Columbiana County, Ohio - Chapter 8: Civil History, 1879

Chapter 8: Civil History

The ordinance by which the possessions of the LInited States lying northwest of the Ohio were erected under the name of the " Northwestern Territory" was passed by Congress, July 13, 1787, - exactly ten months after Connecticut had ceded her interest therein. The ordinance provided for the division of the territory into " not less than three, and not more than five States."

An ordinance constituting the territory had been reported to Congress in March, 1784, by a committee of which Thomas Jefferson was chairman. It prohibited slavery after the year I860; but this restricting clause was stricken

Concerning the later enactment Mr. Webster said, " I doubt whether one single law of any lawgiver, ancient or modern, has produced effects of more distinct, marked, and lasting character than the ordinance of 1787." Judge Timothy Walker said respecting it, " It approaches as near to absolute perfection as anything to be found in the legislation of mankind."*

Almost simultaneously with the passage of the ordinance an agreement was made with the " Ohio Company," represented by Manasseh Cutler and others, tor a large quantity of land in the new territory. The first colony planted upon the land so purchased arrived April 7, 1788, and settled at the mouth of the Muskingum, now Marietta.

Gen. Arthur St. Clair, the first governor of the territory, and Winthrop Sargent, the first secretary, and three judges for the executive council, arrived in July. At the first meeting of the council, on the 26tlrj' of the same month, the county of Washington was established, including all that part of the present State of Ohio east of the treaty line established at Fort McIntosh in 1785. This line connected the Cuyahoga River at Lake Erie with the mouth of the Scioto. The following were the bounds of the county :

" Beginning at the bank of the Ohio River where the western boundary line of Pennsylvania crosses it, and running with that line to Lake Erie; thence along the southern shore of said lake to the mouth of Cuyahoga River ; thence up said river to the portage between that and the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum; thence adown the branch to the forks at the crossing-place above Fort Laurens thence with a line to be drawn westerly to the portage of that branch of the Big Miami on which the fort§ stood that was taken by the French in 1752, until it meets the road from the lower Shawanese town to the Sandusky ; thence south to the Scioto River, down that to its mouth, and thence up the Ohio River to the place of beginning." f Commonly supposed the 27th. According to papers in the State Department at Washington, D. C., the county of Washington was established July 26, 1788.

$ A fort at the mouth of the Mad River. The "fort" was visited ' by Christopher Gist, in 1752, while making explorations in the country north and west of the Ohio, who found it to be only a tradingpost with a stockade. He named the stream Mad Creek.. - Imlay'e America, p. 120.

the said river to the southern boundary of the fourth township in the fourth range (of those seven ranges of townships that were surveyed in conformity to the ordinance of Congress of the 20th of May, 1785), and with the said southern boundary west, to the southwest corner of the sixth township of the fifth range; thence north along the western boundary to the said fifth range to the termination thereof; thence due west to the Muskingum River, and up the same to and with the Portage, between it and the Cuyahoga River ; thence down Cuyahoga to Lake Erie ; thence easterly, along the shores of the lake, to the western boundary of Pennsylvania, and south with the same to the place of beginning."

An act of Congress was approved by the President April 30, 1802, " to enable the people of the eastern division of the territory northwest of the river Ohio to form a constitution and State government, and for the admission of such State into the Union on an equal footing with the original States, aud for other purposes." The State constitution was adopted November 29th of the same year, at a convention held at Chillicothe, in which the following nine counties, then existing within the limits of the present State, were represented :

The county of Washington was represented in the constitutional convention, Nov. 29, 1802, by Ephraim Cutler, Rufus Putnam, John McIntyre, and Benjamin Ives Gilman ; Jefferson County, by Rudolph Bair, John Milligan, George Humphrey, Bezeleel Wells, and Nathan Updegraff.

At the first session of the State Legislature, in March, 1803, at Chillicothe, eight new counties were erected, - Scioto, Warren, Butler, Montgomery, Greene, Columbiana , Gallia, and Franklin.

March 10, 1803. - Mr. Thomas Kirker, of Adams, laid before the House a petition from sundry citizens of Jefferson County, praying a division may take place in said county, which was read and referred to a committee of five, - Messrs. Bair, Elliot, Reece, Russel and Sharp.

