The history of Madison County, Ohio, Part 27

Author: Brown, Robert C; W.H. Beers & Co., pub
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, W.H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1180

USA > Ohio > Madison County > The history of Madison County, Ohio > Part 27

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The continued resistance of the Indians to the encroachments of the whites has been related in the previous chapter, and with the breaking-out of the Revolutionary war this resistance was redoubled through the treachery and encouragement of the English Government. During the bitter struggle for American independence, white settlement north of the Ohio River was retarded for years, but soon after its successful ending, the eyes of pioneers were turned longingly in this direction. On the 20th of May. 1785. Con- gress passed an act for disposing of the lands in the Northwest Territory, and for this purpose surveyors were appointed to survey the country into townships, six miles square. Without waiting for the action of Congress, settlers began coming into the country, and when ordered by Congress to leave undisturbed Indian lands, refused to do so. They went, however, at their own peril, and could get no redress from the Government, even when life was lost. These hardy pioneers knew not fear, and continued the move- ment which resulted in a bitter Indian war, the triumphs of the white race, and their ultimate possession of the beautiful valleys and rich lands of Ohio.

The cession of the claims of New York, Massachusetts, Virginia and Connecticut to the United States was the signal for the formation of land companies in the East whose object was to settle the Western country, and at the same time enrich the founders of said companies. Some had been organized prior to the Revolutionary war, but that battle for human rights retarded these speculations, which were now, again, springing into life. Thus the Ohio Company was organized in March, 1787, taking the same name as one which existed in the old colonial days, Congress refusing to recognize the claims of the old companies. Dr. Manasseh Cutler, Gen. Rufus Putnam, Gen. Parsons, Benjamin Tupper and Winthrop Sargent, were the leading

spirits in this enterprise. Beside the names which history gives as the Ohio Company, there were secret co-partners comprising many of the lead- ing characters of America. The company purchased the vast region bounded on the south by the Ohio, west by the Scioto, east by the seventh range of townships then surveying, and north by a due west line drawn from the north boundary of the tenth township from the Ohio River, direct to the Scioto. This comprised a tract of nearly 5,000,000 acres of land, for which they were to pay $1 per acre, subject to a deduction of one-third for bad lands and other contingencies. The whole tract was not, however. taken by the company, and in 1792 the boundaries were so changed as to include 750,000 acres, besides reservations, this grant being the portion which it was originally agreed the company might enter into at once. In addition to this,

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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY.

214,285 acres were granted as army bounties under the resolutions of 1779 and 1780, and 100,000 acres as bounties to actual settlers, both of the latter tracts being within the original grant of 1787, and adjoining the Ohio Company's lands.

The celebrated ordinance erecting the Northwest into a Territory, was passed July 13, 1787. It emanated from the brain of Dr. Manasseh Cutler, who was an accomplished scholar and a firm believer in freedom. He was ably assisted by Thomas Jefferson, to whose wise statesmanship is due much of the success which attended Dr. Cutler's efforts in having passed such an ordinance as would make Ohio a free land-free from the blighting curse of slavery, where religion, morality and education would forever be fostered and encouraged.

These events were soon followed by the grant of the lands between the Miamis to John Cleve Symmes, of New Jersey, who had visited that por- tion of Ohio in 1786. The sale was accomplished and contract signed in 1788, the terms being similar to those of the Ohio Company.

In 1785, Fort Harmar was built on the right bank of the Muskingum River, at its junction with the Ohio, by a detachment of soldiers under com- mand of Maj. John Doughty, and named in honor of his old commander, Col. Josiah Harmar. It was the first military post erected by the Americans within the limits of Ohio, except Fort Laurens, which was but a temporary structure and soon abandoned. During the following winter, a part of the garrison floated down the Ohio in flat-boats and erected Fort Finney, im- mediately below the mouth of the Big Miami, subsequently known as North Bend. The troops did not remain permanently at this point but soon de- scended to the falls.

