USA > Ohio > Wayne County > History of Wayne county, Ohio, from the days of the pioneers and the first settlers to the present time > Part 3
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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 Col- onel Return J. Meigs, of Connecticut, were appointed surveyors.
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
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 Alleghenies, and reached the Youghiogheny about the middle of February, where they rejoined their companions who had pre- ceded 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 gal- ley, and strongly timbered ; her sides were made bullet proof, and she was covered with a deck roof," so as to afford better protec- tion against the hostile savages while floating down towards their western home, and during its occupancy there, before the com- pletion 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 re-enforced by another 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 daring, 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
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THE NORTH-WESTERN TERRITORY.
stealthily and with murderous intent roamed throughout their length and breadth. Their army experience had taught them what hardships and privations were, and they were quite willing to encounter them. A better set of men could not have been selected for pioneer settlers than were these New England colo- nists - those brave-hearted, courageous hero-emigrants to the great north-west, 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.
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 production of vegetables and grain for their subsist- ence, fifty acres of corn having been planted the first year. Their settlement was established upon the point of land between the Ohio and Muskingum rivers, just opposite and across the Mus- kingum from Fort Harmar, built in 1786, and at this time garri- soned 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 be- ing thus named in honor of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France.
SURVEYS AND GRANTS OF THE PUBLIC LANDS.
The first survey of the public lands north-west of the Ohio river was the seven ranges of Congress lands, and was done pursu- ant 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, run- ning 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 south-east corner of Marietta township, in Washing- ton county ; thence up said river to the place of beginning. The present counties of Jefferson, Columbiana, Carroll, Tuscarawas,
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
Harrison, Guernsey, Belmont, Noble, Monroe and Washington tre, in whole or in part, within the seven ranges.
The second survey was that of the Ohio Company's purchase, nade in pursuance of an act of Congress of July 23, 1785, though the contract was not completed with the Ohio Company until Oc- :ober 27, 1787. Mention of its extent, also the conditions, reser- vations, and circumstances attending 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 foregoing. 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 northward a suffi- cient distance to include an area of one million of acres. The contract with Judge Symmes, made in October, 1787, was subse- quently 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, exclu- sive of a reservation of 15 acres around Fort Washington, of a square mile at the mouth of the Great Miami, of sections sixteen and twenty-nine 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 eight, eleven and twenty-six, 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
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THE NORTH-WESTERN TERRITORY.
entitled, according to the provisions of an act of Congress of Au- gust 10, 1790. "It embraces a body of 6,570 square miles, or 4,204,800 acres of land. The following counties are situated in this tract, namely : Adams, Brown, Clermont, Clinton, Fayette, Highland, Madison and Union entirely ; and greater or less por- tions of the following, to wit: Marion, Delaware, Franklin, Pick- away, Ross, Pike, Scioto, Warren, Greene, Clarke, Champaign, Logan and Hardin."
Connecticut ceded all lands in the North-west to which she claimed title to the United States (except the tract which has been known as the " Western Reserve"), by deed of cession bearing date September 14, 1786; and in May, 1800, by act of the Legislature of said State, renounced 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 Pennsyl- vania 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 Con- necticut, in 1792, as a donation to the sufferers by fire (during the Revolutionary war) of the residents of Greenwich, New Lon- don, Norwalk, Fairfield, Danbury, New Haven, and other Con- necticut villages whose property was burned by the British ; hence the name " Firelands" by which this tract taken from the western portion of the Reserve has been known. It is situated chiefly in Huron and Erie counties, a small portion only being in Ottawa county. The entire Western Reserve embraces the present coun- ties of Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Erie, Geauga, Huron, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage and Trumbull ; also the greater portion of Ma- honing and Summit, and very limited portions of Ashland and Ottawa.
French grant is a tract of 24,000 acres of land bordering on the Ohio river, within the present limits of Scioto county, granted by Congress in March, 1795, to certain French settlers of Gallipolis,
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
who, through invalid titles, had lost their lands there. Twelve hundred acres were added to this grant in 1798, making a total of 25, 200 acres.
The United States military lands were surveyed under the pro- visions 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 soldiers of the Revolutionary war, hence the title by which it is known. It is bounded by the seven ranges on the east, by the Greenville treaty line on the north, by the Congress and Refugee lands on the south, and by the Scioto river on the west, including the county of Coshocton entire, and portions of the counties of Tuscarawas, Guernsey, Muskingum, Licking, Frank- lin, Delaware, Marion, Morrow, Knox, and Holmes.
The Moravian lands are three several tracts of 4,000 acres each, situated respectively at Shoenbrun, Gnadenhutten, and Salem, all on the Tuscarawas river, now in Tuscarawas county. These lands were originally dedicated by an ordinance of Congress dated September 3, 1788, to the use of the Christianized Indians at those points, and by act of Congress of June 1, 1796, were sur- veyed and patents issued to the Society of the United Brethren, for the purposes above specified.
