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 33
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 33
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All ages and classes ; all ranks and conditions, the remnant of a proud free people, not even demanding justice-for they knew they had no rights, . but rather supplieating that sympathy which they dared not expect- they went forth, fearing to look back, and the mock pageant of the commissioner was to the Indian a mere show, signifying nothing but his 'undone condition. Gardner accompanied them to the Mississippi River, and then returned. They pressed on across the prairie after traversing the wilderness, and reached their destination about Christmas. They were joined the next spring by the Hog Creek tribe, who were under the direction of Joseph Parks, and fared much better than the Wapako- neta band, as they had the advantage of season, and a leader of heart. The next season Harvey and two others visited them, and obtained per- mission to erect schools, and continue the work of the mission. This work progressed until 1839, when it was suspended, on account of sick- ness. Mr. HI. and family took charge the next year, and remained until 1842, when they returned home. When he was about to leave, the In- dians took a very affectionate leave of his family.
George Williams was appointed to extend the farewell of the whole tribe, and in doing so, he spoke as follows : " My brother and my sister, I am about to speak for all our young men and for all our women and children, and in their name bid you farewell. They could not all come. and it would be too much trouble for you to have them all here at once, so I have been sent with their message. I was directed to tell you that all their hearts are full of sorrow, because you are going to leave them -and return to your home. Ever since you have lived with us we can all see how the Quakers and our fathers lived together in peace.
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'" You have treated our children well, and your doors have always been open to us. When we were in distress, you relieved us; and when our people were hungry, you gave them food. For your kindness, we love you. Your children and our children lived together in peace, and at school learned together, and loved one another. We will always remem- ber you, and teach our children to never forget your children. And now, my brother and sister, I bid you farewell, and Caleb and his sisters, and the little boys and their sisters, farewell !" He then took Mr. Har- vey by the hand, saying " Farewell, my brother." and then taking the hand of Mrs. Harvey said, " Farewell, my good sister." He then bade the children an individual farewell, and went away in sadness. The next day ahout twenty chiefs spent the day with the Friends, and towards evening took leave of the family in a manner similar to that of the rep- resentative chief on the preceding day, and then left the house in the manner of leaving a grave, without looking back, or speaking a word. The mission was still sustained after Harvey's return, until it became supplemented by several district missions of different denominations. It may here be added that, in 1853, Congress appropriated $66,000 as
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additional compensation to the Wapakoneta and Hog Creek Shawnees, and their claims were thereby extinguished. Thus-
"'Mid the forests where they warred, There rings no hunter's shout ; But their name is on your waters -- Ye may not wash it out."
Our purpose is now accomplished, and we cast a lingering farewell look upon that people whose history we have reviewed. We thus traced the connection with this territory of the disinherited offspring of the Algonquin nation, which knew no superiors, and acknowledged no equals. Springing from the head of the Great Spirit, all other tribes and nation- alities were inferior, because they sprang from the inferior body. Endowed by superior wisdom, all other tribal or national wisdom was obtained through them, as the terrestrial fountain head. Brave, generous, and strong, they possessed a nomadic nature which makes their history almost coextensive with a continent. From the Atlantic to the Father of Water- they left their foot-prints, and from the great cold lakes to the broad warm gulf, the forests echoed their voices, and the streams reflected their images. Proud and arrogant in the knowledge of their strength, if that strength waned they substituted prudence for arrogance, but never com- promised their superiority nor sacrificed their dignity. More than other tribes, they appreciated nature, and there found their storehouse of eloquence, for their imagery was the reflection of nature's heart. Their language was thus limited, but rich, and better calculated for lofty oratory than trivial conversation. Single words adorned whole ideas in poetic beauty.
