The History of Union County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, towns military record;, Part 21

Author: Durant, Pliny A. [from old catalog]; Beers, W. H., & co., Chicago, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, W. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1254

USA > Ohio > Union County > The History of Union County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, towns military record; > Part 21

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).

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This remarkable instrument was the last gift of the Congress of the old confederation to the country, and it was a fit consummation of their glorious

Jesse gill

207

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

labors. At the time of its promulgation, the Federal Constitution was under discussion in the convention; and in a few months, upon the organization of the new national government, that Congress was dissolved, never again to re-as- semble. Some, and indeed most of the principles established by the articles of compact are to be found in the plan of 1784, and in the various English and American bills of rights. Others, however, and these not the least important, are original. Of this number are the clauses in relation to contracts, to slavery and to Indians. On the whole, these articles contain what they profess to con- tain, the true theory of American liberty. The great principles promulgated by it are wholly and purely American. They are indeed the genuine princi- ples of freedom, unadulterated by that compromise with circumstances, the effects of which are visible in the constitution and history of the Union.

The first form of civil government, provided by the ordinance, was now formally established within the Territory. Under this form, the people had no concern in the business of government. The Governor and Judges derived their appointments at first from Congress, and after the adoption of the Fed- eral Constitution, from the President. The commission of the former officer was for the term of three years, unless sooner revoked; those of the latter were during good behavior. It was required that the Governor should reside within the Territory, and possess a freehold estate there. in one thousand acres of land. He had authority to appoint all officers of militia, below the rank of Generals, and all magistrates and civil officers, except the Judges and the Secretary of the Territory; to establish convenient divisions of the whole dis- trict for the execution of progress, to lay out those parts to which the Indian titles might be extinguished into counties and townships. The Judges, or any two of them, constituted a court with common law jurisdiction. It was neces- sary that cach Judge should possess a freehold estate in the territory of five hundred acres. The whole legislative power which, however, extended only to the adoption of such laws of the original States as might be suited to the cir- cumstances of the country, was vested in the Governor and Judges. The laws adopted were to continue in force, unless disapproved by Congress, until re- pealed by the Legislature, which was afterward to be organized. It was the duty of the Secretary to preserve all acts and laws, public records and executive proceedings, and to transmit authentic copies to the Secretary of Congress every six months.

Such was the first government devised for the Northwestern Territory. It is obvious that its character, as beneficent or oppressive, depended entirely upon the temper and disposition of those who administrated it. All power, legisla- tive, judicial and executive, was concentrated in the Governor and Judges, and in its exercise they were responsible only to the distant Federal head. The expenses of the Government were defrayed in part by the United States, but were principally drawn from the'pockets of the people in the shape of fees.

208

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

This temporary system, however unfriendly as it seems to liberty, was, perhaps, so established upon sufficient reasons. The Federal Constitution had not then been adopted, and there were strong apprehensions that the people of the Territory might not be disposed to organize States and apply for admission into the Union. It was, therefore, a matter of policy so to frame the Territorial system as to create some strong motives to draw them into the Union, as States, in due time.

The first acts of Territorial legislation were passed at Marietta, then the only American settlement northwest of the Ohio. The Governor and Judges did not strictly confine themselves within the limits of their legislative author- ity, as prescribed by the ordinance. When they could not find laws of the original States suited to the condition of the country, they supplied the want by enactments of their own. The earliest laws, from 1788 to 1795, were all thus enacted. The laws of 1788 provided for the organization of the militia; for the establishment of inferior courts; for the punishment of crimes, and for the limitations of actions; prescribed the duties of ministerial officers; regu- lated marriages, and appointed oaths of office. That the Governor and Judges in the enactment of these laws, exceeded their authority, without the slightest disposition to abuse it, may be inferred from the fact that except two, which had been previously repealed, they were all confirmed by the first Territorial Legislature.

At this period there was no seat of government, properly called. The Governor resided at Cincinnati, but laws were passed whenever they seemed to be needed, and promulgated at any place where the Territorial legislators hap- pened to be assembled. Before the year of 1795, no laws were, strictly speak- ing, adopted. Most of them were framed by the Governor and Judges to answer particular public ends; while in the enactmant of others, including all the laws of 1792, the Secretary of the Territory discharged, under the author- ity of an act of Congress, the functions of the Governor. The earliest laws, as has been already stated, were published at Marietta. Of the remainder, a few were published at Vincennes, and the rest at Cincinnati.