The Refugee tract is a body of land containing 100,000 acres, granted by Congress February 18, 1801, to persons who fled from the British provinces during the Revolutionary war and took up arms against the mother country and in behalf of the colonies, and thereby lost their property by confiscation. This tract is four and one-half miles wide, and extends forty-eight miles eastward from the Scioto river, at Columbus, 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, con- taining 13,040 acres, situated in the south-eastern part of Tusca- rawas county. It was given to Arnold Henry Dohrman, a Portu- guese merchant of Lisbon, by act of Congress of February 27, 1801, "in consideration of his having, during the Revolutionary
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THE NORTH-WESTERN TERRITORY.
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 north-west that now constitutes the State of Ohio. There were Canal land grants, Maumee Road grants, and various others, but they belong to our State, and not to our Territorial history.
TREATIES MADE WITH THE INDIANS.
By the terms of the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, concluded with the Iroquois or Six Nations (Mohawks, Onondagas, Senecas, Cayugas, Tuscaroras, and Oneidas), October 22, 1784, the indefinite claim of said confederacy to the greater part of the valley of the Ohio was extinguished. The commissioners of Congress were Oliver Wolcott, Richard Butler, and Arthur Lee. Cornplanter and Red Jacket represented the Indians.
This was followed in January, 1785, by the Treaty of Fort McIn- tosh, by which the Delawares, Wyandots, Ottawas and Chippewas re- linquished all claim to the Ohio Valley, and established the bound- ary line between them and the United States to be the Cuyahoga river, and along the main branch of the Tuscarawas to the forks of said river, near Fort Laurens, thence westwardly to the port- age between the head waters 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 Cuyahoga river. This treaty was negotiated by George Rogers Clark, Richard Butler and Ar- thur Lee, for the United States, and by the chiefs of the afore- named tribes.
A similar relinquishment was effected by the Treaty of Fort Finney (at the mouth of the Great Miami), concluded with the Shawanese, January 31, 1786, the United States Commissioners be- ing the same as the foregoing, except the substitution of Samuel H. Parsons for Arthur Lee.
The Treaty of Fort Harmar, held by General St. Clair January 9, 1789, was mainly confirmatory of the treaties previously made.
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THE NORTH-WESTERN TERRITORY.
o also was the Treaty of Greenville, of August 3, 1795, made by eneral Wayne, on the part of the United States, and the chiefs f eleven of the most powerful tribes of the north-western Indians, hich re-established the Indian boundary line through the present tate of Ohio, and extended it from Loramie to Fort Recovery, nd from thence to the Ohio river, opposite the mouth of the Ken- icky river.
The rights and titles acquired by the Indian tribes under the ›regoing treaties were extinguished by the General Government, y purchase, in pursuance of treaties subsequently made. The Vestern Reserve tract west of the Cuyahoga river was secured by treaty formed at Fort Industry, in 1805. The lands west of 'ichland and Huron counties and north of the boundary line to ne western limits of Ohio were purchased by the United States 1 1818. The last possession of the Delawares was purchased in 829, and by a treaty made at Upper Sandusky, March 17, 1842, y Colonel John Johnston and the Wyandot chiefs, that last rem- ant of the Indian tribes in Ohio sold the last acre they owned ithin the limits of our State to the General Government, and re- red, the next year, to the Far West, settling at and near the louth of the Kansas river.
FIRST OFFICERS OF THE TERRITORY.
Congress, in October, 1787, appointed General Arthur St. lair, Governor ; Major Winthrop Sargent, Secretary ; and James I. Varnum, Samuel H. Parsons and John Armstrong, Judges of ne Territory, the latter of whom, however, having declined the ppointment, John Cleves Symmes was appointed in his stead in 'ebruary, 1788. On the 9th of July, 1788, Governor St. Clair rrived at Marietta, and finding the Secretary and a majority of le judges present proceeded to organize the Territory. The Gov- nor and judges (or a majority of them) were the sole legisla- ve power during the existence of the first grade of territorial overnment. Such laws as were in force in any of the States, and
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
were deemed applicable to the condition of the people of the Ter- ritory 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, when- ever the business of the territory required it, but not more than once a year in any one county.
THE SECOND GRADE OF TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT.
After it shall have been 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 Legislative 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 acts 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 without 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 Sciota river to which the Indian title had been extinguished, reaching northward to Lake Erie, the Ohio river and the Pennsyl- vania line being its eastern boundary; Marietta, the seat of the territorial government, also becoming the county seat of Washing- ton county.
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THE NORTH-WESTERN TERRITORY.