On the 7th of April, 1788, the first permanent pioneer settlement was made at the mouth of the Muskingum, opposite Fort Harmar. It con- sisted of forty-seven pioneers from the New England States, under the leadership of Gen. Rufus Putnam, who, building a boat at the mouth of the Youghiogheny River, in the winter of 1787, and placing the same under the command of Capt. Devol, the first shipbuilder in the West, floated down the Ohio to the lands previously obtained by the Ohio Company, where 5,760 acres, near the confluence of the Muskingum and Ohio Rivers, had been set off for a city and commons. They immediately began erecting cabins, and July 1 were joined by a colony from Massachusetts. Washing- ton wrote the following lines concerning this settlement: "No colony in America was ever settled under such favorable auspices as that which has commenced at the Muskingum. Information, property and strength will be its characteristics. I know many of the settlers personally, and there never were men better calculated to promote the welfare of such a community."

In October, 1787, Arthur St. Clair had been appointed by Congress Governor of the Northwest Territory, which body also appointed Winthrop Sargent, Secretary, Samuel H. Parsons, James M. Varnum and John Armstrong, Judges. Subsequently, Mr. Armstrong resigned and John Cleve Symmes was appointed to fill the vacancy. This body constituted the Territorial government with full judicial powers under the ordinance of 1787, and, although none of those were on the ground when the first settlement was made, the Judges came soon after. The first law was passed July 25, 1788, and on the following day the county of Washington was erected

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by the proclamation of Gov. St. Clair, Marrietta being established as the seat of justice, it having previously been laid out and named in honor of Marie Antoinette, Queen of France. The emigration westward at this time was very large, 4,500 persons having passed Fort Harmar between February and June, 1788.

The second settlement in Ohio was made near the mouth of the Little Miami River, on the Symmes purchase, in the winter of 1788-89, but pre- vious to the latter year. Benjamin Stites had bought 10,000 acres of Symmes at that point, and with a band of pioneers, whose numbers were soon after- ward increased, erected a blockhouse, built cabins and laid out a town which was named Columbia.

In the mean time, Symmes laid out a town near the mouth of the Big Miami River, which he called Cleves City, but the place has been better known as North Bend. He offered special inducements to settlers locating at this point, hoping thereby to make it the future city of the West, but the great flood of January, 1789, overflowed the place so badly that the hopes of its projector were considerably weakened. A few families, however, erected cabins here, and upon the outbreak of hostilities with the Indians, Symmes succeeded in getting Maj. Doughty, with a detachment of soldiers, stationed at his town, hoping by that means to make it a military headquarters. The Major, it seems, did not view the position with a favor- able eye, and in the summer of 1789 removed to the Losantiville settle- ment, where he erected and garrisoned Fort Washington, to which point most of the settlers soon followed, thus destroying forever the growth and prosperity of Cleves City.

In January, 1788, Mathias Denman, of New Jersey, purchased of Symmes a tract of land opposite the mouth of the Licking River, and the following summer sold a two-thirds interest to Robert Patterson and John Filson, each holding a one-third interest in the land. These three agreed, about August, 1788, to lay off a town at this point. and in September vis- ited the proposed location. They kept on up the Miami Valley on a pros- pecting tour, but Filson on attempting to return alone to the Ohio was . probably killed by the Indians, as he was never seen again. His interest was sold to Israel Ludlow, Symmes' surveyor, and in December, 1788, he, with Mr. Patterson, Mr. Denman and fourteen others, came to "form a station and lay off a town opposite the Licking." This was accordingly done, block-houses built, cabins erected, and the settlement established on a permanent foundation. When the location was first selected, Mr. Filson, who had been a schoolmaster and was something of a poet, was appointed to name the town. In respect to its situation, and as if with a prophetic perception of the mixed races that were in after years to dwell there, he named it Losantiville, which, says the Western Annals, means ville, the town ; anti, opposite to ; os. the mouth ; L, of Licking. Judge Burnett. in his notes, says : " The name ' Losantiville' was determined on but not adopted when the town was laid out." Throughout the summer of 1789 this settlement increased rapidly, and the erection of Fort Washington that year gave it an impetus which decided its future. In December of that year, Gov. St. Clair came down the Ohio from Marietta to the settlement opposite the Licking, and on the 2d of January, 1790, he proclaimed the erection of Hamilton County, and about the same time named the town

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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY.

Cincinnati, which appellation it has ever since borne. From that day, Cleves City declined, while Cincinnati steadily advanced in size and prosperity.