In the year 1789, the first Congress passed an act recognizing the binding force of the ordinance of 1787, and adapting its provisions to the Federal Con- stitution. This act provided that the communications directed in the ordinance to be made to Congress or its officers, by the Governor, should thenceforth be made to the President, and that the authority to appoint with the consent of the Senate, and commission officers, before that time appointed and commis- sioned by Congress, should likewise be vested in that officer. It also gave the Territorial Secretary the power already mentioned, of acting in certain cases, in the place of the Governor. In 1792, Congress passed another act giving to the Governor and Judges authority to repeal, at their discretion, the laws by

209

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

them made; and enabling a single Judge of the general court, in the absence of his brethren, to hold the terms.

At this time the Judges appointed by the national Executive constituted the Supreme Court of the Territory. They were commissioned during good behavior; and their judicial jurisdiction extended over the whole region north- west of the Ohio. The court, thus constituted, was fixed at no certain place, and its process, civil and criminal, was returnable wheresoever it might be in the Territory. Inferior to this court were the County Courts of Common Pleas, and the General Quarter Sessions of the Peace. The former consisted of any number of Judges, not less than three nor more than seven, and had a general common-law jurisdiction, concurrent, in the respective counties, with that of the Supreme Court; the latter consisted of a number of Justices for each county, to be determined by the Governor, who were required to hold three terms in every year, and had a limited criminal jurisdiction. Single Judges of the Common Pleas, and single Justices of the Quarter Sessions, were also clothed with certain civil and criminal powers to be exercised out of court. Besides these courts, each county had a Judge of Probate, clothed with the ordinary jurisdiction of a Probate Court.

Such was the original constitution of courts and distribution of judicial power in the Northwestern Territory. The expenses of the system were de- frayed in part by the National Government, and in part by assessments upon the counties, but principally by fees, which were payable to every officer con- cerned in the administration of justice, from the Judges of the General Court downward.

In 1795, the Governor and Judges undertook to revise the Territorial laws, and to establish a complete system of statutory jurisprudence, by adoptions from the laws of the original States, in strict conformity to the provisions of the ordinance. For this purpose they assembled at Cincinnati, in June, and continued in session until the latter part of August. The judiciary system un- derwent some changes. The General Court was fixed at Cincinnati and Marietta, and a Circuit Court was established with power to try, in the several counties, issues in fact depending before the superior tribunal, where alone causes could be finally decided. Orphans' Courts, too, were established, with jurisdiction analogous to but more extensive than that of a Judge of Probate. Laws were also adopted to regulate judgments and executions, for limitation of actions, for the distribution of intestate estates, and for many other general purposes. Finally, as if with a view to create some great reservoir, from which, whatever principles and powers had been omitted in the particular acts, might be drawn according to the exigency of circumstances, the Governor and Judges adopted a law, providing that the common law of England and all general statutes in aid of the common law, prior to the fourth year of James I, should be in full force within the Territory. The law thus adopted was an act of the Virginia Legislature, passed before the Declaration of Independence, when Virginia was

210

HISTORY OF THE STATE OF OHIO.

yet a British colony, and at the time of its adoption had been repealed so far as it related to the English statutes.

The other laws of 1795 were principally derived from the statute book of Pennsylvania. The system thus adopted, was not without many imperfections and blemishes, but it may be doubted whether any colony, at so early a period after its first establishment, ever had one so good.

And how gratifying is the retrospect, how cheering the prospect which even this sketch, brief and partial as it is, presents! On a surface, covered less than half a century ago by the trees of the primeval forest, a State has grown up from colonial infancy to freedom, independence and strength. But thirty years have elapsed since that State, with hardly sixty thousand inhabitants, was admitted into the American Union. Of the twenty-four States which form that Union, she is now the fourth in respect to population. In other respects, her rank is even higher. Already her resources have been adequate, not only to the expense of government and instruction. but to the construction of long lines of canals. Her enterprise has realized the startling prediction of the poet, who, in 1787, when Ohio was yet a wilderness, foretold the future con- nection of the Hudson with the Ohio.

