was finally submitted to a Court of Commissioners, ap- pointed by Congress, upon the petition of Pennsyl- vania, under the ninth article of the confederation, which gave Congress power to establish a Court of Commissioners, to settle disputed boundaries be- tween States, in case of disagreement. The court decided in favor of Pennsylvania, and this decision terminated the controversy. The question of the title to lands lying west of Pennsylvania, was not involved in this adjudication, but remained a sub- ject for future contention. A party sprung up during the war that disputed the title of the States asserting it, to lands outside of State limits, and which insisted upon the right of the States by whose common treasure, dominion was to be secured, to participate in the benefits and results arising from the joint and common effort for inde- pendence. This party was particularly strong in the smaller States. Those colonies that had not been the favored recipients of extensive land grants, were little inclined to acquiesce in claims, the justice of which they denied, and which could be secured to the claimants, only by the success of the Revolution.

There is little doubt, that the conflict in the early charters, respecting boundaries, grew out of the ignorance of the times in which they were granted, as to the breadth or inland extent of the American Continent. During the reign of James I, Sir Francis Drake reported, that, from the top of the mountains on the Isthmus of Pan- ama, he had seen both oceans. This led to the supposition that the continent, from east to west, was of no considerable extent, and that the South

Sea, by which the grants were limited on the west, did not lie very far from the Atlantic ; and as late as 1740, the Duke of Newcastle addressed his letters to the " Island of New England." Hence it was urged as an argument against the claims of those States asserting title to Western lands, that the term, in the grants, of South Sea, being, by inntual mistake of the parties to the charter, an erroneous one-the error resulting from misinfor- mation or want of certainty concerning the local- ity of that sea-the claiming State ought not to insist upon an ownership resting upon sueh a foot- ing, and having its origin in such a circumstance. Popular feeling on the subject ran so high, at times, as to cause apprehension for the safety of the confed- eration. In 1780, Congress urged upon the States having claims to the Western country, the duty to make a surrender of a part thereof to the United States.

The debt incurred in the Revolutionary contest, the limited resources for its extinguishment, if the public domain was unavailable for the purpose, the existence of the unhappy controversy growing out of the asserted claims, and an earnest desire to ac- commodate and pacify conflicting interests among the States, led Congress, in 1784, to an impressive appeal to the States interested, to remove all cause for further discontent, by a liberal cession of their domains to the General Government, for the com- mon benefit of all the States. The happy termi- n.tion of the war found the public mind in a con- dition to be easily impressed by appeals to its pat- riotism and liberality. New York had, in 1780, ceded to the United States, the lands that she claimed, lying west of a line running south from the west bend of Lake Ontario ; and, in 1785, Mas- sachusetts relinquished her claim to the same lands -each State reserving the same 19,000 square miles of ground, and each asserting an independent title to it. This controversy between the two States was settled by an equal division between them, of the disputed ground. Virginia had given to her soldiers of the Revolutionary war, and of the war between France and England, a pledge of bounties payable in Western lands ; and, reserving a sufficien amount of land to enable her to meet the pledge thus given, on the 1st of March, 1784, she relinquished to the United States, her title to all other lands lying northwest of the Ohio. On the 14th day of September, 1786, the delegates in Congress, from the State of Connecticut, being au- thorized and directed so to do, relinquished to the United States, all the right, title, interest, jurisdic-

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tion and claim that she possessed to the lands ly- ing west of a line running north from the 41º north latitude, to 42º 2', and being 120 miles west of the western line of Pennsylvania. The territory lying west of Pennsylvania, for the distance of 120 miles, and between the above-named degrees of lat- itnde, although not in terms reserved by the in- strument of conveyance, was in fact reserved-not having been conveyed-and by reason thereof, was called the Western Reserve of Connecticut. It embraces the counties of Ashtabula, Trumbull, Portage, Geauga, Lake, Cuyahoga, Medina, Lorain, Huron, Erie, all of Summit, save the townships of Franklin and Greene; the two northern tiers of townships of Mahoning; the townships of Sulli- van, Troy and Ruggles, of Ashland; and the islands lying north of Sandusky, including Kelley's and Put-in-Bay.