As early as 1787, the lands in the Virginia Military District, lying between the Scioto and Little Miami Rivers, were examined, and in August of that year entries were made ; but as no good title could be obtained from Congress at this time, the settlement practically ceased until 1790, when the prohibition to enter them was withdrawn, and so soon as that was done surveying began. This body of land was appropriated by the State of Virginia, to satisfy the claims of her troops employed in the Continental line, during the Revolutionary war. It is not surveyed into townships, and a Virginia military land warrant could be located wherever, and in whatever shape the holder desired. In consequence of this the irregularity of the surveys has been the cause of much trouble and litigation, while it destroyed forever the convenience of straight roads and regular township or farm lines.

In the winter of 1790. Gen. Nathaniel Massie determined to make a settlement in the Scioto Valley, which now comprises Adams, Delaware, Fayette, Franklin, Hardin, Highland, Jackson, Madison, Marion, Morrow, Pickaway, Pike, Ross, Scioto and Union Counties. Gen. Massie was among the foremost men in surveying and locating lands in this tract of country ; and in order to effect his object he sent notices throughout Ken- tucky, offering to the first twenty-five families who would join him, one in- lot and one outlot, also 100 acres of land, provided, however, they would settle in a town which he intended laying off at his settlement. His gener- ous offer met with a ready response, and he was joined by more than thirty families. The present site of Manchester, Adams County, was the point selected by Massie for the new town ; here he fixed his station and laid off the land into town lots. The settlers, with the indomitable Massie, as leader, went to work and by the middle of March, 1791, many cabins to- gether with a block-house, were erected, and the whole village inclosed by a strong stockade. Thus was the first permanent settlement in the Virginia Military District, and the fourth in Ohio, an accomplished fact.

That summer they cleared the lower of the three islands, in the Ohio River, and planted it in corn. As the land was very rich, abundant crops were produced, which, together with a plentiful supply of game, furnished the settlers with everything necessary to a livelihood, especially as their wants were few and easily gratified. From this point, Massie continued. throughout the Indian war, despite the danger, to survey the surrounding country and prepare it for settlers. This settlement suffered little from In- dian depredations on account of the unexposed locality and well-fortified position, stragglers or prospectors alone being in danger of capture or death by the prowling savages.

The master mind of Gen. Massie saw the safety of the location from the outset, and to him, more than any other man, is due the rapid growth and development of the Scioto Valley. IIe was born in Goochland County, Va., December 28, 1763, and in 1780 engaged, for a short time, in the Revolutionary war. In 1783, he left for Kentucky, where he acted as surveyor. He was subsequently appointed Government surveyor, and labored much in that capacity for carly Ohio proprictors, being paid in land for his services. Thus he accumulated a vast amount of good land, while

John Dungan

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HISTORY OF MADISON COUNTY.

conferring a lasting benefit on the country by his explorations. After the permanent establishment of the Ohio River settlement, he was instrumental in the gradual filling up of the country all over the valley. In 1796, he assisted in founding a settlement at the mouth of Paint Creek, and laid out the town of Chillicothe. In 1798, he was elected a member of the Ter- ritorial Assembly, to represent Adams County ; and at the first election for the Ohio Assembly he was elected from Ross County to a seat in the State Senate, and subsequently chosen Speaker of that body. In 1807, he was the opponent of Return J. Meigs for Gubernatorial honors. The latter was elected, but Massie contested the election upon the grounds that Meigs was ineligible on account of his absence from the State and insufficiency of time as a resident. Massie was declared Governor, but resigned the office at once, his fine sense of honor preventing him from holding a position for which his opponent had received the majority of votes cast. IIe was often Representative after, and always wielded a powerful influence in the affairs of the State. He died November 3, 1813, after seeing the State, whose constitution he had helped to frame, on the high road to prosperity. It was through him that the militia of this region was first organized, of which he became Colonel, and was the first Major General of the Second Division under the new Constitution of 1802. His residence was at the falls of Paint Creek, in Ross County, but his land operations made him well known in Madison, and adjoining counties.