Quite a number of laws were necessarily adopted and pub- ished during 1788 and the following year. From 1790 to 1795 hey published sixty-four, thirty-four of them having been adopted it Cincinnati during the months of June, July, and August of the ast named year, by the Governor and Judges Symmes and Tur- her. They are known as the "Maxwell Code," from the name of he publisher, and were intended, says the author of "Western Annals," to form a pretty complete body of statutory provisions." n 1798 eleven more were adopted. It was the published opinion of the late Chief-Justice Chase, "that it may be doubted whether ny colony, at so early a period after its first establishment, ever lad so good a code of laws." Among them was that "which provided that the common law of England, and all statutes in aid hereof, made previous to the fourth year of James I., should be n full force within the territory." Probably four-fifths of the aws adopted were selected from those in force in Pennsylvania ; he 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 he institution of a county court of common pleas, to be composed f not less than three nor more than five judges, commissioned by he governor, who were to hold two sessions in each year. Pursu- nt to its provisions, the first session of said court was held in and or Washington county, September 2, 1788. The judges of the purt were General Rufus Putnam, General Benjamin Tupper and Colonel Archibald Crary. Colonel Return Jonathan Meigs was lerk, and Colonel Ebenezer Sproat was sheriff. Elaborate details f the opening of this, the' first court held in the North-west Ter- tory, have come down to us, showing it to have been a stylish, ignified proceeding. Briefly, "a procession was formed at the pint (the junction of the Muskingum with the Ohio river) of the habitants and the officers from Fort Harmar, who escorted the dge of the court, the governor of the Territory and the terri-
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
torial judges to the hall appropriated for that purpose, in the north- west block-house in "Campus Martius." "The procession," says Mitchener, "was headed by the sheriff, with drawn sword and baton of office." "After prayer by Rev. Manasseh 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 establishing "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. General Rufus Putnam and General Benjamin Tupper, says Mitchener, constituted the justices of the quorum, and Isaac Pearce, Thomas Lord and Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr., the assistant justices ; Colonel Return Jona- than Meigs, Sr., was clerk. Colonel Ebenezer Sproat was sheriff of Washington county fourteen years. The first grand jury of the North-west Territory was empanneled by this court, and consisted of the following gentlemen: William Stacey (foreman), Nathan- iel 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.
ORGANIZATION OF COUNTIES.
Washington county, embracing the eastern half of the present State of Ohio, was the only organized county of the North-west Territory until early in 1790, when the governor proclaimed Ham- ilton county, which included all the territory between the Big and Little Miami rivers, and extended north to the "Standing Stone Forks," on the first named stream.
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THE NORTH.WESTERN TERRITORY.
The following is a list of all the Territorial counties organized ; so the date of organization, with their respective county seats :
COUNTIES.
WHEN PROCLAIMED.
COUNTY SEATS.
[. Washington
July 27, 1788
Hamilton
January 2, 1790 ..
3. St. Clair
February, 1790
Marietta. Cincinnati. Cahokia.
1. Knox
In 1790
Vincennes.
5. Randolph
In 1795 .
Kaskaskia.
5. Wayne
August 15, 1795.
Detroit.
7. Adams
July 10, 1797
Manchester.
3. Jefferson
July 29, 1797
Steubenville.
9. Ross.
August 20, 1797
Chillicothe.
D. Trumbull
July 10, 1800
Warren.
I. Clermont
December 6, 1800.
Williamsburg.
2. Fairfield.
December 9, 1800.
New Lancaster.
3. Belmont.
September 7, 1801.
St. Clairsville.
It will be observed that Hamilton was the second county organized. There were situated within its limits, when organized, everal flourishing villages, that had had their origin during the losing months of 1788 and early in 1789. Columbia, situated at he mouth of the Little Miami, was the first of these laid out, its early settlers being Colonel Benjamin Stites, of "Redstone Old Fort" (proprietor); William Goforth, John S. Gano, John Smith "a Baptist minister, who afterwards 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 Ludlow. Several not very successful attempts had also been made at various points between Cincinnati and the mouth of the Great Miami by Judge Symmes.
The early settlers of Hamilton county were principally from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Kentucky. Judges Symmes and Burnet were representative men in the Miami Val- ley from New Jersey; Jeremiah Morrow and Judge Dunlavy from Pennsylvania ; Wm. H. Harrison and Wm. McMillan, from Vir- ginia; and Colonel Robert Patterson and Rev. James Kemper, from Kentucky.
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HISTORY OF WAYNE COUNTY, OHIO.
The Scioto Valley, the next in order of time, was settled chiefly by Virginians and Kentuckians, represented by Colonel Thomas Worthington and General Nathaniel Massie, two of its prominent settlers.
And the early settlements along Lake Erie, during the closing years of the eighteenth century, whose representative men were Governor Samuel Huntington and Hon. Benjamin Tappan, were established by men not a whit inferior to those above named. And the good that General Washington said of the New England colony that settled Marietta could, with very slight modifications, be said of most of the settlers and pioneers of the aforesaid settlements.
EARLY TERRITORIAL VILLAGES AND TOWNS.
The following is a list of the principal villages and towns of the North-west Territory, started and built up during Territorial rule, with the time of the first survey of lots, together with the names of their proprietors :
Marietta-laid out in 1788 by Rufus Putnam and the Ohio Land Company.
Columbia-laid out in 1788 by Benjamin Stites, Major Gano, and others.
Cincinnati-laid out in 1789 by Robert Patterson, Matthias Denman, and Israel Ludlow.
Gallipolis-laid out in 1791 by the French settlers.
Manchester-laid out in 1791 by Nathaniel Massie.
Hamilton-laid out in 1794 by Israel Ludlow.
Dayton-laid out in 1795 by Israel Ludlow and Generals Dayton and Wilkinson.
Franklin-laid out in 1795 by William C. Schenck and Daniel C. Cooper. Chillicothe-laid ont in 1796 by Nathaniel Massie.
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