They were in harmony with nature till the mutual sympathy caused the "very leaves of the forests to weep tears of pity" at the suffering produced by the pale-face intruder, whose contact, like a whirlwind, swept forest and savage alike before him in his destructive career. Such were the Shawnees at the advent of the whites, and although driven about and wronged, they still hoped to find a spot they could call their own, and from which they never would be driven. Destiny reserved no such boon for them as yet, and when they settled on the Auglaize and the lands were " guaranteed to them forever," the promises were false, and the hopes delusive. Contented if here they could remain, they were willing to even forsake their fathers' graves, relinquish their claims to their tribal lands, renounce their ancestral lives, and adopt the habits of civilized men. The Auglaize is a witness to the transformation, while Wapakoneta is a monument to the progress of the same race. Here they abandoned their wild past, and embraced the teaching of the whites. Instead of warring, they cultivated the soil; instead of the chase, they gathered harvests. For tradition, they accepted education, and for barbarity they accepted humanity. It was enough, and they were happy; but again they must leave all they love; all the associations of their new condition, and all the incentives to the new life they embraced.
Their hope was crushed, for the hand that plays with the heart-strings of association and affection is cruel and relentless. So in their case : the tender cords snapped asunder, and warriors, who knew not how to flinch before a tomahawk, nor yet to weep before the stake, were touched to galling tears. It was a night of gloom on which Destiny looked in pity, and provided in the Quakers a star of promise, until, in humanity, the sun of reality could rise. Let the dark past, with its suffering and its wrongs, be forever dissipated by the golden light of humanity which beams justice and happiness, not for the whites alone, but for the whole brotherhood of man.
POST-OFFICE.
Although some difference of opinion has prevailed touching the date of the establishment of post-offices in the Northwest, it may be stated that the first office was established in 1794, as shown by the subjoined correspondence.
GENFRAL. POST-OFFICE, Philadelphia, May 24, 1791.
DEAR SIR: It is proposed to attempt the carriage of a mail from l'itts. burg to Wheeling by land and thence by water to Limestone. From Limestone by a new road on the southern side of the Ohio to the mouth of Licking, opposite to Fort Washington, where it will cross over. From
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Limestone the mail will be carried through the State of Kentucky ; the post road through the wilderness in this case to be discontinued, I have given directions to have these boots constructed for the purpose, to be formed in the best manner for case and expedition in pushing up stream, to be managed by five hands each, Hope they will be running some time in June.
Marietta will be a station for the boats to stop at as they pass, and doubtless it will be convenient to have a post-office there. Herewith I send a packet addressed to you to be put into the hands of the person you judge most suitable for postmaster. He will there see the forms in which the business is to be transacted, with which he should make him- self acquainted. The law now sent will expire in a few days. It is sub- stantially the same as the new law as to the regulations-the latter will be forwarded when prepared. The person you designate for postmaster should be careful and trusty, and there will be an advantage in having one whose residence will be near the landing place of the mail boats.
The advantages of a regular mail will be so great to your settlement, I am sure you will omit nothing to secure them.
I am, with respect and esteem, dear sir,
Your most obedient servant, TIMOTHY PICKERING.
P. S .- I suppose & post-office may be eligible at Gallipolis, for which reason I send a second package addressed to you to be disposed of as you think fit. You will be so good as to favor me with an answer ax soon as possible.
To GENERAL RUFUS PUTNAM, Marietta.
MARIETTA, June 9, 1794.
DEAR SIR: Your favor of the 24th ult., with the packets referred to, has come to hand. I have engaged Mr. Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr., to undertake the business of postmaster at this place. He is a gentleman of probity-is attorney for the United States in this county, and keeps his office within a few yards of where boats will naturally land, both on account of convenience and security.
With respect to Gallipolis, I am not so well acquainted as to fix on any one without some further information, which I expect to obtain in Yours, a few days. RUFUS PUTNAM.
Mr. R. J. Meigs, Jr., was thus the first postmaster in the Northwest- ern Territory. Ile held the office until October, 1795, when he was suc- ceeded by Capt. Josiah Munroe, who continued postmaster to 1801.
Gen. Putnam selected Mr. Francis De Hebecourt for postmaster at Gallipolis.
,OHIO.