During the existence of the six years' Indian war, a settlement of French emigrants was made on the Ohio River in what is now Gallia County. In the spring of 1788, Joel Barlow went to France, claiming to be "authorized to dispose of a very large tract of land in the West." In 1790, he distributed proposals in Paris for the disposal of lands at 5 shil- lings per acre, which, says Volney, "promised a climate healthy and delightful ; scarcely such a thing as frost in the winter; a river, called by way of eminence ' The Beautiful,' abounding in fish of an enormous size ; magnificent forests of a tree from which sugar flows, and a shrub which yields candles; venison in abundance; no military enrollments and no quarters to find for soldiers." All classes of tradesmen and artisans, to the number of 500 persons, including their families, purchased these titles, and in 1791-92, arrived in the New World. Upon reaching their destination, they found that they had been cruelly deceived, and that the titles they held were absolutely worthless.

Without food, shelterless, and beset with danger on all sides, they were in a position that none but Frenchmen could be in without despair. The land to which they came was covered with immense forest trees, and they must clear these off or starve. Their cabins were erected in a cluster, which afforded them protection from the Indians, and their food was pur- chased from passing boats. In a rude, uncultured manner they began fell- ing the forest, this being their greatest difficulty, as they knew nothing of a woodman's life. They called their settlement Gallipolis, from Gallia or Gaul, the ancient name of their fatherland, and throughout the long winter drowned care and sorrow once a week in the merry dance. They could not pay for their lands the second time, therefore some went to Detroit, some to Kaskaskia, on the Mississippi, and others secured lands on generous terms from the Ohio Company. This outrage and deception coming to the knowl-

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edge of Congress, it granted them 24,000 acres of land in Scioto County in 1795, to which an additional tract was added three years later, thus wip- ing out the disgrace and swindle perpetrated upon these confiding people by unscrupulous men. This tract has since been known as the French Grant.

We now come to the erection of Adams County by the proclamation of Gov. St. Clair July 10, 1797. It covered a large scope of country on either side of the Scioto River, including the territory now embraced in Madison County, and was outlined as follows : "Beginning upon the Ohio River at the upper boundary of that tract of 24,000 acres of land granted unto the French inhabitants of Gallipolis by an act of Congress of the United States bearing date the 3d of March, 1795; thence down the said Ohio River to the mouth of Elk River (generally known by the name of Eagle Creek, in Brown County), and up with the principal water of the said Elk River or Eagle Creek to it source or head; thence, by a due north line to the southern boundary of Wayne County, and easterly along said boundary so far that a due south line shall meet the interior point of the upper boundary of the aforesaid traet of land of 24,000 acres, and with the said boundary to the place of beginning."

From the settlements upon the Ohio River, the bravest and hardiest of the pioneers spread themselves further to the north and west along the rich valleys of the Muskingum, Scioto, Miamis and their tributaries, so that previous to the beginning of the nineteenth century there were settlements scattered all over those portions of Ohio.

On the 20th of August, 1798, the county of Ross was erected from Adams County territory by the proclamation of Gov. St. Clair, and the country comprising Madison became a part of the new county. In the spring of 1795, an attempt was made by a party of sixty men, under the leadership of Gen. Massie, Rev. Robert W. Finley and a trader named Fallenash, to explore the country along the west bank of the Scioto River, which was frustrated by the Indians, whom they encountered in the vicinity of Bainbridge, on Paint Creek in Ross County. The following spring, a settlement was effected at the mouth of Paint Creek, and about three hundred acres of prairie planted in corn that season. In August, 1796, Gen. Massie laid out Chillicothe, where about twenty cabins were built that fall, and from this point the settlements throughout the Scioto Valley diverged.

The period from 1795 to 1799 was marked by a rush of emigration which extended up the Scioto, Paint and Deer Creek, also along the Big and Little Darbys, settling at different points on these streams. Benjamin Springer, with his son-in-law, Usual Osborn, James and Joshua Ewing, David and Samuel Mitchell, Samuel Mccullough and Samuel Kirkpatrick (both of whom married sisters of David Mitchell), Robert Snodgrass, Sam- uel, George and David Reed, all came to the vicinity of the site of Plain City during these years, locating upon the rich lands watered by Big Darby. Here they found a white man, named Jonathan Alder, living in a cabin with an Indian wife, he having been a captive among the Indians from boyhood. William Lapin and Michael Johnson located on Little Darby, while still down the valley, on Deer Creek, were James and William Hewey, David Martin and William Alkire. These pioneer settlements extended from what is now the southeast portion of Madison County along the eastern

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part of the county to the northeast corner of the same, including some of the lands taken in the erection of Union County in 1820. Thus the foun- dation was laid for the future county of Madison, whose fame and reputa- tion as the great stock district of Ohio has spread beyond the seas.