Resolved, That the said bill do pass, and that the title be, "An act for erecting a part of the counties of Jefferson and Washington into a separate county, by the name of Columbiana."

March 23, 1803. - A message by Mr. Yance : The Senate have passed the bill entitled " An act for erecting a part of the counties of Jefferson and Washington into a separate county, by the name of Columbiana," with an amendment, to which they desire the concurrence of the House.

Wednesday, April G, 1803. - The L egislature, in joint ballot, at the above date, elected as associate judges for Columbiana County the following persons: William Smith, Henry Bachman, and Robert Simison.

Friday, April 8, 1803. - The following persons, by joint resolution of the Legislature, were appointed commissioners to establish the seat of justice for Columbiana County: John Leavitt, Calvin Austin, and John H. Adgate.

"Sec. 1. Beit enacted hg the General Assembly of the State of Ohio : That all that part of the counties of Jefferson and Washington as comes within the following boundaries be and the same is hereby laid off and erected into a separate county, which shall be known by the name of Columbiana : beginning at the mouth of Yellow Creek, on the north side of the same; thence up said creek, with the meanders thereof, to the northern boundary of the eighth township in the second range; thence with the same west to the western boundary of the seventh range; thence north to the northwest corner of the sixteenth township of the said seventh range; thence west on the south boundary of the ninth township in the eighth and ninth ranges to the Muskingum River; thence up the said river, with the meanders thereof, to the southern boundary of the county of Trumbull ; thence with the same east to the Pennsylvania line; thence with the. said line south to the Ohio River; thence down the same, with the meanders thereof, to the beginning.

" Sec. 2. And he it further enacted, That from and after the first day of May next the said county shall be vested with all the powers, privileges, and immunities of a separate and distinct county; Provided always, That all actions and suits which may be pending in the counties of Jefferson and Washington, on the said first day of May next, shall be prosecuted and carried on to final judgment and execution ; and all taxes, fees, fines, and forfeitures, which shall be then due, shall be collected in the same manner as if this act had neverbeen passed.

"Sec. 3. And he it further enacted, That until a permanent seat of justice be fixed in the said county, by commissioners appointed for that purpose, the temporary seat of justice shall be at the house of Matthias Lower, in the twelfth township and second range; and courts shall be held thereat, in and for the county of Columbiana aforesaid.

Oil the 10th of May, 1803, the associate judges of the Court of Common Pleas for Columbiana County met at the house of Matthias Lower, in Fairfield township, on section 23, and proceeded to lay out the county and townships, and apportioned the number of justices to be elected in each township. They established by name five townships and defined their boundaries, as follows: "Springfield was made ten miles square, and commenced for boundary line at the southeast corner of Trumbull County. j- Middleton town-

* " Columbiana is a fancy name, taken from the names Columbus and Anna. An anecdote is told pending its adoption in the Legislature, that a member jocularly moved that the namo Maria should bo added thereto, so ns to have it read Columbiana-Marin." - Howe's Hist. Col. of Ohio, 18(19.

f Meaning original Trumbull, whoso southeast corner was at the intersection of the west line of Pennsylvania wiLh the forty-first parallel of north latitude.

ship was ten miles square, immediately south of Springfield. St. Clair township extended south to the mouth of Yellow Creek, west with the creek and including parts of Jefferson and Carroll Counties as they now are, and north including part of Stark County, and east to Pennsylvania line, including what is now seventeen townships. Salem township was a small State when first described, commencing at the boundary line of Trumbull County, west of Springfield township, and running south ten miles to the southeast corner of section 20, in Fairfield township, thence west to Muskingum River (now called Tuscarawas), and from there to the south line of Trumbull. Centre township commenced at the northeast corner of section 29, in Fairfield township, and running south ten miles to the southeast corner of section 8, in Madison township, aud including all west of these north and south lines."