And these results are attributable mainly to her institutions. The spirit of the ordinance of 1787 prevades them all. Who can estimate the benefits which have flowed from the interdiction by that instrument of slavery and of legislative interference with private contracts ? One consequence is, that the soil of Ohio bears up none but freemen; another, that a stern and honorable regard to private rights and public morals characterizes her legislation. There is hardly a page in the statute book of which her sons need be ashamed. The great doctrine of equal rights is everywhere recognized in her constitution and her laws. Almost every father of a family in this State has a freehold interest in the soil, but this interest is not necessary to entitle him to a voice in the concerns of government. Every man may vote; every man is eligible to any office. And this unlimited extension of the elective franchise, so far from pro- ducing any evil, has ever constituted a safe and sufficient check upon injurious legislation. Other causes of her prosperity may be found in her fertile soil, in her felicitous position, and especially in her connection with the union of the States. All these springs of growth and advancement are permanent, and upon a most gratifying prospect of the future. They promise an advance in population, wealth, intelligence and moral worth as permanent as the existence of the State itself. They promise to the future citizens of Ohio the blessings of good government, wise legislation and universal instruction. More than all, they are pledges that in all future, as in all past circumstances, Ohio will cleave fast to the national constitution and the national Union, and that her growing energies will on no occasion, be more willingly or powerfully put forth, than in the support and maintenance of both in unimpaired vigor and strength.

James Pulling tore

PART III.

HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY

BY PLINY A. DURANT.

HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY

CHAPTER I.

PHYSICAL FEATURES.

GEOGRAPHY-TOPOGRAPHY-GEOLOGY-SOILS, ETC.

TNION COUNTY occupies a nearly central position in the State of Ohio, and is bounded north by Hardin and Marion Counties, east by Marion and Delaware, south by Franklin and Madison, and west by Champaign and Logan. Its area by towships is as follows:

TOWNSHIPS

NO. OF ACRES.

Allen. .

19,037

Claibourne.

19,560

Richwood School District.

1,571

Darby.

19,416

Dover

14,203

Jackson

17,776

Jerome.

22,718

Leesburg

18,677

Liberty.

23,022

Mill Creek.

13,807

Paris. .

19,649

Marysville School District.

1,973

Taylor.

16,463

Union.

22,095

Washington

17,819

York .

23,523

Total

271,309

This area lacks but fifty-one acres of being 424 square miles; the figures are from the abstract of the tax duplicate for 1882, in the office of the County Auditor.

There are at this time (November, 1882), twenty-one post offices in the county, as follows: Boke's Creek (at the village of Summersville), Broadway, Byhalia, Claibourne, Irwin, Jerome (at the village of Frankfort), Magnetic Springs, Marysville, Milford Center, New California, New Dover, Peoria, Pharisburg, Pottersburg, Raymond's (at the village of Newton), Richwood, Rush Creek (at the village of Essex), Unionville Center, Watkins, Woodland, York.

The county contains four incorporated villages: Marysville, in Paris Township; Richwood, in Claibourne Township; Milford Center, in Union Township, and Unionville Center in Darby Township. A movement has been made looking to the incorporation of Magnetic Springs, in Leesburg Town- ship, but as yet without result. The other villages of the county are: Wood- land and Essex, in Jackson Township; Byhalia, in Washington; Claibourne, in Claibourne; Summersville and York Center, in York; Newton and Peoria, in Liberty; Broadway, in Taylor; Pharisburg, in Leesburg; New Dover, in Dover; Pottersburg, in Allen; Irwin, in Union; Frankfort, New California, and a portion of Plain City, in Jerome. Allen Center, in Allen, and Bridge- port and Chuckery, in Darby, are points which have " a local habitation and

216

HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

a name," without having special importance otherwise. Marysville, the county seat, has the largest population, and Richwood is next in point of numbers. Milford Center, Unionville Center and Magnetic Springs follow in about the order named, although the latter has perhaps the largest population of the three during the summer season, when the place is thronged with in- valids, located temporarily for the purpose of treatment with the waters of the numerous medical springs which have been tapped and made to yield abund- antly of their life-giving qualities.