Ir is but a step from the territory to the State. The constitutional convention, comprising delegates from the States of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia, assembled for the purpose of framing and adopting a constitution for the United States, and terminated its labors and adjourned September 17, 1787. The old " Articles of Confederation" were too narrow for the structure of government then rearing by the people. From the old battle-scarred confederation they sought to hew out a new State, reeog- nizing the people as the source, the object and the power of government. It must be " a government of the people, for the people, by the people," and to this end a Nation was founded, supreme in its attributes, because reflecting the will of a sovereign people. Rights, powers, functions, and prerogatives were reserved to the Nation, while others were delegated to the several States.
The Nation in its constitutional capacity became, and is the supreme power and supreme law. It was a new experiment ; it was the launch- ing of an untried vessel upon an unknown sea; but the fullness of time had come wherein "man is man and master of his fate," and when it was found desirable to make a "perpetual union" still "more perfect." That constitution everywhere sought an indissoluble union composed of indestructible States. It was " we the people of the United States in order to make a more perfect union," who sought to confirm and strengthen what had been pronounced a perpetual union. True, it was -ffiund necessary in later years to enlarge the provisions of the consti- tution, but at the period of its adoption it was as rounded, as symmet- rical, and as finished as the differing opinions entertained by the framers would permit. Those liberalizing provisions which have been the out- growth of years of development applied and still apply chiefly to the rights of individuals rather than to the powers of the Nation or the State. 'The integrity of the union was not an open question so far as the constitution could provide against conflicting views; but the rights of the individual, the manhood of man had not yet been recognized or secured. That instrument contained the word " white" and " white inhabitants," alone were known to the founders of the government. Slavery was an institution which became the fountain head of nullifica- tion, secession, and rebellion, that trinity of evil which impoverished a treasury, bathed a people in tears, and baptized a land in blood, But it hastened the consummation of freedom, kastened development, hast- ened the recognition of manhood's highest estate, and who will say
liberty and manhood can be purchased at too high a price? Until the amendments were adopted "we, the people," ouly applied to a portion of the people, just as the clause, "all men are created equal and endowed with certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," as used in the Declaration, could only apply to a portion of the race, and that portion was determined only by a color line which shut away from the black man all rights which a white man was bound to respect. A storm of thought, succeeded by a tempest of armed force, gave to those expressions a literal significance, and the Nation withstood the shock to become in reality what it had before been but in name, " the land of the free and the asylum of the oppressed." When the shock did come, when armed rebellion sought to destroy the union, when the constitution became too narrow for the crisis of the hour, then above all constitutions and all written laws was seen the light and strength and justice of the unwritten law of nature, the law of self-pres- ervation. Under that law, the life of the Nation was the first object to be secured, and after that came the liberty of the individual. The result was life to the Nation and liberty for every man beneath the flag, with a constitution so amended as to secure forever these inestimable jewels to generations yet unborn.
RATIFICATION.
The constitution itself provided that : " the ratification of the conven- tions of nine States shall be sufficient for the establishment of this con- stitution between the States so ratifying the same."
In accordance with this provision eleven of the thirteen States, by their conventions ratified the constitution, and it went into operation and became the supreme law on March 4. 1759, that being the date fixed by Congress under the convention resolutions of September 19, 1788. The order of the ratification by the several States will appear by the following list: Delaware, Dee. 7. 1787; Pennsylvania, Dec. 12. 1747 ; New Jersey, Dec. 18, 1787; Georgia, Jan. 2. 148; Connectient, J.m. ?. 1788; Massachusetts, Fch. 6. 1758: Maryland, April 28, 1788; South Carolina, May 23, 1758; New Hampshire, June 21, 1758; Virginia, Jane 26, 1758; New York, July 26, 1788.