During the Revolution, the British, aided by Benedict Arnold, made incursions in the heart of Connecticut, and destroyed a large amount of property in the towns of Greenwich, Norwalk, Fairfield, Danbury, New and East Haven, New London, Richfield and Groton. There were up- ward of 2,000 persons and families that sustained severe losses by the depredations of the enemy. On the 10th of May, 1792, the Legislature of that State set apart and donated to the suffering inhabitants of these towns, 500,000 acres of the west part of the lands of the Reserve, to compen- sate them for the losses sustained. These lands were to be bounded on the north by the shore of Lake Erie, south by the base line of the Reserve, west by its western line, and east by a line par- allel with the western line of Pennsylvania, and so far from the west line of the Reserve as to in- elude within the described limits the 500,000 acres. These are the lands now embraced within the counties of Huron and Erie, and the Township of Ruggles, in Ashland County. The islands were not included. The lands so given were called "Sufferers' Lands," and those to whom they were given were, in 1796, by the Legislature of Con- necticut, incorporated by the name of the " Pro- prietors of the half-million acres of land lying south of Lake Erie." After Ohio had become an independent State, this foreign corporation was not found to work well here, not being subject to her laws, and, to relieve the owners of all embar- rassment, on the 15th of April, 1803, the Legisla- ture of this State conferred corporate power on the owners and proprietors of the " Half-million aeres of land lying south of Lake Erie," in the

county of Trumbull, called "Sufferers' Land." An account of the losses of the inhabitants had been taken in pounds, shillings and pence, and a priee placed upon the lands, and each of the suf- ferers received land proportioned to the extent of his loss. These lands subsequently took the name of " Fire Lands," from the circumstance that the greater part of the losses suffered resulted from fire.

In 1795, the remaining portion of the Reserve was sold to Oliver Phelps and thirty-five others, wh , formed what became known as the " Connect- icut Land Company." Some uneasiness concern- ing the validity of the title arose from the fact that, whatever interest Virginia, Massachusetts or New York may have had in the lands reserved, and claimed by Connecticut, had been transferred to the United States, and, if neither of the claim- ing States had title, the dominion and ownership passed to the United States by the treaty made with England at the close of the Revolution. This condition of things was not the only source of difficulty and trouble. The Reserve was so far from Connecticut as to make it impracticable for that State to extend her laws over the same, or ordain new ones for the government of the inhabit- ants; and, having parted with all interest in the soil, her right to provide laws for the people was not only doubted, but denied. Congress had provided by the ordinance of 1787 for the gov- ernment of the territory northwest of the Ohio ; but to admit jurisdiction in the United States to govern this part of that territory, would east grave doubt upon the validity of the company's title. It was therefore insisted that the regulations pre- scribed by that instrument for the government of the Northwest Territory had no operation or effect within the limits of the Reserve. To quiet apprehension, and to remove all cause of anxiety on the subject, Congress, on April 28, 1800, authorized the President to execute and deliver, on the part of the United States, letters patent to the Governor of Connecticut, whereby the United States released, for the uses named, all ight and title to the soil of the Reserve, and confirmed it unto those who had purchased it from that State. The execution and delivery, however, of the letters patent were upon the condition that Connecticut should forever renounce and release to the United States entire and complete civil jurisdiction over the territory released. This condition was accepted, and thereupon Connecticut transferred her jurisdiction to the United States, and the

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United States released her claim and title to the soil

While this controversy was going on, there was another contestant in the field, having the advan- tage of actual occupaney, and in no wise inclined to recognize a title adverse to his, nor yield, upon mere invitation, a possession so long enjoyed. This contestant was the Indian. By the treaty at Greenville in 1795, preceding treaties were con- firmed, and the different tribes released their elaims to all territory east of the line of the Cuya- hoga River and south of the Indian boundary line. This left the larger part of the territory of the Western Reserve still in the hands of the savage. On July 4, 1805, a treaty was made at Fort Industry with the chief's and warriors of the different nations settled in the northern and western sections of the State, by which the Indian title to all the lands of the Reserve, lying west of the Cuyahoga, was extinguished. By this treaty all the lands lying between the Cuyahoga and the Meridian, one hundred and twenty miles west of Pennsylvania, were ceded by the Indians for $20,000 in goods, and a perpetual annuity of $9,500, payable in goods at first cost. The latter clause has become a dead letter, because there is no one to claim it. Since this treaty, the title to the land of the Re- serve has been set at rest.

The price for which this vast tract of land was sold to the Connecticut Land Company was $1,200,000, the subscriptions to the purchase fund ranging from $1,683, by Sylvanus Griswold, to $168,185, by Oliver Phelps. Each dollar sub- scribed to this fund entitled the subscriber to one twelve hundred thousandth part in common and undivided of the land purchased. Having ae- quired the title, the Company, in the following spring, commenced to survey the territory lying east of the Cuyahoga, and during the years of 1796 and 1797, completed it. The first surveying party arrived at Conneaut, in New Connecticut, July 4, 1796, and proceeded at once to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of American Independ- ence. There were fifty porsons in the party, under the lead of Gen. Moses Cleveland, of ('an- terbury, Conn. There will be found in Whittle- sey's Early History of Cleveland an extract from the journal of Cleveland, describing the partieu- lars of the celebration. Among other things noted by him was the following: "The day, memora ble as the birthday of American Independence and freedom from British tyrrany, and commemo-

rated by all good, freeborn sons of America, and memorable as the day on which the settlement of this new country was commenced, and (which) in time may raise her head among the most enlight- ened and improved States " - a prophecy already more than fulfilled.

