History of Van Wert and Mercer counties, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 6

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 6
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 6

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).

Grants to Ottawas. The United States also agree to grant by patent to the chiefs of the Ottawa tribe of Indians, for the use of the said tribe, a tract of land, to contain thirty-four square miles, to be laid out as Wu ily a square form as practicable, not interfering with the lines of tracts I, served by the treaty of Granville on the south side of the Miami River of Lake Erie, and to include Tushquegan or MeCarty's village, which frants, thus granted, shall be held by the said tribe upon the usual con- ditions of Indian reservations as though no patent were issued.

Supplementary Treaty to the Treaty of the Foot of the Miami of the Fale. Sept. 17, ISIS, between Lewis Cass and Duncan Me Arthur, immissioners, at St. Marys, with full power and authority to hold con- fennees, and conclude aud sign a treaty or treaties, with all or any of

the tribes or nations of Indians within the boundaries of the State of Ohio of and concerning all matters interesting to the United States and the said nations of Indians, and the sachems, chiefs, and women of the Wyandot, Lene, Shawnee, and other tribes of Indians, being supplement- ary to the treaty made and concluded with the said tribes and the Dela- wares, Pottawatomie, and Delaware tribes of Indians at the foot of the Rapids of the Miami of Lake Erie, Sept. 29, 1817.

Grants in original treaty to be considered reservations. It is agreed between the United States and the parties hereto, that the several tracts of land, described in the treaty to which this is supplementary, and agreed thereby to be granted by the United States to the chiefs of the respective tribes named therein, for the use of the individuals of the said tribes, and also the tract described in the 20th article of the said treaty shall not be thus granted, but shall be excepted from the cession made by the said tribes to the United States, reserved for the use of the said Indians, and held by them in the same manner as Indian reser- vations have been heretofore held. But it is further agreed that the tracts thus reserved shall be reserved for the use of the Indians named in the schedule to the said treaty, and held by them and their heirs for- ever, unless ceded to the United States.

Additional reservations to Wyandots. It is also agreed that there shall be reserved for the use of the Wyandots, in addition to the reservation before made, 55,6 0 acres of land, to be laid off in two tracts-the first to adjoin the south line of the section of 640 acres of land heretofore reserved for the Wyandot chief, the Cherokee Boy, and to extend south to the north line of the reserve of twelve miles square at Upper San- dusky; and the other to join the cast line of the reserve of twelve miles square at Upper Sandusky, and to extend east for quantity.

Reservation at Solomon's Town. There shall also be reserved for the use of the Wyandots residing at Solomon's Town and on Blanchard's Fork, in addition to the reservation before made, 16.000 acres of land to be laid off in a square form, on the head of Blanchard's Fork, the centre of which shall be at the Big Spring, on the tract leading from Upper Sandusky to Fort Findlay, and 160 acres of land for the use of the Wyandots on the west side of the Sandusky River, adjoining the said river, and the lower line of two sections of land agreed by the treaty to which this is supplementary to bo granted to Elizabeth Whitaker.

Additional reservation for the Shawnees and Senecas. There shall also be reserved for the use of the Shawnees, in addition to the reserva- tion before made, 12,800 acres of land to be laid off adjoining the east line of their reserve of ten miles square at Wapaughkoneta, and for the use of the Shawnees and Senecas 8960 acres of land, to be laid off adjoin- ing the west line of the reserve of 48 square miles and Lewistown. And the last reserve hereby made and the former reserve at the same place shall be equally divided by an east and west line to be drawn through the same. And the north half of the said tract shall be reserved for the use of the Senecas who reside there, and the south half for the use of the Shawnees who reside there.

Reservation for the Senecas. There shall also be reserved for the use of the Senecas, in addition to the reservation before made, 10,000 acres of land to be laid off on the east side of the Sandusky River, adjoining the south line of their reservation of 30,000 acres of land, which begins on the Sandusky River, at the lower corner of Mr. Spice's section, and excluding therefrom the said Mr. Spice's section.

Land granted not to be conveyed without permission. It is hereby agreed that the tracts of land which by the eighth article of the treaty to which this is supplementary are to be granted by the United States to the persons therein mentioned, shall never be conveyed by them or their heirs without the permission of the President of the United States.

By this treaty of Sept. 17, 1818, an additional amount is given to the Wyandots of $500 forever, to the Shawnees $1000, to the Senecas $500, aud to the Ottawas $1500.