In December, 1798. a Territorial Legislature was elected under the proclamation of Gov. St. Clair, and, in accordance with the ordinance of 1787, which provided for an Assembly as soon as the Territory should contain 5,000 inhabitants. The members from Ross County, of which Madison was then a part, were Thomas Worthington, Elias Langham, Sam- uel Findley and Edward Tiffin. It met at Cincinnati January 22, 1799, and nominated ten persons for the Legislative Council, five of whom were to be chosen by the President of the United States, to compose said Coun- cil. This selection was made March 2, and the same confirmed by the Senate on the following day. The men chosen were Jacob Burnett, James Findley, Henry Vanderburgh, Robert Oliver and David Vance. On Sep- tember 16, 1799, the Legislature met again at Cincinnati, the House consisting of nineteen members, and the session lasted from September 24, before which date no quorum was present, until December 19, 1799.

In 1800, the Indiana Territory was formed, and the seat of govern- ment of the Northwest Territory established at Chillicothe. The first session was opened here November 3, and at the second session, held in the fall of 1801, so much enmity was expressed and so much abuse heaped upon the Governor and Assembly, that a law was passed removing the sessions of the Legislature back again to Cincinnati, but fate had destined a new order of things, and the Territorial Assembly never met after that time.

A convention assembled at Chillicothe November 1, 1802, to frame a constitution for a State government ; on the 29th of that month, the same was ratified and signed by the members of the convention, and the Terri- tory became a State February 19, 1803, receiving its name from the river called by the Indians Ohezuh, meaning beautiful, and changed by the whites to Ohio. Chillicothe was made the temporary seat of government, and the legislative sessions were held there from March, 1803, until 1810. The sessions of 1810-11 and 1811-12 were held at Zanesville, then again at Chillicothe until December, 1816, when Columbus, which had been selected in 1812, became the seat of government, and has ever since been the capital of Ohio.

The county of Franklin was formed from Ross County April 30, 1803, and the territory now comprised in Madison was known as Darby Township. Thus it remained for seven years, when it was cut off from Franklin and erected into a new county.

In the Scioto Valley have lived many men who were an honor to the State and nation. Gen. Nathaniel Massie, Govs. Edward Tiffin, Thomas Worthington, Allen Trimble, Robert Lucas, Duncan McArthur and William Allen, are names that will ever be remembered as among Ohio's greatest men. This valley is also the birth-place of ex-President R. B. Hayes, Gens. William II. Rosecrans, Irvin MeDowell and others, whose names are among the brightest in the pages of local history.

While the same general characteristics underly the early settlers of the valleys of the Scioto, Miami and Muskingum Rivers, yet each had its local

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heroes and adventurers. The men who first tried the wilderness were poor, hardy, strong, and hospitable. Their strength made them self-reliant, and their poverty never closed the cabin door. They were fitted by nature to build up a new country, and, restless under the conservative influences of old and well-established communities, fled from what men call the luxuries and security of civilized life, to try the dangers and discomforts of the wil- derness. If the motives were inquired into why the change was made, which not only insured unusual hardships and disappointments, but too fre- quently was attended with all the barbarities of savage warfare, the answer would doubtless be, to promote their success in life; but underneath and beyond this was the love of forest life, the freedom from conventional restraint ; the hunter's paradise. Accustomed to look discomfort and dan- ger in the face, the earliest settlers soon learned to regard them as matters not worthy of anxious thought. Their wants were few and easily supplied, but daily labor became necessary for daily sustenance. These pioneers of civilization and their immediate descendants braved the dangers of a com- paratively unknown region, and endured the toils and trials unavoidably incident to a country totally without improvements. The present genera- tion knows little or nothing of what it cost in time, in patient endurance, and in deprivation of every comfort, to change the wilderness into a fruitful field, and to lay broad and sure the foundations of the prosperity that crowns the State of Ohio to-day.

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The history of Madison County, Ohio, Part 27

Author: Brown, Robert C; W.H. Beers & Co., pub Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago, W.H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 1180

Author: Brown, Robert C; W.H. Beers & Co., pub
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, W.H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1180