The entire area of the county of Union is drained into the Scioto River, the principal channels through which this is effected being Rush, Fulton, Boke's, Blue's, Mill, Big Darby and Little Darby Creeks, with such lesser tribu- taries as Rocky Fork of Rush Creek, "Big Swale," Patton Run, Powder Lick Run, Brush Run, Ottawa Creek, Big Run, Peacock Run, Flat Branch Ditch, Otter Run, Bear Swamp Run, Buck Run, Opossum Run, Cross' Run, Phelps' Run, Grassy Run, Dunn's Run, Spring Run, Prairie Run, Watson Run, Hay Run, Proctor Run, Treacle Creek, Cow Run, Robinson's Run, Sager Run, Sugar Run, Indian Run, and many not dignified with names. The origin of a few of these names is known, as for instance, Rush Creek, being a sluggish stream, is probably named from the rushes which grow along its banks; Blue's Creek, so called for an unfortunate individual named Blue, who was one of an early surveying party, and received a ducking in its waters; Mill Creek was named probably from the fact of its furnishing power for very early mills in Delaware County; Darby Creek is said to have been named after an Indian chief who once lived in this region. The other streams, or most of them, have names plainly showing their origin, generally from local circumstances. The general course of nearly all these streams is southeast. In former years, they furnished fair mill power, but it has since been found necessary to intro- duce steam in most instances for manufacturing or mill purposes.

The greater part of Union County is either level or gently undulat- ing. The rougher portions are on the upper waters of Mill Creek and in Je- rome Township. There is little in the county to which the term "hill" can properly be applied, although the divide between Mill and Blue's Creeks would in some regions be termed a hill, and the broken lands along Big Darby ap- proach nearly to that dignity. The streams have cut below the natural level, Big Darby Creek having the deepest channel. South of this stream are the well-known " Darby Plains," whose fertile soil has yielded golden returns for the labors of the husbandman through many years. In Liberty, Paris and Allen Townships, including the locality known as the " Bear Swamp," is a district formerly known as the "Flat Woods," from being very level and covered with a dense growth of timber. The latter has been largely cleared away, and a thorough system of drainage has reclaimed most of the land, in- cluding even the "Bear Swamp," in which it is now stated corn is grown where ouce was a wooded morass and a shallow lake. In Claibourne Town- ship, north of Richwood, is a very level tract known as the "Big Swale," which is difficult to drain, such drainage as here is being into Rush Creek.

GEOLOGY.

This portion of the chapter will be principally from an account pre- pared a few years since by N. H. Winchell, on the State geological survey, with additional items concerning the waters which have recently been dis- covered on Boke's Creek, at what is now the village of Magnetic Springs. Prof. Winchell's report is as follows:

" Natural Drainage .- The surface drainage all passes into the Scioto Valley, by streams which flow with gentle current in a southeasterly direc-

217

HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

tion. They rise in the Logan County Corniferous area, a region of very rough or hilly surface, rising several hundred feet above the surrounding waterlime flats, and toward the southeast enter upon another area of Cornifer- ous, which, although presenting different surface features, yet is not so broken as the Logan County area. There is a remarkable uniformity in direction and alternation in these streams. The principal valleys have a slope to the east or southeast, toward the Scioto, the valley of which is excavated over an hun- dred feet in the bed rock, in Delaware County. To one who has closely ob- served the systems of drainage in the various counties, and has aimed to ascertain from the effects seen the causes that located streams in various parts of Northwestern Ohio, this alone suggests a halting retreat of a glacier across the county, throwing down greater accumulations of drift where it remained stationary for a length of time. Such would be the divides between the streams, the valleys being in those belts where the drift was left thinner. But, with a single exception, nothing of this is indicated by the surface features so far as the time devoted to the survey would disclose. The whole county was carefully examined. In counties further northwest, where such moraines are seen to guide the drainage diagonally across the general slope of the sur- face, the tributary streams all join the main streams from the same direction, but in Union County streams enter the main valleys from opposite sides. The surface between the streams is flat, and there is no evidence of a thickening of the drift, except between Big Darby and Mill Creeks.