THE INDIAN TRIBES OF THE UPPER OHIO.

Nothing reliable or authentic is known of the various Indian tribes that occupied the territory that now constitutes the State of Ohio, from the time of the departure or disappearance of the Mound-Builders until the closing years of the first half of the eighteenth century. Their his-

HISTORY OF VAN WERT AND MERCER COUNTIES, OHIO.

tory, therefore, anterior to the year 1750, is meagre indeed. They had no annalist-no historian-and perhaps had made but little history worthy of record during many recurring generations, centuries, and ages. It is true that we have traditions running back to the year 1656, relating to the destruction by the Iroquois of the onee powerful Eries, who inhab- ited the sonthern shores of Lake Erie, except a small remuant which ultimately intermingled with the Senecas ; but we look upon them simply as unverified traditions, and nothing more. And equally unreliable and unauthenticated are many of the other numerous traditions of the Indian tribes which bear date before the middle of the last century.

About the year A. D. 1750, or a little carlier, some accurate knowledge of the Ohio Indians began to be acquired through the Indian traders operating among them, and from explorers; but little, comparatively, however, was known of them with the certainty of authentic history until after Colonel Bouquet's expedition to their towns on the Tuscarawas and Muskingum rivers, in 1764. The intermediate period between those dates may therefore be regarded as the time of the inauguration of the historic epoch of the Ohio Indians, the principal tribes being the Wyandots (called Hurons by the French), the Delawares and the Shaw- anese (both of the Algonquin group), the Miamis (also called Twigtwees), the Mingos (an offshoot from the Iroquois or a fragment of the Six Na- tions), and the Ottawas and Chippewas.

The Wyandots occupied the valleys and plains bordering on the San- dusky River, and some other points ; the Delawares occupied the valleys of the Tuscarawas and Muskingum rivers, and a few other places be- tween the Ohio River and Lake Erie; the Shawnees were found chiefly in the valleys of the Scioto and Mad rivers, and at a few points on the Obio River and elsewhere in small numbers; the Miamis we the chief occupants of the valleys of the Little and Great Miami rivers; the Min- gos were in greatest force on the Ohio River about Mingo Bottom, below Steubenville, and at other points on said river-also on the Scioto River, and at a few places between the Ohio River and Lake Erie; the Ottawas occupied the valleys of the Maumee and Sandusky rivers ; and the Chip- pewas, small in numbers, were chiefly confined to the southern shores of Lake Erie. By the treaty of Fort McIntosh, formed in 1785, the Ottawas with the Wyandots and Delawares, were assigned to the northern section of what is now the State of Ohio, and west of the Cuyahoga River, hav- ing relinquished by the terms of said treaty, whatever of claims they had to other portions of the territory that now constitutes our State.

TITLES TO OHIO -- BY WHOM HELD -- WHEN AND HOW ACQUIRED AND RELINQUISHED.

The territory that now constitutes Ohio was first of all, so far as wecan judge, in the full possession of the race of Mound-Builders; afterwards (but still in prehistorie times), its sole occupants and owners for some centuries were unquestionably those Indian tribes or nations already named, and probably the Eries and others that had been subjected to expulsion or extermination. They, as well as the Mound-Builders, held titles acquired probably by priority of discovery, by conquest, by occu- pancy, or possession. Possessory titles they might be appropriately styled.

It is stated by Parkman, and probably by other accredited historians, that the adventurous La Salle in 1670, accompanied by a few heroic fol- lowers, passed from Lake Erie south, over the portage into the Allegheny River, perhaps by way of one of its numerous tributaries, and from thence down into the Ohio, which they descended as far as the " Fall." of said river (at Louisville) ; and that they were therefore the first white men-the first of European birth-to enter upon the soil of Ohio; the first civilized men to discover and explore the territory that constitutes our now populous State. It must be admitted that some shades of doubt rest upon the foregoing problematical expedition of the distin- guished Frenchman ( Robert Cavalier La Salle), but whether he voyaged down the Ohio or not at the time named, his name must ever be identi- fied with our State as one of its earliest explorers, if not its discoverer, so far as the white race is concerned, ag will be made apparent in the following paragraphs. In 1679, the intrepid explorer, La Salle, accom- panied by thirty-four Frenchinen, sailed along the entire length of the southern shore of Lake Erie in the " Gritliu," a vessel of about sixty

tons burden, which he had built in the Niagara River above the "Falls," and which was the first vessel that ever unfurled a sail on said lake, or upon any waters within the present limits of Ohio.