Afterward the States of North Carolina and Rhode Island were ad- mitted into the union by Congress, upon the presentation of authenti- cated forms of ratification ; North Carolina being admitted Nov. 21. 1789, and Rhode Island May 29, 1790. The union of the old States was thus secured and perfected, but the constitution did not rest here. After
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HISTORY OF VAN WERT AND MERCER COUNTIES, OHIO.
providing for its own adoption by ratification, it further provided that "new States may be admitted by Congress into this union," upon equal terms with the original States which had fought out their independence of the mother country, and founded a new form of government, under new conditions, in a new world. Under this provision Vermont applied for admission into the Union in 1791; Kentucky in 1792; and Tennessee in 1796. Herein was the inauguration of the new order of things which, planted in hope, has flourished in strength. Brought forth in tearful, anxious travail, it was baptized in blood to live in hope. In the midst of these events in the cast, what of the vast region west of Pennsyl- vania ? We will see.
While the thirteen old colonies were thus declaring their independence, the thirteen new States, which now lie in the western interior, had no existence, and gave no sign of the future. The solitude of nature was unbroken by the steps of civilization. The wisest statesman had not contemplated the probability of the coming States, and the boldest patriot did not dream that this interior wilderness should soon contain a greater population than the thirteen old States with all the added growth of one hundred years.
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Ten years after that the old States had ceded their western lands to the General Government, and the Congress of the United States had passed the ordinance of 1785 for the survey of the public territory, and in 1787 the celebrated ordinance which organized the Northwestern Ter- ritory, and dedicated it to freedom and intelligence.
Fifteen years after that, and more than a quarter of a century after the Declaration of Independence, the State of Ohio was admitted into the Union, being the seventeenth which accepted the Constitution of the United States.
It has since grown up to be great, populous, and prosperous under the influence of those ordinances. At her admission in 1803 the tide of mi- gration had begun to flow over the Alleghanies into the valley of the Mississippi, and although no steamboat or railroad then existeil, not even a stage coach helped the immigration, yet the wooden "ark" on the Ohio, and the heavy wagon slowly winding over the mountains, bore these tens of thousands to the wilds of Kentucky and the plains of Ohio. In the spring of 1788-the first year of settlement-4500 persons passed the mouth of the Muskingum in three months, and the tide continued to pour on for half a century in a widening stream, mingled with all the races of Europe and America, until now the five States of the North- western Territory, in the wilderness of 1776, contain over twelve mil- lions of people, enjoying all the blessings which peace and prosperity, freedom and Christianity, can confer upon any people. Of these five States, born under the ordinance of 1787, Ohio is the first, oldest, and, in many things, the greatest State in the American Union. Ohio is just one-sixth part of the Northwestern Territory-40.000 square miles. It lies between Lake Erie and the Ohio River, having two hundred miles of navigable waters, on one side flowing into the Atlantic Ocean, and on the other into the Gulf of Mexico. Through the lakes its vessels touch on six thousand miles of interior coast, and through the Mississippi on thirty-six thousand miles of river coast ; so that a citizen of Ohio may pursue his navigation through forty-two thousand miles, all in his own country, and all within navigable reach of his own State. He who has circumnavigated the globe has gone but little more than half the dis- tance which the citizen of Ohio finds within his natural reach in this vast interior.
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Looking upon the surface of this State, we find no mountains. no bar- ren sands, no marshy wastes, no lava-covered plains; but one broad, compact body of arable land, intersected with rivers, and streams, and running waters, while the beautiful Ohio flows tranquilly by its side. From this great arable surface, where upon the very hills the grass and the forest trees grow exuberant and abundant, we find that underneath this surface, and easily accessible, lie ten thousand square miles of coal and four thousand square miles of iron-coal and iron enough to supply the basis of manufacture for a world! All this vast deposit does not interrupt or take from that arable surface at all. There you may find in one place the same machine bringing up coal and salt water from below, while the wheat and corn grow upon the surface above. The immense masses of coal, iron, salt, and freestone deposited below have not in any way diminished the fertility and production of the soil.
