History of Van Wert and Mercer counties, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 26

Author: Sutton, R., & Co., Wapakoneta, Ohio, pub
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Wapakoneta, Ohio : R. Sutton
Number of Pages: 878

USA > Ohio > Mercer County > History of Van Wert and Mercer counties, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 26
USA > Ohio > Van Wert County > History of Van Wert and Mercer counties, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 26

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

ORGANIZATION OF THE OHIO LAND COMPANY.

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While Congress had under consideration the measure for the organi- zation of a territorial government northwest of the Ohio River, the pre- luminary steps were taken in Massachusetts towards the formation of the Ohio Land Company, for the purpose of making a purchase of a large traet of land in said territory, and settling upon it. Upon the passage of the ordinance by Congress, the aforesaid lund 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 Youghioghieny 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 brea Ith. 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 hold 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 General+ Putnam and

HISTORY OF VAN WERT AND MERCER COUNTIES, 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 hav- 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 4,204,500 neres 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 traet which has been known as the "Western Reserve"), by deed of cession hearing date of September 14, 1786; and in May, 1500, 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 village, whose property was burned by the British; hence the name "Firelands" by which this tract taken from the western portion of the Reserve ha- 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 Mahouing and Summit, and very limited portions of Ashland and Ottawa.

French grant is a tract of 24,000 acres of land bordering on the Oltio 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 aeres 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, ant 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 Holme ..

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 Tusearawas County. These lands were ori. ginally dedicated by an ordinance of Congress dated September 3, 175 .. 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, grantedl by Congress February 18, 1901, to persons who tled 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 thes property by confiscation. This tract is four and one-half miles wide. and extends forty-eight miles eastward from the Seioto River at Column- 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 Tusearawas County. It was given to Aruold Henry Dohrman, a Portuguese merchant ol 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 eu stitutes the State of Ohio. There were canal land grants, Maumee rond grants, and various others, but they belong to our State, and not to ou. Territorial history.

TREATIES MADE WITH THE INDIANS.

By the terms of the treaty of Fort Stamweir, concluded with the Ii quois or Six Nations (Mohawks, Onondagas, Senecas, Cayugas, Tu- ; roras, and Oncidas), October 22, 1784, the indefinite claim of said e. a. federacy to the greater part of the valley of the Ohio was extinguish The commissioners of Congress were Oliver Wolcott, Richard Bu: and Arthur Lee. Coruplanter aud Red Jacket represented the Tudta

This was followed in January, 1785, by the treaty of Fort M. Intech. ! which the Delawares, Wyandots, Ottawas, and Chippewas relinquish .

HISTORY OF VAN WERT AND MERCER COUNTIES, 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 Tusearawas 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.

The treaty of Fort Harmar, held by Gen. St. Clair, January 9, 1789, was mainly confirmatory of the treaties previously made. So also was the treaty of Greenville, of August 3, 1795, made by Gen. Wayne on the part of the United States, and the chiefs of eleven of the most pow- erful tribes of the Northwestern Indians, which re-established the Indian boundary line through the present State of Ohio, and extended it from Loramie to Fort Recovery, and thence to the Ohio River, opposite the mouth of the Kentucky River.

The rights and titles acquired by the Indian tribes under the forego- ing treaties were extinguished by the General Government, by purchase, in pursuance of treaties subsequently made. The Western Reserve tract west of the Cuyahoga River was secured by a treaty former at Fort In- dustry in 1805. The lands west of Richland and Huron Counties and north of the boundary line to the western limits of Ohio were purchased by the United States in 1818. The last possession of the Delawares was purchased in 1829; and by a treaty made at Upper Sandusky, March 17, 1842, by Colonel John Johnston and the Wyandot chiefs, that last reniant of the Indian tribes in Ohio sold the last acre they owned within the limits of our State to the General Government, and retired the next year, to the Far West, settling at and near the mouth of Kansas River.

FIRST OFFICERS OF THE TERRITORY.