Again, in 1662, La Salle descended the Illinois and Mississippi rivers to the mouth of the latter; and in 1684 he sailed past the mouth of the Mississippi (which he intended to enter, but failed), and along the Gulf of Mexico to some point on the coast of Texas, and landing there, became its discoverer. And it is upon these three last-named voyages, and upon the provision of some European treaties, more than upon the somewhat doubtful and uncertain voyage of discovery by La Salle down the Ohio River to the " Falls" in 1670, that France rested her title, claiming that the Upper Valley of the Ohio (at least the portion northwest of the Ohio River), was a part of Louisiana, thus acquired by La Salle for France, and held by said power by right of discovery and possession. There was, of course, little controversy between Great Britain and France as to title northwest of the Ohio River, before the formation of the treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, when and by which certain matters in dispute between those governments were adjusted. And France not only asserted owner- ship and held possession of the territory that now constitutes Ohio, from the time of the Treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, until the Treaty of Paris in 1763, by which peace was established between France and England, but also exercised authority therein and maintained control over it by mili- tary force. And this, too, in defiance of titles set up by Great Britain, one of which was based upon treaties with the Iroquois or Six Nations of Indians, who claimed to have conquered the whole country from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, and from the lakes to Carolina, and hence were its owners and authorized to dispose of it.

By conquest and treaty stipulations, Great Britain came into posses- sion in 1763, and substantially retainedl it until the close of our Revolu- tionary war, when, by the Treaty of Peace concluded at Paris in 1783, and ratified by the American Congress in January, 1784, ownership was vested in the government of the United States, which, in October, 1784, by the terms of the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, extinguished the title of the Six Nations to the Ohio Valley, and which, from time to time, by treaties concluded at various times and places, extinguished all other Indian titles, and thus acquired full right to the soil, and complete and undis- puted territorial jurisdiction. By the treaties of Forts McIntosh and Finney alone, held respectively in January, 1785 and 1786, all Indian titles to Ohio territory were extinguished, except that portion situated chiefly between the Cuyahoga and Maumee rivers.

New York, Massachusetts, and Connecticut, after the ratification of the Treaty of Peace, in 1784, between Great Britain and the United States, and for some time before, had asserted claims to portions of the territory now composing the State of Ohio, andl Virginia claimed title to the whole of it and much more, even to the entire extent of the " territory north- west of the river Ohio," organized four years thereafter. Virginia had asserted ownership, and exercised a nominal jurisdiction over the terri- tory of our State, by establishing the county of Botetourt, in 1769, whose western boundary was the Mississippi River. That State's claim was founded, as heretofore stated, upon certain charters granted to the Col- ony of Virginia by James the First, bearing dates respectively, April 10, 1606, May 23, 1609, and March 12, 1611 ; also, upon the conquest of the country, between the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and the northern lakes, by General George Rogers Clark, in 1778-79. But whatever the claim was founded upon, the State Legislature waived all title and own- ership to it (except to the Virginia Military District), and all authority over it, by directing the Representatives of said State ( Thomas Jefferson, Samuel Hardy, Arthur Lee, and James Monroe), to celle to the United States all right, title, and claim, as well of soil as of jurisdiction, with the exception named, " to the territory of said State lying and being to the northwest of the river Ohio:" which was accordingly done, March 1, 1:84.

The charter of Massachusetts, upon which that State's title was based, way granted within less than twenty-five years after the arrival of the Mayflower; and that of Connecticut, bearing date March 19, 1631, both embracing territory extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific ; and that of New York, obtained from Charles the Second, on March 2, 1GGt, in- cluded territory that had been previously granted to Massachusetts and Connecticut ; hence, the conthet of claims between those States, their

HISTORY OF VAN WERT AND MERCER COUNTIES, OHIO.

several charters covering, to some extent, the same territory ; and hence, also, their contest with Virginia as to a portion of the soil of Ohio. Probably the titles of some or all of the aforesaid contesting States were in some way affected by the provisions of treaties with the Iroquois, or by the fact of their recognition by them, as appendants of the govern- ment of New York.