"Surface Features .- Between Big Darby and Mill Creeks there is a very noticeable thickening of drift. It rises into long ridges and high knolls, which consist of hardpan or glacier drifts. Northern bowlders and stones are on the surface and in the soil indiscriminately, though the same is true to somne extent throughout the county. This ridge of drift is greatly developed at New California. where wells are sunk to the depth of fifty-four feet without meeting anything but blue clay, the water obtained being bitter. West and south of Marysville, two or three miles, the surface is high and rolling, with clay hills. Toward the north and east it is flat, with gravel near the surface in some places. Between Milford Center and Unionville, clay knobs and rolling land can be seen north of Darby Creek, while toward the south and in Union Township, the Darby Plains extend several miles. Wells at Potters- burg penetrate the drift over sixty feet without meeting the rock, but obtain good water at that depth. About Newton there is a very rolling and bluffy tract of land, some of the wells obtaining bitter water in blue clay at fifty- two feet. This rolling strip of clay knobs dies out toward the south and west, and toward the north and east. Throughout the rest of the county the surface is very nearly flat, wells being usually less than twenty-five feet. This belt of clay knobs crosses the entire county, although it seems to turn a little toward the north in Jerome Township. The following elevations above Lake Erie are taken from profiles of railroads that cross the county:

Richwood.

369

feet.

Broadway.

422

feet.

Marysville 425 feet.

The following points of elevation were obtained by aneroid barometer, connecting with railroad stations :

Marysville (with Bellefontaine).

325

feet.

New California ...

375

feet.

Hill east of New California

395

feet.

Plain City ...

225

feet.

Hills west of Marysville.

355

feet.

Peoria .

410 feet.

Newton.

460

feet.

Pharisburg.

304

feet.

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HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY.

Essex. . . 359

feet.

Northeast corner Washington Township. 389

feet.

York Center . 399 feet.

Survey No. 5,270, Allen Township 485 feet. Allen Center. . 435 fect.

Milford Center.

315

feet.

" Soil and Timber. -- The soil is one derived entirely from the drift, and may be denominated in general a gravelly clay. It exhibits the well-known characteristics of fertility and endurance that mark all the drift soils of North- western Ohio. It shows a very fair sprinkling of stones and bowlders, but in some places is very fine and heavy. It is only along the immediate river banks, on the bottom lands, that the sandy element prevails, and it is then confined to the alluvium."

Among the species of timber noted by Mr. Winchell, are sugar and soft maple, beech, several varieties of elm, ash and oak, linn- or basswood, dogwood, shagbark and pig hickory, sycamore or "buttonwood," buckeye, prickly ash, blue beech, honey locust, hackberry, thorn, black willow, black walnut, black cherry, wild apple, ironwood, cottonwood, papaw, trembling aspen and Judas tree; several others are found in different varieties of willow, the butternut, etc. He proceeds with the geological structure as follows:

" The rocks of the county embrace the following limestones, including also the Oriskany sandstone:

Hamilton or Upper Corniferous. .

Lower Corniferous.

.Devonian.

Oriskany Waterlime. . Upper Silurian.

" By the Hamilton is here meant the blue limestone which is quarried at Delaware, and which is regarded by Dr. Newberry as partly Hamilton and partly Corniferous. It has been mentioned frequently by the writer in report- ing on counties in Northwestern Ohio, under the designation of Upper Cor- niferous, in order to keep its distriet from the underlying limestone, which is plainly Corniferous. The Lower Corniferous is well represented in the quar- ries in Mill Creek Township. The Oriskany has not been seen within the county, but is probably conglomeratic, since it has that character in Delaware County. These limestones, with the Oriskany, make up the Devonian, so far as represented within the county. The rock which immediately underlies the Oriskany belongs to the Upper Silurian. It is the waterlime member of the Lower Helderberg. The Devonian is found only in the southeastern part of the county, although there are some evidences, in the form of large fragments, that it extends as far west as Marysville. It underlies the most of Mill Creek and Jerome Townships. The rest of the county is occupied by the waterlime.

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The History of Union County, Ohio, containing a history of the county; its townships, towns military record;, Part 21

Author: Durant, Pliny A. [from old catalog]; Beers, W. H., & co., Chicago, pub. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago, W. H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 1254

Author: Durant, Pliny A. [from old catalog]; Beers, W. H., & co., Chicago, pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, W. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1254