Congress, in October, 1787, appointed Gen. Arthur St. Clair Governor, Major Winthrop Sargent Secretary, and James M. Varnum, Samuel H. Parsons, and John Armstrong Judges of the Territory, the latter of whom, however, having declined the appointment, Jolin Cleves Symmes was appointed in his stead in February, 1758. On the 9th of July, 1788, Governor St. Clair arrived at Marietta, and finding the Secretary and a majority of the Judges present, proceeded to organize the Territory. The Governor and Judges (or a majority of them) were the sole legis- lative power during the existence of the first grade of Territorial govern- ment. Such laws as were in force in any of the States, and were deemed. applicable to the condition of the people of the Territory, could be adopted by the Governor and Judges, and, after publication, became . operative, unless disapproved of by Congress, to which body certified copies of all laws thus adopted had to be forwarded by the Secretary of the Territory.

The further duty of the Judges, who were appointed to serve during good behavior, was to hold court four times a year, whenever the busi- ness of the Territory required it, but not more than once a year in any one county.

THE SECOND GRADE OF TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT.

After it should be ascertained that five thousand free male inhabitants actually resided within the Territory, the second grade of Territorial government could, of right, be established, which provided for a Legis- lative Council, and also an elective House of Representatives, the two composing the law-making power of the Territory, provided always that the Governor's assent to their nets was had. He possessed the absolute veto power, and no act of the two houses of the Legislature, even if passed by a unanimous vote in each branch, could become a law with- out his consent. The conditions that authorized the second grade of Territorial government, however, did not exist until 1798, and it was

not really put into operation until September, 1799, after the first grade of government had existed for eleven years.

EARLY LAWS OF THE TERRITORY.

The first law was proclaimed July 25, 1788, and was entitled "An act for regulating and establishing the militia." Two days thereafter the Governor issued a proclamation establishing the county of Washington, which included all of the territory east of the Scioto River to which the Indian title had been extinguished, reaching northward to Lake Erie, the Ohio River and the Pennsylvania line being its eastern boundary ; Marietta, the seat of the Territorial government, also becoming the county seat of Washington County.

Quite a number of laws were necessarily adopted and published during 1788 and the following year. From 1790 to 1795 they published sixty- four, thirty-four of them having been adopted at Cincinnati during the months of June, July, and August of the last named year, by the Gov. ernor and Judges Symmes and Turner. They are known as the " Max- well Code," from the name of the publisher, and were intended, says the author of " Western Annals," " to form a pretty complete body of statutory provisions." In 1798 eleven more were adopted. It was the published opinion of the late Chief Justice Chase, "that it may be doubted whether any colony, at so early a period after its first establish- ment, ever had so good a code of laws." Among them was that "which provided that the common law of England, and all statutes in aid thereof, made previous to the fourth year of James I., should be in full force within the Territory." Probably four-fifths of the laws adopted were selected from those in force in Pennsylvania ; the others were mainly taken from the statutes of Virginia and Massachusetts.

LOCAL, COURTS AND COURT OFFICERS.

Among the earliest laws adopted was one which provided for the insti- tution of a county court of common pleas, to be composed of not less than three nor more than five Judges, commissioned by the Governor, who were to hold two sessions in each year. Pursuant to its provisions. the first session of said court was held in and for Washington County, September 2, 1788 The Judges of the Court were Gen. Rufus Putnam, Gen. Benjamin Tupper, and Col. Archibald Crary. Col. Return Jonathan Meigs was Clerk, and Col. Ebenezer Sproat was Sheriff. Elaborate details of the opening of this, the first court held in the Northwest Territory. have come down to us, showing it to have been a stylish, dignified pro- ceeding. Briefly, " a procession was formed at the Point (the junction of the Muskingum with the Ohio River) of the inhabitants and the officers from Fort Harmar, who escorted the Judge of the court, the Governor of the Territory, and the Territorial Judges to the hall appro- priated for that purpose, in the northwest block-house in "Campus Mar- tins." " The procession," says Mitchener, " was headed by the Sheriff, with drawn sword and haton of office." "After prayer by Rev. Manas- seh Cutler, the court was organized by reading the commissions of the Judges, Clerk, and Sheriff; after which the Sheriff proclaimed that the court was open for the administration of even-handed justice to the poor and the rich, to the guilty and the innocent, without respect of persons: none to be punished without a trial by their peers, and then in pursuance of the laws and evidence in the case."