New York's deed of cession was favorably reported upon by a committee of Congress, May 1, 1782; and by like acts of patriotism, magnanimity, and generosity to those of New York and Virginia, Massachusetts and Connecticut soon followed by similar acts of relinquishment of title, or by corresponding deeds of cession to the United States. The Legislature of Massachusetts, on the 13th day of November, 1784, authorized her delegates in Congress to cede the title of that State to all the territory west of the western boundary of the State of New York to the United States, and the measure was consummated in 1785.

Connecticut, in September, 1786, ceded all her claim to soil and juris- diction west of what is now known as the Western Reserve to the United States. Five hundred thousand acres of the western portion of the Western Reserve was set apart for the relief of the Connecticut sufferers by fire during the Revolution, since known as the " Firelands." the Indian title to which was extinguished by the treaty of Fort Indus- try (now Toledo), in 1805, Charles Jouett being the United States Con- missioner, and the chiefs of the Shawnces, Delawares, Wyandots, Chip- rewas, Oltawas, and some minor tribes representing the interests of the Indians. The remainder of the Western Reserve tract, amounting to about three millions of acres, was sold, and the proceeds dedicated to educational purposes, and has served as the basis of Connecticut's com- mon school fund, now aggregating upwards of two millions of dollars. Jurisdictional claim to the Western Reserve was ceded by Connecticut to the United States May 30, 1801.

EARLY-TIME WHITE MEN IN OHIO.

As early as 1680 the French had a trading station on the Maumee River, a few miles above the present city of Toledo, near where Fort Miami was erceted in 1794 ; and Bancroft, the historian, asserts that a route from Canada to the Mississippi River, by way of the Maumee, Wabash, and Ohio rivers, was established by the French in 1716. A little later a route was established from Presque Isle, now Erie, on Lake Erie, to French Creek, and thence down the Alleghany and Ohio rivers. Vague traditions have been handed down of the establishment of trading posts upon the Ohio, by Englishmen, as early as 1730. In 1742 John Howard crossed the mountains from Virginia, and descending the Ohio in a canoe, was captured somewhere on his voyage by the French. In 1119 Conrad Weiser, a German of Ilerenberg, who (says the author of " Western Annals") had in early life acquired a knowledge of the Mo- hawk tongue, was sent to the Shawnees on the Ohio as an ambassador, and held a conference with them at Logstown, on the Ohio River, seven- teen miles below the " Forks of the Ohio" (now Pittsburgh), but it is not quite certain that he came within the present limits of Ohio, though it is probable.

In 1750, Christopher Gist, an agent of the " Ohio Land Company," which had been organized in 1748 by the Washingtons, one or two of the Lees, and other Virginians, and some Englishmen, came over the mountains from Virginia, and crossing the Ohio at or below the " Forks" (now Pittsburgh), passed over to the Tusearawas River, which he de- prended to its junction with the Walhonding. From thence he travelled down the Muskingum, following an Indian trail, to the mouth of the Wakatomika (now Dresden, Muskingum County), where there was an Indian town. He then followed the Indian trail across the Licking River 1., King Beaver's town, situated on the head waters of the Hockhocking River, about equidistant from the present cities of Lancaster and Co- Inbus. The trail he followed must have led him near the " Big Lake," "« the Indians called it, now the " Reservoir," a famous fishing resort, " tuated in the counties of Licking, Fairfield, and Perry. In this explor- Ihg Expedition Gist was joined at the Walhouding by George Croghan, Al probably by Andrew Montour, a half-breed, son of a Seneca chief, who often acted as an interpreter between the whites and Indians. They (Tossed the Scioto and travelled on to the Great Miami, which Gist de-

. scended to the Ohio, and voyaged down said stream to a point fifteen miles above the " Falls," from whence he travelled through Kentucky to his home in Virginia, where he arrived in May, 1751.