For the purposes of the survey, a point wher ; the 41st degree of north latitude intersected the western line of Pennsylvania, was found, and from this degree of latitude, as a base line, meridian lines, five miles apart, were run north to the lake. Lines of latitude were then run, five miles apart, thus dividing the territory into townships five miles square. It was not until after the treaty of 1805 that the lands lying west of the Cuyahoga were surveyed. The meridians and parallels were run out in 1806, by Abraham Tappan and his assistants. The base and western lines of the Re- serve were run by Seth Pease, for the Govern- ment. The range of townships were numbered progressively west, from the western boundary of Pennsylvania. The first tier of townships, run- ning north and south, lying along the border of Pennsylvania, is Range No. 1; the adjoining tier west is range No. 2, and so on throughout the twenty-four ranges. The township lying next north of the 41st parallel of latitude in each range, is Township No. 1 of that range. The township next north is No. 2, and so on progressively to the lake. It was supposed that there were 4,- 000,000 acres of land between Pennsylvania and the Fire Lands. If the supposition had proved true, the land would have cost 30 cents per acre; as it resulted, there were less than 3,000,- 000 acres. The miscalculation arose from the mistaken assumption that the south shore of Lake Erie bore more nearly west than it does, and also in a mistake made in the length of the east-and- west line. The distance west from the Pennsyl- vania line, surveyed in 1796-97, was only fifty-six miles, the survey ending at the Tuscarawas River. To reach the western limits of the Reserve a dis tanee of sixty-four miles was to be made. Abra- ham Tappan and Anson Sessions entered into an agreement with the Land Company, in 1805, to complete the survey of the lands between the Fire Lands and the Cuyahoga. This they did in 1806, and, from the width of Range 19, it is very evident that the distance from the east to the west line of the Reserve is less than one hundred and twenty miles. This range of townships is gore-shaped, and is much less than five miles wide, circum- stances leading the company to divide all below

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HISTORY OF OHIO.

Township 6 into traets for the purpose of equaliza- tion. The west line of Range 19, from north to south, as originally run, bears to the west, and between it and Range 20, as indicated on the map, there is a strip of land, also gore-shaped, that was left in the first instance unsurveyed, the surveyors not knowing the exact whereabouts of the eastern line of the " half-million acres" belonging to the suf- ferers. In 1806, Amos Spafford, of Cleveland, and Almon Ruggles, of Huron, were agreed on by the two companies to ascertain and locate the line be- tween the Fire Lands and the lands of the Connecti- cut Company. They first surveyed off the " half- million acres " belonging to the " sufferers," and, not agreeing with Seth Pease, who had run out the base and west lines, a dispute arose between the two companies, which was finally adjusted be- fore the draft, by establishing the eastern line of the Fire Lands where it now is. This left a strip of land east of the Fire Lands, called surplus lands, which was included in range 19, and is embraced in the western tier of townships of Lorain County.

The mode of dividing the land among the indi- vidual purchasers, was a little peculiar, though evidently just. An equalizing committee accom- panied the surveyors, to make such observations and take such notes of the character of the town- ships as would enable them to grade them intelli- gently, and make a just estimate and equalization of their value. The amount of purchase-money was divided into 400 shares of $3,000 a share. Certifi- cates were issued to each owner, showing him to be entitled to such proportion of the entire land, as the amount he paid, bore to the purchase price of the whole. Four townships of the greatest value were first selected from that part of the Western Reserve, to which the Indian title had been extinguished, and were divided into lots. Each township was di- vided into not less than 100 lots. The number of lots into which the four townships were divided, would, at least, equal the 400 shares, or a lot to a share, and each person or company of persons en- titled to one or more shares of the Reserve-each share being one four-hundredth part of the Re- serve-was allowed to participate in the draft that was determined upon for the division of the joint property. The committee appointed to select the four most valuable townships for such division, was directed to select of the remaining townships, a sufficient number, and of the best quality and greatest value, to be used for equalizing purposes. After this selection was made, they were to choose the best remaining township, and this township was

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History of Summit County, with an outline sketch of Ohio, Part 29

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848- Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey Number of Pages: 1104

Author: Perrin, William Henry, d. 1892?; Graham, A. A. (Albert Adams), 1848-
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago, Baskin & Battey
Number of Pages: 1104