On the 23d day of August, 1788, a law was promulgated for establish- ing " general courts of quarter sessions of the peace." This court was composed of not less than three nor more than five Justices of the Peace, appointed by the Governor, who were to hold four sessions in each year. The first session of this court was held at " Campus Martius" September 9, 1788. The commission appointing the Judges thereof was read. Gen. Rufus Putnam and Gen. Benjamin Tupper, says Mitchener, constituted the Justices of the quorum, and Isaac Pearce, Thomas Lord, and Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr., the assistant Justices; Col. Return Jonathan Meigs. Sr., was Clerk Col. Ebenezer Sproat was Sheriff of Washington County fourteen years. The first grand jury of the Northwest Territory way impanelled by this court, and consisted of the following gentlemen : William Stacey (foreman), Nathaniel Cushing, Nathan Goodale, Charles Knowles, Anselm Tupper, Jonathan Stone, Oliver Rice, Ezra Lunt, John Matthews, George Ingersoll, Jonathan Devol, Jethro Putnam, Samuel Stebbins, and Jabez True.

HISTORY OF VAN WERT AND MERCER COUNTIES, OHIO.

ORGANIZATION OF COUNTIES.

Washington County, embracing the eastern half of the present State of Ohio, was the only organized county of the Northwest Territory until early in 1790, when the Governor proclaimed Hamilton County, which included all the territory between the Big and Little Miami Rivers, and extended north to the "Standing Stone Fork-" on the first named stream.

The following is a list of all the Territorial counties organized; also the date of organization, with their respective county seats :-

COUNTIES.

WHEN PROCLAIMED.

COUNTY SEATS.

1. Washington

July 27, 1788

Marietta.

2. Hamilton January 2, 1790

Cincinnati.

3. St. Clair

February, 1790 Tahokia.

4. Knox

In 1790 Vincennes.

5. Randolph

In 1795

Kaskaskia.

G. Wayne

August 15, 1795

Detroit.

7. Adams

July 10, 1797

Manchester.

8. Jefferson

July 29, 1797

Steubenville.

9. Ross

August 20, 1797

Chillicothe.

10. Trumbull

July 10, 1800

Warren.

11. Clermont

· December 6, 1800

Williamsburg.

12. Fairfield

New Lancaster.

13. Belmont

December 9, 1800 September 7, 1801 St. Clairsville.

It will be observed that Hamilton was the second county organized. There were situated within its limits, when organized, several flourishing villages, which had their origin during the closing months of 1788 and early in 1789. Columbia, situated at the mouth of the Little Miami, was the first of these laid out, its early settlers being Col. Benjamin Stites, of "Redstone Old Fort" (proprietor); William Goforth, John S. Gano, John Smith (a Baptist minister, who afterward became one of Ohio's first United States Senators), and others, numbering in all twenty-five persons or more, though some of them arrived a little later.

Cincinnati was the next in order of time, having been laid out early in 1789 by Colonel Robert Patterson, Matthias Denman, and Israel Lud- low. Several not very successful attempts had also been made at various points between Cincinnati and the mouth of the Great Miami by Judge Symmes.

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History of Van Wert and Mercer counties, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 26

Author: Sutton, R., & Co., Wapakoneta, Ohio, pub Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Wapakoneta, Ohio : R. Sutton Number of Pages: 878

Author: Sutton, R., & Co., Wapakoneta, Ohio, pub
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Wapakoneta, Ohio : R. Sutton
Number of Pages: 878