Croghan and Montour were the bearers of liberal presents from Penn- sylvania to the Miamis, who, in' return, granted the right to the English to build a strong trading-house or stockade on the Miami River, at the entrance of Loramie's Creek into said stream, in the present county of Shelby, and which was accordingly erected and called Pickawillany, and has been called by some historians " the first point of English settlement in Ohio," and " a place of historic interest." The presents were made on behalf of Pennsylvania, and the reciprocal favor secured, it was believed, would largely benefit the Indian traders there and in " the regions round about," who were principally Pennsylvanians. The Pickawillany stock- ade was doubtless the first edifice erected upon Ohio's territory by Eng- lish-speaking people; but it was of brief duration, for in June, 1752, a force of French, Canadians, and Indians (Chippewas and Ottawas) attacked and destroyed it, capturing or killing all the traders but two ; fourteen of its defenders, chiefly Miamis, being killed in the action ; a number also being wounded. We transcribe, from a long list of names, in Captain Trent's journal, a few of those who traded at this post with the Indians between the years 1745 and 1;53, as follows: Peter Chartier, Conrad Weiser, Thomas McGee, George Croghan, James Denny, Robert Callender, George Gibson, James Lowry, Michael Cresap, Sr., Christo- pher Gist, Jacob Piatt, William Trent, John Findlay, David Hendricks, John Trotter, William Campbell, Thomas Mitchell, William West, and others.

Before 1745 the traders among the Ohio Indians were principally Frenchmen ; but about this time Pennsylvanians and Virginiaus entered into that business in augmented numbers, and continued in it persist- ently, while the French gradually relinquished it; and after the capture of Fort Du Quesne, in 1758, the English also acquired a foothold as traders in the Upper Ohio Valley, and retained it until the peace of 1783-4.

George Croghan, with a retinne of deputies of the Senecas, Shawanese, and Delavares, passed down the Ohio River in two batteaux from Fort Pitt to the mouth of the Wabash in 1765.

It is also well known to persons familiar with our history, that George Washington came to Fort Pitt in 1770, and, with William Crawford, Dr. Craik, and a few other chosen friends, and two Indians, three servants, some boatmen, and an interpreter. voyaged down the Ohio River to the mouth of the Kanawha, and fourteen miles up said stream, and, after some buffalo shooting and hunting generally, but mainly after extensive explorations with a view to the selection and ultimate location of lands, returned by the way of Ohio to Fort Pitt. From the journal of Wash- ington, it appears that they lodged one night in the camp of Kiashuta, an Indian chief of the Six Nations, near the mouth of the Horkhocking River. Washington and Crawford also took a short walk of eight miles across the "Big Bend," now in Meigs County, while their canoes were being paddled around the bend, on their return voyage.

Rev. David Jones (the Chaplain Jones of Revolutionary fame) also made a voyage down the Ohio and up the Scioto to the " Old Clathenthe" Indian towns, thence across the Licking to the missionary stations on the Tuscarawas, and from thence to Fort Pitt and home, in 1772-3. making the journey from the Indian towns on the Scioto on horseback, in company with a Pennsylvania Indian trader named David Dancan.

And, lastly, we mention a voyage made down the Ohio River in the autumn of 1755, from Fort Pitt to the mouth of the Great Miami, by Gen. Richard Butler, Gen. S. H. Parsons, Col. James Monroe, Major Finney, Isaac Zane, Col. Lewis, and others, who were then, or subse. quently became, men of note.

THE EARLIEST ENGLISH MILITARY EXPEDITIONS ON LAKE ERIE.

After the conquest of Canada by the English, in 1759-60, General ' Amherst, with a view to the establishment of English authority over the uncivilized regions of the West, organized an expedition under corramand of Major Rogers, who, on the 12th of September, 1760, received orders " to ascend the lakes and take possession of the French forts in the Northwest." This expedition, consisting of about two hundred men,

HISTORY OF VAN WERT AND MERCER COUNTIES, OHIO.

coasted along the southern shore of Lake Erie, arrived at the month of the Cuyahoga River on the 7th of November, and were probably the first English-speaking people that, in any considerable numbers, sailed upon it. The expedition sailed up the lake and on to Detroit, and there, on the 20th of said month, " took down the colors of France and raised the royal standard of England." In December, Major Rogers left the Mau- mee, and after reaching Sandusky Bay (now Sandusky City), he decided to cross the Huron River and travel to " Fort Pitt" by way of the north branch of the White-woman's River (now called Walhonding), which he did, arriving there January 23, 1761.

The second expedition that came within Ohio territory, was organized at Albany, on the Hudson River, in 1763, by General Amherst, and con- sisted of six hundred British regulars placed under the immediate com- mand of Major Wilkins. In ascending Lake Erie a violent storm was encountered, and a number of the vessels of the expedition were wrecked, losing fifty barrels of provisions, some field pieces, all their ammunition, and seventy-three men, including two lieutenants and a surgeon. The remnant returned to Albany without a further attempt to reach Detroit, the objective point of the expedition.

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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 6

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