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The first settlement of Ohio was made by a colony from New Eng. land at the mouth of the Muskingum. It was literally a remuant of the officers and sohliers of the Revolution. Of this colony no praise of the historian can be as competent or as strong as the language of Washing. ton. He says, in answer to inquiries addressed to him : " 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 person- ally, and there never were men better calculated to promote the welfare of such a community ;" and he adds. "that if he were a young man, he knows no country in which he would sooner settle than in this western region." This colony, left alone for a time, made its own government, and nailed its laws to a tree in the village; an early indication of that law-abiding and peaceful spirit which has since made Ohio a just an well-ordered cominunity. The subsequent settlements on the Miami and Scioto were made by citizens of New Jersey and Virginia, and it is certainly remarkable that among the carly immigration there were no ignorant people. In the language of Washington, they came with "in- formation"-qualified to promote the welfare of the community."
Soon after the settlement on the Muskingum and the Miami, the great wave of migration flowed on the plains and valleys of Ohio and Kentucky. Kentucky had been settled earlier, but the main body of immigrants in subsequent years went into Ohio. influenced partly by the ordinance of 1787, securing freedom and schools forever; and partly by the great security of titles under the survey and guarantee of the United States Government. Soon the new State grew up with a rapidity which, until then, was unknown in the history of civilization. On the Muskingum, where the buffalo had roamed; on the Scioto, where the Shawnees had built their towns; on the Miami, where the great chief's of the Miamis had reigned; on the plains of Sandusky, yet red with the blood of the white man ; on the Maumee, where Wayne, by the victory of the " Fallen Timbers," had broken the power of the Indian confed- eracy, the immigrants from the old States and from Europe came in to cultivate the fields, to build up towns, and to rear the institutions of Christian civilization, until the single State of Ohio is greater in num- ber, wealth, and education than was the whole American Union when the Declaration of Independence was made.
The territory now comprised within the limits of Ohio was formerly a part of that vast region claimed by France between the Alleghany and Rocky Mountains, first known by the general name of Louisiana. In 1670, Marquette, a zealous French missionary, accompanied by Monsieur Joliet, from Quebec, with five boatmeu, set out on a mission from Mack- inac to the unexplored regions lying south of that station They passed down the lake to Green Bay, thence from Fox River crossed over to the Wisconsin, which they followed down to its junction with the Mississippi. They descended this mighty stream a thousand miles to its confluence with the Arkansas. On their return to Canada they did not fail to urge in strong terms the immediate occupation of the vast and fertile regions watered by the Mississippi and its branches. About 1723, the French erected forts on the Mississippi, on the Illinois, on the Maumee, and oa the lakes; still, however, the communication with Canada was through Lake Michigan. Before 1750, a French post had been fortified at thu mouth of the Wabash, and a communication was established through that river and the Maumee with Canada. About the same time, and for the purpose of checking the progress of the French, the Ohio Com- pany was formed, and made some attempts to establish trading houses among the Indians. The French, however, established a chain of forti- fications back of the English settlements, and thus, in a measure, had the entire control of the great Mississippi Valley.
The English government became alarmed at the encroachments of the French, and attempted to settle boundaries by negotiations. These availed nothing, and both parties were determined to settle their differ- ences by force of arms. The principal ground, whereon the English claimed dominion beyond the Alleghanies, was that the Six Nations owned the Ohio Valley, and had placed it, with their other lands, under the protection of England. Some of the western lands were also claimed by the British as having been actually purchased at Lancaster, Pennsyl vania, in 1741, at a treaty between the colonists and the Six Nations at that place. The claim of the English monarch to the late Northwesteru
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Territory was ceded to the United States, signed at Paris, September 3, 1788. The provisional articles which formed the basis of that treaty, more especially as related to the boundary, were signed at Paris, No- vember 30, 17-2. During the pendency of the negotiation relative to these preliminary articles, Mr. Oswald, the British commissioner, pro- posed the Ohio River as the western boundary of the United States, and but for the indomitable perseverance of the Revolutionary patriot, John Adams, one of the American commissioners, who opposed the proposi- tion, and insisted upon the Mississippi as the boundary, the probability is that the proposition of Mr. Oswald would have been acceded to by the United States commissioners.
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