The number of original townships (consisting each of an area of about thirty-six square miles) embraced within the county limits at the time of its erection was forty-seven. For a short time subsequent to the erection of the county, courts were held at the "house of Matthias Lower, in Fairfield township." Reasin Beall was appointed by the court to the offices of clerk (or recorder) and treasurer July 2G, 1803 ; John Crozer was elected sheriff October 17th, in the same year; William Heald was either appointed or elected surveyor in 1803 ; Obadiah Jennings, of Steubenville, was the first prosecuting attorney, appointed soon after the county was organized ; David Scott, the first auditor, was appointed in 1821 ; Calvin Pease, the first president judge, was appointed in 1808 ; Robert Simison, Henry Bachman, and William Smith were appointed associate j udges in 1803, and constituted the first probate court.

Territorial Changes

Since Columbiana County was erected its territory has been reduced at three separate times: by the formation of Stark County on the west, in 1808 ; Carroll County on the south, in 1832 ; Mahoning County on the north, in 1845.

Election of Stark County. - Feb. 13, 1808, all that part of Columbiana west of the fifth range was cut off and attached to the new county of Stark, but continued for several years to participate with the mother county in the elections for senator, representatives, and members of Congress. The territory surrendered to Stark embraced but a single organized township (Lake) out of the following fourteen then existing : Springfield, Middleton, St. Clair, Salem, Centre, Elk Run, Green, Butler, Wayne, Lake and Hanover, Unity, Yellow Creek and Fairfield.

Erection of Carroll County. - Carroll County was erected by act passed Dec. 25, 1832, and took from Columbiana the townships of Saline, Fox, Augusta, and East, " being about three and one-half townships. This left Columbiana with twenty-one organized townships, and caused Saline to be named Washington.''

Franklin and Saline," the Board of County Commissioners altered the boundaries of such townships as follows : sections 6, 7, 18, 19, 30, and 31 were taken from Wayne and attached to Franklin ; sections 32, 33, 34, 35, and 36 were taken from Wayne and attached to Saline, now Washington. They likewise provided for the election of township officers on the 25th of the same month : for Franklin, at Jacob Fox's residence ; for Washington, at " 'Squire Gilson's." The commissioners present at the meeting at which the changes were made were Michael Arter, Isaac Wilson, and John Smith.

Perry township was erected, by order of the same commissioners, Dec. 5, 1832, for which purpose sections 5, 6, 7, and 8 were taken from Salem township; 29, 30, 31, and 32, from Green township ; 25, 26, 35, and 36, from Goshen township; and 1, 2, 11, and 12, from Butler township.

A township called Damascus was formed by the Board of Commissioners, Dec. 2, 1833, from parts of Goshen, Butler, Smith, and Knox ; but the order for the erection was repealed March 4, 1834.

The township of Liverpool was erected June 3, 1834, and was composed of fractional township 5, of range 1, - which had been a part of St. Clair, an original township whose boundaries were fixed by the commissioners March 5, 1805, - -added to other sections of St. Clair, in township No. 6, viz. : 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, and 36. The first election was appointed for June 23, at the house of Aaron Brawdy, in the town of Liverpool.

Erection of Mahoning County. - An act passed by the Legislature Feb. 16, 1846, authorized the erection of Mahoning County, and took from Columbiana the five towns, Springfield, Beaver, Green, Goshen, and Smith. Green and Goshen had each surrendered four sections, in 1832, to the township of Perry. The five townships continued to vote with the old county for State and National officers until a new apportionment was made.

Territory attached to Jefferson County. - By the act for the erection of Carroll County, passed Dec. 25, 1832, the following described territory was taken from Columbiana and attached to the county of Jefferson :

" Beginning at the northeast corner of section 3, in township 13, range 4; thence due east six miles to the northeast corner of section 3, in township 12, range 3 ; thence south one mile to the southeast corner of section 3, township and range aforesaid ; thence due east to the Ohio Iliver; thence down the river with the meanderings thereof to the termination of the eastern boundary line of Jefferson County, on the said river ; thence west along the present boundary line between the counties of Columbiana and Jefferson, to the southeast corner of section 1, in township 13, range 4; thence north three miles to the place of beginning."

The several townships whose history is given in this volume were organized, so far as can be ascertained, at the dates given in the following schedule :